UK’s asylum backlog creeping up after 32% dip

The UK’s asylum backlog dropped by almost a third in a year, but started to creep up again in the spring.

Home Office figures show a total of 118,882 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2024, down by 32% from 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

But the latest total is up slightly from the 118,329 waiting to be dealt with at the end of March this year, indicating a rise in the last three months of the 12-month period.

The new data out today demonstrate how tough the new government’s inheritance is on asylum and migration

The number of asylum seekers waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 76,268 at the end of June, down 46% from the record 139,961 at the end of June 2023.

A think tank said the figures showed the backlog had “barely changed” in the last few months while ministers were “distracted” by efforts to send migrants to Rwanda in a bid to deter Channel crossings, while academics said asylum processing had stagnated.

Marley Morris, from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), said: “The new data out today demonstrate how tough the new Government’s inheritance is on asylum and migration.

“Despite the previous home secretary making progress on clearing the backlog of asylum claims last year, the backlog has barely changed in recent months as ministers were distracted by the Rwanda plan.

“The Government has done the right thing in cancelling the Rwanda deal and unblocking asylum processing, but further reform will be necessary to bring down the backlog and close down eye-wateringly expensive asylum hotels.”

Peter Walsh, senior researcher the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, said: “Until earlier this year, the Government was still working through applications that weren’t affected by the Illegal Migration Act, which meant it was able to progressively reduce the backlog.

“However, it seems that the new legislation started to bite in the spring, when the Home Office ran out of older cases to process. In theory, the previous government did have some discretion to continue to process claims (as Labour says it is now doing) but it appears to have decided not to use it.”

The figures, among a raft of immigration statistics published by the Government on Thursday, came as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised a “surge in enforcement and returns flights” to reach the highest rate of migrant removals since 2018.

Announcing the plan to crackdown on organised immigration crime earlier this week, she also said up to 100 new specialist intelligence officers would join the National Crime Agency to disrupt immigration gangs and warned the Home Office would target businesses who employed migrants who did not have the right to work in the UK.

But some campaigners reacted with dismay at the news, accusing Ms Cooper of “reheating” old messaging on immigration while academics said setting the 2018 target was “not a particularly high bar”.

The publication of separate figures, which were due to reveal the latest cost of the UK’s asylum system, were unexpectedly delayed with the Home Office saying the data was “not available for inclusion this quarter”, adding: “Work is ongoing to review the finance model used to calculate these costs and we will publish these in due course.”