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Scotland

City of Edinburgh

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office
Chris Murray
Chris MurrayLabour · Edinburgh East and Musselburgh

5 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping City of Edinburgh.

181 people on asylum support in 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.

What asylum costs City of Edinburgh

£4.1Mestimated hotel costs/year
£463Ksubsistence payments/year
£217KLA dispersal grant/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.

City of Edinburgh: 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.

232
232155770Mar 2014Dec 2025Peak Dec 2025Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 20148
Jun 201412
Sept 201415
Dec 201413
Mar 201513
Jun 201518
Sept 201519
Dec 201514
Mar 201613
Jun 20169
Sept 20169
Dec 20169
Mar 201710
Jun 201710
Sept 201715
Dec 201718
Mar 201817
Jun 201813
Sept 201814
Dec 201819
Mar 201919
Jun 201920
Sept 201919
Dec 201920
Mar 202020
Jun 202019
Sept 202021
Dec 202020
Mar 202121
Jun 202118
Sept 202119
Dec 202119
Mar 202218
Jun 202217
Sept 202217
Dec 202260
Mar 202357
Jun 202345
Sept 2023122
Dec 202371
Mar 2024134
Jun 2024128
Sept 2024166
Dec 2024173
Mar 2025177
Jun 2025189
Sept 2025207
Dec 2025232

Trend

+25Latest quarter change
+224Change across series
48Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation69
Initial accommodation8
Subsistence only31
Contingency accommodation73

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
181
Homes for Ukraine
1,066
Afghan programme
572
Resettlement cumulative
712

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine1,066
Afghan programme572
Resettlement cumulative712

Population context

All pathways total1,819
Share of local population0.34%
Full demographic profileSchool pressure, housing demand, service demand scoring, economic profile, language projections, and more on UK Demographics.View City of Edinburgh on UK Demographics →