A quick look at some of the Home Office’s latest statistics on asylum applications, grants and resettlement.
Asylum applications
The Home Office published their latest statistics today, showing that there have been fewer asylum applications in 2020 compared to last year.
- There were 31,752 asylum applications in the UK in the year ending September 2020, an 8% decrease from the previous year.
Asylum grants
Fewer people have been granted asylum in 2020 than the year before. It is important to note here that substantive interviews were paused as a result of the pandemic between March and July.
- There were 8,908 grants of asylum, down 23% compared with the previous year.
- The nationalities who received the most positive grants were Iranian (1,699), Eritrean (1,063), Sudanese (1,056), and Afghan (682) nationals.
However, almost half of initial decisions made on asylum applications were positive, and the success rate of appeals is also increasing on previous years.
- 49% of people who received decisions on their asylum claim were granted asylum, humanitarian protection or alternative forms of leave (such as discretionary leave or UASC leave)
- 44% of appeals were granted this year.
Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the asylum system this year, which already faced a huge backlog even before the pandemic.
- 60,548 people are awaiting an initial decision on their asylum claim. The majority (76%) have now been waiting for a decision for over 6 months.
Find out more about changes to the asylum system as a result of the pandemic.
Resettlement
Resettlement to the UK has still not restarted, despite flights for holidays and removals being operational again for months. The Home Office must commit to restarting and extending their resettlement scheme immediately.
- Prior to March 2020, 4,440 people were resettled to the UK this year. These figures include 168 people resettled through Community Sponsorship.
Full report
