Asylum invoice doubles to almost £4bn as Sunak says value is ‘unacceptable’

The taxpayer invoice on asylum virtually doubled in a 12 months to almost £4bn as Rishi Sunak mentioned the price was “unacceptable” and warned the system is underneath “unsustainable pressure”.

Home Office spending on asylum rose by £1.85bn, from £2.12bn in 2021/22 to £3.97bn this 12 months.

A decade in the past, in 2012/13, the overall value to the taxpayer was £500.2m.

Channel crossings topped 19,000 for the 12 months thus far, Home Office figures confirmed, regardless of Mr Sunak’s promise to voters that he would “stop the boats” bringing migrants throughout the English Channel.

About 80% of asylum seekers are ready longer than six months for an preliminary resolution, authorities statistics present.

Mr Sunak has additionally pledged by the top of 2023 to clear the backlog of round 92,601 so-called “legacy” circumstances which had been within the system as of the top of June final 12 months.

But within the six months since Mr Sunak made his promise, the determine diminished by simply lower than 1 / 4.

He advised the Daily Express: “The best way to relieve the unsustainable pressures on our asylum system and unacceptable costs to the taxpayer is to stop the boats in the first place.

“That’s why we’re centered on our plan to interrupt the enterprise mannequin of the folks smugglers facilitating these journeys, together with working with worldwide companions upstream to disrupt their efforts, stepping up joint work with the French to assist scale back crossings and tackling the asylum backlog.”

Overall, a complete of 175,457 folks had been ready for an preliminary resolution on an asylum software within the UK on the finish of June 2023, up 44% from 122,213 for a similar interval a 12 months earlier – the very best determine since present information started in 2010.

Of these, 139,961 had been ready longer than six months for an preliminary resolution, up 57% 12 months on 12 months from 89,231 and one other report excessive.

Labour mentioned the record-high asylum backlog quantities to a “disastrous record” for Mr Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, whereas campaigners known as for claims to be processed extra effectively.

But the prime minister defended the federal government’s progress, saying: “We’ve already reduced the legacy backlog by over 28,000 – nearly a third – since the start of December and we remain on track to meet our target.

“But we all know there’s extra to do to ensure asylum seekers don’t spend months or years – residing within the UK at huge expense to the taxpayer – ready for a call.”

Amnesty International UK said it was “totally disgraceful that new asylum legal guidelines are being launched to truly stop the processing of claims altogether, which can make this backlog, its value and the limbo it imposes on folks even worse”.