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North West

Cheshire West and Chester

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office
Samantha Dixon
Samantha DixonLabour · Chester North and Neston

11 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping Cheshire West and Chester.

654 people on asylum support in Cheshire West and Chester

Rank 44 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 17.49 per 10,000 puts Cheshire West and Chester in the 76th percentile. That means this area carries more than most. 2 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. Accommodation and support for 654 people at £107 per person per day is about £25.5M a year.

What asylum costs Cheshire West and Chester

£14.8Mestimated hotel costs/year
£1.7Msubsistence payments/year
£785KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 654 people on asylum support in Cheshire West and Chester(0.70% 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.

Cheshire West and Chester: asylum numbers still rising

Quarter-end stock series to Dec 2025. 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.

658
6754502250Mar 2014Dec 2025Peak Jun 2025Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 20141
Jun 20141
Sept 20141
Dec 20141
Jun 20168
Sept 201614
Dec 201614
Mar 201717
Jun 201726
Sept 201727
Dec 201739
Mar 201849
Jun 201853
Sept 201855
Dec 201876
Mar 201978
Jun 201984
Sept 201976
Dec 2019102
Mar 2020126
Jun 2020190
Sept 2020187
Dec 2020167
Mar 2021156
Jun 2021180
Sept 2021175
Dec 2021194
Mar 2022212
Jun 2022216
Sept 2022213
Dec 2022248
Mar 2023234
Jun 2023468
Sept 2023536
Dec 2023512
Mar 2024617
Jun 2024637
Sept 2024655
Dec 2024643
Mar 2025655
Jun 2025675
Sept 2025657
Dec 2025658

Trend

+1Latest quarter change
+657Change across series
43Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation652
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only2
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
654
Homes for Ukraine
851
Afghan programme
197
Resettlement cumulative
105

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine851
Afghan programme197
Resettlement cumulative105

Population context

All pathways total1,702
Share of local population0.46%

Ethnic composition projection

Cheshire West and Chester: White British 91.2% (2021) to 80.3% (2051). 80% CI: 80, 83.2%.

Ethnic composition: Cheshire West and Chester

0255075100% of populationCensus 2021IllustrativeWhite British 75% in 2061White Other 8% in 2061Asian 4% in 2061Mixed 8% in 2061Other 3% 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 West and Chester

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

2011
95%
2021
91%
2031proj
88%
2041proj
85%
2051proj
80%
2061proj
75%
8%
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 West and Chester ranges from71.7% to 82.4%by 2051. That is a 10.7pp 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 76.1% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 1.0% (2021) → 3.0% (2051). Christian 57.7% → 11.2%.

Religion: Cheshire West and Chester

627476888%Census 2021Christian 11% 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

7.3% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: low diversity (entropy 0.23). 96.7% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Cheshire West and Chester

226507498%Census 2021UK-born 73% in 2051Foreign-born 27% 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: 8.6% moved within UK, 0.6% arrived from abroad
black16% internal, 13.3% international
asian12.4% internal, 5.6% international
other11.4% internal, 5.3% international
mixed13.1% internal, 1.8% international
white other11.8% internal, 2.8% international
white british8.2% internal, 0.3% international

Why Cheshire West and Chester is changing

-3.5pp
National trend
-6.4pp
Age structure
-1.2pp
Local migration
+4.1pp

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

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

Full demographic profileSchool pressure, housing demand, service demand scoring, economic profile, language projections, and more on UK Demographics.View Cheshire West and Chester on UK Demographics →