Delays to processing asylum claims in the UK

The Home Office publishes data on pending asylum applications quarterly. At the end of December, there were:

166,300 people awaiting an asylum decision, of whom:

• 161,000 were awaiting an initial decision.
• 5,300 were awaiting the outcome of further review, such as an appeal.
• Of those awaiting an initial decision, 68% (110,000 people) had been waiting for more than six months and 32% (51,000 people) had been waiting six months or less.

How have asylum delays changed over time?

According to Home Office data, the total number of people awaiting an asylum decision more than doubled between 2020 and 2022, from 70,000 to 166,300.

The number of cases waiting more than six months for an initial decision has more than doubled since 2020 and increased nearly ten-fold since 2016, suggesting a growing backlog of older cases. The number of new asylum applications being made has also risen in recent years, and the speed of asylum decision-making has slowed down.

The current Home Office data series on waiting times goes back as far as 2010. It captures a snapshot of the number of people awaiting an asylum decision but only for asylum applications made from 2006 onwards.

Separate statistics in the Home Office’s Migration transparency collection suggest that asylum decision-making ‘productivity’ has been going down. There were more asylum caseworkers in post in 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 than in any previous year since these records began in 2011/12. However, the number of ‘principal stages’ being completed per year has been going down. Principal stages include substantive interviews conducted with asylum applicants and decisions made on cases.

Why are asylum delays increasing?

The Government accepts that the backlog of asylum decisions is too high. Its position is that an increased number of asylum applications, the complexity of some of the claims and declining caseworker productivity have caused the backlog.

Some stakeholders and observers suggest the increased number of people awaiting decisions is because of larger inefficiencies within the decision-making process and a lack of returns agreements.

What impact does this have on asylum seekers?

Academic researchers have highlighted the possible negative mental and physical health consequences of prolonged asylum delays, which result from inactivity and uncertainty over the status of asylum claims.

Government plans to reduce the backlog

On 13 December 2022, the Prime Minister said the Government expected to “abolish the backlog of initial asylum decisions by the end of next year”. The Home Secretary has clarified that this pledge relates to so-called ‘legacy’ cases. That is, the Government aims to clear the backlog of 92,601 asylum claims made before 28 June 2022 by the end of 2023 (PDF).

There are three components to the Government’s plans to reduce the backlog: increase the productivity of caseworker staff, hire additional caseworkers, and streamline the process for certain older applications.