asylumstatsFollow the money
South West

Plymouth

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office
Fred Thomas
Fred ThomasLabour · Plymouth Moor View

2 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping Plymouth.

490 people on asylum support in Plymouth

Rank 61 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 18.06 per 10,000 puts Plymouth in the 77th percentile. That means this area carries more than most. 8 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. Accommodation and support for 490 people at £107 per person per day is about £19.1M a year.

What asylum costs Plymouth

£11.1Mestimated hotel costs/year
£1.3Msubsistence payments/year
£588KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 490 people on asylum support in Plymouth(0.53% 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.

Plymouth: 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.

513
5133421710Mar 2014Dec 2025Peak Dec 2025Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 2014197
Jun 2014222
Sept 2014231
Dec 2014225
Mar 2015238
Jun 2015235
Sept 2015239
Dec 2015258
Mar 2016267
Jun 2016267
Sept 2016252
Dec 2016255
Mar 2017223
Jun 2017211
Sept 2017211
Dec 2017216
Mar 2018318
Jun 2018294
Sept 2018318
Dec 2018338
Mar 2019339
Jun 2019349
Sept 2019342
Dec 2019336
Mar 2020350
Jun 2020367
Sept 2020361
Dec 2020357
Mar 2021359
Jun 2021334
Sept 2021325
Dec 2021316
Mar 2022307
Jun 2022310
Sept 2022304
Dec 2022294
Mar 2023274
Jun 2023364
Sept 2023388
Dec 2023375
Mar 2024401
Jun 2024398
Sept 2024421
Dec 2024433
Mar 2025470
Jun 2025483
Sept 2025467
Dec 2025513

Trend

+46Latest quarter change
+316Change across series
48Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation482
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only8
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
490
Homes for Ukraine
328
Afghan programme
247
Resettlement cumulative
211

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine328
Afghan programme247
Resettlement cumulative211

Population context

All pathways total1,065
Share of local population0.39%

Ethnic composition projection

Plymouth: White British 89.5% (2021) to 76.7% (2051). 80% CI: 75.4, 80%.

Ethnic composition: Plymouth

024497398% of populationCensus 2021IllustrativeWhite British 70% in 2061White Other 8% in 2061Asian 4% in 2061Mixed 7% in 2061Other 8% in 206120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherAsianMixedOther 80% CI

Each line shows one ethnic group's share of the local population. The shaded band is the 80% confidence range. Values after 2051 are illustrative only.

Ethnic composition: Plymouth

Census 2011, Census 2021, then Hamilton-Perry projections to 2051. Percentages.

2011
93%
2021
89%
2031proj
86%
2041proj
82%
2051proj
77%
2061proj
70%
8%
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixedOther
Model: Hamilton-Perry single-year CCRs, 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations, SNPP-constrained

Census 2011 to 2021 cohort change ratios. Shaded band = 80% confidence interval from stochastic perturbation. Not a forecast.

Scenario explorer

Under different assumptions, White British share in Plymouth ranges from67.2% to 79.3%by 2051. That is a 12.2pp spread.

Fertility
Low~108k/yr
Principal~315k/yr
High~476k/yr
ConstantRates stay at current levels
Half convergenceMove halfway to national avg
Full convergenceConverge to national avg
Migration
Central scenario: WBI 72.1% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 1.4% (2021) → 3.0% (2051). Christian 45.2% → 9.0%.

Religion: Plymouth

426487092%Census 2021Christian 9% in 2051No religion 87% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religion

Religious affiliation projected from Census 2021 self-identification. Trends reflect demographic change in the existing population, not religious conversion.

Nativity

9.2% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: low diversity (entropy 0.27). 95.5% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Plymouth

427507396%Census 2021UK-born 68% in 2051Foreign-born 32% in 20512021203120412051
UK-bornForeign-born

Share of the local population born outside the UK. Movement reflects both new arrivals and the UK-born children of existing residents reaching adulthood.

low immigration: Limited ethnic diversity. Projections primarily driven by national trends.

Census 2021 mobility: 10.9% moved within UK, 0.6% arrived from abroad
asian17.8% internal, 6.7% international
black17.4% internal, 5.6% international
other16.5% internal, 3.8% international
white other14.5% internal, 3.4% international
mixed16.4% internal, 1.2% international
white british10.3% internal, 0.3% international

Why Plymouth is changing

-3.5pp
National trend
-6.4pp
Age structure
-1pp
Local migration
+3.9pp

White British change 2011-2021. Cyan = decline. Amber = growth.

Dominant driver: national trend. Shift-share methodology following Franklin (2014).

Full demographic profileSchool pressure, housing demand, service demand scoring, economic profile, language projections, and more on UK Demographics.View Plymouth on UK Demographics →