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Home Office · Immigration system statistics: asylum summary tables

Asylum backlog

Year ending June 2026 Provisional

40,168people

Asylum backlog was 40,168 people at 30 June 2026, down 55.8% (50,644) from 90,812 at 30 June 2025.

▼ 55.8% · −50,644 against Year ending June 2025 (year on year)

  1. Home Office snapshot
  2. Year ending June 2026
  3. published 27 August 2026
  4. Asy_00a
  5. row “People awaiting an initial decision”
  6. column “Year ending June 2026”
  7. cell value 40168

The series is falling. Rule: down 37.7% from 2025 to Year ending June 2026.

2010 to Year ending June 2026

Asylum backlog: 2010 to Year ending June 2026CoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour050k100k150k20102015202020252010: 7,240 people · published 27 August 20262011: 8,857 people · published 27 August 20262012: 12,816 people · published 27 August 20262013: 18,172 people · published 27 August 20262014: 22,898 people · published 27 August 20262015: 22,147 people · published 27 August 20262016: 27,857 people · published 27 August 20262017: 29,522 people · published 27 August 20262018: 35,855 people · published 27 August 20262019: 51,228 people · published 27 August 20262020: 64,895 people · published 27 August 20262021: 100,564 people · published 27 August 20262022: 160,919 people · published 27 August 20262023: 128,786 people · published 27 August 2026Year ending June 2025: 90,812 people · published 27 August 2026Year ending June 2026: 40,168 people · published 27 August 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestOne point a year is drawn; the source publishes overlapping year-ending figures, and every one is in the history table and CSVShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

Breakdowns

What this measures

The number of people (main applicants and their dependants) whose asylum claim was still awaiting an initial decision at the end of the period. This is a stock, not a flow.

What this doesn’t measure

Cases awaiting an appeal decision, people whose claim has been decided but who have not left the UK, or the number of cases (main applicants only).

Important caveat

This is a snapshot count at the end of the period (30 June for a year ending June, 31 December for a calendar year), not a total over the period. Calendar-year and year-ending values in the series are therefore snapshots six months apart. Counts include main applicants and dependants. Hotel accommodation figures are not available before 2022. Data for 2026 Q1 onwards is provisional and will be revised.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
Home Office
Publication
Immigration system statistics: asylum summary tables
Release
Year ending June 2026, published 27 August 2026
Source file
asylum-summary-jun-2026-tables.ods
File SHA-256
f935782ab90190deb04a1a86f7b6ba7515f32e238c14b96c55993f4793096d14
Retrieved
4 September 2026
Sheet
Asy_00a
Table
Asy_00a
Row
People awaiting an initial decision
Column
Year ending June 2026
Cell value
40168
Geography
United Kingdom
Unit
people
API
/api/metrics/asylum_backlog · /series · /vintages

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–128,786202340,168Year ending June 2026↓ 68.8%
Conservative 2019–202435,8552018128,7862023↑ 259.2%
Conservative 2017–201927,857201635,8552018↑ 28.7%
Conservative 2015–201722,898201427,8572016↑ 21.7%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Year ending June 2026 · publication page
Last updated
27 August 2026
Next scheduled release
26 November 2026 (official date)