Accredited official statistics

How many people are in the UK asylum system?

Published 26 February 2026

© Crown copyright 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-in-the-uk-asylum-system

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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. The number of main applicants (excluding dependants) represents the total number of asylum cases that require consideration by the Home Office.

These statistics focus on the number of people (main applicants and dependents) in the UK asylum system. Previous editions of this release focused on asylum case figures; however, this edition changes focus to people figures to align with the other published asylum chapters. Where applicable, case figures are also included for additional context.

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 granted asylum in the UK?’.

1. How many people are awaiting an initial decision?

In the latest year, the number of people awaiting an initial decision has decreased.

At the end of December 2025 there were 64,426 people (relating to 48,723 cases) awaiting an initial decision, 48% less than a year prior.

Figure 1: Number of people and cases awaiting an initial decision and number of cases in the asylum system, as at 31 December 2015 to as at 31 December 20251, 2

Source: Asylum claims awaiting a decision – Asy_D03 and Migration Transparency Data collection – ASY_03

Notes:

  1. The total number of cases in the asylum system (WIP – work in progress) relates to both those awaiting an initial decision and those who have appealed and are waiting for a further outcome. Statistics on the full asylum WIP are published in table ASY_03 of the Immigration and Protection transparency data and relates to main applicants only.
  2. Figures relate to the number of cases or people awaiting a decision at the end of the period, rather than the total throughout the period.

Figure 1 shows that the number of people awaiting an initial decision has fallen by 63% from the June 2023 peak of 175,457, to 64,426, similar to 2020 levels. However, this remains higher than in the period from 2010 to 2018, where the number of people waiting for a decision grew from around 7,000 to 36,000.

Figure 2: Asylum claims, initial decisions, other outcomes, and changes in the number of people awaiting an initial decision, YE December 2015 to YE December 2025 1

Source: Asylum claims, initial decisions and asylum claims awaiting a decision – Asy_D01, Asy_D02 and Asy_D03

Notes:

  1. Claims, initial decisions (grants and refusals) and other outcomes (withdrawals and administrative outcomes) are based on the quarter they occurred in, while the change in the number of people awaiting an initial decision is calculated as the difference between the year-end total and the total at the end of the previous year.

Figure 2 shows annual inflows (people claiming asylum) and outflows (people receiving initial decisions or other outcomes) in the UK asylum system. The black line on the chart plots the net change in the number of people awaiting an initial decision each year.

The figure shows the number of people awaiting an initial decision increased by 60,355 (60%) from December 2021 to December 2022. This was because of an increase in the number of people claiming asylum during this period, paired with a comparatively low number of decisions. The subsequent 50% decrease in people awaiting an initial decision between December 2023 and December 2025 (from 128,786 to 64,426) occurred even though the number of people claiming asylum remained high each year. This reflects the substantial increase in the number of people receiving initial decisions over that period (from 91,556 in YE December 2023 to 135,151 in YE December 2025).

The increase in the number of decisions in 2023 was due to a combination of factors, including an increase in the number of asylum decision makers, and improvements in decision maker productivity. The improvements followed simplified guidance, shorter focused interviews, and streamlining initiatives (including the Streamlined Asylum Process, which sought to accelerate the processing of manifestly well-founded asylum claims and, where possible, allow positive decisions to be taken without the need for a substantive interview).

By December 2023, caseworkers had completed processing the majority of cases that had been raised prior to the Nationalities and Borders Act 2022. However, many asylum claims from individuals who claimed asylum on or after 7 March 2023 were on hold under the terms of the Illegal Migration Act, which led to a reduction in the numbers of decisions in early 2024.

On 22 July 2024, the Home Secretary laid a statutory instrument to remove retrospective application of the Act. Following this, decision making began to increase and reached a historically high level in the YE Dec 2025 and the numbers of people awaiting an initial decision fell 48% compared to the YE Dec 2024.

2. How long do people wait for an initial decision?

As at the end of December 2025, 35% of people had been waiting for an initial decision for over a year, a slightly lower proportion than a year prior.

Figure 3: Number of people awaiting an initial decision by duration, as at 31 December 2020 to as at 31 December 2025

Source: Asylum claims awaiting a decision – Asy_D03

Figure 3 shows that since the end of September 2024, the number of people awaiting an initial decision for over a year has been falling. As at 31 December 2025, 22,275 people (35%) had been waiting this long for an initial decision, down from 45,094 people (36%) a year earlier and well below the peak of 91,741 people (52%) in June 2023.

