Key facts
- An ITV undercover reporter worked as a welfare officer at Crowborough and covertly filmed inside the former military training camp.
- The documentary says four or five torture survivors who should not have been sent to the camp were identified.
- Clearsprings welfare officers are supposed to carry out two comprehensive checks per asylum seeker each month, the documentary says.
- Staff appeared to admit falling behind on the 1,000 welfare checks they are supposed to carry out each month.
- Asylum Matters executive director Louise Calvey said the government needed to urgently review its use of the camps.
- The Home Office and Clearsprings have been approached for comment.
An undercover documentary for ITV alleges that asylum seekers housed at Crowborough, a former military training camp in East Sussex, received inadequate welfare checks, and that torture survivors may have been placed there unlawfully. The program, Inside The Asylum Camp, was reported on November 14, 2026. ITV's undercover reporter took a job as a welfare officer at the site and filmed covertly.
Mass accommodation sites are central to the government's plan to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers. Crowborough is run by Clearsprings Ready Homes. According to its latest accounts, the company generates millions of pounds in income every day from its asylum accommodation contracts, and its boss, Graham King, has become the first asylum accommodation billionaire, the report said.
The documentary says two comprehensive welfare checks per asylum seeker are supposed to be carried out each month by Clearsprings welfare officers. It shows some staff appearing to admit cutting corners and not asking all required questions. On one occasion a welfare officer is filmed telling the undercover reporter "you don't need to go in too deep". Staff appear to admit falling behind on the 1,000 checks they are supposed to carry out each month, saying: "We're so fucked."
Concerns about an asylum seeker can be flagged on their file. A welfare officer is filmed telling the reporter: "Those flags mean nothing" and that "nobody ever looks at them again". Asked whether some asylum seekers fall through the net because of brief checks, the officer replies: "Oh, absolutely." The undercover reporter says he identified four or five survivors of torture who should not have been sent to the military camp.
Last May, the high court ruled that a Home Office policy change forcing torture survivors to share rooms was unlawful. Accommodation at Crowborough is in large dormitories. The Home Office's decisions to use Crowborough and Wethersfield in Essex have drawn opposition from local residents, as have plans for Bicester, Barnham and Linton-on-Ouse. Police have recorded very low levels of even minor crimes among asylum seekers at Wethersfield and Crowborough, the report said.
Louise Calvey, executive director of the charity Asylum Matters, said: "The reports of torture survivors being accommodated on military barracks are appalling." She said people held in isolation for prolonged periods without sufficient water showed "just how far we have fallen as a country", and that contractors failing in their duty of care demonstrated how the system "dehumanises refugees". Calvey said the government needed to urgently review its use of the camps. The Home Office and Clearsprings have been approached for comment.