4 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping Cardiff.
Rank 11 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 34.42 per 10,000 puts Cardiff in the 94th percentile. That means this area carries more asylum seekers per head than 94% of the country. 36 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. 96 in contingency accommodation (hotels, not housing). Accommodation and support for 1,313 people at £107 per person per day is about £51.3M a year.
Estimates based on 1,313 people on asylum support in Cardiff(1.41% 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.
1,313 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in Cardiff at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 11th 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.
34.42 per 10,000 residents, which places Cardiff in the 94th percentile of UK local authorities. It carries more people on asylum support per head than 94% 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.
The Home Office does not say. 96 people in Cardiff 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.
Clearsprings Ready Homes holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region Cardiff 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.
No. 36 of the 1,313 on support in Cardiff, about 3%, 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.
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.
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| Mar 2014 | 979 |
| Jun 2014 | 976 |
| Sept 2014 | 922 |
| Dec 2014 | 958 |
| Mar 2015 | 1,037 |
| Jun 2015 | 1,041 |
| Sept 2015 | 1,102 |
| Dec 2015 | 1,450 |
| Mar 2016 | 1,346 |
| Jun 2016 | 1,326 |
| Sept 2016 | 1,372 |
| Dec 2016 | 1,409 |
| Mar 2017 | 1,327 |
| Jun 2017 | 1,255 |
| Sept 2017 | 1,269 |
| Dec 2017 | 1,286 |
| Mar 2018 | 1,471 |
| Jun 2018 | 1,448 |
| Sept 2018 | 1,420 |
| Dec 2018 | 1,475 |
| Mar 2019 | 1,448 |
| Jun 2019 | 1,450 |
| Sept 2019 | 1,482 |
| Dec 2019 | 1,340 |
| Mar 2020 | 1,601 |
| Jun 2020 | 1,655 |
| Sept 2020 | 1,660 |
| Dec 2020 | 1,595 |
| Mar 2021 | 1,526 |
| Jun 2021 | 1,347 |
| Sept 2021 | 1,316 |
| Dec 2021 | 1,351 |
| Mar 2022 | 1,347 |
| Jun 2022 | 1,498 |
| Sept 2022 | 1,457 |
| Dec 2022 | 1,777 |
| Mar 2023 | 1,680 |
| Jun 2023 | 1,696 |
| Sept 2023 | 1,655 |
| Dec 2023 | 1,454 |
| Mar 2024 | 1,624 |
| Jun 2024 | 1,537 |
| Sept 2024 | 1,672 |
| Dec 2024 | 1,621 |
| Mar 2025 | 1,502 |
| Jun 2025 | 1,442 |
| Sept 2025 | 1,463 |
| Dec 2025 | 1,418 |
| Mar 2026 | 1,418 |
| Jun 2026 | 1,313 |
Cardiff: White British 73.6% (2021) to 55.9% (2051). On the model's measured out-of-sample error, 53.1 to 58.6%.
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.
Census 2011, Census 2021, then Hamilton-Perry projections to 2051. Percentages.
Census 2011 to 2021 cohort change ratios. Shaded band = 80% confidence interval from stochastic perturbation. Not a forecast.
Muslim 9.9% (2021) → 15.6% (2051). Christian 40.9% → 10.6%.
Religious affiliation projected from Census 2021 self-identification. Trends reflect demographic change in the existing population, not religious conversion.
16.5% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: diverse (entropy 0.55). 91.1% main language English.
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: Limited ethnic diversity. Projections primarily driven by national trends.
White British change 2011-2021. Cyan = decline. Amber = growth.
Dominant driver: national trend. Shift-share methodology following Franklin (2014).
Census 2021 employment, homeownership, and qualifications by ethnic group.
Census 2021 RM018 (economic activity), RM134 (tenure), RM049 (qualifications) by ethnic group. Observed, not projected.
Projected impact of demographic change on local services.
non-English speakers
8.9% of residents aged 3 and over have a main language other than English (Census 2021, TS029), below the 15% line this site uses to flag language demand.
foreign-born growth to 2051
The foreign-born share is projected to rise by 31.3pp between 2021 and 2051 (Census 2021 TS004 country of birth, projected by the Hamilton-Perry method), above the 15pp line this site uses to flag housing demand.
EAL growth
No DfE School Census data for this area, so the gap between the minority pupil share and the minority resident share is not measured here.
National distribution.
Per 10,000 residents.
Hotel and contingency placements.
Top 5 in Wales by supported asylum.