Labour’s efforts to restore order to Britain’s asylum system are producing significant results, with small-boat arrivals falling, the initial decision backlog more than halving and substantially fewer people being housed in hotels.
New Home Office figures show that 33,000 people arrived by small boat in the year ending June 2026, a fall of 23 per cent compared with the previous year.
The number of people waiting for an initial asylum decision fell to 40,168 at the end of June—56 per cent lower than a year earlier and the lowest total since June 2019.
Hotel use also fell sharply. Some 16,021 supported asylum seekers were living in hotels at the end of June, half the number recorded a year earlier and 71 per cent below the September 2023 peak.
The improvements reflect faster decision-making and Labour’s determination to repair an asylum system left in chaos by the Conservatives.
Home Office officials made initial decisions in the cases of 116,000 people during the year, more than four times the annual average recorded between 2010 and 2019.
The government has also intensified its campaign against the criminal gangs that profit from dangerous Channel crossings. There were 3,900 disruptions of organised immigration crime during the year—an increase of 48 per cent.
Returns rose by eight per cent to 41,000, including a seven per cent increase in enforced returns and a nine per cent increase in voluntary departures.
The Future Governance Forum said the figures demonstrated the importance of continuing to build an asylum system that is “orderly, safe and fair”.
It called on the government to expand cooperation with France and other European partners to deter crossings, divert people from dangerous journeys and disrupt the organised criminals responsible for them.
The organisation said:
“Today’s immigration statistics show the government must deliver a progressive asylum system that is orderly, safe and fair.
“That means reducing small-boat crossings by scaling up cooperation with France and other European partners to divert and deter migrants from dangerous journeys.”
Although the figures show substantial progress, the organisation argued that the government should move faster to complete the work of clearing the asylum backlog and ending the use of hotels.
It said:
“Clearing the asylum backlog could also see the government get out of hotels in months, not years.
“This would save billions of pounds for taxpayers, which should be invested into social housing and used to boost temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, local homeless families and all vulnerable households who need it.”
There were 93,293 people receiving asylum support at the end of June, 12 per cent fewer than a year earlier. The figures also show that 86,000 people claimed asylum during the year, a fall of 21 per cent.
Labour inherited a system in which cases had been allowed to accumulate, public money was being spent on unsuitable hotel accommodation and criminal gangs were exploiting vulnerable people.
The latest figures offer evidence that the government’s practical approach—processing claims, increasing returns and pursuing closer international cooperation—is beginning to turn that situation around.
The challenge now is to maintain that momentum. Further reductions in crossings, quicker decisions and an orderly move away from hotels would save taxpayers money while ensuring that people entitled to protection receive it and those with no right to remain are returned.
A progressive asylum policy must combine compassion with control. Labour’s early progress shows that those objectives can—and must—be pursued together.
Figures verified against the Home Office’s year-ending June 2026 release and its asylum-system analysis.
