Initial decisions on asylum claims from small boat arrivals: record highs and lows
The extremes of initial decisions on asylum claims from small boat arrivals as published by Home Office, across the 31 periods held here (2018 Q2 to 2025 Q4). Each record is a published figure, not a computed one, and the scope is this series — not “ever”.
Highest published
17,4712022 Q3
Lowest published
42018 Q2
The full series
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 |
What a record here is, and is not
A record is the extreme of the periods this site holds for the current series, at each period’s newest published release. Earlier series measured under different methods are not compared against it. Money is in cash terms: a record set years ago stands against the money of its own year.