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North West

St Helens

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office
David Baines
David BainesLabour · St Helens North

2 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping St Helens.

560 people on asylum support in St Helens

Rank 54 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 29.49 per 10,000 puts St Helens in the 90th percentile. That means this area carries more asylum seekers per head than 90% of the country. Accommodation and support for 560 people at £107 per person per day is about £21.9M a year.

What asylum costs St Helens

£12.6Mestimated hotel costs/year
£1.4Msubsistence payments/year
£672KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 560 people on asylum support in St Helens(0.60% 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.

St Helens: 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.

668
7505002500Mar 2014Dec 2025Peak Jun 2023Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 20142
Jun 20142
Sept 20144
Dec 20143
Mar 20153
Jun 20155
Sept 20155
Dec 20154
Mar 201623
Jun 201671
Sept 201691
Dec 2016112
Mar 2017117
Jun 2017111
Sept 2017107
Dec 2017108
Mar 2018110
Jun 2018116
Sept 2018132
Dec 2018155
Mar 2019176
Jun 2019190
Sept 2019180
Dec 2019185
Mar 2020170
Jun 2020184
Sept 2020176
Dec 2020177
Mar 2021180
Jun 2021203
Sept 2021237
Dec 2021273
Mar 2022318
Jun 2022326
Sept 2022317
Dec 2022544
Mar 2023531
Jun 2023750
Sept 2023750
Dec 2023608
Mar 2024586
Jun 2024636
Sept 2024626
Dec 2024626
Mar 2025592
Jun 2025628
Sept 2025644
Dec 2025668

Trend

+24Latest quarter change
+666Change across series
48Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation560
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only0
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
560
Homes for Ukraine
164
Afghan programme
47
Resettlement cumulative
127

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine164
Afghan programme47
Resettlement cumulative127

Population context

All pathways total771
Share of local population0.41%

Ethnic composition projection

St Helens: White British 93.6% (2021) to 83.8% (2051). 80% CI: 83.7, 86.4%.

Ethnic composition: St Helens

0255075100% of populationCensus 2021IllustrativeWhite British 78% in 2061White Other 8% in 2061Mixed 6% in 2061Other 5% in 206120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherMixedOther 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: St Helens

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

2011
97%
2021
94%
2031proj
91%
2041proj
88%
2051proj
84%
2061proj
78%
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 Helens ranges from65.0% to 82.8%by 2051. That is a 17.8pp 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 71.8% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 0.8% (2021) → 1.9% (2051). Christian 65.4% → 9.0%.

Religion: St Helens

426497193%Census 2021Christian 9% in 2051No religion 88% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religion

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

Nativity

5% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: low diversity (entropy 0.18). 97.2% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: St Helens

0255075100%Census 2021UK-born 70% in 2051Foreign-born 30% 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: 7.1% moved within UK, 0.3% arrived from abroad
black14.2% internal, 7.2% international
other12.1% internal, 6.8% international
white other15.6% internal, 3% international
asian11.4% internal, 2.7% international
mixed11.9% internal, 2% international
white british6.6% internal, 0.1% international

Why St Helens is changing

-3pp
National trend
-6.4pp
Age structure
-1.3pp
Local migration
+4.7pp

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 St Helens on UK Demographics →