UK Asylum Hotel Numbers Halve as Crossings Fall

Britain's Home Office says the number of asylum seekers housed in taxpayer-funded hotels has halved in a year, falling to 16,021 in June 2026 from more than 32,000 in June 2025 — the lowest level since 2022.

Quarterly immigration statistics published Thursday also show drops in small boat arrivals, asylum claims, work visas and student visas.

The government says its migration policies are working. Its critics say the migrants have simply been moved from hotels into flats and former military barracks in ordinary neighborhoods.

The Numbers

Some 38,000 illegal arrivals were detected in the year to June 2026, 33,000 of them on small boats crossing from France, according to the Home Office data reported by the BBC.

About 86,000 people sought asylum in that period, down a fifth on the previous year. Roughly half of those claims came from people already legally in the UK rather than from small boat arrivals.

The backlog of claimants waiting for an initial decision stood at 40,000, down from a peak of 175,000 in June 2023.

Some 40,000 people — foreign offenders, visa overstayers and failed asylum applicants — were removed from the country in the year to June, an 8% increase. Officials say about a third were failed asylum seekers, the highest number in 16 years.

Meanwhile 73,068 asylum seekers were living in "non-hotel" accommodation such as shared homes, flats or military bases, up 3% on the year, the Daily Mail reported from the same release. The number of Home Office-funded houses rose from 65,000 at the end of 2024 to 69,000 in June 2026.

Legal migration also tightened: 235,000 work visas were issued in the year to June, down 18% and 62% below the December 2023 peak, with health and care worker arrivals down 90%. Student visas fell 11% to 383,000, and family visas fell 19% to 58,000.

The Daily Mail reported two figures cutting the other way: 21,294 foreign national offenders subject to deportation were living free in the community, up from 18,993 a year earlier, and grants of indefinite leave to remain hit 199,628, up 24% and the highest in 16 years.