East of England

St Albans

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
Daisy Cooper
Daisy CooperLiberal Democrats · St Albans
24 people on asylum support in St Albans

Rank 268 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 1.59 per 10,000 puts St Albans in the 23rd percentile. That means fewer than 77% of areas. 3 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. 18 in contingency accommodation (hotels, not housing). Accommodation and support for 24 people at £107 per person per day is about £0.9M a year.

What asylum costs St Albans

£542Kestimated hotel costs/year
£61Ksubsistence payments/year
£29KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 24 people on asylum support in St Albans(0.03% 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 St Albans?

24 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in St Albans at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 268th 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 St Albans?

1.59 per 10,000 residents, which places St Albans in the 23rd percentile of UK local authorities. It carries fewer per head than 77% 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 St Albans?

The Home Office does not say. 18 people in St Albans were in contingency accommodation at 30 June 2026, and contingency accommodation is the category that includes hotels. No site in the area has been named in council papers, a parliamentary answer or published reporting, so the buildings are not identifiable.

Who houses asylum seekers in St Albans?

Serco holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region St Albans 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 St Albans?

No. 3 of the 24 on support in St Albans, about 13%, 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.

St Albans: asylum numbers falling

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.

24
230153770Mar 2014Jun 2026Peak Dec 2022Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 20148
Jun 20148
Sept 20149
Dec 20149
Mar 20158
Jun 20158
Sept 20158
Dec 20159
Mar 20168
Jun 20168
Sept 20168
Dec 20168
Mar 20178
Jun 201712
Sept 201711
Dec 201711
Mar 201812
Jun 201813
Sept 201813
Dec 201810
Mar 20199
Jun 20198
Sept 20199
Dec 201910
Mar 202010
Jun 202010
Sept 202010
Dec 202011
Mar 202112
Jun 202112
Sept 202115
Dec 2021130
Mar 202237
Jun 202217
Sept 202232
Dec 2022230
Mar 2023218
Jun 2023204
Sept 2023185
Dec 2023168
Mar 202473
Jun 202457
Sept 202452
Dec 202483
Mar 202557
Jun 202578
Sept 202567
Dec 202553
Mar 202640
Jun 202624

Trend

-16Latest quarter change
+16Change across series
50Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation3
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only3
Contingency accommodation18

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
24
Homes for Ukraine
530
Afghan programme
59
Resettlement cumulative
50

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine530
Afghan programme59
Resettlement cumulative50

Population context

All pathways total613
Share of local population0.41%

Ethnic composition projection

St Albans: White British 73.5% (2021) to 51.1% (2051). On the model's measured out-of-sample error, 48.4 to 53.8%.

Ethnic composition: St Albans

022436586% of populationCensus 2021White British 51% in 2051White Other 15% in 2051Asian 16% in 2051Black 6% in 2051Mixed 7% in 2051Other 5% in 205120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixedOther

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: St Albans

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

2011
81%
2021
74%
10%
8%
2026proj
69%
11%
10%
2031proj
66%
12%
11%
2036proj
62%
13%
12%
2041proj
58%
14%
14%
2046proj
54%
14%
15%
2051proj
51%
15%
16%
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 St Albans ranges from45.2% to 58.6%by 2051. That is a 13.5pp 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 50.3% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 5.0% (2021) → 6.1% (2051). Christian 50.5% → 15.1%.

Religion: St Albans

019385776%Census 2021Christian 15% in 2051No religion 71% in 2051Muslim 6% in 2051Hindu 4% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religionMuslimHindu

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

Nativity

17% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: diverse (entropy 0.53). 93.7% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: St Albans

1231506988%Census 2021UK-born 38% in 2051Foreign-born 62% 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.

emerging diversity: Limited ethnic diversity. Projections primarily driven by national trends.

Census 2021 mobility: 9.1% moved within UK, 1% arrived from abroad
other13% internal, 2.9% international
white other13% internal, 2.7% international
black11.6% internal, 2.2% international
mixed11.4% internal, 1.2% international
asian9.4% internal, 2.6% international
white british8.3% internal, 0.5% international

Why St Albans is changing

-7.6pp
National trend
-6.2pp
Age structure
-0.1pp
Local migration
-1.3pp

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

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