Billionaire dubbed 'asylum king' rakes in over £3million a day housing illegal migrants

A billionaire who has been dubbed the "asylum king" rakes in more than £3million a day through housing illegal migrants across his property empire, it has been revealed.

Clearsprings Ready Homes, the Essex-based asylum accommodation provider, pulled in a remarkable £3.26million per day over the past financial year.

The firm's annual accounts for the 12 months ending in January revealed turnover of nearly £1.2billion, yielding £37.7million in post-tax profit and swelling its asset base to £89million, according to The Sun.

It is owned by Graham King, who has featured on The Sunday Times Rich List for three consecutive years after securing the huge Government contract to house illegal migrants in his properties.

Clearsprings is one of three private contractors, alongside Mears and Serco, paid by the Home Office to accommodate the 89,089 asylum seekers and failed claimants currently living at the taxpayers' expense.

Some 23,529 of those illegal migrants arriving by small boat have come this year alone.

But despite accommodating nearly 10,000 fewer people, with service users falling from 39,919 to 29,995, the company's bottom line barely flinched. Despite this, profits slipped only modestly from £44.145million the previous year.

"There has been a decrease in the requirement for asylum accommodation, including contingency accommodation such as hotels, despite continued political and economic upheaval in a number of countries contributing to high levels of asylum applications in the UK during the year," Clearsprings said.

The Government has argued replacing taxpayer-funded hotels with former military sites will reduce costs and help bring the asylum system under control.

By June 2026, there were an estimated 16,000 illegal migrants housed in hotels, half of the 32,000 a year prior.

However, documents reveal Clearsprings is scouting for additional properties in areas including Bedford, Southampton, the Forest of Dean, Caerphilly and Wrexham. Recent schemes have involved converting a former care home and a disused village hall into migrant housing.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp condemned the arrangement in stark terms, saying: "Hard-pressed taxpayers are shelling out more than £1billion a year to house illegal immigrants thanks to the Labour Government's lack of border control. It's a huge scam.

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"Almost 1,000 illegal immigrants have crossed in the last three days alone due to calm seas. [Home ­Secretary] Shabana Mahmood has failed and the crossings continue.

"Why do illegal immigrants get hotels or flats and handouts when so many honest people here are struggling to make ends meet?

"It’s time for the Conservative Borders Plan — leave the ECHR and then the illegal immigrants can be rapidly deported, not accommodated at extortionate cost.

"Let’s put British taxpayers first, not illegal immigrants."

William Yarwood, campaigns director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, was equally forthright, commenting: "Making £37million in profit from taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation is an absolute scandal. While illegal Channel crossings continue, private contractors are cashing in on the Government's failure to secure our borders."

He called on ministers to "stop the boats, detain and deport those with no right to remain and end this gravy train."

The Home Office pushed back against the criticism, insisting it had delivered significant savings since taking office. A spokesman said: "Since the election, we have saved taxpayers over £1billion on asylum support.

"This report shows that the number of asylum seekers Clearsprings accommodate has reduced by almost 10,000.

"Compared with last year, 13,800 fewer asylum seekers are receiving taxpayer-funded accommodation.

"We are working on a fairer ­distribution of asylum accommodation across the country, closing all asylum hotels and moving to alternative accommodation, including former ­military sites."

GB News has approached Clearsprings for comment.

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