UK asylum applications surge to 20-year high, backlog reaches 175,000

author: FutureCar Staff    

According to Home Office data published on Thursday, there are currently over 175,000 people in Britain awaiting a decision on their asylum applications, marking the highest figure since records began in 2010. By the end of June this year, the asylum backlog had reached 175,457 individuals, a 44 percent increase from June 2022.

This year has also seen a two-decade high in the number of asylum applications, with 78,768 applications submitted, involving 97,390 people. This represents a 19 percent increase from the previous year. The Home Office stated that this number is higher than during the European migration crisis in 2016 and is the highest in two decades.

The most common nationality among applicants was Albanian, with 11,790 applications, followed by Afghans with 9,964 applications, double the number from the previous year.

In the year leading up to June, 71 percent of all decisions made granted refugee status or humanitarian protection, which is more than double the percentage granted before the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to clear the legacy asylum backlog, which includes applications made up until June last year, by the end of this year. However, the Home Office has only been able to clear an average of 2,061 cases per month. With 67,870 cases still remaining, the government faces the daunting task of processing over 11,000 cases every month for the rest of the year to meet its target.

Irregular immigration into Britain has also seen a significant increase this year, with 52,530 migrants detected entering the country without permission in the year ending June 2023, a 17 percent rise from the previous year. The majority of these migrants, 85 percent, arrived via small boats crossing the English Channel.

These migrants are being accommodated in hotels across the country, resulting in an estimated cost of £6 million per day to UK taxpayers. In March 2023, a total of 47,518 migrants were being housed in hotels, a number that rose to 50,546 by June, despite government pledges to reduce this figure.

According to Home Office data, the government's annual spending on asylum has nearly doubled from £2.12 billion in 2021-2022 to £3.97 billion in 2022-2023.

Conservative broadcaster Nigel Farage criticized the Tory party, stating, "The Tories have failed us all on immigration." Labour's Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock also criticized the government, highlighting the "complete chaos" in the immigration and asylum system.

Despite Labour's criticisms, the party has consistently refused to commit to reducing immigration levels if they come to power in the next general election.

FutureCar Staff