Migrants could be housed in hotels for up to three more years due to asylum backlog

1 October 2024, 05:26 | Updated: 1 October 2024, 05:28

Refugee children waiting outside a hotel in Dover, UK. 2004.
Migrants could be housed in hotels for up to three more years because of the asylum backlog. Picture: Alamy

By Flaminia Luck

Migrants could be housed in hotels for up to three more years because of the asylum backlog, it has been reported.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

The Times newspaper said on Monday evening that since winning the election Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and other ministers have realised that clearing the backlog will take longer than they had hoped.

The party had pledged to clear it and "end asylum hotels" but a Whitehall source told the Times that the it is "much worse than we thought".

"It's going to take a lot longer to clear than we anticipated. It certainly won't be cleared in a year," they added. A Labour source said: "We have inherited a completely failed immigration system from the Tories. Including them spending over £700 million on Rwanda, and gimmicks that didn't work. We're working on clearing down the backlog they left behind, they clearly did nothing at all in the months before the election.

"The numbers speak for themselves."

Stop the Boats Protest At The Ipswich Novotel
Stop the Boats Protest At The Ipswich Novotel. Picture: Getty

According to Home Office figures released in August, a total of 118,882 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2024, down by 32% from 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

But the latest total was up slightly from the 118,329 waiting to be dealt with at the end of March this year, indicating a rise in the last three months of the 12-month period.

Read more: UK charters flight to help British nationals leave Lebanon as Israel begins ground incursion

Read more: Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship finally departs after four months stranded in Belfast

Earlier this month, Ms Cooper told broadcasters that the Government was making progress on clearing the asylum backlog and returning those with no right to be in the UK "so that we can end these very costly asylum hotels".

The Labour manifesto released ahead of the general election said that the party would "restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly".

"We will hire additional caseworkers to clear the Conservatives' backlog and end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds," the manifesto said.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

President Donald Trump speaks on Wednesday night

Trump says 'the US wants its money back on Ukraine' as he makes plans to meet Putin and end war

Exclusive
Katie Amess has spoken out about the need for an inquiry into her father's murder by an Islamist terrorist

Daughter of Sir David Amess, MP murdered by Islamist terrorist, ‘made to sign NDA’ on report into father’s death

Exclusive
Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Italian F1 Grand Prix - Previews

Nightclub bouncer behind £12m plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets jailed

Josef Fritzl

Incest monster Josef Fritzl could walk free from prison next year - and expects 'cheering crowds' to greet him

Ofsted's Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver supports an extension to term times

'Time to think about school holidays': Ofsted's Chief Inspector supports extending term times

Exclusive
Angela Rayner insisted that British support for Ukraine was 'unwavering'

Rayner insists UK support for Ukraine 'unwavering' despite Trump's plan for 'immediate' peace talks with Putin

Prince William, President of BAFTA, operates a film camera as he visits the London Screen Academy in London, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)

William tries his hand at being a cameraman on visit to London film academy

President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during the G20 Japan Summit Friday, June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan.

Trump and Putin 'to meet in Saudi Arabia' and 'start negotiations immediately' to end war in Ukraine

Street scene in Peckham, London, with red bus

Bus driver, 76, found guilty of killing passenger who was run over while attempting to board vehicle

Norward Road, Lambeth, the proposed LTN.

Council staff given 'wellbeing day' after attending 'stormy' neighbourhood meeting

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, shakes hands with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb.

Ukraine's NATO membership plans 'unrealistic' says US - as defence secretary claims US troops won't be peacekeepers

Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire

Officer accused of pinning down and trying to kiss soldier, 19, had been 'waiting for moment for them to be alone'

A public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks'

Public inquiry into Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks', PM tells victims' families

Paul Allen.

Cagefighter guilty of Britain's largest cash robbery shot in neck in his kitchen in murder plot

Lucy Harrison

British woman, 23, dies after being shot dead at dad's US house as 'utterly heartbroken' family pays tribute