|Published on: 2nd April 2026|Categories: News|
The updated AIDA Country Report on the United Kingdom provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2025. It is accompanied by an annex which provides an overview of temporary protection.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2024 are set out below.
Statistics
- Asylum applications and decisions: 100,625 people (main applicants and their dependants) applied for asylum in the UK in 2025, including 6,462 from Afghanistan and 7,419 from Iran. The recognition rate at first instance decreased to 41% (47% in 2024 and 67% in 2023). At the end of the year, 64,426 people were still awaiting a decision (124,802 people at the end of 2024).
Asylum procedure
- Access to the territory – France-UK Treaty: In an attempt to limit the number of irregular Channel crossings, the UK and French governments signed a treaty in 2025 under which France would accept returns from the UK and the UK would accept people who were in France. Since its entry into force in August 2025, only a few hundred people have been moved in each direction, and there has been no discernible impact on number of people crossing the Channel (41,472 in 2025 compared to 36,816 in 2024).
- Backlog of asylum claims has moved into the appeals system: The high number of asylum decisions in 2025 combined with the decrease in the recognition rate has had the effect of moving the asylum backlog into the appeals system. At the end of December 2025, there were 80,333 asylum appeals pending (41,987 at the end of 2024 and 19,459 at the end of 2023).
- High proportion of asylum refusals were not sustained at appeal: Of the 26,067 asylum appeals that were disposed of (i.e. ended in any way) in 2025, an average of 31% were ended through the appeal being withdrawn. This figure increased substantially during the year from 17% in the first quarter to 42% in the final quarter. The vast majority of withdrawals occurred where the Home Office withdrew its decision to refuse asylum, either with a view to granting leave (subject to security checks) or to reconsider and remake its decision. 39.5% of the 14,117 cases which proceeded to be determined by a judge were successful despite the fact that most asylum appellants were unable to find a legal aid lawyer to assist them.
- Concerns about quality of Home Office decision-making: The high proportion of asylum refusals that were not sustained at appeal stage in 2025 strengthened existing concerns about the quality of decision-making. The National Audit Office published a report in which it noted that 42% of sampled decisions in the twelve months to May 2025 had had “significant or fail errors” while a United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) report on asylum interviews in the UK concluded that many of the issues with decision-making stemmed from shortcomings in the interview process, including failures to clarify inconsistencies or establish key facts.
Reception conditions
- Far-right protests outside asylum accommodation continued: Hotels that were being used as asylum accommodation throughout the UK continued to be the target of far-right protests in 2025. In response, one local authority brought a judicial review in order to stop a hotel in its area being used as asylum accommodation. However, the legal challenge was unsuccessful.
- Reduction in use of hotels as asylum accommodation: In December 2025, the Home Office (Ministry of the Interior) reported that fewer than 200 hotels were being used as asylum accommodation (395 in March 2023).
- Expansion of large-scale accommodation sites: Another former military barracks, Crowborough Training Camp, was opened as a large-scale accommodation site in January 2026. The opening of a third proposed site, Cameron Barracks in Inverness, was delayed.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Number of people detained continued to rise: 22,996 people were detained under immigration powers in 2025 (20,604 in 2024 and 15,864 in 2023). 13,418 of them had claimed asylum at some point.
Content of international protection
- Shorter grants of leave: As of 2 March 2026, people who submitted initial or subsequent asylum applications may only be granted 30 months’ refugee leave rather than five years as was previously the case. People who were unaccompanied children at the time that they submitted their application are still eligible for five years’ refugee leave.
- ‘Move-on period’: Following a pilot in which the period of time that newly-recognised refugees are given before their asylum support is ended (known as the “move-on period”) was extended from 28 days to 56 days, as of 9 March 2026 the move-on period has been set at 42 days.
Temporary protection
- Arrivals in 2025: 14,900 people arrived in the UK under Ukraine visa support schemes in 2025 (700 under the Ukraine Family Scheme and 14,200 under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme).
- Extensions in 2025: In addition to the above-mentioned arrivals, 26,489 extensions were granted under the Ukraine Extension Scheme and 133,519 extensions were granted under the Permission Extension Scheme.
- Homes for Ukraine Scheme: Since January 2025, a parent (or legal guardian) who has been granted leave under any of the Ukrainian schemes has been eligible to sponsor their child under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
- Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme: Since February 2025, people with leave granted under any of the Ukraine schemes have been able to apply to extend their leave for a further 18 months when they are within the last 28 days of their leave. Following this 18-month period, a further 24-month period should be made available.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
