5 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping City of Edinburgh.
Rank 145 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 3.41 per 10,000 puts City of Edinburgh in the 36th percentile. That means a moderate load compared to the national picture. 31 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. 73 in contingency accommodation (hotels, not housing). Accommodation and support for 181 people at £107 per person per day is about £7.1M a year.
Estimates based on 181 people on asylum support in City of Edinburgh(0.19% 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.
181 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in City of Edinburgh at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 145th 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.
3.41 per 10,000 residents, which places City of Edinburgh in the 36th percentile of UK local authorities. It carries fewer per head than 64% 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. 73 people in City of Edinburgh 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.
Mears holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region City of Edinburgh 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. 31 of the 181 on support in City of Edinburgh, about 17%, 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 | 8 |
| Jun 2014 | 12 |
| Sept 2014 | 15 |
| Dec 2014 | 13 |
| Mar 2015 | 13 |
| Jun 2015 | 18 |
| Sept 2015 | 19 |
| Dec 2015 | 14 |
| Mar 2016 | 13 |
| Jun 2016 | 9 |
| Sept 2016 | 9 |
| Dec 2016 | 9 |
| Mar 2017 | 10 |
| Jun 2017 | 10 |
| Sept 2017 | 15 |
| Dec 2017 | 18 |
| Mar 2018 | 17 |
| Jun 2018 | 13 |
| Sept 2018 | 14 |
| Dec 2018 | 19 |
| Mar 2019 | 19 |
| Jun 2019 | 20 |
| Sept 2019 | 19 |
| Dec 2019 | 20 |
| Mar 2020 | 20 |
| Jun 2020 | 19 |
| Sept 2020 | 21 |
| Dec 2020 | 20 |
| Mar 2021 | 21 |
| Jun 2021 | 18 |
| Sept 2021 | 19 |
| Dec 2021 | 19 |
| Mar 2022 | 18 |
| Jun 2022 | 17 |
| Sept 2022 | 17 |
| Dec 2022 | 60 |
| Mar 2023 | 57 |
| Jun 2023 | 45 |
| Sept 2023 | 122 |
| Dec 2023 | 71 |
| Mar 2024 | 134 |
| Jun 2024 | 128 |
| Sept 2024 | 166 |
| Dec 2024 | 173 |
| Mar 2025 | 177 |
| Jun 2025 | 189 |
| Sept 2025 | 207 |
| Dec 2025 | 232 |
| Mar 2026 | 167 |
| Jun 2026 | 181 |
National distribution.
Per 10,000 residents.
Hotel and contingency placements.
Top 6 in Scotland by supported asylum.