An asylum seeker in Devon has reportedly criticised the food at the hotel she is staying in with her two children as “unsuitable”. Hyre, 45, claims her two children are refusing to eat. 

She arrived in the UK from Albania in September 2022, and for the last two months has been housed at a hotel in the East Devon area.

She has claimed that her children, 16 and 14, “don’t eat anything from the food that they give” at the hotel.

A photo shows that in one meal, they were given chicken drumsticks, rice, a burger bap, bananas and dates.

Hyre told Devon Live: “My children don’t eat anything from the food that they give.

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“The children ask me to cook for them, but I don’t have a kitchen to feed my children.

“I feel very bad when I look at my children without food.”

According to the Home Office, asylum seekers living in hotels are provided with three meals a day which meet NHS Eatwell standards, and are additionally given snacks and water.

The NHS website says these standards are five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, a third of daily intake being made up of starchy carbohydrates, some protein such as lean meat or pulses and at least two portions of oily fish each week.

The Home Office says the food “responds to all culture and dietary requirements” and that providers are daily required to provide reports on delivery and performance.

There are also weekly services for asylum seekers to detail their cultural food preferences.

Hyre added that the hotel she is staying in does not allow the windows to be opened.

This is not rare in hotels for safety, security and energy-efficiency reasons, but Hyre says not being able to open the windows is making it a “closed” environment for her and her daughter, who are both unwell.

Hyre said: “My daughter and I are also sick and here we are in a very closed environment because the windows don’t open and I’ve had surgery on my eye twice.”

Hyre has said that despite not fully knowing English yet, she is keen to stay in the UK, but adds that she struggles to access local facilities due to the hotel being in a remote location.

The Home Office has said eligible asylum seekers staying in catered accommodation receive £9.10 every week per household member, but Hyre says she can’t afford to purchase alternative food, clothes and shoes for her children.

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She said: “In the UK, we want to stay but everything is very far from here.

“I’d like a kitchen so that I can have a place to cook for the children and somewhere closer to the village and the schools because we are too far here, we can’t stay.

“I am alone, I have no one to help me.

“We also need clothes and shoes because I have nothing to buy them with.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “Despite the number of people arriving in the UK reaching record levels, we continue to provide support for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

“Asylum-seekers in receipt of catered accommodation are provided with three meals a day along with snacks and water, and a weekly allowance where eligible.

“The food provided in asylum hotels meets NHS Eatwell standards and responds to all culture and dietary requirements.

“Where concerns are raised about any aspect of the service delivered in a hotel we work with the provider to ensure these concerns are addressed.”

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