Asylum claims at new record high but backlog down by more than a third

UK asylum claims reached a new record high according to the latest data which also showed a drop in the backlog of cases awaiting a decision.

A total of 110,051 people applied for asylum in the year to September 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.

This was up from the last 12-month peak of 109,142 in the year to June.

The latest figure is also 13% higher than the same point last year of 97,091, Home Office data showed.

The record level of applications comes as the backlog of people waiting for an initial decision on their claims dropped to 80,841 at the end of September.

This was a fall of more than a third (39%) year-on-year, from 133,409 people at the end of September 2024.

The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory said while the backlog in initial decisions has decreased, a new backlog is emerging in the appeals system, which has led to an increase in the numbers being temporarily housed in asylum hotels while they await the outcomes of their cases.

Senior researcher Peter Walsh said: “While the Government has managed to reduce the main asylum backlog significantly, today’s data show just how hard it is to relieve pressure on the asylum system when applications remain high, and the appeals backlog continues to grow.”

Waits for people to have decisions made on their cases have lessened, with the number of people waiting longer than 12 months almost halving, from 48,131 in September 2024 to 24,856 in September this year.

The latest figures come as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans last week to overhaul the asylum system, with the aim of deterring people coming to the country illegally and making it easier to deport people.

She told MPs it was the “uncomfortable truth” that the UK’s generous asylum offer, compared to other European countries, is drawing people to UK shores, and for British taxpayers the system “feels out of control and unfair”.

Among the plans, refugee status could also be made temporary, and subject to review every 30 months.

Refugees could also be forced to wait up to 20 years before being able to apply for permanent settlement in the country, up from five years at present.

And the Government will remove its legal duty to provide asylum seeker support, which means housing and weekly allowances will be discretionary and no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.

The reforms have been modelled on the Danish system, which is seen as one of the strictest in Europe.

Of the Government’s proposed reforms, Mr Walsh said: “The impacts of these measures are very hard to predict, and in any case it will take some time for them to work their way through the system.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the figures published on Thursday “blow apart every claim Labour have made about getting control”.

“More grants, more claims, more hotels, almost no removals of small boat immigrants. This is an asylum system in freefall under a Labour government that is too weak to get a grip,” he said.

Elsewhere, the Home Office has confirmed 153 migrants have been sent back to France under the Government’s returns deal aimed at deterring people making the dangerous journey across the English Channel.

Under the pilot scheme with France, which came into force in August, people who arrive in the UK by small boat can be detained and returned to France, in exchange for an equivalent number of people who apply through a safe and legal route.

A returns flight to France on Thursday also included the removal of a second man who tried to re-enter the UK by small boat on November 8 after being deported on October 16.

It comes after a man re-entered the UK by small boat on October 18 – a month after being removed to France – and was deported again earlier this month.

Border security minister Alex Norris said: “In this case the system worked and this individual was detected by biometrics and detained instantly. He has now been removed again, having wasted his time and money.”

Meanwhile, 134 people have arrived in the UK through the scheme’s safe route, according to the Home Office.