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North East

Sunderland

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office
Bridget Phillipson
Bridget PhillipsonLabour · Houghton and Sunderland South

2 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping Sunderland.

823 people on asylum support in Sunderland

Rank 26 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 28.67 per 10,000 puts Sunderland in the 89th percentile. That means this area carries more than most. 5 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. Accommodation and support for 823 people at £107 per person per day is about £32.1M a year.

What asylum costs Sunderland

£18.6Mestimated hotel costs/year
£2.1Msubsistence payments/year
£988KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 823 people on asylum support in Sunderland(0.88% 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.

Sunderland: 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.

831
8355572780Mar 2014Dec 2025Peak Mar 2025Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 2014145
Jun 2014167
Sept 2014154
Dec 2014129
Mar 2015138
Jun 2015119
Sept 2015125
Dec 2015171
Mar 2016200
Jun 2016221
Sept 2016260
Dec 2016271
Mar 2017227
Jun 2017226
Sept 2017241
Dec 2017292
Mar 2018403
Jun 2018406
Sept 2018407
Dec 2018432
Mar 2019460
Jun 2019479
Sept 2019434
Dec 2019401
Mar 2020373
Jun 2020375
Sept 2020383
Dec 2020394
Mar 2021384
Jun 2021385
Sept 2021395
Dec 2021410
Mar 2022424
Jun 2022453
Sept 2022445
Dec 2022424
Mar 2023519
Jun 2023681
Sept 2023771
Dec 2023671
Mar 2024712
Jun 2024682
Sept 2024761
Dec 2024825
Mar 2025835
Jun 2025811
Sept 2025813
Dec 2025831

Trend

+18Latest quarter change
+686Change across series
48Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation818
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only5
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
823
Homes for Ukraine
215
Afghan programme
42
Resettlement cumulative
0

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine215
Afghan programme42
Resettlement cumulative0

Population context

All pathways total1,080
Share of local population0.38%

Ethnic composition projection

Sunderland: White British 92.9% (2021) to 81.3% (2051). 80% CI: 80.5, 83.9%.

Ethnic composition: Sunderland

0255075100% of populationCensus 2021IllustrativeWhite British 75% in 2061White Other 4% in 2061Asian 7% in 2061Black 5% in 2061Mixed 7% in 206120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixed 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: Sunderland

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

2011
95%
2021
93%
2031proj
90%
2041proj
87%
2051proj
81%
2061proj
75%
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 Sunderland ranges from69.7% to 83.0%by 2051. That is a 13.3pp 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 75.0% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 1.9% (2021) → 1.6% (2051). Christian 55.7% → 8.8%.

Religion: Sunderland

426497194%Census 2021Christian 9% in 2051No religion 89% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religion

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

Nativity

5.1% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: low diversity (entropy 0.2). 97.4% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Sunderland

0255075100%Census 2021UK-born 80% in 2051Foreign-born 20% 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: 7.3% moved within UK, 0.7% arrived from abroad
black15.2% internal, 21.8% international
other11.7% internal, 10.4% international
white other14.1% internal, 6.3% international
asian10.6% internal, 5.3% international
mixed12.9% internal, 1.6% international
white british6.9% internal, 0.1% international

Why Sunderland is changing

-1.9pp
National trend
-6.4pp
Age structure
-1.2pp
Local migration
+5.6pp

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 Sunderland on UK Demographics →