Rank 245 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 3.25 per 10,000 puts Scottish Borders in the 35th percentile. That means a moderate load compared to the national picture. Accommodation and support for 38 people at £107 per person per day is about £1.5M a year.
Estimates based on 38 people on asylum support in Scottish Borders(0.04% 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.
38 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in Scottish Borders at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 245th 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.
3.25 per 10,000 residents, which places Scottish Borders in the 35th percentile of UK local authorities. It carries fewer per head than 65% 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. Scottish Borders recorded nobody in contingency accommodation at 30 June 2026, which is the category that includes hotels. The 38 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 Scottish Borders 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.
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 |
|---|---|
| Sept 2023 | 2 |
| Dec 2024 | 3 |
| Mar 2025 | 13 |
| Jun 2025 | 24 |
| Sept 2025 | 23 |
| Dec 2025 | 24 |
| Mar 2026 | 30 |
| Jun 2026 | 38 |
National distribution.
Per 10,000 residents.
Hotel and contingency placements.
Top 6 in Scotland by supported asylum.