2 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping East Lothian.
Rank 202 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 6.44 per 10,000 puts East Lothian 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 75 people at £107 per person per day is about £2.9M a year.
Estimates based on 75 people on asylum support in East Lothian(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.
75 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in East Lothian at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 202nd 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.
6.44 per 10,000 residents, which places East Lothian 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.
Not on the published figures. East Lothian recorded nobody in contingency accommodation at 30 June 2026, which is the category that includes hotels. The 75 people on asylum support there are recorded in dispersal housing or on subsistence-only support.
Mears holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region East Lothian 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. 3 of the 75 on support in East Lothian, 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.
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 |
|---|---|
| Dec 2020 | 1 |
| Mar 2021 | 1 |
| Jun 2021 | 1 |
| Sept 2021 | 1 |
| Dec 2021 | 1 |
| Mar 2022 | 1 |
| Jun 2022 | 1 |
| Sept 2022 | 1 |
| Dec 2022 | 1 |
| Mar 2023 | 1 |
| Jun 2023 | 1 |
| Sept 2023 | 3 |
| Mar 2025 | 5 |
| Jun 2025 | 7 |
| Sept 2025 | 14 |
| Dec 2025 | 34 |
| Mar 2026 | 71 |
| Jun 2026 | 75 |
National distribution.
Per 10,000 residents.
Hotel and contingency placements.
Top 6 in Scotland by supported asylum.