People in the programme in Somerset as at 31 March 2026. This is a population, counted at a point in time.
Asylum seekers in Somerset
Updated 30 Jun 2026 ยท Home Office 285 people were on asylum support in Somerset
That is the position as at 31 March 2026, counted across the 3 local authorities that make up Somerset. It works out at 2.8 per 10,000 residents. It counts people receiving asylum support at that date, which is not the same as the number waiting for a decision, and not the number of people who passed through support over the year.
Refugees in Somerset: the resettlement routes
People who arrive through a resettlement route are refugees with status, which is a different thing from an asylum seeker waiting for a decision. The two are published as different kinds of figure and are shown separately here for that reason.
Arrivals recorded in Somerset, counted since the scheme opened. This is an arrivals count, not a headcount of who lives here now, and it excludes super sponsor arrivals.
These two figures and the asylum support figure above measure different things, so adding them together would not give a meaningful total.
Local authorities in Somerset, by asylum seekers on support
Click any authority for its full profile. Figures are people on asylum support at 31 March 2026.
Common questions about Somerset
How many asylum seekers are there in Somerset?
285 people were receiving asylum support in Somerset as at 31 March 2026, across its 3 local authorities. That is 2.8 per 10,000 residents and makes it the 41st highest of 47 English counties on this measure. The figure counts people on support at that date, which is not the same as the number waiting for a decision.
How many refugees are there in Somerset?
Two resettlement routes are published for Somerset. 366 people were in the Afghan Resettlement Programme as at 31 March 2026, which is a population counted at a point in time. Separately, 3,295 Homes for Ukraine arrivals have been recorded there since the scheme opened, which is a running count of arrivals rather than of who lives there now. The two measure different things and should not be added together.
Which part of Somerset has the most asylum seekers?
Somerset has the most, with 198 people on asylum support, followed by North Somerset with 83. Every authority in the county is listed on this page.
How this county is defined
Somerset here means the ceremonial county, the one people mean in ordinary speech, so it includes any unitary authority sitting inside its boundary even though that authority runs its own services. The narrower administrative definition counts only two-tier districts, and using it would leave out 24,764 of the 85,162 people on asylum support in England, just over 29 per cent, without saying so.
Three boundaries do not divide cleanly and are handled the same way on every page. Stockton-on-Tees straddles the historic Durham and North Yorkshire boundary and is counted whole within County Durham, because the published figures cannot be split. The Isles of Scilly are grouped with Cornwall. Inner and Outer London are shown together as Greater London.
Every figure on this page is the sum of figures published for the individual local authorities. Nothing is modelled or estimated. Source: Home Office, Immigration system statistics, regional and local authority data, released 21 May 2026, covering the position as at 31 March 2026.