Since decision making resumed in July 2024 after the removal of the retrospective application of the Illegal Migration Act, the number of people waiting more than 6 months for an initial decision has decreased each quarter.

3. How many asylum cases are in the overall asylum casework system?

In addition to those awaiting an initial decision, the asylum casework system includes cases who have appealed their initial decision and are awaiting a further outcome, as well as failed asylum seekers who are subject to removal from the UK.

The number of cases in the asylum system was at a record high in June 2024, with over half of cases having received an initial decision but awaiting further action (such as an appeal).

The number of cases in the asylum system increased more than fourfold over the decade to June 2024, from 55,814 at the end of June 2014 to 224,742 at the end of June 2024. Of these, 40% of cases were awaiting an initial decision, whilst the remaining cases will be those awaiting an appeal outcome or removal from the UK. The total number of cases is published in table ASY_03 of Immigration and protection data, as part of the ‘Migration transparency data’.

For further information on appeals, see the latest tribunal statistics from HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), and for asylum-related returns see the ‘Returns summary tables’.

A breakdown on the number of cases awaiting an appeal outcome and awaiting removal is not currently available beyond June 2024 due to work on the transition to a new caseworking system, though work is ongoing to reinstate the data and figures. Once reporting resumes, future publications should be able to provide disaggregated figures. HMCTS-published data shows that the number of cases in the asylum appeals system has increased each quarter since June 2022.

4. How many asylum seekers are receiving housing and financial support?

People in the asylum system who are destitute can receive support from the UK Government. This support could be the provision of accommodation, subsistence (cash support) or both, and is overseen by the Home Office. More information on asylum support is published on GOV.UK.

At the end of December 2025, the number of individuals in receipt of asylum support was lower than a year prior, mainly due to fewer people in hotels.

Figure 4: Number of people in receipt of asylum support, by the type of support, as at 31 December 2022 to as at 31 December 2025

Source: Asylum seekers in receipt of support – Asy_D09

Figure 4 shows that at the end of December 2025, there were 107,003 individuals in receipt of asylum support. This was 5% lower than the end of December 2024. Furthermore, this was 14% fewer than at the end of September 2023, when the number of supported asylum seekers peaked at 123,758 people.

Of the supported population as at 31 December 2025:

  • 30,657 (29%) were in hotel accommodation, 19% lower than at the end of December 2024, and 45% lower than the peak of 56,018 at the end of September 2023
  • 72,769 (68%) were in other accommodation, including initial, contingency and dispersal accommodation, 2% higher than at the end of December 2024
  • 3,577 (3%) were in receipt of subsistence support only, 15% higher than at the end of December 2024

As at the end of December 2025, 4% (4,577) of people receiving asylum support were doing so under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. This is available when an asylum application has been finally determined as refused, or declared inadmissible, but the applicant is destitute and there are reasons that temporarily prevent them from leaving the UK. The remaining 96% (102,426) of people receiving asylum support were doing so under either Section 95 or Section 98 of the same Act, where the vast majority are awaiting the outcome of an asylum claim or an appeal.

At the end of December 2025, there were 60,179 single applicants and 46,824 members of family groups (relating to 13,986 families) on support.

At the end of December 2025, 88% of supported asylum seekers were located in England (94,354 people). The North West region had 19% of the total supported population (20,864 people), followed by London with 15% (16,378 people).

The North West and North East regions supported the largest number of asylum seekers as a proportion of their overall population, each with approximately 27 supported people per 10,000 residents.

Statistics on the number of supported asylum seekers in each local authority are published quarterly in table Asy_D11 – Asylum seekers in receipt of support by local authority. The local authorities with the highest numbers of supported asylum seekers within them were Glasgow City (3,835), followed by Birmingham (2,637), Liverpool (2,189), Hillingdon (2,133) and Manchester (1,846).

Figure 5: Supported asylum seekers, by local authority as at 31 December 20251, 2, 3

Source: Asy_D11 – Asylum seekers in receipt of support by local authority and Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Notes:

  1. Includes main applicants and dependants.
  2. Figures show the number of supported asylum seekers for the 5 local authorities with the highest number of supported asylum seekers.
  3. Local authority data is based on the registered address of the asylum seeker. This is not necessarily the location at which the individual regularly resides.

The number of asylum seekers in receipt of support exclude unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), who are supported by local authorities.

In addition to supported asylum seekers, some of the people who have come to the UK on safe and legal (humanitarian) routes will be accommodated in local authorities (for example, resettled individuals). More detail is available in table Res_D01 of the Resettlement data tables and table Reg_02 of the Regional and local authority data on immigration groups.

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

Further links:

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