Yorkshire and The Humber

Bradford

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
Imran Hussain
Imran HussainLabour · Bradford East

3 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping Bradford.

1,097 people on asylum support in Bradford

Rank 16 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 19.67 per 10,000 puts Bradford in the 81st percentile. That means this area carries more asylum seekers per head than 81% of the country. White British projected to be a minority by approximately 2029. 42 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. 157 in contingency accommodation (hotels, not housing). Accommodation and support for 1,097 people at £107 per person per day is about £42.8M a year.

What asylum costs Bradford

£24.8Mestimated hotel costs/year
£2.8Msubsistence payments/year
£1.3MLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 1,097 people on asylum support in Bradford(1.18% 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 Bradford?

1,097 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in Bradford at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 16th 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 Bradford?

19.67 per 10,000 residents, which places Bradford in the 81st percentile of UK local authorities. It carries more people on asylum support per head than 81% 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 Bradford?

The Home Office does not say. 157 people in Bradford 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 Bradford?

Mears holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region Bradford 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 Bradford?

No. 42 of the 1,097 on support in Bradford, about 4%, 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.

Bradford: 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.

1,097
1,8961,2646320Mar 2014Jun 2026Peak Sept 2023Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 2014210
Jun 2014264
Sept 2014363
Dec 2014440
Mar 2015524
Jun 2015556
Sept 2015646
Dec 2015700
Mar 2016720
Jun 2016736
Sept 2016794
Dec 2016818
Mar 2017775
Jun 2017786
Sept 2017781
Dec 2017802
Mar 2018872
Jun 2018853
Sept 2018874
Dec 2018923
Mar 20191,002
Jun 20191,067
Sept 20191,119
Dec 20191,245
Mar 20201,276
Jun 20201,310
Sept 20201,261
Dec 20201,208
Mar 20211,150
Jun 20211,155
Sept 20211,053
Dec 20211,204
Mar 20221,245
Jun 20221,310
Sept 20221,342
Dec 20221,775
Mar 20231,725
Jun 20231,801
Sept 20231,896
Dec 20231,584
Mar 20241,518
Jun 20241,569
Sept 20241,614
Dec 20241,527
Mar 20251,443
Jun 20251,430
Sept 20251,455
Dec 20251,368
Mar 20261,266
Jun 20261,097

Trend

-169Latest quarter change
+887Change across series
50Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation898
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only42
Contingency accommodation157

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
1,097
Homes for Ukraine
645
Afghan programme
573
Resettlement cumulative
846

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine645
Afghan programme573
Resettlement cumulative846

Population context

All pathways total2,315
Share of local population0.42%

Ethnic composition projection

Bradford: White British 56.7% (2021) to 30.6% (2051). White British minority by ~2029. 80% CI: 29.1, 33.8%.

Ethnic composition: Bradford

017345269% of populationCensus 2021IllustrativeWhite British 23% in 2061White Other 9% in 2061Asian 48% in 2061Black 4% in 2061Mixed 8% in 2061Other 9% in 206120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixedOther 80% CI

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: Bradford

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

2011
64%
27%
2021
57%
32%
2031proj
48%
38%
2041proj
39%
43%
2051proj
31%
46%
2061proj
23%
9%
48%
9%
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 Bradford ranges from36.9% to 40.8%by 2051. That is a 3.9pp 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 38.6% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 32.3% (2021) → 39.9% (2051). Christian 35.3% → 8.9%.

Religion: Bradford

417294255%Census 2021Christian 9% in 2051No religion 50% in 2051Muslim 40% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religionMuslim

Religious affiliation projected from Census 2021 self-identification. Trends reflect demographic change in the existing population, not religious conversion.

Nativity

18.7% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: diverse (entropy 0.6). 87.6% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Bradford

1432506886%Census 2021UK-born 49% in 2051Foreign-born 52% in 20512021203120412051
UK-bornForeign-born

Share of the local population born outside the UK. Movement reflects both new arrivals and the UK-born children of existing residents reaching adulthood.

emerging diversity: Low foreign-born share with significant ethnic diversity suggests second/third-generation growth is the primary driver. Less sensitive to immigration policy changes.

Census 2021 mobility: 7.3% moved within UK, 0.7% arrived from abroad
black12.3% internal, 4.3% international
white other12.6% internal, 2.2% international
other9.8% internal, 3.6% international
mixed10.1% internal, 0.6% international
white british7.6% internal, 0.2% international
asian5.3% internal, 1% international

Why Bradford is changing

-7.1pp
National trend
-6.2pp
Age structure
+1.2pp
Local migration
-2.2pp

White British change 2011-2021. Cyan = decline. Amber = growth.

Dominant driver: national trend. Shift-share methodology following Franklin (2014).