Number of asylum seekers awaiting appeal up by nearly 500% in two years
17 March 2025, 09:05
The number of rejected asylum seekers waiting for an appeal decision against their claims has skyrocketed by nearly 500 per cent in the last two years.
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By the end of 2024, 41,987 failed asylum seekers were awaiting a fresh decision on their case after initially having it rejected, Home Office data shows.
This ever-increasing backlog is preventing ministers from cutting down the number of refugees and failed asylum seekers living in hotels across the country.
In response, ministers look set to introduce a new 24-week mandatory legal deadline for asylum appeals to be heard.
This would mean doubling the rate at which appeals are heard in immigration and asylum tribunal courts.
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According to a report by the Times, the Home Office blames this backlog on its failure to cut down the use of asylum hotels, with the number of people living in them up by 8,000 since Labour took office.
Failing to address this backlog could cost the taxpayer nearly £ 1.5 billion this year alone, the Refugee Council has forecast.
To pay for the increase of lawyers required to cut down the backlog, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will reportedly introduce an extra £20 million of legal aid, increasing fees in the process.
The Home Office believes this increase in fees should convince more lawyers to take on asylum appeal cases.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, told the Times: “We welcome the government’s continued attempt to remedy a broken asylum system, but more needs to be done to ensure right first-time decision making, so a new growing backlog is not created in a different part of the system.
“For too long billions of pounds have been wasted on appallingly run contracts with private companies that cream off vast profits.
“There needs to be a clear plan to stopping the use of hotels by the end of this year and to reform the asylum accommodation system so local authorities can house people in communities with the support they need.”
A government spokesman said: “The asylum system we inherited was not fit for purpose, which is why we are taking urgent action to restart asylum processing and clear the backlog of cases, which will save the taxpayer an estimated £4 billion over the next two years, and we remain determined to end the use of asylum hotels over time to cut the unacceptably high costs of asylum accommodation.
“This is already evident, as the number of people receiving initial decisions between October and December last year doubled.
"We are also undertaking annual recruitment of approximately 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all jurisdictions, and allocating funding for thousands of more sitting days in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber to streamline asylum claims and improve productivity.”
