EXPOSED: Since Sir Keir, there are 2,760 more asylum seekers in hotels

Nearly 50% of all asylum seekers have been granted asylum

The number of asylum seekers has risen by 17.4% in the year to 31 March

A special 3-part report with Facts4EU’s famous ‘at-a-glance charts’,
showing just how soft a touch the UK really is

In all the talk about the migrant crisis, it can be easy for some parts of the media to forget to give the public the basic facts on important aspects of it. In this special three-part series for GB News, the Stand for our Sovereignty campaign team with support from the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank has gone on a deep-dive through the hundreds of spreadsheets held by the Home Office containing data of all kinds about the single topic of asylum, in order to bring the full picture to light for readers.

We asked ourselves some simple questions about asylum in the UK, and when we couldn’t immediately find the answers we set about uncovering and analysing the figures, to bring readers the information in the form of simple charts, maps, and tables.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The questions we set out to answer in Part I

[The latest time period available for all these answers was the year ending March 2025]

1. Total asylum applications from all sources of migrants

1.1 Trend over past 10 years

The first and starkest observation to make is the total number of individuals claiming asylum in the UK has more than trebled in the last 10 years. In 2014, 32,344 applications were made but in 2024 this had risen to 108,138. This has risen more than 3.3 times.

Comparing the latest data at the end of March 2025 to the end of March only one year earlier, we find the total number of people claiming asylum to be as follows:

Mar 2024 : 93,150
Mar 2025 : 109,343 (+17.4%)

1.2 Proportion of claims granted at initial decision

Year ending Mar 2025

People receiving initial decisions : 94,135
Grants at initial decision : 45,891 (48.75%)
Refusals at initial decision : 48,244 (51.25%)

Broadly speaking, asylum seekers have a roughly 50% chance of their claim being granted.

1.3 The chances of being successful at appeal against refusal

For reasons best known to the Home Office, the last data they are able to provide on appeals is at the end of 2022. At that time there was a 51.5% chance of an appeal being successful.

2. Asylum seekers and the support they receive

2.1 Accommodation or subsistence only

Accommodation and subsistence : 103,684 (97.1%)
Subsistence only : 3,087 (2.9%)
Grand Total : 106,771

2.2 Hotels and other accommodation

Various accommodation options (non-hotel) : 71,339
Staying in hotels : 32,345 (31.2%)

2.3 Asylum seekers in hotels since Sir Keir came to power

30 Jun 2024 : 29,585
30 Sep 2024 : 35,651
31 Dec 2024 : 38,079
31 Mar 2025 : 32,345 (increase of 2,760 extra migrants in hotels since Labour came to power)

It seems highly likely, given the number of extra illegal migrants who have arrived since 31 March, that the number being housed in hotels is now significantly higher, but we will not know by how many until the Home Office publishes its data up to the end of June.

At the time of writing this report is the top news item on GB News. Our work matters and it gets out there. Sadly, only a very few out of our thousands of readers make any donation to keep us going. We are therefore having to make plans to cut back. If you want us to be equipped for the fight ahead, please donate right now.

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Independent report after independent report criticises the Home Office

In assembling this series on asylum, it rapidly becomes clear that the problems we have had for years in analysing Home Office data are not confined to us. The sheer number of spreadsheets in existence are surprising and all-in-all it suggests a lack of control. This is borne out by the latest independent government Inspector's report.

Last October the first report from the new ‘Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’ (ICIBI) was finally published. As usual the publication was delayed for many months by the Home Office.

The new Chief Inspector’s report is only slightly less damning than his predecessor’s. In short, the new Chief Inspector had very little positive to say about the Home Office’s management of the migrant crisis affecting the whole country.

Some excerpts from the 115-page report

“In most cases, the underlying issues, such as poor or non-existent data, are not unique to contingency asylum accommodation and have featured in many previous inspection reports. In the case of assurance checks, previous recommendations have not been implemented. Aside from not holding the accommodation providers effectively to account, this means that “service users” have widely differing experiences of contingency asylum accommodation."

Value for money for the taxpayer is still a dream

Most readers will be aware that millions of pounds from Rachel Reeves’ budget had to be devoted to paying for the migrant crisis. It should therefore be of interest when the new Independent Chief Inspector of Immigration and Borders comments on the ‘value for money’ being achieved for the taxpayer.

“Key findings - The costs of ‘large sites’ versus hotels

“In March 2024, the National Audit Office (NAO) published the report of its investigation into asylum accommodation, which concluded that the Home Office had made progress in its plan to reduce the use of hotels but, in rapidly progressing its plans to establish large sites, had incurred nugatory spending and increased risk, and that, collectively, the early sites (Wethersfield and the Bibby Stockholm) would cost more than the alternative of using hotels. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s (ICIBI’s) findings are entirely in line with this.
“The NAO and the Public Accounts Committee have queried the Home Office’s understanding of the potential costs and value for money (vfm) of large sites. The Home Office had sought to compare the vfm of the large sites and vessels and hotels using ‘per-person-per-night’ costs over the life of the site. However, the per-person-per-night calculations were seriously impacted by fluctuating hotel costs and by the lower-than-anticipated capacity and occupancy at Wethersfield and the Bibby Stockholm barge, due to a number of operational challenges.
“Some of these were outside the Home Office’s ability to predict or control; others could and should have been foreseen. But a combination of the ministerial requirement to deliver at pace, the absence of effective oversight, and the lack of a clear vision and strategy for asylum accommodation meant that the Home Office did not consider fully the risks and consequences involved in establishing large sites and vessels.”

- Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Oct 2024

Observations

Coming up in Part II - And not to be missed!

The above is Part I of a 3-part series on asylum in the UK. In Part II coming up next Thursday, we look at asylum in relation to small boat migrants. This will also be covered by GB News. At the time of writing, their article on Part I is their top news item today (Thursday).

Whilst illegal boat migrants may represent a relatively small part of the overall immigration crisis, they form an important part. Firstly, they have all entered the country illegally and have chosen not to apply for asylum in the normal way. Secondly, there are major concerns about just who these people are, and this brings a serious security risk into the whole equation.

We will therefore provide all the latest facts and figures to readers, to inform the debate.

Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today. Thank you.

[ Sources: The Home Office ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 07 Aug 2025

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Reader Comments 25

11. Sparky , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 12:03:

4 G. 22-23 is hardly a change.
.
5 NH. Estimates for size of the Taliban Army vary wildly, even up to 200,000. In June 21 a US Inteligence report estimated that the Afghan forces would last 6 months, it last until August 21. The Doha Accord was negotiated with the Taliban, the Afghan Govt was not involved, the US knew they were going to leave the country in chaos. The 300,000 of the Afghan Army are probably the ones trying to cross the channel.
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MrS 3 and 6. I agree with both your posts. Leaving the EU has done nothing to solve immigration, legal or illegal. Denmark and actions by Germany show it was unecesssary to leave even though it was the deciding factor, see YouGov Tracker, "most important issues facing the country".

12. Mr Sceptic , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 12:16:

10 NH
Denmark is reshaping the anti-immigration policies within the EU … not the other way around.

13. Ashley Great Britain , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 13:33:

Mr Sceptic 6,12.
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Yes Denmark proves that you can do something while being in the EU, that's because they finally have some political will to do so. They will pay for it in the long run. They will be viewed very negatively by the commision and other EU states and face hefty fines.
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The conservatives and Labour have no political will to prevent migration into the UK, they didn't have it while EU members and they certainly don't have it now. They have the power and means to prevent illegal migration, and vastly reduce legal too but they actually want the people to come. We have no idea why the UK gov thinks importing people who won't work or pay tax, claim benefits and generally detest the nation is a great thing.
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Did we all forget the illegal boats in 2014/15 what about the poor boy who drowned on the beach! One of the very few children and women making the crossing then.
Now it's well over 90% male.
This has been going on for over 10 years.

14. Gazzablack , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 13:57:

11, sparkless
.
And a rise in asylum claims starting in 2018 hardly equates to a rise in asylum claims starting in 2022.
.
And I just pointed out that in the year that you claimed asylum claims started to climb, asylum claims actually dipped.
.
It may have only have been a blip, but it doesn't equate to "starting to increase".
.

15. NH , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 14:45:

12. Sceptic
Denmark is trying to get national democratic control of migrant flows, they started 3 years ago. A Sovereign Nation has that right already.
.
11. Sp
We tried to help Afghanistan and they did not take that help and abused the system. Afghan nationals have constantly been the second largest group of Asylum claimants in the EU. If there was no EU we would not have a problem. We can solve that problem by becoming a Sovereign Self Governing Nation which is what most people in the UK want.

16. Sparky , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 14:46:

14 G. Now you're just being deliberately doltish. The graph above clearly shows asylum claims in 22, 23 and 24 around the 100k level whilst in 18 and the years around then, the claims are around 40k. So what occurred around 2021 that could have caused the increase from around 40k to around 100k?
.
That would be the Doha Accord, signed in Feb 2020 under the Trump Administration, enacted in 2021 under the Biden Administration.

17. Sparky , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 15:22:

Frontex produce stats on migration routes into Europe. 326,000 in 2022, 380,000 in 2023 then a drop to 238,000 up to Dec 2024. is this the beginning of a decline, have he most determined have already made their way leaving stragglers.

18. Mr Sceptic , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 15:40:

15 NH. Denmark has control over its immigration.
Ashley said in his post ‘Denmark proves that you can do something while being in the EU.’I fully concur.
But Denmark will not be viewed negatively by the commission and other EU states or face hefty fines.
On the contrary, at least 15 other EU countries are openly supportive of Denmarks immigration policy.
It is not about being ‘sovereign’, NH … it is about ‘having the political will’.
Denmark is in the EU and has the political will.
And other EU countries are now also starting to follow Denmarks lead (the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy, Hungary, the Baltic states, Belgium).

19. WesternMuppet , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 16:19:

16 Sparky. Don’t worry, Gazzablack is frequently in error but never in doubt.

20. Have You Wondered , Thursday, August 07, 2025, 16:23:

The EU have already in effect withdrawn from the ECHR !! Take a good look at the EU. France, Belgium, Germany ,Poland, Hungary ,Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, Italy and recently Greece have all used a suspension of Schengen (the free movement of people - the EU Holy Grail) to patrol their borders, instead of using the ECHR ARTICLE 15 Derogation in time of emergency and the 1951 Refugee Convention article 9 "...in the interest of essential national security" , for which they would be crticised profoundly.
.
So why is the UK allowing this invasion?
.
As for the UK - this is beyond incompetence - this is deliberate. Why? There are 7 pieces of international regulation (I'll post on request) "European Union Legal Obligations to Detain Unsafe migrant Craft" along with a remedy within the ECHR Art.15 and 1951 Refugee Convention Art. 9 "...in the interest of essential national security" that the UK and EU choose to ignore.
.
This crisis is being orchestrated - it's deliberate.
.

25 comments, page 2 of 3

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