Asylum backlog hits record 70k: Soaring number of cases awaiting a decision sends figure to a new high... despite a fall in applicants

  • There has been a surge in illegal immigration to the UK via the English Channel
  • Critics have described the Home Office’s asylum system as not fit for purpose 
  • More than 70,000 are awaiting decision on whether they can start new life in UK

The UK’s asylum backlog has soared to record levels despite a fall in applicants, official figures have revealed.

More than 70,000 are awaiting a decision on whether they can start a new life in the UK amid accusations that the Home Office’s system is failing.

The number left waiting for a decision on their future has increased by 73 per cent in the past two years.

More than 70,000 are awaiting a decision on whether they can start a new life in the UK amid accusations that the Home Office’s system is failing. Migrants are seen off Dover last month

More than 70,000 are awaiting a decision on whether they can start a new life in the UK amid accusations that the Home Office’s system is failing. Migrants are seen off Dover last month

The Home Office data shows there are 56,617 cases relating to 70,905 people – including 3,064 citizens of Afghanistan – still to be resolved, over nine times the level a decade ago.

The backlog comes despite a 4 per cent drop in the number claiming asylum here over the past year.

Although there has been a surge in illegal immigration to the UK via the Channel, asylum cases have been falling since the European migration crisis in 2015 and 2016.

Critics have described the Home Office’s asylum system as not fit for purpose, while the High Court ruled earlier this year that asylum-seekers were being kept in poor conditions at an army barracks.

The Home Office data shows there are 56,617 cases relating to 70,905 people – including 3,064 citizens of Afghanistan – still to be resolved, over nine times the level a decade ago

The Home Office data shows there are 56,617 cases relating to 70,905 people – including 3,064 citizens of Afghanistan – still to be resolved, over nine times the level a decade ago

Dr Peter William Walsh, of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: ‘Some of the recent increases in the backlog took place during the pandemic, but actually this is a much longer-term trend. A key driver is that the share of people receiving a decision within six months has fallen dramatically over the past decade.’ 

Figures show that 511 Afghan nationals were offered protection in the UK in the 12 months to June 2021 through asylum, resettlement and other types of leave. 

This is down from 942 in the previous 12 months.

The number of refugees and asylum seekers resettled in the UK also plummeted in the past year, with only 661 granted protection, down 81 per cent on the previous year.

The resettlement system was shut down due to the pandemic but in the second quarter of this year only 308 refugees were resettled, compared with an average of more than 1,400 between 2016 and 2019.

Meanwhile, an overhaul of immigration rules post-Brexit has led to a boom in the number of EU nationals seeking UK citizenship.

More than a third of applications to obtain UK citizenship now come from nationals of the bloc’s 27 remaining member states.

Applications from EU nationals rose by 83 per cent in the past year to 74,384. In the 12 months to June there were 200,177 applications for British citizenship, up 35 per cent compared to the previous year.

Since March 2019, EU nationals in the UK, and their family, have been able to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living here.

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