UK asylum: grants of protection or other leave
UK asylum: grants of protection or other leave stood at 55,117 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 2010 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People receiving an initial decision | 135,740 | 86,641 | 91,556 | 22,790 | 17,866 | 18,477 | 28,575 | 28,969 | 27,850 | 31,011 | |
| Grants of protection or other leave | 55,117 | 40,753 | 61,478 | 17,274 | 12,953 | 8,973 | 15,080 | 10,097 | 8,564 | 9,944 | |
| Refusals | 80,623 | 45,888 | 30,078 | 5,516 | 4,913 | 9,504 | 13,495 | 18,872 | 19,286 | 21,067 |
Understanding UK asylum: grants of protection or other leave
This series tallies the number of individuals who receive a positive initial determination granting refugee status, humanitarian protection, or alternative forms of leave to remain within the United Kingdom. It measures the direct success of protection claims at the primary adjudication tier, separating those permitted to stay from individuals facing negative outcomes. Excluded from this metric are grants issued subsequent to an appeal tribunal hearing, as well as positive outcomes arising from long-residence policies or family migration routes unrelated to international protection.
Reading this dataset requires understanding that fluctuations reflect both changes in the underlying composition of application cohorts and shifts in decision-making thresholds applied by caseworkers. Provisional counts published during the year are frequently revised as complex cases are re-examined. Year-on-year comparisons provide a more reliable picture of protection grants than sequential quarterly changes, which can be distorted by batch processing of clustered claims. Analysts comparing this series against total decisions must remember that refusals and withdrawals constitute the remaining components of the initial adjudication total.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this count encompass leave granted following a successful tribunal appeal?
- No, it is restricted to positive outcomes delivered at the initial administrative decision stage.
- Are dependant family members included when they receive leave alongside the main applicant?
- Yes, individuals granted protection as dependants are incorporated into the overall positive outcome tally.
- How do policy shifts affect this specific series?
- Changes in legal criteria or country-of-origin guidance can alter the proportion of claims resulting in grants of leave.