Asylum backlog at record high, Home Office figures show
By Mark Easton
Home editor
The number of asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their case in the UK has soared to record levels, with about 166,000 people in the backlog.
Almost 110,000 have been waiting for six months or more, according to Home Office data published on Thursday.
The new figures show about 89,000 people claimed asylum in the UK in 2022, the highest for 19 years.
On Wednesday the Home Office announced plans to streamline the system by scrapping interviews in some cases.
The move aims to reduce the asylum backlog which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to see largely eradicated by the end of this year.
Instead of a face-to-face interview, some 12,000 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen will fill in a 10-page questionnaire in English.
Applicants from these countries already have 95% of their asylum claims accepted, says the Home Office.
Officials say claimants will undergo a face-to-face interview if caseworkers are not satisfied with the information provided in the questionnaire.
The new figures show that, overall, more than three quarters (75%) of asylum decisions made in 2022 were in favour of granting asylum, the highest in more than 30 years.
However the actual number of decisions made in 2022 was 10% below the level before the pandemic.
The 166,000 backlog includes people waiting for the outcome of appeals as well as for initial decisions. This figure is a rise of 60% on last year and is more than 160,000 for the first time.
Of those whose applications were refused last year, 3,531 people were returned by the Home Office, either voluntarily or forcibly, in the year to the end of September, marginally higher than the previous year.
However these figures are far lower than for 2012 when there were 15,000 returns, and 2004 when there were more than 21,000.
When forcible returns are considered separately, the figure for last year was just 489, compared with almost 6,800 in 2010.
Conservative party chairman Greg Hands said: "We need to get to grips with the backlog... Absolutely we're committed to the safety and security of this country.
"There's still a very strong process in place. We're talking here about cases that would be granted, we're just going to do it more quickly in a more streamlined way whilst making sure that public safety is secure."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64744553