UK asylum seekers in hotel accommodation
UK asylum seekers in hotel accommodation stood at 30,657 people in 2025, according to Home Office — Immigration system statistics. It is one of the indicators in the Asylum claims and support (Home Office) table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 2022 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Asylum claims and support (Home Office) table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asylum support | |||||||||||
| Asylum seekers accommodated in hotels (year end) | 30,657 | 38,054 | 45,744 | 45,753 | |||||||
| Asylum seekers in receipt of support (year end) | 107,003 | 112,187 | 111,132 | 110,171 | 84,457 | 64,041 | 50,091 | 50,426 | 46,652 | 45,152 |
Understanding UK asylum seekers in hotel accommodation
This metric isolates the specific count of supported asylum seekers who are housed in contingency hotel accommodation provided or commissioned by authorities within the United Kingdom at year-end. It measures a subset of the broader state-supported population, capturing individuals placed in temporary institutional settings rather than dispersed residential housing. Excluded from this count are asylum seekers living in standard dispersal housing, individuals who are self-funding or living with private hosts, and those whose claims have concluded.
Reading this series requires recognising that figures represent a snapshot at a single point in time and can be heavily influenced by sudden accommodation capacity constraints or emergency procurement shifts. Early estimates are subject to retrospective data cleaning as contractor invoicing and occupancy registers are audited. Analysts should evaluate trends over extended periods rather than relying on quarter-to-quarter movements, which can reflect temporary logistical bottlenecks. This series must not be read as a proxy for total asylum arrivals or total pending claims, as hotel placement policies vary based on available regional housing stock.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this count include asylum seekers housed in standard residential dispersal properties?
- No, this metric specifically isolates individuals accommodated in hotels and similar contingency settings.
- Are self-funding asylum seekers captured in these hotel figures?
- No, it only tracks individuals whose accommodation is directly provided or funded by the state.
- How frequently are these hotel occupancy figures adjusted?
- Provisional year-end counts undergo routine reconciliation against operational contractor records during subsequent reporting cycles.