The number of people offered asylum, protection, alternative forms of leave and resettlement has almost halved (48%) compared to last year’s figures, according to the official Home Office statistics for 2020. The figure – 9,936 people, including dependants – has sunk to the lowest level since 2014.

There were 7,546 people granted asylum, a reduction of 40% compared with the previous year which may be explained due to fewer initial decisions being made on asylum applications by the Home Office – 14,365 decisions in 2020 compared with 20,766 in 2019, a 31% reduction. The number of asylum applications also decreased by almost one fifth (18%), down to 29,456 compared to 35,737 in 2019.

There was a 18% reduction of people being granted humanitarian protection, 1,012 people. Moreover, 555 people were granted alternative forms of leave following an application for asylum (57% reduction) and only 823 people were resettled to the UK—85% reduction compared with 2019.

The figures also show a significant increase of individuals provided with asylum support, an increase by 28% from 50,091 in 2019 to 64,041. Also, the data shows that the waiting times on asylum claims are at a record high with 46,796, up from 29,233 in the previous year.

Over the same period, the Home Office’s attempts to deport asylum seekers to EU countries have increased to 8,502—2.5 times higher than the previous year. Despite the increase in the Home Office’s attempts to deportasylum seekers to the EU, only 105 took place—a decrease of 60% compared to 2019.