Latest Home Office statistics show number of unresolved cases stands at 128,786

Government’s three-year-long refusal to process asylum claims is at root of serious problems with the system 

Tragic Channel crossing deaths highlight Government’s irresponsibility and failure to protect people’s lives

‘It’s absolutely shattering to review these statistics just hours after news of yet another avoidable death in the Channel’ - Steve Valdez-Symonds

For three years, the Government has pursued an “immoral and ineffective” policy of refusing to process tens of thousands of people’s asylum claims in the hope that this might deter other people from seeking asylum in the UK, Amnesty International said today, in response to the release of the Government’s latest immigration statistics.

The 2023 Home Office statistics have been published a day after further death in the Channel, with reports that a woman has died and two people are missing after a boat with 50 people on board had to be rescued off the French coast yesterday.

The new figures show that more than 47,000 people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, and Syria - among other countries - are currently stuck in the asylum system waiting for an initial decision on their claims. Included among those caught in the system are 327 people from Ukraine, 68 people from Hong Kong and 327 people from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The number of people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of December 2023 stood at 128,786. While the official backlog has reduced, this has been achieved by a rushed exercise to clear the legacy part of claims, and it is already apparent that decisions still need to be made on thousands of claims that had been treated as withdrawn as part of that clearance. The figures show the backlog of cases outside that legacy continues to rise. The figures also show that the number of people waiting more than six months at the end of last year was 83,254 and the number waiting six months or less was 45,532.

The alarming backlog of claims is due to the Government’s three-year long refusal to process asylum claims, said Amnesty, which is at the root of serious problems with the entire asylum system.

Amnesty’s recent briefing - Gambling with lives: how a bad policy wrecked the UK asylum system - provides a detailed analysis of the Government’s policy of outright refusal to process the asylum claims of tens of thousands of people seeking asylum, showing how the consequences of this policy have spiralled as ministers repeatedly double-down on this approach.   

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said:

“It’s absolutely shattering to review these statistics just hours after news of yet another avoidable death in the Channel.

“The figures clearly show that most people seeking asylum in the UK are fleeing from conflict and persecution in countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Syria.

“For three years, the Government has collapsed the asylum system by recklessly pursuing a policy of refusing to process tens of thousands of people’s claims for asylum in the UK. This immoral and ineffective strategy is causing countless harms to people seeking asylum.

“It’s time for the Government to drop its dangerous and unlawful Safety of Rwanda bill and abandon the cruel and utterly dreadful policy of refusing to process the asylum claims of people arriving in the UK.”