Asylum appeal backlog doubles in a year, Home Office statistics show

The backlog of people awaiting asylum appeals after having their initial application turned down has nearly doubled in a year, threatening to undermine a key pledge of Keir Starmer’s government.Home Office statistics released on Thursday show more than 80,000 cases were waiting to be reassessed at the end of 2025 – a 91% increase on a year before. The backlog significantly outnumbers the number of people waiting for their initial decision, which was 64,000 at the end of December 2025.The prime minister has promised to close so-called asylum hotels – hotels hired by the Home Office to house asylum seekers – by 2029 or sooner. People awaiting an appeal are not liable for removal and are housed by the Home Office if they are destitute, often in “contingency accommodation” – which in recent years has largely been hotels.Average time for an appeal to be heard is now up to 63 weeks. Most of those awaiting their appeal are being housed in Home Office accommodation such as hotels.The figures show that two-thirds of appeals result in the initial asylum refusal being overturned, either because of the tribunal ruling or because the Home Office withdraws its refusal.About 31,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels at the end of December – approximately 5,000 fewer than at the end of September 2025, but still 1,000 more than when Starmer took office.Imran Hussain, the director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said: “These figures demonstrate what has been obvious for a long time – poor-quality decision-making by the Home Office is forcing people into an appeals process, meaning that it can take years to reach the correct decision.“In our frontline work, we see so many men, women, and children whose hopes for safety rest on their asylum applications, but they are often met with flawed decisions that don’t address the facts of their situation. While they wait for an appeal, many are stuck in asylum accommodation, unable to work or rebuild their lives, at huge cost to the public purse.”The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has announced a number of new policies over the past few weeks seeking to reduce the number of people housed by the Home Office as they await the outcome of their asylum claims.They include paying rejected refugees up to £10,000 each to leave and giving refugees only temporary status, which is reviewed every 30 months.Some other proposed changes would need to be passed into law after full parliamentary scrutiny, and are therefore unlikely to come into force until later this year. They includes doubling the time it takes most migrants to gain permanent residency rights in the UK, from five to 10 years. In the case of refugees, it could take 20 years.The Home Office has been approached for comment.