East of England

Stevenage

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
Kevin Bonavia
Kevin BonaviaLabour · Stevenage
267 people on asylum support in Stevenage

Rank 112 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 29 per 10,000 puts Stevenage in the 90th percentile. That means this area carries more asylum seekers per head than 90% of the country. 5 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. 217 in contingency accommodation (hotels, not housing). Accommodation and support for 267 people at £107 per person per day is about £10.4M a year.

What asylum costs Stevenage

£6.0Mestimated hotel costs/year
£683Ksubsistence payments/year
£320KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 267 people on asylum support in Stevenage(0.29% 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 Stevenage?

267 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in Stevenage at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 112th 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 Stevenage?

29 per 10,000 residents, which places Stevenage in the 90th percentile of UK local authorities. It carries more people on asylum support per head than 90% 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 Stevenage?

The Home Office does not say. 217 people in Stevenage 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 Stevenage?

Serco holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region Stevenage 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 Stevenage?

No. 5 of the 267 on support in Stevenage, about 2%, 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.

Stevenage: asylum numbers still rising

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.

267
4192791400Mar 2014Jun 2026Peak Dec 2024Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 20149
Jun 20149
Sept 20149
Dec 20149
Mar 20154
Jun 20153
Sept 20153
Dec 20152
Mar 20162
Jun 20164
Sept 20163
Dec 20164
Mar 20173
Jun 20172
Sept 20172
Dec 20172
Mar 20182
Jun 20191
Sept 20191
Dec 20191
Sept 20203
Dec 20202
Mar 20212
Jun 20212
Sept 20215
Dec 20216
Mar 20229
Jun 202215
Sept 202214
Dec 2022213
Mar 2023218
Jun 2023224
Sept 2023394
Dec 2023388
Mar 2024350
Jun 2024311
Sept 2024413
Dec 2024419
Mar 2025372
Jun 2025361
Sept 2025406
Dec 2025322
Mar 2026261
Jun 2026267

Trend

+6Latest quarter change
+258Change across series
44Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation45
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only5
Contingency accommodation217

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
267
Homes for Ukraine
92
Afghan programme
47
Resettlement cumulative
35

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine92
Afghan programme47
Resettlement cumulative35

Population context

All pathways total406
Share of local population0.44%

Ethnic composition projection

Stevenage: White British 75.3% (2021) to 56.4% (2051). On the model's measured out-of-sample error, 53.7 to 59.1%.

Ethnic composition: Stevenage

022446688% of populationCensus 2021White British 56% in 2051White Other 12% in 2051Asian 14% in 2051Black 7% in 2051Mixed 7% in 2051Other 4% 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: Stevenage

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

2011
83%
2021
75%
2026proj
71%
9%
9%
2031proj
68%
9%
10%
2036proj
65%
10%
11%
2041proj
62%
11%
12%
2046proj
59%
11%
13%
2051proj
56%
12%
14%
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 Stevenage ranges from39.8% to 57.1%by 2051. That is a 17.3pp 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 45.9% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 3.3% (2021) → 9.0% (2051). Christian 45.8% → 15.3%.

Religion: Stevenage

019395877%Census 2021Christian 15% in 2051No religion 72% in 2051Muslim 9% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religionMuslim

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

Nativity

16.5% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: diverse (entropy 0.52). 91.8% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Stevenage

1231506989%Census 2021UK-born 39% in 2051Foreign-born 61% 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: 7.7% moved within UK, 0.9% arrived from abroad
other10% internal, 5.2% international
white other12.3% internal, 2.3% international
asian9.8% internal, 4.3% international
black9.4% internal, 3.6% international
mixed9.4% internal, 0.8% international
white british6.8% internal, 0.1% international

Why Stevenage is changing

-7.8pp
National trend
-6.2pp
Age structure
-0.3pp
Local migration
-1.4pp

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

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