Four in 10 asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected remain in Britain, costing taxpayers billions of pounds each year, according to a damning new report by the National Audit Office (NAO). The public spending watchdog said the UK still lacks a “realistic approach” for dealing with the significant number of cases where it is not possible to remove people whose claims have been refused.
The NAO warned that long-standing structural weaknesses, inconsistent policy interventions and chronic backlogs have left the asylum system under “severe strain”, with rising costs and declining efficiency despite multiple rounds of government reform.
According to the watchdog, overall spending on asylum seekers reached £4.9 billion in 2024–25, including £3.4 billion for accommodation and support. Of that figure, £2.1 billion was spent on hotels alone—despite repeated ministerial pledges to end their use.
A Home Office graphic published this year shows that the number of asylum seekers in hotels peaked at around 55,000 in 2024 before falling to just over 30,000 by mid-2025. However, auditors say reductions in hotel use have been partly offset by a growing backlog elsewhere in the system.
Rampant Backlogs and Unresolved Cases
The NAO examined a sample of 5,000 asylum seekers who made initial claims in January 2023. Of this group, 41% had their claims refused but had not been removed from the UK nearly three years later. Only 9% of refused applicants had been successfully removed.
More than 56% of all cases from the sample remain unresolved, with 25% awaiting appeal decisions and another 3% seeking to make further submissions. The NAO said this exposes deep weaknesses in processing, follow-up enforcement, and cross-government coordination.
Reasons individuals could not be removed include: Lack of reliable identity documents, non-compliance by foreign governments, legal or humanitarian barriers preventing removal, ongoing appeals or fresh claims
The report notes that around 4,500 failed asylum seekers continue to receive Section 4 support due to barriers preventing their departure or the risk of homelessness.
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Short-Term Fixes Creating Long-Term Failures
The NAO concluded that successive governments have attempted to fix the system through narrow, short-term interventions that simply moved the pressure to other parts of the asylum process.
It found that efforts to accelerate initial decision-making led to a surge in appeals, overwhelming tribunals already struggling with a shortage of judges and caseworkers. First-tier tribunals received 61,000 asylum and human rights appeals in 2024-25, ballooning to 73,000 by March 2025—almost five times higher than in 2019–20.
“Increases in speed of processing have sometimes come at the expense of the quality of decisions,” the NAO said. “Improvements in one area have shunted problems elsewhere.”
The watchdog also highlighted a lack of accountability, noting that no single body is responsible for outcomes across the entire asylum process—from application to potential removal.
The watchdog warned that without a coherent, long-term model for handling asylum claims and removals, the UK will continue to incur “avoidable” costs. It urged ministers to finalise the new asylum system model by the end of next year, including clearer responsibilities, better data systems and annual progress updates.
Its report concluded:
“There has been no realistic approach to the fact that in a significant number of cases it is not possible to return people whose claims have been refused.”
The NAO said this reality needs to be acknowledged in policymaking rather than addressed through ad hoc measures that ultimately increase costs.
A Home Office spokesperson defended recent reforms, saying the department is already making progress to restore control over the asylum system.
“The Home Secretary recently announced the most sweeping changes to the asylum system in a generation to deal with the problems outlined in this report,” the spokesperson said.
The Home Office highlighted that nearly 50,000 people with no right to remain have been removed, alongside a 63% rise in illegal working arrests and efforts that have prevented over 21,000 small boat crossing attempts this year.
The Government is also recruiting 1,000 judges and tribunal members and investing an additional £20 million annually into immigration and housing legal aid to address capacity challenges.
“Our new reforms will restore order and control, remove the incentives which draw people to come to the UK illegally and increase removals of those with no right to be here,” the spokesperson added.
