East of England

West Suffolk

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office · Corrections log
Nick Timothy
Nick TimothyConservative · West Suffolk

4 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping West Suffolk.

38 people on asylum support in West Suffolk

Rank 246 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 2.01 per 10,000 puts West Suffolk in the 27th percentile. That means fewer than 73% of areas. 11 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. Accommodation and support for 38 people at £107 per person per day is about £1.5M a year.

What asylum costs West Suffolk

£858Kestimated hotel costs/year
£97Ksubsistence payments/year
£46KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 38 people on asylum support in West Suffolk(0.04% 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 West Suffolk?

38 people were receiving Home Office asylum support in West Suffolk at 30 June 2026, the most recent quarter published. That ranks 246th 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 West Suffolk?

2.01 per 10,000 residents, which places West Suffolk in the 27th percentile of UK local authorities. It carries fewer per head than 73% 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 West Suffolk?

Not on the published figures. West Suffolk recorded nobody in contingency accommodation at 30 June 2026, which is the category that includes hotels. The 38 people on asylum support there are recorded in dispersal housing or on subsistence-only support.

Who houses asylum seekers in West Suffolk?

Serco holds the Home Office asylum accommodation contract for the region West Suffolk 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 West Suffolk?

No. 11 of the 38 on support in West Suffolk, about 29%, 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.

West Suffolk: 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.

38
3825130Sept 2019Jun 2026Peak Jun 2026Bibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Sept 20191
Dec 20191
Mar 20201
Jun 20201
Sept 20201
Dec 20201
Mar 20211
Jun 20211
Sept 20211
Sept 20234
Sept 202412
Dec 202414
Mar 20254
Jun 20255
Sept 202511
Dec 202518
Mar 202632
Jun 202638

Trend

+6Latest quarter change
+37Change across series
18Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation27
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only11
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
38
Homes for Ukraine
466
Afghan programme
50
Resettlement cumulative
0

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine466
Afghan programme50
Resettlement cumulative0

Population context

All pathways total554
Share of local population0.29%

Ethnic composition projection

West Suffolk: White British 82.2% (2021) to 56.3% (2051). On the model's measured out-of-sample error, 53.6 to 59.0%.

Ethnic composition: West Suffolk

022446587% of populationCensus 2021White British 56% in 2051White Other 17% in 2051Asian 11% in 2051Black 5% in 2051Mixed 5% in 2051Other 5% in 20512021203120412051
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: West Suffolk

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

2021
82%
10%
2021
82%
10%
2026proj
78%
11%
2031proj
73%
13%
2036proj
69%
14%
2041proj
64%
15%
8%
2046proj
60%
16%
10%
2051proj
56%
17%
11%
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 West Suffolk ranges from52.6% to 66.5%by 2051. That is a 13.9pp 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 57.9% by 2051