UK asylum appeals backlog climbs to new record high

Ian Jones, Press Association

The UK asylum appeals backlog has reached another record high and is now more than 17 times the level it was at the start of the decade.

There were 90,341 cases in the system at the end of June, according to figures published on Thursday by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

The total is up 51% from 59,925 12 months earlier, while it stood at just 5,209 in June 2020.

The rise is likely to reflect the faster pace at which the Government is making initial decisions on asylum claims.

This has led to a growing number of claimants appealing against these decisions in the courts.

Figures released last month by the Home Office showed the number of people waiting for an initial decision on a claim for asylum is now at its lowest level since 2019.

The total has more than halved in the space of a year, falling from 90,812 in June 2025 to 40,168 in June 2026.

The new MoJ also data shows 39% of asylum appeals were successful between April and June this year.

This is down slightly from 40% in the same period last year.

The grant rate for appeals has been on a downwards trend in recent years, having stood at 52% in April-June 2022.

An asylum appeal case can refer to one person or to a group of people – typically a main applicant and their family members.

The average waiting time to clear an asylum appeal in the three months to June this year was 72 weeks, the MoJ said, up from 67 weeks in January-March.

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