Fact check: claims of free beach huts for Portsmouth asylum seekers are misleading

This claim originated from Guido Fawkes, a right-wing political website, which reported on what it called asylum “freebiegate” – posts detailing discounted leisure activities allegedly offered to asylum seekers by councils.

In reality, Portsmouth asylum seekers have access to the Portsmouth Leisure Card, a discount card available to all low-income residents in Portsmouth receiving means-tested benefits.

This includes those on Universal Credit, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support, Pension Credit, and foster carers.

Affordability

Asylum seekers living in accommodation where meals are provided receive £9.95 per week, rising to £49.18 per week if they are in self-catered accommodation.

Asylum seekers are not able to work and cannot access benefits or other forms of public financial support other than asylum support.

Between April and September, beach hut rental costs £129 per week for leisure card holders (a 40 per cent discount) and the autumn/winter rate from October to March is £75 per week – making it largely unaffordable for asylum seekers, even with discounts.

Other leisure card benefits include discounts on watersport lessons, gym memberships, swimming pool access, Exploria soft play, toy library membership, museum tickets, and sports club memberships and lessons.

As of 30 June, Portsmouth hosts 700 supported asylum seekers, with 617 in dispersed accommodation such as flats, family homes, or HMOs. Another 73 are in contingency accommodation (hotels), and 10 receive subsistence-only support, where they have their own accommodation but receive funds for basic necessities.

Including refugees from Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement schemes, the total number of refugees and asylum seekers in Portsmouth is 998, representing 0.47 per cent of the local population.

Sanctuary

Portsmouth City Council signed the City of Sanctuary pledge, which aims to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone in the city – asylum seekers included.

A council spokesperson said: “The Leisure Card is primarily aimed at supporting Portsmouth residents on low incomes. The scheme began in 1998, and asylum seekers were added to those eligible shortly after it started.

“Take up from asylum seekers has been low historically but we believe it has been popular with people arriving through the Homes for Ukraine scheme and Afghan nationals who had supported the British armed forces.”

Less than one per cent

A scrutiny panel report from 2023 details that between 2020 and 2022 16 leisure cards were issued to asylum seekers out of 5,926 cards in total – making up 0.27 per cent.

In the same period, weekly rentals of beach huts through the leisure card totalled 45 out of 156.

During the meeting it was recommended to review the eligibility criteria for the leisure cards and expand the number of card holders, but the budget was not available to support it.