South West

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
Tom Hayes
Tom HayesLabour · Bournemouth East

5 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

333 people on asylum support in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Rank 93 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 8.21 per 10,000 puts Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in the 58th percentile. That means a moderate load compared to the national picture. 20 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. 200 in contingency accommodation (hotels, not housing). Accommodation and support for 333 people at £107 per person per day is about £13.0M a year.

What asylum costs Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

£7.5Mestimated hotel costs/year
£852Ksubsistence payments/year
£400KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 333 people on asylum support in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole(0.36% of 93,293 nationally at 30 Jun 2026). Hotel costs pro-rated from £5.77M/day national spend in 2024/25 (House of Commons Library, CDP-2025-0184). Subsistence: £49.18/week per person.

How many asylum seekers are in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?

333 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 93rd of 361 UK local authorities. It counts people on support at that date, which is not the number who claimed asylum there and not the number waiting for a decision.

How many asylum seekers per 10,000 people are in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?

8.21 per 10,000 residents, which places Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in the 58th percentile of UK local authorities. It carries more people on asylum support per head than 58% of the country. Rate is the fair comparison between areas, because a large city carries more people than a small district at the same pressure per head.

Are there asylum hotels in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?

The Home Office does not say. 200 people in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole were in contingency accommodation at 30 June 2026, and contingency accommodation is the category that includes hotels. No site in the area has been named in council papers, a parliamentary answer or published reporting, so the buildings are not identifiable.

Who houses asylum seekers in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?

Clearsprings Ready Homes holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole sits in, under the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts. The contract covers a whole region rather than a single council, and the Home Office does not publish a council-by-council split of which properties sit under it.

Are all of them in Home Office accommodation in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?

No. 20 of the 333 on support in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, about 6%, receive subsistence only: a cash payment with no accommodation, usually because they are living with friends or family. The rest are in Home Office accommodation, which covers dispersal housing and hotels.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole: asylum numbers falling

Quarter-end stock series to Jun 2026. A rise or fall is a net change in the number of people on support at period end, not the number of new claims or distinct people moving through the caseload. Support stock also overlaps with, but is not identical to, the awaiting-decision backlog.

333
7665112550Mar 2018Jun 2026Peak Mar 2023Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 201811
Jun 20187
Sept 20189
Dec 20185
Mar 20198
Jun 20198
Sept 20195
Dec 20197
Mar 20207
Jun 20207
Sept 20207
Dec 202010
Mar 20219
Jun 202112
Sept 202128
Dec 2021198
Mar 202284
Jun 2022115
Sept 202283
Dec 2022745
Mar 2023766
Jun 2023706
Sept 2023711
Dec 2023630
Mar 2024555
Jun 2024421
Sept 2024597
Dec 2024607
Mar 2025573
Jun 2025652
Sept 2025618
Dec 2025555
Mar 2026450
Jun 2026333

Trend

-117Latest quarter change
+322Change across series
34Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation113
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only20
Contingency accommodation200

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
333
Homes for Ukraine
865
Afghan programme
208
Resettlement cumulative
4

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine865
Afghan programme208
Resettlement cumulative4

Population context

All pathways total1,406
Share of local population0.35%

Ethnic composition projection

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole: White British 82.4% (2021) to 56.0% (2051). On the model's measured out-of-sample error, 53.3 to 58.7%.

Ethnic composition: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

022446687% of populationCensus 2021White British 56% in 2051White Other 16% in 2051Asian 12% in 2051Black 6% in 2051Mixed 6% in 2051Other 5% in 20512021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixedOther

Each line shows one ethnic group's share of the local population. The shaded band is the 80% confidence range. Values after 2051 are illustrative only.

Ethnic composition: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Census 2011, Census 2021, then Hamilton-Perry projections to 2051. Percentages.

2021
82%
9%
2021
82%
9%
2026proj
78%
11%
2031proj
73%
12%
2036proj
69%
13%
2041proj
64%
14%
9%
2046proj
60%
15%
11%
2051proj
56%
16%
12%
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixedOther
Model: Hamilton-Perry single-year CCRs, 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations, SNPP-constrained

Census 2011 to 2021 cohort change ratios. Shaded band = 80% confidence interval from stochastic perturbation. Not a forecast.

Scenario explorer

Under different assumptions, White British share in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole ranges from62.2% to 70.2%by 2051. That is a 8pp spread.

Fertility
Low~108k/yr
Principal~315k/yr
High~476k/yr
ConstantRates stay at current levels
Half convergenceMove halfway to national avg
Full convergenceConverge to national avg
Migration
Central scenario: WBI 65.5% by 2051