Asylum applications backlog: Key numbers

The overall backlog of applications stood at 98,599 as of December 28.

The backlog of older asylum applications awaiting an initial decision had been cut by 95% as of December 28 2023 (Rick Findler/PA) (PA Archive)

The Home Office has published an update on the backlog of UK asylum applications.

Here are the key numbers:

– Legacy backlog

There were 4,537 asylum applications in the legacy backlog that were still “awaiting an initial decision” as of December 28 2023, provisional figures show.

Asylum applications made before June 28 2022 are counted as legacy cases.

The backlog of legacy applications stood at 100,548 at the end of June 2022, meaning it had been cut by 95% as of December 28 2023.

– Non-legacy backlog

The non-legacy backlog of UK asylum cases awaiting an initial decision – covering applications made on or after June 28 2022 – stood at 94,062 on December 28 2023, up 3% from 91,076 on November 30.

– Overall backlog

The overall backlog of applications awaiting a decision, including both legacy and non-legacy cases, is 98,599: down 10% from the end of November and down 29% from its recent peak of 139,552 at the end of February 2023.

One asylum application does not always equal one individual, as an application can cover a group of people.

– Caseworkers

The total number of UK asylum caseworkers, based on headcount, stood at 2,475 as of December 24 2023.

This is down very slightly from 2,485 at the end of November, but nearly double the figure a year earlier in December 2022, when it stood at 1,277.

The full-time equivalent (FTE) number of caseworkers as of December 24 was 2,405, down slightly from 2,420 in November, but again nearly double the figure a year earlier, which was 1,237.

– Initial decisions

The new figures also show that 16,430 initial decisions were made on asylum applications from December 1 to 28 2023 inclusive, compared with 3,143 in the whole of December 2022.

A total of 112,138 initial asylum decisions were made between January 1 and December 28 2023, compared with 31,766 in the whole of 2022.

Of these 112,138 initial asylum decisions, 86,800 were for legacy cases and 25,338 for non-legacy cases.

Some 77,019 of the 112,138 initial asylum decisions were what are called “substantive decisions”, meaning either a grant or refusal.

There were 51,469 grants and 25,550 refusals, which is a grant rate of 67%.

A further 35,119 were what are called “non-substantive decisions”, up from 13,093 in 2022.

“Non-substantive decisions” include cases where the Home Office has withdrawn a claim, the claim has been paused or declared void, or where the applicant has failed to complete a stage of the application.