Number of asylum seekers in hotels halves in a year

More than 16,000 asylum seekers were housed in hotels across the United Kingdom in June 2026, half the number recorded a year earlier, according to Home Office figures released today. The decline mirrors broader reductions in legal migration arrivals, asylum claims and small‑boat crossings. In the year to June, 38,000 illegal arrivals were detected, 33,000 of them on small boats from France, while 86,000 people applied for asylum – a drop of one‑fifth from the previous year. Half of those applications came from individuals already in the UK rather than recent arrivals. The Home Office attributes the falling hotel occupancy to the impact of its migration‑control policies, though it acknowledges further work is needed on small‑boat crossings.

The data also reveal a sharp contraction in other migration streams. Family reunification visas fell to 58,000, a 19 % decline, reflecting newly introduced rules that make it “exceptionally hard” for refugee families to join relatives in the UK, a policy currently under High Court challenge. Work visas dropped 18 % to 235,000, with specialist health and care visas plunging 90 % after the Rishi Sunak government tightened the liberalised system introduced by Boris Johnson. Foreign student numbers slipped 11 % to 383,000, 41 % below the June 2023 peak. Meanwhile, the Home Office’s contract‑based housing for migrants rose to 69,000 properties, up from 65,000 at the end of 2024, even as the asylum backlog shrank from a peak of 175,000 in June 2023 to 40,000 awaiting initial rulings.

Political reactions underscore the contentious nature of the figures. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood highlighted the reductions in the asylum backlog, hotel occupancy, illegal‑working arrests and deportations, while warning against complacency. Opposition voices, including Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf, criticised Labour’s approach and called for harsher measures, such as deportations and naval interception of boats. The Liberal Democrats argued that moving people from hotels to other accommodation does not constitute a victory and urged Labour to join an EU migration pact. The statistics suggest a continued downward trend in arrivals and claims, but also point to policy‑driven constraints on family reunification and skilled migration that may shape the UK’s demographic and labour landscape in the coming years.

⚡ Effects Interpreter