South East

Swale

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
77 people on asylum support in Swale

Rank 198 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 4.79 per 10,000 puts Swale in the 43rd percentile. That means a moderate load compared to the national picture. 5 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. Accommodation and support for 77 people at £107 per person per day is about £3.0M a year.

What asylum costs Swale

£1.7Mestimated hotel costs/year
£197Ksubsistence payments/year
£92KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 77 people on asylum support in Swale(0.08% 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 Swale?

77 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in Swale at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 198th 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 Swale?

4.79 per 10,000 residents, which places Swale in the 43rd percentile of UK local authorities. It carries fewer per head than 57% 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 Swale?

Not on the published figures. Swale recorded nobody in contingency accommodation at 30 June 2026, which is the category that includes hotels. The 77 people on asylum support there are recorded in dispersal housing or on subsistence-only support.

Who houses asylum seekers in Swale?

Clearsprings Ready Homes holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region Swale 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 Swale?

No. 5 of the 77 on support in Swale, about 6%, 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.

Swale: 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.

77
7751260Mar 2015Jun 2026Peak Jun 2026Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 20152
Jun 20152
Dec 20151
Jun 20161
Mar 20181
Jun 20181
Sept 20182
Dec 20182
Mar 20192
Jun 20192
Sept 20196
Dec 20196
Mar 20204
Jun 20204
Sept 20205
Dec 20205
Mar 20215
Jun 20217
Sept 20217
Dec 20214
Mar 20223
Jun 20223
Sept 20223
Dec 20223
Mar 20232
Jun 202329
Sept 202336
Dec 202329
Mar 202419
Jun 202425
Sept 202422
Dec 202443
Mar 202546
Jun 202549
Sept 202551
Dec 202561
Mar 202672
Jun 202677

Trend

+5Latest quarter change
+75Change across series
38Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation72
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only5
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
77
Homes for Ukraine
217
Afghan programme
39
Resettlement cumulative
81

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine217
Afghan programme39
Resettlement cumulative81

Population context

All pathways total333
Share of local population0.21%

Ethnic composition projection

Swale: White British 88.6% (2021) to 75.9% (2051). On the model's measured out-of-sample error, 73.2 to 78.6%.

Ethnic composition: Swale

024497398% of populationCensus 2021IllustrativeWhite British 69% in 2061White Other 10% in 2061Black 8% in 2061Mixed 7% in 2061Other 3% in 206120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherBlackMixedOther 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: Swale

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

2011
93%
2021
89%
2031proj
86%
2041proj
81%
2051proj
76%
9%
2061proj
69%
10%
8%
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 Swale ranges from57.6% to 75.4%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 64.3% by 2051

Religion projection

Muslim 1.1% (2021) → 2.4% (2051). Christian 49.7% → 9.7%.

Religion: Swale

526487092%Census 2021Christian 10% in 2051No religion 87% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religion

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

Nativity

8% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: low diversity (entropy 0.29). 96.2% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Swale

327507497%Census 2021UK-born 59% in 2051Foreign-born 41% 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: 8.6% moved within UK, 0.3% arrived from abroad
other14.4% internal, 2.6% international
black14.7% internal, 0.9% international
white other12% internal, 2.3% international
mixed11.9% internal, 0.8% international
asian8.1% internal, 1.4% international
white british8.2% internal, 0.1% international

Why Swale is changing

-4.2pp
National trend
-6.2pp
Age structure
-1pp
Local migration
+3pp

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

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