Almost 100,000 people seeking asylum in the UK are waiting for a decision amid growing claims that ministers have massaged official figures to try to show that they have cut the backlog of cases.
Figures released on Tuesday show that 98,599 applicants are in the system seeking an initial decision on whether their claims are admissible – slightly larger than the backlog that Rishi Sunak promised to eradicate in 2022.
The statistics were released after the home secretary, James Cleverly, claimed to have ended the so-called “legacy backlog” of cases from 2022. They also appear to show that growing numbers of cases are being defined as withdrawn or paused, and therefore removed from the official backlog.
Labour accused the prime minister of pushing a “barefaced lie” in publishing the figures.
The statistics show that of the 112,138 initial asylum decisions made between January and 28 December 2023, 35,119 were “non-substantive decisions”, which include withdrawn or paused applications. This would mean that 31% of 2023 asylum decisions were withdrawn or paused, up from 22% in 2022 and 16% in 2021.
New definitions of withdrawn claims introduced in 2023 include applicants who fail to contact the Home Office, complete an asylum questionnaire properly, or attend an interview. A Whitehall source said at the time the changes were being introduced to bring the backlog down.
The statistics will also pile pressure on the government to resolve internal Conservative party rows that have prevented the government’s faltering plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda where their claims will be heard.
Of the current 98,599 backlog, 34% (33,085) are eligible to be sent to the central African country, the new statistics suggest. Sunak’s latest immigration law, the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill, is at the centre of a row between the hard right and centrists in the parliamentary party.
Sunak pledged to clear about 92,000 asylum claims made by June 2022 before the end of last year. Decisions had been made in 86,800 cases, with reviews ongoing in the remaining 4,500 complex cases dependent on issues including court proceedings or age verification, the Home Office claimed.
Cleverly insisted on Tuesday morning that it was fair to count such cases as cleared because they were being looked at. However, Labour said this was wrong because such cases were still officially listed as part of the backlog.
Asked why a press release issued on Monday said Sunak’s target on legacy cases – those asylum applications made before 28 June 2022 – had been met, Cleverly said: “It has.”
The home secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Sunak’s commitment had been to “make sure we process” the 92,000 legacy claims.
“Every single one of those applications has been processed. In the vast majority, a final adjudication has been made. In a small number – about 4,500 where there are discrepancies, where there are further checks, additional work needs to be done.”
Pressed on cases not being fully resolved, he added: “The commitment was to make sure they were all processed, to process that backlog, and that’s exactly what we’ve done, we’ve completed that processing.”
Setting out a five-point plan in an attempt to grip the migration crisis in the Commons in December 2022, Sunak said: “Unless we act now, and decisively, this will only get worse.”
Among new measures unveiled to curb Channel crossings, he told MPs at the time that “we expect to abolish the backlog of initial asylum decisions by the end of next year” after hiring more caseworkers and overhauling the system for processing applications.
The shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, said Sunak’s claim to have cleared the legacy asylum backlog was a “barefaced lie” after government statistics showed that 4,500 cases from before June 2022 remained unresolved.
He wrote on X: “The PM’s barefaced lie that he has cleared the asylum backlog would be laughable if it wasn’t such an insult to the public’s intelligence.”
Jon Featonby, the chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council, said the government must explain why there were so many asylum claim withdrawals.
“We are very concerned by the high number of non-substantive decisions that were made in the process of ‘clearing’ the legacy asylum backlog. Withdrawing applications is not the right way to deal with claims: each claim must be considered on its own merits and applicants should receive a proper decision,” he said.
