Asylum backlog at over 120,000 despite record number of refugees granted protection

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More than 120,000 folks have been nonetheless ready on a choice on their asylum declare at the top of December final 12 months, despite a record number of refugees being granted protection in 2023, authorities figures present.

Some 3,902 asylum purposes have been caught within the so-called “legacy” backlog, for claims made earlier than July 2022. Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly claimed to have cleared the legacy backlog in January this 12 months, however have been accused of propagating a “barefaced lie” by Labour’s shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock.

The general asylum backlog of 128,786 folks was down 20 per cent from 160,919 in 2022. The Home Office have been working to convey down the number of asylum claims, leading to a record number of selections to grant asylum being made in 2023.

Some 62,336 folks have been granted refugee standing or different protection following an asylum declare final 12 months – the best number since information started in 1984.

Despite a major number of asylum grants, the general number of claims dropped by 17 per cent final 12 months in comparison with 2022.

There was a big enhance within the number of asylum claims that have been withdrawn in 2023, with 25,583 withdrawn final 12 months in comparison with 5,944 in 2022.

Politicians have raised issues that purposes could be withdrawn by the Home Office with out the asylum seeker’s consent. Civil servants have beforehand admitted to MPs that they don’t know the place hundreds of these asylum seekers are, as soon as their claims are taken out of the system.

Small boat arrivals have been additionally down 36 per cent in comparison with 2022. This was pushed by the number of Albanian nationals approaching small boats reducing considerably, with 924 in 2023 in comparison with 12,658 in 2022.

The UK made a cope with Albania in December 2022, creating a brand new system to deal with Albanian asylum instances and with the goal to chop the number of folks making the journey to the UK.

Bad climate within the later half of the 12 months additionally hampered Channel crossings, the Home Office admitted.

Labour’s shadow house secretary, Yvette Cooper, slammed the federal government for figures displaying that just about 46,000 individuals are nonetheless caught in asylum accommodations.

“The Tories’ failure to clear the backlog and return small boats arrivals has blown a £4bn hole in the Home Office budget, paid at taxpayers’ expense. Meanwhile, work visas are soaring due to their failure to train people here in the UK,” she mentioned.

Figures launched by the Home Office on Thursday additionally confirmed that there had been an increase in folks coming to the UK on work visas. The number of work visas granted in 2023 was virtually two and a half occasions larger than pre-pandemic ranges.

This was primarily pushed by an enormous surge in grants of expert well being and social care visas, which had virtually doubled year-on-year to 146,477. Out of this some 89,236 care employee visas had been granted final 12 months.

Dr Ben Brindle, analysis at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, mentioned that the social care visa route was “attractive to many overseas workers”. He added: “It offers a more accessible route to living in the UK than other sectors, where it can be harder to find jobs that qualify for visas”.

Dr Peter William Walsh, at the Observatory, added: “Most of the decline in small boat arrival results from the sharp fall in Albanian arrivals. This makes it rather uncertain whether the decline will continue, since the factors that reduced Albanian citizens’ arrivals may not deter people from other countries to the same degree. For example, the top nationality crossing the channel in 2023 was Afghans, most of whom qualify for refugee status.”

Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, mentioned: “Despite the work to reduce the backlog, there are still over 128,000 men, women and children stuck in limbo waiting for a decision.”

He added that the federal government’s Illegal Migration Act and Rwanda plan have been placing tens of hundreds of asylum seekers into a brand new everlasting backlog, the place their instances have been paused.

A Home Office spokesperson mentioned: “We are making progress to stop the boats and last year the UK bucked the trend by reducing illegal migration and made significant steps in tackling abuse of our asylum system.

“Channel crossings were down by more than a third, we cleared the legacy asylum backlog, enforced returns were up by 66 per cent and we returned 50 hotels back to their communities.

“We will pass our Rwanda Bill so that those who enter the UK illegally can be quickly removed to a safe third country. Only by removing the prospect that illegal migrants can settle in the UK can we control our borders and save lives at sea.”