The cost of the UK’s asylum system has topped £2billion a year, with the highest number of claims for two decades and record delays for people awaiting a decision. Home Office spending on asylum rose by £756 million from around £1.4 billion in 2020/21 to £2.1 billion in 2021/22.
This is the highest on record and is more than double the amount spent in 2019/20, official figures showed. The 63,089 applications in the year to June 2022 is also the highest number for any 12-month period since the year to June 2003 when 71,316 applications were made, according to the department.
Officials are understood to be working hard to reduce the backlog of outstanding asylum claims but are struggling to keep up with the number of new applications. The figures were published as more migrants were brought ashore at Dungeness, Kent, after crossing the Channel on Thursday and as a "substantial" increase in the number of Albanians among small boat arrivals was reported.
