Accredited official statistics

How many cases are in the UK asylum system?

Published 27 November 2025

© Crown copyright 2025

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

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Data relates to the year ending September 2025 and all comparisons are with the year ending September 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. 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 asylum cases (which excludes dependants) in the UK asylum system.

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 asylum cases are awaiting an initial decision?

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

At the end of September 2025 there were 62,171 cases (relating to 80,841 people) awaiting an initial decision, 36% less than a year prior.

Figure 1: Number of cases and people awaiting an initial decision and number of cases in the asylum system, as at 30 September 2015 to as at 30 September 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 cases awaiting an initial decision has fallen by 54% from the peak of 134,046 in June 2023. However, this remains much higher than in the period from 2010 to 2018, where the number of cases awaiting a decision grew from around 6,000 to 27,000.

Figure 2: Quarterly asylum claims, initial decisions, other outcomes, and changes in the number of cases awaiting an initial decision, July 2020 to September 20251, 2

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

Notes:

  1. Main applicants only.
  2. 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 cases awaiting an initial decision (ID WIP) is the difference between the initial decision WIP at the end of the quarter and the previous quarter.

Figure 2 shows that increase in the number of cases awaiting an initial decision (shown as a line on the chart) between June 2021 and June 2023 as a result of the increase in claims during this period (shown as bars on the top half of the chart), paired with a comparatively low number of decisions (shown as bars on the lower half of the chart). The subsequent decrease in cases awaiting an initial decision between September 2023 and June 2024, despite the number of new claims remaining high each quarter, reflects an increase in the number of initial decisions over that period.

The increase in the number of decisions in the second half of 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 of the majority of cases that had been raised prior to the Nationalities and Borders Act (2022). However, asylum claims from individuals who claimed asylum on or after 7 March 2023 were on hold under the terms of the Illegal Migration Act, until 22 July 2024, when the Home Secretary laid a statutory instrument to remove retrospective application of the Act. This lead to a reduction in the numbers of decisions in 2024.

Following this, decision making has reached a historically high level and the numbers of cases awaiting an initial decision fell 36% between September 2024 and September 2025, despite a record high number of asylum claims in this period.

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

As at the end of September 2025, just over a quarter of cases had been waiting for an initial decision for over a year, a lower proportion than in the years prior to 2024.

Figure 3: Number of cases awaiting an initial decision by duration, as at 30 September 2020 to as at 30 September 20251

Source: Asylum claims awaiting a decision – Asy_D03

Notes:

  1. Main applicants only.

Figure 3 shows that since September 2024, the number of cases awaiting an initial decision for over a year has been falling. As at 30 September 2025, 16,593 cases (27%) had been awaiting an initial decision for more than a year, lower than a year prior when 30,637 cases (32%) had been awaiting an initial decision for more than a year, and substantially lower than the peak in June 2023 when 68,209 cases (51%) had been waiting for over a year.

Since decision making resumed in July 2024 after the removal of the retrospective application of the Illegal Migration Act, the number of cases waiting over a year 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 has increased more than fourfold over the last decade, 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 and asylum-related returns, see the tribunal statistics from HMCTS and the ‘Returns summary tables’.

A breakdown of the number of cases awaiting an appeal outcome and the number awaiting removal was not available for June 2024 as at the point of data extraction. Work is ongoing and figures for future publication periods should be able to be disaggregated. However, HMCTS 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 September 2025 the number of individuals in receipt of asylum support was higher than at the end of the previous quarter and a year prior.

Figure 4: Number of people in receipt of asylum support, by the type of support, as at 30 September 2023 to as at 30 September 2025

Source: Asylum seekers in receipt of support – Asy_D09

Figure 4 shows that at the end of September 2025, there were 111,651 individuals in receipt of asylum support. This was higher than both at the end of June 2025 and a year ago (the end of September 2024). However, this was 10% 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 30 September 2025:

  • 36,273 (32%) were in hotel accommodation, 2% higher than at the end of September 2024, but 35% lower than the peak of 56,018 at the end of September 2023
  • 71,812 (64%) were in other accommodation, including initial, contingency and dispersal accommodation, 2% higher than at the end of September 2024
  • 3,566 (3%) were in receipt of subsistence support only, 25% higher than at the end of September 2024

As at the end of September 2025, 4% (4,627) of people claiming asylum support were doing so under Section 4. This is available when an asylum application has been finally determined as refused, but the applicant is destitute and there are reasons that temporarily prevent them from leaving the UK. The remaining 96% (107,024) of people claiming asylum support were doing so under either Section 95 or Section 98, where the vast majority are awaiting a decision on either an asylum claim or an appeal.

At the end of September 2025, there were 64,223 single applicants and 47,428 members of family groups (relating to 14,186 families) on support.

At the end of September 2025, almost 9 in 10 (89%) of supported asylum seekers were located in England. The North West region had 19% of the total supported population (21,684 people), followed by London with 16% (18,127 people).

The North West and North East regions supported the largest number of asylum seekers as a proportion of their overall population (28 and 26 people per 10,000 residents respectively) .

Statistics on the number of supported asylum seekers in each local authority is published quarterly in table Asy_D11 – Asylum seekers in receipt of support by local authority. Of individual local authorities, Glasgow City was accommodating the highest number of asylum seekers (3,777), followed by Birmingham (2,832), Liverpool (2,358), Hillingdon (2,345) and Manchester (2,108).

Figure 5: Supported asylum seekers, by local authority as at 30 September 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 2025

Notes:

  1. Includes main applicants and dependants.
  2. Figures are 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, people will have come to the UK on safe and legal (humanitarian) routes and will be accommodated in local authorities. 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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