Author: admin

The press release issued by the Home Office on 30 June 2026.

Asylum seekers who can afford to will be required to repay a flat-rate contribution towards the cost of their accommodation and support.

Asylum seekers who are able to pay back the cost of support and accommodation will now be required to, under new laws.

The Immigration and Asylum Bill, which will be introduced to Parliament today, sets out new powers for the Home Office to recover costs from adults who have received asylum support such as subsistence or accommodation, provided they have access to sufficient funds.

The payment will take the form of a flat-rate charge, with eligible adults paying off an amount each month above a set threshold.

There will be various methods for those individuals to pay. The primary mechanism for this is expected to be through direct payments to the Home Office with options also being explored to use the tax and benefits systems. 

Migrants will be required to pay off the full amount before being eligible for settlement. Anyone who leaves the UK will be required to make their payments if they wish to return at a future date.

The Home Secretary will have the power to adjust the charge and the thresholds, ensuring they are both fair to the taxpayer and will not force any migrant into destitution. Under plans, migrants are expected to have to pay a total sum of around £10,000. This figure will be a contribution to the overall cost of their asylum support.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, said:

The cost of asylum accommodation on the British taxpayer is too high.

We have already reduced asylum costs by £1 billion, but it is also right that we ask those who can contribute to do so.

Receiving asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility. Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.

Currently, asylum seekers in the UK receive a package of support which has become a financial burden on the taxpayer, with annual costs of £4 billion across accommodation and support last year.

The government has already cut these costs by nearly a billion pounds since taking office and is going further by ending the use of asylum hotels, with 31 closed since April and hundreds of asylum seekers moved into basic accommodation including ex-military sites.

Requiring individuals to pay towards the cost of their support will allow those on a pathway to settlement to make a contribution to UK society and repay some of our generosity. For those without a right to remain it will ensure they take responsibility for the financial impact of their presence in this country.

The Home Office estimates the average cost per person per night of accommodating asylum seekers is £23.25 in dispersal accommodation and £144 in hotels, while subsistence payment range from £9.95 to £49.18 per person per week.

This legislation will now also ensure that recipients of asylum support contribute to their own costs, once they are able to do so.

A quarter of 16 to 64-year-olds granted asylum refugees between 2015 and 2023 were in employment within the same calendar year they were granted status, with that number rising to 50% 2 years after refugee status was granted.

Of those who were in employment 8 years after the grant, 37% were in full-time work with median earnings of £23,000, with 40% earning more than minimum wage.

The Immigration and Asylum Bill will bring into force the most significant policy proposals in a generation to create a firm but fair asylum system that works for Britain, restoring order and control to the immigration system and reducing the pull factors driving illegal migration.

The press release issued by the Home Office on 30 June 2026.

New independent appeals body to speed up removals of foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers.

A once-in-a-generation overhaul of asylum and immigration appeals will create a single route and end the merry-go-round of repeated appeals. This will lead to faster, fairer decisions, and speed up the removals of foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers.  

The average time taken to clear cases stands at 61 weeks, leaving more than 150,000 immigration and asylum appeals waiting to be heard. 

To tackle this, the government will, through the Immigration and Asylum Bill that was confirmed in the King’s Speech, set up a new independent body, which will establish a new framework for appeals to be heard.

The Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA) will be able to prioritise cases in the public interest more easily, including high-harm foreign offenders and human rights claims that are clearly without merit, leading to faster removals. 

New laws will also ensure that those who are abusing the system to delay or prevent their return are no longer able to do so. Currently, migrants can appeal a rejected claim and then bring further claims about new matters before their removal – a duplication that clogs the system. Requiring all claims to be brought together and creating a single appeal route will allow for faster outcomes.

The new authority is set to start hearing appeals from late 2027, to be phased in stages. It will have the flexibility to dynamically scale up and down the number of adjudicators based on demand within the appeals system. 

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said:  

Today, our appeals tribunal is overwhelmed. As a result, people are gaming the system, lodging vexatious appeals to frustrate their removal.  

Our new appeals body will ensure claims are heard swiftly and fairly. Those with a legitimate claim will get their hearing. Those who have no right to remain in this country, and are abusing the system, will be swiftly removed.

The IIAA will be staffed by professionally trained and independently appointed adjudicators – much like a magistrate – who will have a broad range of skills and backgrounds, with safeguards to ensure high standards.

Broadening the eligibility criteria for people to apply to become adjudicators will result in a significant increase in capacity within the authority, leading to more decisions being made.

While decisions will be fully independent, the new body will be integrated into the immigration system to ensure cases flow through quickly to removal where appeals are unsuccessful, to scale up removals of those with no right to be here.   

Nearly 70,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals have been returned or deported since this government came to power.

The Immigration and Asylum Bill will also save taxpayers money by overhauling how asylum claims are processed, with one single decision to be made on asylum and humanitarian protection claims to slash delays.

Significant progress has already been made in tackling the asylum backlog, with the number of people waiting for an initial decision falling by 72% since June 2023.  

In total, 128,000 initial decisions were made in the last year, a 32% increase on the previous year and more than 4 times the annual average in the decade to 2020. 

The government is also increasing capacity in the existing appeals system. This year sitting days are due to increase by 19% in the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber compared with 2024/25, so more cases can be heard and decisions made faster.  

But the scale of the current caseload cannot be sustainably managed within the existing system. Despite the dedicated work of the tribunal and the judiciary, fundamental reform is now needed to stop the appeals system becoming a barrier to removal. 

The Immigration and Asylum Bill will bring into force the most significant policy proposals in a generation to create a firm but fair asylum system that works for Britain, restoring order and control to the immigration system and reducing the pull factors driving illegal migration.