Scotland

East Ayrshire

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
Alan Gemmell
Alan GemmellLabour · Central Ayrshire

2 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping East Ayrshire.

78 people on asylum support in East Ayrshire

Rank 195 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 6.43 per 10,000 puts East Ayrshire in the 50th percentile. That means a moderate load compared to the national picture. 3 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. Accommodation and support for 78 people at £107 per person per day is about £3.0M a year.

What asylum costs East Ayrshire

£1.8Mestimated hotel costs/year
£199Ksubsistence payments/year
£94KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 78 people on asylum support in East Ayrshire(0.08% 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 East Ayrshire?

78 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in East Ayrshire at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 195th 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 East Ayrshire?

6.43 per 10,000 residents, which places East Ayrshire in the 50th percentile of UK local authorities. It carries more people on asylum support per head than 50% 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 East Ayrshire?

Not on the published figures. East Ayrshire recorded nobody in contingency accommodation at 30 June 2026, which is the category that includes hotels. The 78 people on asylum support there are recorded in dispersal housing or on subsistence-only support.

Who houses asylum seekers in East Ayrshire?

Mears holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region East Ayrshire 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 East Ayrshire?

No. 3 of the 78 on support in East Ayrshire, about 4%, 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.

East Ayrshire: asylum numbers still rising

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.

78
7852260Sept 2016Jun 2026Peak Jun 2026Rwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Sept 20161
Dec 20161
Mar 20171
Jun 20171
Sept 20171
Dec 20171
Mar 20181
Dec 20192
Mar 20202
Jun 20202
Sept 20202
Dec 20202
Dec 202314
Mar 202416
Jun 202420
Sept 202435
Dec 202451
Mar 202543
Jun 202540
Sept 202545
Dec 202560
Mar 202676
Jun 202678

Trend

+2Latest quarter change
+77Change across series
23Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation74
Initial accommodation1
Subsistence only3
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
78
Homes for Ukraine
134
Afghan programme
14
Resettlement cumulative
96

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine134
Afghan programme14
Resettlement cumulative96

Population context

All pathways total226
Share of local population0.19%