Number of people granted asylum in UK plummets by 26% in a year

The number of people granted asylum in the UK has plummeted by 26 per cent in the past year, with more than half of applicants now turned away by the government when they appeal for refuge.

An analysis of government data also shows that more than a third of asylum applications that receive a negative initial decision are overturned on appeal, prompting concerns that the Home Office is “consistently getting it wrong” on such cases.

Asylum seekers are meanwhile facing record delays in the application process, with 14,528 people waiting for longer than the government’s six-month target as of June 2018 – 76 per cent more than two years ago, when the figure stood at 8,254.

Campaigners attribute the decline in grants of asylum in part to an “unrealistically high” standard of proof for asylum seekers, saying applicants are expected to obtain “impossible” proof such as evidence documenting torture and sexual violence.

The data shows that 4,981 grants of asylum were made in the year to June 2018 – 26 per cent fewer than in the 12 months before. Less than a fifth (18 per cent) of applications were granted in the past year, compared with 25 per cent the year before and 39 per cent in 2014/15.

There was a rise in the number of grants of alternative forms of protection, such as on settlement or family reunification schemes, with the figure rising from 962 to 1,255 in the past year. But the comparatively small numbers mean this does not make up for the drop in people granted asylum.

Meanwhile, of 11,461 appeals that were lodged last year, 39 per cent (4,307) were successful.

Ciaran Price, public affairs officer at Asylum Aid, told The Independent it was unusual for the number of people granted protection after fleeing war and persecution to have dropped so much in one year and said it was at least partly due to “unfair” decision-making by the Home Office.

“In the long time that we have represented people who have suffered torture, violence and rape, we have witnessed the Home Office refuse applications unfairly and make the wrong decisions,” he said.

“The Home Office applies an unrealistically high standard of proof expecting applicants to obtain impossible proof – like birth certificates they may have left behind in the middle of the night when fleeing violence, or evidence documenting graphic details of sexual violence.

“This happened with the Windrush generation too – indicating a systemic problem.”

Mr Price added: “A drop in the number of people being granted asylum may be a statistic, but for the individuals involved, which in nearly 50 per cent of the cases end in being granted refugee status, it is a matter of life or death that the Home Office must get right the first time.”

Dr Lisa Doyle, director of advocacy at the Refugee Council, raised concerns that amid the declining grant rate on initial decisions, those who are granted asylum after an appeal stands at a high 37 per cent.

“This shows that the Home Office are consistently getting it wrong first time, leading to people living in fear that they will be returned to the country from which they fled,” she said.

“These are life and death decisions and it is crucial that these decisions are correct.”

At the end of last year, 48,725 people seeking asylum and their dependants were being supported by the UK government. This figure has risen since 2012, but is still below the figure for the end of 2003, when there were 80,123 asylum seekers being supported.

The latest figures come after it emerged that a growing number of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK were being left destitute due to a sudden cutoff in government support once they re granted refugee status.

In the year ending June 2018, Germany, Italy and France all received at least twice as many asylum applications as the UK. In Germany alone, a total of 168,000 asylum applications were made. Britain received less than 4 per cent of all asylum claims made in the EU during last year.​

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. Since the start of 2010, we have provided protection to more than 97,000 people, including over 31,000 children.

“This includes almost 13,000 people resettled under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme since it began, which takes the total number of refugees resettled in the UK since 2010 to more than 20,000.”