Home Office · Immigration system statistics: small boat arrivals, asylum claims and NRM referrals datasets
Initial decisions on asylum claims from small boat arrivals
6,908decisions
Initial decisions on asylum claims from small boat arrivals were 6,908 decisions in 2025 Q4, down 38.3% (4,295) from 11,203 in 2024 Q4.
▼ 38.3% · −4,295 against 2024 Q4 (same quarter previous year)
- Home Office count
- 2025 Q4
- published 27 August 2026
- IER_D03
- row “all rows”
- column “Outcomes”
- cell value sum of 702 rows
The series is falling. Rule: down 38.3% from 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q4.
2018 Q2 to 2025 Q4
The chart as a table
| Period | Initial decisions on asylum claims from small boat arrivals |
|---|---|
| 2018 Q2 | 4 decisions |
| 2018 Q3 | 15 decisions |
| 2018 Q4 | 261 decisions |
| 2019 Q1 | 198 decisions |
| 2019 Q2 | 391 decisions |
| 2019 Q3 | 732 decisions |
| 2019 Q4 | 492 decisions |
| 2020 Q1 | 459 decisions |
| 2020 Q2 | 1,997 decisions |
| 2020 Q3 | 4,411 decisions |
| 2020 Q4 | 1,409 decisions |
| 2021 Q1 | 1,343 decisions |
| 2021 Q2 | 4,433 decisions |
| 2021 Q3 | 9,467 decisions |
| 2021 Q4 | 10,033 decisions |
| 2022 Q1 | 4,435 decisions |
| 2022 Q2 | 7,893 decisions |
| 2022 Q3 | 17,471 decisions |
| 2022 Q4 | 11,389 decisions |
| 2023 Q1 | 3,612 decisions |
| 2023 Q2 | 6,925 decisions |
| 2023 Q3 | 12,679 decisions |
| 2023 Q4 | 4,394 decisions |
| 2024 Q1 | 5,245 decisions |
| 2024 Q2 | 7,689 decisions |
| 2024 Q3 | 11,139 decisions |
| 2024 Q4 | 11,203 decisions |
| 2025 Q1 | 6,435 decisions |
| 2025 Q2 | 12,970 decisions |
| 2025 Q3 | 13,639 decisions |
| 2025 Q4 | 6,908 decisions |
Breakdowns
What this measures
The outcomes to date of asylum claims made by people who arrived by small boat, counted in the quarter the person arrived — a cohort table, so each quarter's figure is the number of claims from that quarter's arrivals.
What this doesn’t measure
Final outcomes after appeal, or decisions made in that quarter. Outcomes are restated at every release as claims resolve, so recent quarters show many claims still awaiting a decision.
Important caveat
Detected small boat arrivals summed from the Home Office detailed dataset; official statistics in development, not accredited official statistics. Nationality, sex and age group are as recorded at detection, and a share of recent arrivals is "Not currently recorded". Undetected arrivals are not included. 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: small boat arrivals, asylum claims and NRM referrals datasets
- Release
- Year ending June 2026, published 27 August 2026
- Source file
- ier.xlsx
- File SHA-256
- 72071ed0ce3777a2cbad25672b76ca49a526e5eeb35e7cabb3a3a67e4d9157d0
- Retrieved
- 4 September 2026
- Sheet
- Data_IER_D03
- Table
- IER_D03
- Row
- all rows
- Column
- Outcomes
- Cell value
- sum of 702 rows
- Geography
- United Kingdom
- Unit
- decisions
- API
- /api/metrics/small_boat_asylum_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– | 7,6892024 Q2 | 6,9082025 Q4 | ↓ 10.2% |
| Conservative 2019–2024 | 7322019 Q3 | 7,6892024 Q2 | ↑ 950.4% |
- Release
- Year ending June 2026 · publication page
- Last updated
- 27 August 2026
- Next scheduled release
- 26 November 2026 (official date)