The number of asylum seekers who have died in the care of the Home Office has more than doubled in the last year, according to data shared with the Guardian, a development that has been described as “deeply troubling”.
While some deaths were a result of illness or old age, others are thought to have happened as a result of suicide. Charities fear that the treatment of asylum seekers in the UK has adversely affected the health of an already vulnerable group of people.
Many have fled persecution in their home countries where some experienced rape and torture or abuse by traffickers on their journey in search of safety.
The data relates to the period January–June 2024, in which 28 people died, including two babies – one from Pakistan and another from Afghanistan – and a 15-year-old boy from Iraq. Figures obtained by the NGO The Civil Fleet show that for the same period in 2023, there were 13 deaths.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “The fact that there has been a sharp rise in the deaths of people in asylum accommodation is deeply troubling.”
The Home Office does not publish information about deaths of asylum seekers in their care and it can be difficult to obtain this information through freedom of information requests.
The data for the first six months of 2024 does not provide detail of deaths beyond saying that the cause of some is unconfirmed. But the 2023 data provides more detail showing that some lives were cut short as a result of brutal circumstances – one person died as a result of a hit-and-run incident while another was forced to jump from a window of his room, which caught fire after the lithium battery on his e-bike exploded.
According to longer-term data, there has been a sharp increase in deaths in Home Office accommodation since 2020 with a doubling in suicides.
Between April 2016 and June 2024 there were 217 deaths with just 28 of those between April 2016 and December 2019, while between January 2020 and June 2024 there were 189 deaths – 87% of the total number during the whole period.
The increase in deaths coincides with a change by the Home Office from accommodating almost all asylum seekers in shared housing to moving tens of thousands into long-term hotel accommodation at the start of the pandemic.
Several hundred were told they must accept “no choice” accommodation on the former Wethersfield military base in Essex or the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset where the Albanian asylum seeker Leonard Farruku is believed to have taken his life in December 2023.
Solomon added: “We see the hugely negative impact of men, women and children being left isolated in poor quality accommodation for months on end with minimal financial support. Let’s not forget these are people who’ve fled war, violence and terror in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan and come to the UK to be safe. It is the legal responsibility of government to ensure they are kept safe and well so that tragic deaths are avoided.”
The British Red Cross, the UK’s largest refugee services provider, has warned that people seeking asylum in England are falling through the cracks in the healthcare system and have launched a new framework to help GPs, health workers, charities and local authorities work together to ensure everyone who arrives to seek asylum is getting the healthcare they need and are entitled to.
The Home Office declined to comment on the increasing death toll among asylum seekers but sources said the death data relates to the previous government and that the department always cooperates fully with investigations into the deaths of asylum seekers.
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
