40,168 asylum seekers waiting for an initial decision

40,168 people were waiting for the Home Office to make an initial decision on an asylum claim at 30 June 2026.

That queue is shrinking, and it has been shrinking for two years. Read the series rather than any single quarter:

As at	Awaiting an initial decision
30 June 2023	175,457 (the peak)
31 December 2024	124,802
31 December 2025	64,426
31 March 2026	48,758
30 June 2026	40,168

It falls because decisions now outrun claims. In the quarter to June 2026 the Home Office made 22,176 initial decisions against 17,233 new claims, a gap of 4,943.

What that does and does not tell you. A shorter queue is not the same as a smaller system. 93,293 people were still on asylum support at the same date, because a decision does not end support the day it lands, and refusals enter the appeal pipeline rather than leaving it. The queue is the part of the bill that responds to caseworking. The rest responds to arrivals, appeals and returns.

Of the initial decisions made in the quarter, 6,109 were grants of protection, 12,970 refusals, 2,750 withdrawals and 347 administrative outcomes.