Accredited official statistics

How many people are granted asylum in the UK?

Published 22 May 2025

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

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2025’ content page.

Data relates to the year ending March 2025 and all comparisons are with the year ending March 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.

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 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 March 2025’).

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

In the year ending March 2025, 45,084 people were granted refugee protection or other leave at initial decision, 35% fewer than in the previous year. This is due to fewer initial decisions (grants of protection or other leave, and refusals) being made across the year, combined with a lower grant rate.

Figure 1: Number of people granted or refused protection at initial decision following an asylum claim in the UK, 2015 Q2 (April to June) to 2025 Q1 (January to March)1

Source: Asylum claims and initial decisions – Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. Includes main applicants and dependants.

Figure 1 shows that both the number of grants and refusals peaked at the end of 2023 as part of efforts from the previous government to clear the backlog of claims.

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 both grants and refusals rose substantially: in the last 6 months (October 2024 to March 2025) the number of people receiving an initial decision (65,853) was more than double than in the previous 6 months (April to September 2024).

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

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

Just under half (49%) of claims (excluding dependants) which received an initial decision in the year ending March 2025 were granted, lower than the grant rate of 61% in the previous year.

This decrease 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 considered under a higher standard of proof. This may have resulted in fewer cases meeting the requirements for a grant of protection status.

The average grant rate between 2001 and 2018 was 29%, with the highest grant rate in this period being 41% in 2014.

Figure 2: Asylum grant rate at initial decision, year ending March 2002 to March 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 vary considerably across nationalities. Figure 3 shows that almost all claims from Sudan (99%) and Syria (98%) were granted at initial decision in the year ending March 2025, and a high proportion of claims from Eritrea (86%) were also granted. In contrast, less than 1% of claims from India that received an initial decision in the latest year were 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 March 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 March 2025.
  2. The number of people receiving initial decisions includes main applicants and dependants. The grant rate includes main applicants only.

There were 3,360 grants of protection or other leave at initial decision to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in the year ending March 2025. 74% of UASC claims were granted leave in the year ending March 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 the ‘Asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation 2023’ release.

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

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 year ending March 2025, 15,381 people had claims withdrawn, of which 77% were implicit withdrawals. The total number of withdrawals was 42% less than in the previous year, in part due to a large fall in withdrawals from Albanian nationals.

However, this still remains more than double (+159%) the number of withdrawals in 2022. This increase reflects the overall increase in outcomes since 2023, but also that the proportion of cases with a withdrawn outcome has increased in recent years. While 12% of initial case outcomes in the 10 years before 2022 were withdrawals, this has increased to 21% between 2022 and March 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 March 2025, 131 people were declared inadmissible and 33 people were removed from the UK.

The 33 returns were made to European nations - Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

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

Further links:

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