North West

Cheshire East

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
Andrew Cooper
Andrew CooperLabour · Mid Cheshire
358 people on asylum support in Cheshire East

Rank 88 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 8.41 per 10,000 puts Cheshire East in the 58th percentile. That means a moderate load compared to the national picture. 12 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. 2 in contingency accommodation (hotels, not housing). Accommodation and support for 358 people at £107 per person per day is about £14.0M a year.

What asylum costs Cheshire East

£8.1Mestimated hotel costs/year
£916Ksubsistence payments/year
£430KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 358 people on asylum support in Cheshire East(0.38% 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 Cheshire East?

358 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in Cheshire East at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 88th 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 Cheshire East?

8.41 per 10,000 residents, which places Cheshire East 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 Cheshire East?

The Home Office does not say. 2 people in Cheshire East 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 Cheshire East?

Serco holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region Cheshire East 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 Cheshire East?

No. 12 of the 358 on support in Cheshire East, 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.

Cheshire East: 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.

358
1,0226813410Sept 2014Jun 2026Peak Sept 2023Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Sept 20141
Mar 20151
Jun 20151
Sept 20151
Jun 20185
Sept 201837
Dec 201842
Mar 201952
Jun 201944
Sept 201935
Dec 201941
Mar 202037
Jun 202051
Sept 202052
Dec 202054
Mar 202195
Jun 2021130
Sept 2021123
Dec 2021198
Mar 2022142
Jun 2022185
Sept 2022240
Dec 2022687
Mar 2023680
Jun 2023645
Sept 20231,022
Dec 2023594
Mar 2024358
Jun 2024368
Sept 2024382
Dec 2024455
Mar 2025431
Jun 2025504
Sept 2025611
Dec 2025465
Mar 2026385
Jun 2026358

Trend

-27Latest quarter change
+357Change across series
37Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation344
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only12
Contingency accommodation2

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
358
Homes for Ukraine
888
Afghan programme
63
Resettlement cumulative
42

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine888
Afghan programme63
Resettlement cumulative42

Population context

All pathways total1,309
Share of local population0.31%

Ethnic composition projection

Cheshire East: White British 89.6% (2021) to 76.3% (2051). 80% CI: 75.6, 79.2%.

Ethnic composition: Cheshire East

025497499% of populationCensus 2021IllustrativeWhite British 69% in 2061White Other 10% in 2061Asian 4% in 2061Mixed 11% in 2061Other 5% in 206120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherAsianMixedOther 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: Cheshire East

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

2011
94%
2021
90%
2031proj
86%
2041proj
82%
2051proj
76%
9%
2061proj
69%
10%
11%
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 Cheshire East ranges from70.3% to 80.1%by 2051. That is a 9.8pp 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 74.3% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 1.1% (2021) → 1.9% (2051). Christian 57.5% → 12.9%.

Religion: Cheshire East

828486888%Census 2021Christian 13% in 2051No religion 83% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religion

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

Nativity

8.3% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: low diversity (entropy 0.27). 95.8% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Cheshire East

327507397%Census 2021UK-born 70% in 2051Foreign-born 30% 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.

low immigration: Limited ethnic diversity. Projections primarily driven by national trends.

Census 2021 mobility: 9.4% moved within UK, 0.7% arrived from abroad
black17.9% internal, 7.1% international
asian13.5% internal, 5.9% international
other14.1% internal, 4.5% international
white other13% internal, 3.3% international
mixed13.2% internal, 1.1% international
white british8.9% internal, 0.3% international

Why Cheshire East is changing

-3.9pp
National trend
-6.2pp
Age structure
-1.1pp
Local migration
+3.3pp

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

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