Detention Forum:The Detention Forum guide to navigating immigration detention statistics
The Home Office and Office of National Statistics regularly publish detailed tables showing the numbers of people held in immigration detention and subsequently released or removed from the UK. But […]…
National Statistics: How many people do we grant asylum or protection to? Published 24 May 2018
Data relates to the year ending March 2018 and all comparisons are with the year ending March 2017, unless indicated otherwise. This section contains data on:
- asylum applications and initial decisions
- unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC)
- asylum support
- resettlement
- family reunion visas granted
- international comparisons of asylum trends
Data on transfers under the Dublin regulation can be found in the Asylum tables.
We provide a more detailed commentary on an annual basis. This is included in ‘Immigration Statistics, April to June 2017’.
1. Key facts
In the year ending March 2018, there were 14,166 grants of asylum, alternative forms of protection and resettlement, down 11% compared with 15,973 in the previous year. This comprised:
- 6,865 grants of asylum to main applicants and dependants (down 17%)
- 1,541 grants of alternative form of protection to main applicants and their dependants (up 16%)
- 5,760 people provided with protection under a resettlement scheme (down 9%)
Of the 14,166 people granted asylum, protection and resettlement, 5,953 (42%) were children (under 18 years old).
Additionally, 5,874 Family reunion visas were issued to partners and children of those granted asylum or humanitarian protection in the UK, a 2% increase since last year. Of these, 2,883 (49%) were issued to children.
The number of asylum applications in the UK from main applicants decreased by 8% to 26,547 in the year ending March 2018. The fall in asylum applications reflects a return to levels seen before the European migration crisis in 2015. The falls are consistent with what has been seen more widely across Europe, with a decrease of around 41% in applications to EU countries in the last year.
There were 774 grants of asylum or alternative forms of protection to Syrian nationals (including dependants) at initial decision in the year ending March 2018 (down 49%).
A total of 5,760 people were resettled in the UK in the year ending March 2018 under various schemes. This included 4,342 Syrian nationals who were provided protection under the Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), bringing the total number of Syrians provided protection to 11,649 since the scheme began in 2014.