Accredited official statistics

How many people are granted asylum in the UK?

Published 26 February 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-december-2025/how-many-people-are-granted-asylum-in-the-uk

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2025’ contents page

This release goes up to the year ending (YE) December 2025. The “year ending” period includes the 12 months up to and including the YE month. For example, YE December 2025 includes the 12 months between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.

An asylum claim may relate to more than one person, if the main applicant has family members (‘dependants’) who are included in the same claim.

These statistics focus on the number of people (main applicants and dependants) receiving outcomes on their asylum claims. The number of main applicants (excluding dependants) represents the total number of asylum cases being considered by the Home Office.

Statistics on other parts of the asylum system are available in other chapters of this report - ‘How many people claim asylum in the UK?’ and ‘How many people are in the UK asylum system?’.

More detail on the outcomes of asylum claims from small boat arrivals by arrival date is available in section 3 of ‘How many people come to the UK via illegal entry routes?’.

1. How many people are granted protection at initial decision?

The data in this section relates to grants at initial decision following an asylum claim. Additional people receive a grant of protection following an appeal. Other people will be granted refugee status when they are brought to the UK under UNHCR resettlement schemes (reported in ‘How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?’).

The number of people receiving initial decisions on claims has increased since last year.

In the YE December 2025, the number of people receiving initial decisions (135,151) was 56% more than in the YE December 2024 and 5 times the average number of people receiving initial decisions per year in the decade to 2020.

54,887 people were granted refugee protection or other leave at initial decision in the YE December 2025. This is 35% more than in the YE December 2024 despite a lower proportion of decisions being grants (that is, a lower grant rate) in the YE December 2025 than in the previous year.

Figure 1: Number of people granted or refused protection or other leave following an asylum claim in the UK, YE December 2002 to YE December 20251, 2

Source: Asylum claims and initial decisions - Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. Includes main applicants and dependants.
  2. Excludes withdrawals and administrative outcomes.

As shown in Figure 1, the number of people receiving refusals was 80,264 in YE December 2025, the highest number since comparable records began in 2002 and 14% higher than the previous peak in the YE March 2003.

2. What proportion of asylum seekers are granted protection at initial decision?

The data in this section relates to the grant rate which is the proportion of initial decisions (main applicants only) which resulted in a grant of protection or other leave. The grant rate excludes withdrawals and administrative outcomes.

The grant rate at initial decision has decreased in the YE December 2025 but is still higher than in any year prior to 2019.

Figure 2: Asylum grant rate at initial decision between the YE December 2001 and the YE December 2025

Source: Asylum claims and initial decisions - Asy_D02

Figure 2 shows that in YE December 2025, the grant rate was 42%, lower than the grant rate of 47% in YE December 2024, and substantially below the peak grant rate of 77% in the YE September 2022.

The grant rate can vary for a number of reasons, including the mix of nationalities claiming asylum, and the protection needs of those who claim asylum in the UK. It is also affected by operational resourcing and policy decisions, such as changes to the types of cases prioritised for decisions. The Home Office guidance on caseworking prioritisation is published on GOV.UK.

3. Who is granted protection at initial decision?

Grant rates vary widely across nationalities claiming asylum.

Figure 3: The number of asylum claimants receiving initial decisions in the UK, for the top 10 nationalities, and the grant rate at initial decision (%), YE December 20251, 2

Source: Asylum claims and initial decisions - Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. The figure shows the top 10 nationalities receiving initial decisions in the YE December 2025.
  2. The number of people receiving initial decisions includes main applicants and dependants. The grant rate includes main applicants only.

Among the top 10 nationalities receiving initial decisions, Sudan (94%) and Eritrea (87%) had the highest proportion of claims granted in the YE December 2025, as shown in Figure 3. Some nationalities have a lower grant rate, with claims from Bangladesh (16%), Turkey (19%) and particularly India (<1%) seeing a low proportion of claims being granted at initial decision.

Among the top 10 nationalities receiving initial decisions, Pakistani nationals saw the largest percentage point fall in grant rate between the YE December 2024 and the YE December 2025 (from 53% to 35%), followed by Afghan nationals, which decreased from 51% to 34%.

