Labour has spent almost £40m on a scheme that pays migrants to return to their home country, The Independent can reveal.

Since the party took power in July 2024, the Home Office has dramatically ramped up its use of assisted returns, which sees migrants paid up to £3,000 to leave the UK, with 17,346 taking up the offer up to March this year, at a total cost of £35.7m.

A further £4m was spent in April on a yet-to-be-published number of migrants, taking the total spend under Labour to £39.7m.

The number of returns has risen steeply from just 6,410, which cost £24.2m, under the Tories in the comparable time period before, according to the latest Home Office data.

Those eligible have no right to live in the UK and are given a pre-paid card topped up with the money to spend once they find work or a place to live back in their home country. They also have their flights paid for as part of the deal.

Home secretary Shaban Mahmood has argued that the voluntary assisted returns programme offers taxpayers value for money because it costs far less than housing asylum seekers in hotels. Last year, she said she was considering increasing payments offered to migrants, and in March she launched a pilot project offering 150 families up to £40,000 to leave Britain.

The Home Office said the average cost of an assisted voluntary return, including flights, is £4,000, compared to the £48,000 cost of an average forced return. A single family living in an asylum hotel costs £158,000 a year.

On Thursday, Ms Mahmood said Labour was taking a “vital step” in efforts to control the UK’s borders after the latest figures showed the party’s removal of foreign criminals and people illegally in the UK had reached a near-decade high, which included the return of 6,103 migrants who had arrived on a small boat.

But the Conservatives said instead of “paying them off” the government should step up efforts to stop migrants arriving illegally in the first place.

Chris Philp MP, shadow home secretary, said: “Labour are paying illegal immigrants to leave instead of stopping them arriving in the first place.

“Just 7 per cent of small boat arrivals have been returned since the election, and only a fraction of failed asylum seekers are ever removed. None of this will change while Labour refuse to touch the welfare system and the feeble asylum rules that let illegal immigrants stay.

“The Conservative Party would end this racket. Our borders plan would ensure illegal immigrants could all be forcibly deported, meaning there would be no need to pay them off.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We save taxpayers millions of pounds by encouraging those here illegally to leave voluntarily. Our success in ramping up both forced and voluntary returns has seen this government return over 80,000 people.”

In total, since 2021 the Home Office has paid £83.6m to contractor Prepaid Payment Solutions for voluntary assisted returns, according to invoices analysed by government procurement experts Tussell.

The money also covers the providing of prepaid cards, their functionality abroad and a monitoring system on their spend.

Those who are offered the scheme are subject to a “re-entry ban”, meaning they cannot come back to the UK for a set time period. Nearly half of those accepted for the scheme last year were Brazilian, according to the Home Office.

The use of voluntary returns for migrants are welcomed by some campaign groups, including the Refugee Council which said the method treated people with dignity and was far less expensive than forcing people into detention or onto deportation flights.

Director of external affairs, Imran Hussain, said: “We know that if people have proper time and support while making these life-changing decisions, they are much more likely to engage with the Home Office through this kind of voluntary returns process.

"A humane returns process must also be part of a wider fair and controlled asylum system that treats people with dignity. That is how the government can restore public confidence: by ensuring that people who need our help can rebuild their lives and integrate into their new communities, while others can be supported to return home voluntarily if it is safe for them to do so."