New figures have revealed the exact number of asylum seekers housed in hotels, with the cost hitting £4.76billion from 2024 to 2025.
The data shows a total of 32,059 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of Labour’s first year in Government, up eight per cent on the same point 12 months ago.
Labour ministers have said it is "really important" to manage asylum accommodation while also speeding up the claims process.
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The latest figures from the Home Office have been published
| PAOfficial data released today suggests that Government spending on asylum in the UK stood at £4.76billion in 2024/25, down 12 per cent from a record £5.38billion in 2023/24.
The figures show there were 32,059 asylum seekers in UK hotels by the end of June.
This was up from 29,585 at the same point a year earlier, when the Conservatives were still in power, but down slightly on the 32,345 figure at the end of March.
The latest number is still below the peak of 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels at the end of September 2023 under Boris Johnson's Conservative Government.
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The Home Office has released its regular statistics
| GETTYA total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
The number is up 14 per cent from 97,107 in the year to June 2024, according to figures published by the Home Office. The previous record for a 12-month period was 109,343 in the year to March 2025.
Migrants who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats accounted for 39 per cent of the total number of people claiming asylum in the year to June.
Reacting to the news, Shadow Policing Minister Matt Vickers said: "What happened to Labour’s ’smash the gangs’' promise?"
There were 90,812 people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2025.
This is down 17 per cent from 109,536 at the end of March and down 24 per cent from 118,882 a year earlier at the end of June 2024.
The total peaked at 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.
The number of people waiting more than 12 months for an initial decision stood at 27,998 at the end of June, down from 40,773 at the end of March and well below the recent peak of 91,741 in June 2023.
A series of riots broke out at hotels across the country last year
| XPakistani was the most common nationality among asylum applicants in the year to June 2025, accounting for 11,234 people, or 10.1 per cent of the total.
This is up from 8,383 in the year to June 2024, when it was the second most common nationality (8.6 per cent of the total).
Afghan was the second most common nationality in the latest period (8,281 people, 7.5 per cent of the total), down from 9,342 (9.6 per cent) in the previous 12 months, when it was the most common nationality.
Iranian was third with the fourth most common nationality, Eritrean.
Nigel Farage said the public are 'right' to be angry with the Government
| GETTYReform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "New figures out today show record numbers claiming asylum under Labour.
"Our streets are becoming more dangerous, yet this disaster only gets worse.
"The public is right to be very angry with this Government."
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper | GETTY
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "We inherited a broken immigration and asylum system that the previous Government left in chaos.
"Since coming to office, we have strengthened Britain’s visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs and sharply increased enforcement and returns, as today’s figures show."
Cooper added said Labour was bringing in "control and fairness to the system and to continue building the foundations of a new and stronger approach."