Home Office asylum accommodation
£5.77Ma day on asylum hotels in 2024/25
That is £2.1B across 2024/25, inside the £4bn the Home Office spent on asylum support altogether. The hotel population has fallen since: 16,021 people were in hotels at 30 Jun 2026.
Hotel accommodation only, 2024/25. Published estimate.
House of Commons Library, CDP-2025-0184Latest
INVESTIGATION · Updated 12 October 2026£7.8BWhat asylum costs: £229 per income taxpayer a year, in a range of £208 to £251Read more →FINDING · Updated 12 October 20268686 local authorities projected minority White British by 2051Read more →FINDING · Updated 12 October 202643% → 15%Birmingham: 43% White British today, projected under 15% by 2051Read more →
All research and findings →£229total cost per income taxpayer per yearAccommodation and support, enforcement, border security, welfare after a decision, NHS, education, tribunals, legal aid. Range £208 to £251. Full breakdown.£7.8B total / 34.1M taxpayers.
£170per person per night in a hotel2024/25 average, the year the £5.77M daily figure covers. 16,021 people were in asylum hotels at 30 Jun 2026, down from 30,657 at the end of 2025. Why the nightly cost has risen since.
£15.3Bforecast over 10 yearsNAO forecast. The 10-year asylum accommodation contract rose from £4.5B to £15.3B.
Total cost: Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26 for the audited departmental lines, published figures and stated estimates for the rest. Daily cost: House of Commons Library debate pack CDP-2025-0184, which states it verbatim (2024/25 average). Taxpayers: HMRC projected 2024-25. Per-night hotel rate: Migration Observatory, 2024/25, the same year as the daily cost. 10-year: NAO Investigation into Asylum Accommodation, Nov 2024.
The system in numbers
Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log93,293On asylum supportReceiving Home Office accommodation, subsistence, or both. As at 30 Jun 2026.How many asylum seekers are in the UK →40,168Awaiting an initial decisionAs at 30 Jun 2026. Cases lodged but not yet decided at first instance.The asylum backlog explained →20,935Small boat arrivals, 2026 so far1 January to 8 October 2026, against 35,476 at the same point in 2025, a fall of 41%. Home Office weekly series, updated Fridays. The year ending June 2026 total was 33,374, 88% of detected irregular entry.Small boat crossings this year →38%Initial grant rateMain applicants granted at first decision, 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, withdrawals excluded: the Home Office's own measure. After appeals the final grant rate is on average 14.6pp higher, across the 101 of 105 nationalities whose rate rises (Asy_D04).The grant rate explained →12,888Refugee family reunion grantsYear ending June 2026, down 38% on Year ending June 2025 (20,643). 15Councils taking zero33 councils have rates above 30 per 10,000. 15 take none.
Hamilton-Perry model, Census-verified
The ONS does not project ethnic composition by local authority. This model does.
The ONS will not project ethnic composition at local authority level. So we built a model that does. 318 local authorities across England and Wales. Census 2011 and 2021 observed data. Hamilton-Perry CCR methodology. 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations. Every ratio traced to Census observations.
White British share (population-weighted, 318 local authorities in model)
Census figures observed, each weighted by its own population. 2011 is Census table KS201EW for England and Wales as a whole (348 authorities on 2011 boundaries); 2021 is TS021 across the 318 areas. 2051 projected by the Hamilton-Perry v8.0 model, which is tested one decade out of sample (MAE 1.56pp) and not beyond, so read 2051 as materially more uncertain than that error bar. The series stops at 2051 because 49 areas have no 2061 projection and they are not a random 49, so a 2061 bar would not be comparable with the ones above it. Full methodology86areas White British under 50% by 2051, of 318. The model puts 92 below 50%; 6 are held back because their projection is not published area by area
99areas White British under 50% by 2061, of the 269 with a 2061 projection. Not comparable with the 318 above it
5areas projected Muslim majority by 2051
110areas projected foreign-born majority by 2051
Explore the dataSee the full profile →Browse all 361 areas →
What does your area look like in 2051?
361 local authority profiles. Asylum numbers, demographic projections to 2061, hotel sites, schools, your MP, your council. All sourced. All free.
Asylum seekers on support
White British 2021
White British 2051
Ten councils hold the highest asylum support rates per head
Ranked by people on asylum support per 10,000 residents, as at 30 Jun 2026. Areas with fewer than 200 supported are excluded. Select any area for the full profile.
See all 361 areas →Asylum support is spread unevenly across the regions
Regions are ranked by the number of people on asylum support. The rate per 10,000 residents is the comparable measure, and it varies several times over between the highest and lowest regions.
The routes into Britain
Small boats. Visa overstayers. Resettlement schemes. The government counts them separately. So do we.
Safe and legal (humanitarian) grants124,930Year ending June 202638,267 granted out of country. 86,663 are extensions for people already in the UK.
Refugee Family Reunion grants12,888Year ending June 2026
Ukraine arrivals13,600Year ending June 2026
Afghan Resettlement Programme arrivals3,352Year ending June 2026
UK Resettlement Scheme and predecessor schemes488Year ending June 2026
Community Sponsorship arrivals122025
Every number sourced. Every source linked.
Every headline figure traces back to the government's own publications through the source notes and the sources page. Follow them, then decide for yourself.