Accredited official statistics

How many people are granted asylum in the UK?

Published 28 November 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2024/how-many-people-are-granted-asylum-in-the-uk

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2024’ content page.

Data relates to the year ending September 2024 and all comparisons are with the year ending September 2023 (unless indicated otherwise).

An asylum claim may relate to more than one person, if the main applicant has family members (‘dependants’) who are included in the same claim.

This release focuses on the number of people (main applicants and dependants) receiving outcomes on their asylum claims.

Statistics on other parts of the asylum system are available in other chapters of this report - ‘How many people claim asylum in the UK?’ and ‘How many cases are in the UK asylum system?’.

More detail on the outcomes of asylum claims from small boat arrivals by arrival date is available in section 3 of the ‘How many people come to the UK irregularly, year ending September 2024?’.

1. How many people are granted protection at initial decision?

The data in this section relate to grants at initial decision following an asylum claim. Additional numbers of people receive a grant of protection following an appeal. Other people will be granted refugee status when they are brought to the UK under UNHCR resettlement schemes (reported in ‘How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?, year ending September 2024’).

In the year ending September 2024, 52,739 people were granted refugee protection or other leave at initial decision, over a third more than in the previous year (39,232). Of these, 40,376 were main applicants and 12,363 were dependants.

Of the 52,739 people granted protection or other leave, 90% (47,605) were granted refugee status. A further 3,789 (7%) were granted Humanitarian Protection status, where the claimant does not meet the criteria of a grant of refugee status, but may be at risk of serious harm if they were to return to their country of origin. The remaining 1,345 (3%) grants were of other types of leave, such as grants under family and private life rules, discretionary and UASC (Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children) leave, or leave outside the rules.

Figure 1: Number of people granted or refused protection following an asylum claim in the UK, years ending December 2002 to September 20241

Source: Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement – Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. Includes main applicants and dependants.

The number of people granted protection in the year ending September 2024 was lower than the peak of 69,032 in the year ending March 2024. This is because fewer grants were made in April to September 2024 than in the same period of 2023.

This is still much higher than between 2003 and 2022, when the number of grants was between 5,000 and 20,000 each year. This is due to more initial decisions being made and also an overall higher grant rate at initial decision.

In the year ending September 2024, 102,305 people received initial decisions (grants of protection or other leave, and refusals), almost double (95% more) the previous year. As Figure 1 shows, this increase comes from the high number of grants and refusals at initial decision in 2023 Q4 (with 29,298 people receiving grants and 20,377 people refused protection) as part of efforts to clear the Pre-NABA backlog of cases. The number of initial decisions has since fallen during each quarter of 2024 as many claims were on hold under the Illegal Migration Act 2023. For more information see section 2 of the ‘How many cases are in the UK asylum system?’.

2. What proportion of asylum seekers are granted protection at initial decision?

The asylum grant rate is the proportion of cases (excluding dependants) with initial decisions (grants and refusals) which resulted in a grant of protection or other leave. The number of asylum initial decisions is based on the date of initial decision, so may relate to claims made in an earlier period. Therefore, the grant rate at the latest decision may not necessarily be indicative of the outcomes for claims made more recently.

52% of claims receiving an initial decision in the year ending September 2024 were grants.

The grant rate in the latest year (52%) was lower than the previous year (75%), but still higher than any period prior to 2019, when less than half of claims were successful at initial decision. The latest decrease reflects that the majority of cases issued with a decision in the last 3 quarters would be subject to the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, under which claims were considered under a higher standard of proof. This may have resulted in fewer cases meeting the requirements for a grant of protection status.

Figure 2 shows that the grant rate in the latest quarter (July to September 2024) was 62% - which is higher than the 3 previous quarters (33%, 42% and 59% respectively). This may be because nationalities with typically higher grant rates (such as Eritrea and Sudan) received a higher proportion of decisions in the latest quarter compared to the previous 3.

Figure 2: Number of people receiving an asylum outcome by type of outcome, and overall grant rate per quarter, 2018 Q1 to 2024 Q31, 2, 3

Source: Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement – Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. ‘Outcomes’ refer to initial decisions (grants and refusals), withdrawals and administrative outcomes. The data relates to main applicants and dependants and the date relates to when the outcome was issued.
  2. Administrative outcomes and suspended cases are only included from 2023 Q1 onwards.
  3. Grant rate is shown as a percentage on a secondary axis. Grant rate is the proportion of initial decisions (main applicants only) which resulted in a grant of protection or other leave. Excludes withdrawals and administrative outcomes.

