The Home Office has refused to reveal the number of failed asylum seeker families who have swanned off out of Britain having been paid £40,000 of taxpayer cash to leave. The staggering sum, which is higher than the average UK annual wage, has been offered by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's department as yet another bizarre scheme to tackle the migrant crisis.

Unveiled last Thursday, the new policy gives away £10,000 per head to up to four people in one family if they agree to leave the UK. It's reported at least 150 families have been told they are entitled to apply for the cash. On this basis alone, if four members in each of those families were awarded £10K each it would make the initial splurge of taxpayer cash hit the £6million mark, enough to employ around 150 NHS nurses for a year.

The deadline for the first batch of failed asylum families to apply for the handsome sum of money is midnight tonight (Wednesday). Those who do not apply will lose the opportunity to claim.

The Mail Online reports a Home Office spokesman refused to reveal how many of the families had accepted the handout by 6pm this evening, with only a few hours to go until the deadline.

Home Office minister Alex Norris said earlier this month that it costs around £158,000 on average a year to support failed asylum seeker families. His boss, Ms Mahmood has sanctioned the large payouts to ask the families to leave as the Government argues it will save money in the long run.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised the "increased incentive payment" of £10,000 per person and up to £40,000 per family to leave Britain under a pilot scheme.

Mr Philp said: "The Government is now resorting to bribing illegal immigrants with £40,000 per family to leave. That is more than most working people here earn in a year.

"British workers should not have to pay record high taxes for this Government to give their money away to illegal immigrants. It is, frankly disgraceful.

"Instead, the Government should now agree to our plan to leave the ECHR (European Convention of Human Rights), which would enable them to rapidly deport all illegal immigrants.

"The crossings would then quickly stop, and there would be no need to bribe illegal immigrants to leave."

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Reform's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: "Unbelievably, Labour is increasing the incentive, by offering a staggering £40,000 package to illegals to leave voluntarily.

"That's more than the median salary in Britain. As a prize for breaking in illegally. It's a disgrace."

Reform has previously said illegal migrants would be offered a "financial incentive to self-deport" during a six-month window if it was in government. The Home Secretary unveiled the scheme as she argued Labour should not be tempted to become "more Green" or "more Reform" on its migration policy in a speech at the centre-left think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Hitting back at suggestions the plan will attract more migrants to the UK, a Home Office spokesperson said: "This is not a pull factor. Illegal migrants pay smugglers tens of thousands of pounds to get to Britain.

"If those families offered the time-limited payment refuse, we will forcibly remove them."

The Home Office estimates it could save £20 million for the taxpayer.

A source said: "Our intelligence shows people smugglers charge between £15,000 and £35,000 per illegal migrant. As a result, the pilot to pay them to leave cannot act as a pull factor because it costs more to get here in the first place. If they do not take this offer, the family will be forcibly removed."

Since March 4, Home Office figures show nearly a thousand migrants have made the illegal crossing over the Channel to reach the UK spread across 15 small boats.