Although not in the top 10 for initial decisions, the grant rate for claims from Syria showed the largest change in grant rate for any nationality with more than one decision per year, decreasing from 98% in the YE December 2024 to 9% in the YE December 2025.

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) received 2,810 grants of protection or other leave at initial decision in the YE December 2025. 62% of UASC claims were granted leave in the YE December 2025, higher than for non-UASC claims (41%).

Since 2018, the Home Office has published statistics on asylum cases where a person’s sexual orientation formed a part of the basis of their claim. In YE December 2023, 2,133 grants at initial decision (main applicants only) were made where sexual orientation was part of the claim. The grant rate for these claims in YE December 2023 was 62%, similar to the grant rate for non-LGB asylum claims in that period (67%). More information can be found in ‘Asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation 2023’.

4. How do latest outcomes compare to initial outcomes?

The outcome of an asylum claim may change following an appeal or a reconsideration. As more initial decisions are made and appeals are also completed, the number of grants and refusals relating to claims made in previous years will change. This is especially relevant for the most recent years, as ongoing appeals and reconsiderations mean the latest grant rate will change.

For claims between 2007 and 2020, the grant rate when based on the latest decision was, on average, 21 percentage points higher than when based on the initial decision.

Figure 4: Grant rates at initial and latest decision by year of claim, 2007 to 20231, 2, 3

Source: Outcome analysis of asylum claims - Asy_D04

Notes:

  1. Main applicants only.
  2. The grant rate is the proportion of decisions which resulted in a grant of protection or other leave. Excludes withdrawals and administrative outcomes.
  3. Data is based on the year of the asylum claim, and the grant rate at initial decision and latest decision are calculated from the outcomes as at the point of data extraction in January 2026.

Figure 4 shows that the grant rate at the latest decision stage, following appeals and reconsiderations, was between 17 and 29 percentage points higher than the initial grant rate for each year of claim between 2007 and 2020.

In recent years, the gap has narrowed. However, less time is available for appeals and reconsiderations to be concluded for these claims, meaning a larger proportion of cases will not yet have received an appeal outcome.

5. How many people do not receive a substantive decision on their asylum claim?

A substantive decision on an asylum claim refers to a grant of permission to stay or refusal of the asylum claim, based on the merit of the claim itself. However, some claims are closed before a substantive decision is issued.

5.1 Withdrawals

If a claimant fails to follow the required processes, such as not attending interviews, the Home Office can withdraw their claim. This is known as an implicit withdrawal. Claims can also be explicitly withdrawn if the claimant tells the Home Office they no longer wish to proceed with their claim.

In the YE December 2025, 18,353 people had asylum claims withdrawn, representing a 9% decrease compared to the previous year. Of these withdrawals in the YE December 2025, 70% were implicit withdrawals.

5.2 Inadmissibility

Some asylum claims may be declared inadmissible, meaning the UK is not responsible for examining the claim. The inadmissibility provisions provide the grounds for treating an asylum claim as inadmissible to the UK asylum system – this includes if a person has an earlier presence in, or connection to, a safe third country.

Data on inadmissibility after June 2025 is currently unavailable but is planned for release in the future. Between January 2021 (when the inadmissibility rules were introduced) and June 2025, 142 people were declared inadmissible and 38 people were removed from the UK.

The 38 returns were made to European nations - Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

6. What happens after a refugee is granted asylum?

Analysis of HMRC-linked data shows that the employment rate among refugees aged 16 to 64, granted asylum between 2015 and 2023, levels off at around 48% after 2 years.

After being granted refugee status or another form of protection, individuals transition from asylum support into mainstream systems for housing, health, and education. Refugees are eligible to work and can access benefits including English language and employment support through national and local programmes.

Data on employment rate, working hours and earnings of refugees in England and Wales between 2015 and 2023 comes from the Refugee Integration Outcomes (RIO) project, published in November 2025.

A previous analysis from the RIO project used Census 2021 data for refugees in England and Wales between 2015 and 2021, providing information on the types of jobs refugees secured as well as their language proficiency and housing outcomes.

Data referred to here can be found in the following tables:

Further links:

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