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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Anahita Hossein-Pour

Asylum system delays and backlogs wasted taxpayers’ money – watchdog

Government action to bring in short-term fixes to the asylum system has led to backlogs elsewhere and delays which have wasted taxpayers’ money, the public spending watchdog has found.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found the current cost of supporting people seeking asylum is “disproportionately high” and totalled around £4.9 billion for 2024-25 driven by long delays and backlogs.

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