UK: Latest immigration figures reveal 'disgraceful' asylum backlog

New Home Office quarterly immigration statistics show record number of unresolved asylum cases, with 175,000 people currently waiting for the Home Office to decide asylum claims

Draconian asylum policies set to add to mounting case backlog, with new law preventing new claims from being processed 

‘New asylum laws are being introduced to actually prevent the processing of claims altogether, which will make this backlog, its cost and the limbo it imposes on people even worse’ - Steve Valdez-Symonds

Amnesty International has denounced the Government’s “utterly disgraceful” policy that continues to enlarge the backlog of unresolved asylum claims, as revealed in the Government’s latest quarterly immigration statistics.

New Home Office figures show that a total of 175,457 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June, up 44% from 122,213 at the end of June 2022 and the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 139,961 at the end of June, up 57% year-on-year from 89,231 and another record high.

The figures show that over 71,000 Afghan, Eritrean, Iranian, Iraqi, Yemeni, Sudanese and Syrian people fleeing conflict and persecution are currently waiting for the Home Office to decide their asylum claim. There are also over 1,000 Ukrainian nationals in the asylum system waiting for a decision.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said:

“These figures show the huge asylum backlog – created by the Government’s decision to refuse to process tens of thousands of people’s claims – has yet again grown. 

“It is utterly disgraceful that new asylum laws are being introduced to actually prevent the processing of claims altogether, which will make this backlog, its cost and the limbo it imposes on people even worse. 

“Repression and conflict in places like Afghanistan, Iran and Sudan aren’t easing, and the UK’s contribution to protecting victims is meagre compared to our EU neighbours, let alone many far poorer countries elsewhere.

“Ministers pretend to care about exploitation by people smugglers and deaths at sea, but it is ministers who allow smugglers to thrive because of their refusal to set up safe, official routes for people to seek asylum.

“Punishing the victims of all of this needs to stop – people’s claims must instead be processed fairly and efficiently, and if unsafe journeys are to be reduced then safe routes must be established.”