The Home Office does not have ‘a clear sense of what they are trying to achieve’ regarding asylum, according to a parliamentary committee.
The report by the Public Accounts Committee cites several reasons for the system’s failure, such as running the system ‘without clear end-to-end leadership’ and ‘poor data quality’. The committee chair, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, noted how the Home Office leaves asylum seekers ‘in limbo’.
The Committee also highlights that lingering asylum issues is leaving ‘the taxpayer exposed to continued poor value for money.’ Costs for the UK government have risen, with asylum costs rising to £4.9 billion, with £3.4 billion spent on accommodation and support, in 2024-2025. Additionally, 36,300 asylum seekers were housed in hotels by the end of September 2025, a 2% increase from the previous year.
One of the report’s main findings is on the lack of leadership and direction of the Home Office which means that government departments ‘do not have a grip’ or ‘a clear sense of what they want to achieve’ in their management of the asylum system. This has led to the repetition of mistakes and wasted government resources. The report highlights that responsibility is ‘fragmented’ between the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and local government and delays are shifted ‘from one part of the asylum system to another’ rather than being resolved.
According to the committee, weaknesses in the quality of data mean that basic information, such as the number of absconders and the number of repeated appeals, is often ‘incomplete, inconsistent or simply unavailable’. The report recommends creating a shared data framework with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and local authorities to allow Parliament to accurately assess the situation.
The Committee criticised the Home Office for not yet having a ‘credible long-term strategy’ for asylum accommodation and does not have a full understanding of the impact on local services and strain on local authorities.
The report notes how the Home Office only knows where the ‘vast majority’ of failed asylum seekers are. It recommends the Home Office to create an estimate of how many failed asylum seekers there are in the UK and how many it’s ‘actively engaged with.’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced major changes to the asylum system in March, with people granted asylum receiving only temporary protection, with cases being reviewed every 30 months.
Figures released by the Home Office in February show that the number of people claiming asylum fell by 4% from 2024 to 2025, the backlog of pending asylum claims dropped to 64,426, the lowest mark since 2020, and the number of asylum seekers held in hotels fell by 19% to 30,657.
