Home Office · Immigration system statistics: asylum summary tables

Initial decisions on asylum claims

Year ending June 2026 Provisional

115,872people

Initial decisions on asylum claims were 115,872 people in the year ending June 2026, up 2.4% (2,665) from 113,207 in the year ending June 2025.

▲ 2.4% · +2,665 against Year ending June 2025 (year on year)

Home Office count
Year ending June 2026
published 27 August 2026
Asy_00a
row “People receiving initial decisions”
column “Year ending June 2026”
cell value 115872

The latest year is the largest fall in the published series: down 19,868 from 2025 to Year ending June 2026. Rule: largest year-on-year decrease across the 17 year-on-year changes the series supports.

2010 to Year ending June 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

Asylum case outcomes by outcome group

What this measures

The number of people (main applicants and their dependants) who received an initial decision on their asylum claim in a 12-month period, whether a grant, a refusal or a withdrawal.

People often confuse this with

Asylum application ≠ Grant of asylumAn application is a claim lodged; a grant is a decision to give protection or other leave. Decisions are made on claims lodged months or years earlier, so applications and grants in the same year describe different people.

Small boat arrival ≠ Asylum decisionSmall boat arrivals are people detected crossing the Channel. Almost all claim asylum, but an arrival is not a claim, a claim is not a decision, and a decision is not a grant. The Home Office publishes each stage separately.

What this doesn’t measure

Appeal decisions, or the final outcome of claims after appeal.

Important caveat

Asylum figures count people (main applicants and their dependants) rather than cases. Data for 2026 Q1 onwards is provisional and will be revised in a future publication, so the latest year-ending figure can change. Initial decisions in a period relate to claims made in earlier periods, so decisions and claims for the same period should not be compared directly.

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 receiving initial decisions
Column: Year ending June 2026
Cell value: 115872
Geography: United Kingdom
Unit: people
API: /api/metrics/asylum_initial_decisions · /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–	91,5562023	115,872Year ending June 2026	↑ 26.6%
Conservative 2019–2024	28,9692018	91,5562023	↑ 216.0%
Conservative 2017–2019	31,0112016	28,9692018	↓ 6.6%
Conservative 2015–2017	25,8832014	31,0112016	↑ 19.8%

Full comparison with chart

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