Accredited official statistics

How many people are granted asylum in the UK?

Published 21 August 2025

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

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

Data relates to the year ending June 2025 and all comparisons are with the year ending June 2024 (unless indicated otherwise).

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 that require consideration 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 cases 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 the chapter: ‘How many people come to the UK irregularly?’.

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

The data in this section relate to grants at initial decision following an asylum claim. Additional numbers of 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?, year ending June 2025’).

The number of people granted refugee protection or other leave at initial decision, following an asylum claim, has decreased since last year.

In the year ending June 2025, 51,997 people were granted refugee protection or other leave at initial decision, 24% less than in the previous year. This is due to a lower proportion of decisions issued being grants (that is, a lower grant rate) and an 8% fall in the number of initial decisions compared to the previous year. As Figure 1 shows, both the number of grants and refusals were unusually high at the end of 2023 as part of efforts to clear a backlog of claims.

Figure 1: Number of people granted or refused following an asylum claim in the UK, July 2015 to June 20251

Source: Asylum claims and initial decisions - Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. Includes main applicants and dependants.

After the late 2023 peak, the number of initial decisions fell as many claims were on hold under the Illegal Migration Act 2023. However, on 22 July 2024, the retrospective application of the act was removed through a statutory instrument under the new government. This meant that cases that had been put on hold could be progressed.

As a result, the number of people receiving initial decisions between October 2024 and June 2025 (97,585) was 85% more than in the previous 9 months (January to September 2024).

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

The grant rate at initial decision has fallen in the latest year but is still higher than in any year prior to 2019.

Just under half (48%) of claims (excluding dependants) which received an initial decision in the year ending June 2025 were granted, a smaller proportion compared to the year ending June 2024 (58%) and below the peak of 77% in the year ending September 2022.

This decrease in grant rate reflects that the majority of cases issued with a decision since the start of 2024 have been subject to the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, under which claims are required to meet a higher standard of proof for a grant of protection.

Figure 2: Asylum grant rate at initial decision, year ending June 2002 to June 20251

Source: Asylum claims and initial decisions - Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. Grant rate is the proportion of initial decisions (main applicants only) which resulted in a grant of protection or other leave. Excludes withdrawals and administrative outcomes.

The overall 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 have fallen in the latest year for many nationalities claiming asylum.

In the latest year, many nationalities saw large declines in grant rates, such as claims from people coming from Afghanistan for whom the grant rate fell from 96% in the year ending June 2024 to 40% in the year ending June 2025 and from Turkey where it fell from 51% to 19%.

Figure 3 shows that some nationalities still have a very high grant rate with almost all claims from Sudan and Syria (both with a grant rate of 98%) being granted at initial decision in the year ending June 2025, and a high proportion of claims from Eritrea (87%) were also granted.

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

Source: Asylum claims and initial decisions - Asy_D02

Notes:

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

There were 3,694 grants of protection or other leave at initial decision to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in the year ending June 2025. 73% of UASC claims were granted leave in the year ending June 2025, higher than for non-UASC claims (47%).

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 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 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 review. 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, particularly for more recent years.

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: Estimated grant rates at initial and latest decision by year of claim1, 2, 3, 4

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 claim, and the grant rate at the latest decision is calculated from the latest outcome, as given at the point of data extraction in July 2024.

Figure 4 shows that the grant rate at the latest decision, reflecting appeals and reviews, has increased by between 15 and 29 percentage points each year from 2007 to 2020. In recent years, this gap has narrowed as there has been less time for appeals and reviews to be concluded, and many claims are still awaiting an initial decision.

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

In the year ending June 2025, 16,035 people had claims withdrawn. This was 31% less than in the previous year, in part due to a large fall in withdrawals from Albanian nationals.

However, this was still 170% more than in 2022. This increase reflects the increase in overall outcomes since 2023, but also that the proportion of cases (excluding dependants) with a withdrawn outcome at initial decision has increased in recent years. While 12% of case outcomes in the 10 years before 2022 were withdrawals, this has increased to 20% between 2022 and June 2025 (excluding administrative outcomes).

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.

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.

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

Further links:

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