Home Office has processed just 15 PER CENT of the more than 50,000 asylum applications made by Channel migrants since the start of 2018
- Just 15% of Channel asylum applications processed by Home Office since 2018
- New figures show 43,476 out of 52,294 small boat arrival claims not yet decided
- Of all decided applications 4,171 (7.9%) were granted and 7% were rejected
- Albanians are largest number of Channel migrants this year as 11,241 arrive
Just 15 per cent of asylum applications by Channel migrants since the start of the crisis in 2018 have been processed by the Home Office.
New figures show that out of 52,294 claims made by small boat arrivals from northern France over the last four years, a total of 43,476 – or 83 per cent – remain undecided.
Home Office caseworkers have made decisions in only 7,805 of the cases, or 14.9 per cent. The remaining 1,013 cases have been withdrawn.
Of the applications since 2018 which have seen a decision, 4,171 – or 7.9 per cent of the total – were granted asylum status. Only 7 per cent have been rejected so far.
Just 15 per cent of asylum applications by Channel migrants since the start of the crisis in 2018 have been processed by the Home Office. Pictureed: A group of migrants being brought into the Port of Dover today on the Border Force vessel Typhoon
A graph showing the number of migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats each month from 2019 to 2022
The figures reveal the full impact of the Home Office’s asylum backlog, which has soared by more than 21,000 in three months to 148,533.
Applicants are allowed to remain in Britain at the taxpayers’ expense while decisions are awaited, with many then entering a lengthy appeal process.
More than 40,000 asylum seekers are being housed in hotels at a cost of £6million a day.
The data also gives a breakdown of applications made since the start of this year.
Of the 29,049 claims lodged between January 1 and the end of September more than 98 per cent have yet to be decided and just 46 – or 0.15 per cent – have been granted asylum.
Albanians have made up the largest number of Channel arrivals this year.
The first nine months of this year saw 11,241 Albanians reach the UK by small boat, up from 264 in the same period last year – a rise of around 4,000 per cent.
A group of people thought to be migrants wait to be processed after being brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel on November 14
A group of people thought to be migrants crossing the Channel in a small boat headed in the direction of Dover on August 10
It came as the Ministry of Defence, which has command of UK operations in the Channel, confirmed that 884 migrants reached Britain on Tuesday – the highest number for more than a fortnight.
It means the total number of arrivals since start of the year stands at 43,472.
French officials rescued a further 240 people in difficulties on their side of the Channel on the same day.
Arrivals to the UK continued through the night and into Wednesday morning.
The then-home secretary Sajid Javid first declared a ‘major incident’ when hundreds of people crossed from France by small boat in December 2018.
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