Annual asylum bill surges past £2billion as claims hit 20-year high... with the number receiving handouts up by 37% in just three months

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The cost of Britain’s asylum system has surged past £2billion a year for the first time amid soaring numbers of arrivals.

Spending has rocketed as the number of asylum seekers receiving taxpayer-funded support climbed past 100,000, official figures showed.

There were 116,109 getting handouts at the end of June, up by more than 31,000 or 37 per cent in just three months.

Home Office spending on asylum jumped by 56 per cent year-on-year– £756million – to £2.1billion in 2021-22.

The money mainly covers accommodation and subsistence costs for an ever growing backlog of cases, as well as other associated costs, which were unspecified.

It came as asylum claims soared to the highest figure for nearly 20 years, driven by a massive surge in small boat migrants crossing the Channel, new data showed. 

The cost of Britain’s asylum system has surged past £2billion a year for the first time amid soaring numbers of arrivals as the number of asylum seekers receiving taxpayer-funded support climbed past 100,000 (stock image of Home Secretary Priti Patel)

There was a ‘very sharp rise’ to 63,089 in the year to June, officials said. The claims covered a total of 75,181 individuals, including dependants such as children.

It was double the previous year’s total and the highest since the peak of the Tony Blair-era asylum crisis in 2003.

Despite moves to hire extra caseworkers and cut red tape, the surge in cases meant officials ‘can’t keep up’, sources said.

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK which campaigns for tougher border controls, said: ‘It’s all too clear that our system lends itself to exploitation and gaming.

‘It takes months, if not years, to process asylum claims while claimants are accommodated and given spending money. This in the knowledge that they will almost certainly never be removed, which encourages more to come.

‘It’s a vicious and costly circle that both the Government and aspiring PMs have shown little sign of being able to solve.’

Since the start of 2018, at least 111,000 migrants have been detected reaching the UK illegally. 

Since the start of 2018, at least 111,000 migrants have been detected reaching the UK illegally (stock image of possible migrants crossing the Channel)

Between January 2018 and June this year, 100,572 arrived by small boat, hidden in lorries or by air without proper documentation, yesterday’s data showed.

And since then, there have a further 10,000 small boat arrivals. Channel migrants are arriving ‘well schooled and briefed’ in how to bring a successful claim.

Traffickers are placing growing numbers of migrants aboard unseaworthy dinghies, said insiders, and are even offering discounts for children and the disabled. 

They added that it was ‘remarkable’ that there has not been a repeat of the tragedy last November in which 27 men, women and children drowned when a dinghy capsized.

Meanwhile, a huge asylum backlog has grown even larger to 166,000 cases, including just under 118,000 still awaiting an initial decision by the Home Office.

Among cases that have been finalised, the UK is granting protection to the highest number of asylum seekers for more than 30 years, reflecting growing instability in parts of the world.

Initial decisions by the Home Office saw 76 per cent of asylum seekers granted refugee status or another form of humanitarian protection during the year. 

The figures were far lower for migrants who arrived by small boat across the Channel, however.

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK which campaigns for tougher border controls, said: ‘It’s all too clear that our system lends itself to exploitation and gaming'

Between the start of 2018 and the end of June this year there were more than 47,000 asylum claims lodged by small boat arrivals.

But the Home Office has only completed 6,910 of those claims – of whom 49 per cent, or 3,378, were granted leave to remain.

The number of ‘enforced removals’ – including foreign criminals – was 3,231 in the year to June, up on the previous year but still only a fifth of peak levels seen in 2012.

Enver Solomon of charity the Refugee Council, said: ‘We are living through a time of terrible global conflicts which is seeing many people in need of protection.’

Minister for illegal migration, Simon Baynes, said: ‘Our new plan for immigration, including our partnership with Rwanda, will, crack down on those who enter illegally and allow us to support those in genuine need.’