The overall grant rate can vary for a number of reasons, including the mix of nationalities applying for asylum, and the protection needs of those who claim asylum in the UK. It is also affected by operational resourcing and policy decisions, such as changes to the types of cases prioritised for decisions. The Home Office guidance on caseworking prioritisation is published on GOV.UK.

3. Who is granted protection at initial decision?

The nationalities which receive the highest number of initial decisions reflects those with the highest number of claims in recent years. Many of these claims come from individuals from countries experiencing ongoing conflict.

Figure 3 shows that almost all claims from Eritrean (93%), Syrian (99%) and Sudanese (99%) nationals were granted at initial decision in the year ending September 2024, and a high proportion of claims from Afghan (88%) and Iranian (82%) nationals were also granted.

Figure 3: The number of asylum claimants receiving initial decisions in the UK, for the top ten nationalities, and the grant rate at initial decision (%), year ending September 20241, 2

Source: Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement – Asy_D02

Notes:

  1. The figure shows the top 10 nationalities receiving initial decisions in the year ending September 2024.
  2. The number of people receiving initial decisions includes main applicants and dependants. The grant rate includes main applicants only.

There were 3,309 grants of protection or other leave at initial decision to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in the year ending September 2024. 74% of UASC claims were granted leave in the year ending September 2024, higher than for non-UASC claims (50%).

Since 2018, the Home Office has published statistics on asylum cases where a person’s sexual orientation formed a part of the basis of their claim. In 2023, 2,133 grants at initial decision (main applicants only) were made where sexual orientation was part of the claim. The grant rate for these claims in 2023 was 62%, similar to the grant rate for non-LGB asylum claims in that period (67%). More information can be found in the ‘Asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation 2023’ .

In the year ending September 2024, 33,038 people who arrived on small boats and made an asylum claim received initial decision, of which 21,508 people were granted. 66% of cases from small boat arrivals were granted, higher than the general asylum grant rate in the latest year, which was 52%. This may reflect the different demographic breakdowns of small boat arrivals, and their different protection needs.

More detail on initial decisions on asylum claims from small boat arrivals is available in the ‘Irregular Migration detailed datasets and summary tables’.

4. How do latest outcomes compare to initial outcomes?

The outcome of an asylum claim may change following appeal or review. As more initial decisions are made and appeals are also completed, the number of grants and refusals for claims from all years (but particularly more recent years) will change.

The grant rate has increased on average by about 20 percentage points between the initial and latest outcomes.

Figure 4 : Estimated grant rates at initial and latest decision by year of application1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Outcomes of asylum applications – Asy_D04

Notes:

  1. Main applicants only.
  2. Data is based on the year of application, and the grant rate at latest decision is calculated from latest outcomes as given at the point of data extraction in July 2024.
  3. Grant rate is the proportion of decisions which resulted in a grant of protection or other leave. Excludes withdrawals and administrative outcomes.
  4. The grant rates are estimates as not all applications will have received case outcomes.

Figure 4 shows that the grant rate at the latest decision, reflecting appeals and reviews, has increased by between 17 and 30 percentage points each year from 2006 to 2017. In recent years, this gap has narrowed as there has been less time for appeals and reviews to be concluded, and many claims are still awaiting an initial decision.

5. How many people do not receive a substantive decision on their asylum claim?

A substantive decision on an asylum claim is a grant or refusal, based on the merit of the claim itself. However, some claims are closed before a substantive decision is issued – for example, a claim may be withdrawn (by the claimant or by the Home Office) or be closed for administrative reasons.

In the year ending September 2024, 20,487 people had claims withdrawn, a 7% increase on the previous year, of which 76% were implicit withdrawals. Where a claimant does not comply with the requirements within the asylum process, their claim can be withdrawn by the Home Office under one of the conditions in paragraph 333C(b) of the Immigration Rules. This is known as an implicit withdrawal of an asylum claim.

Between January 2023 and March 2024, there was a large increase in the number of withdrawals, with an average of 6,605 withdrawals per quarter, of which 39% were from Albanian nationals. This is much higher than in previous years, such as in 2022 when there was an average of 1,486 withdrawals per quarter.

However, in the 2 most recent quarters (April to September) of 2024, the number of withdrawals dropped to an average of 2,362 per quarter. This is in part due to a large fall in withdrawals from Albanian nationals and also due to a fall in overall outcomes during this period (due to cases being on hold).

When Albanian withdrawals are excluded, the overall number of withdrawals has increased by 75% in the latest year from 9,180 to 16,028. The proportion of non-Albanian claims from main applicants which are withdrawn prior to decision has remained similar at around 17% (excluding claims which received an administrative outcome).

Data referred to here can be found in the following tables:

Further links:

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