Asylum fiasco with out ending: Devastating report from Whitehall watchdog finds Home Office would not know what number of asylum seekers have absconded – or true price of system to taxpayer

The Home Office has no idea how many asylum seekers have gone missing since arriving in this country.

A damning report today reveals yet more woeful failings in Britain’s asylum process, with huge gaps in systems and key data that does not exist.

The National Audit Office’s withering verdict will raise yet more questions about Labour’s handling of the crisis, just weeks after a separate report blasted the same ‘incompetent’ department for ‘squandering’ billions on asylum hotels. 

Today’s report found the asylum system cost the taxpayer a staggering £4.9billion in 2024-25, mostly on providing taxpayer-funded migrant hotels and other accommodation.

But even this figure excluded major sums, such as legal aid for asylum seekers’ lawyers and the costs borne by local councils when they take over responsibility for supporting successful claimants – which suggests the true figure could be much higher.

In its report, the official spending watchdog warned: ‘We found several examples of data that could help the Government better understand outcomes within the asylum system that were not routinely being collected, or which they could not provide. 

‘For example the Home Office did not hold complete data on the number who absconded from the asylum system.’

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said it showed ‘the Home Office is likely to have lost track of thousands of illegal immigrants who have claimed asylum’.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) intends to strip back the appeals system and let successful asylum seekers stay temporarily rather than permanently

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp (pictured) said Labour has ‘lost control’ of the asylum system in the UK

He added: ‘Labour has lost control of our borders… and the asylum system.

‘Hard-working taxpayers are shelling out billions to fund accommodation for illegal immigrants who claim asylum. This Government isn’t even able to deport all those whose claims fail. The system is a farce.’

Other gaps in official figures include a lack of data on how many failed asylum seekers face deportation or other enforcement.

The Home Office was also unable to state the number of unsuccessful deportation attempts it had made, or why they failed. The Ministry of Justice did not have data on the number of asylum seekers who bring repeated appeals or the total cases received by the Upper Immigration Tribunal, which hears appeals against failed asylum claims.

Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, called for Britain to quit the European Convention on Human Rights, adding: ‘Protecting the public must be paramount.’

The NAO compiled the report after tracking 5,000 asylum claims lodged in January 2023 through the system for 32 months.

By this September, only 452 of the total, or 9 per cent, had been deported, representing ‘just 18 per cent of all people with refused or invalid claims’, the report said.

Just under 35 per cent – 1,725 cases – had been granted asylum or another type of leave to remain in Britain.

The Home Office did not know how many asylum seekers have gone missing since arriving in this country. Pictured: Migrants scrambling onto small boats in the English Channel earlier this year

The report also blasted the Home Office for ‘squandering’ billions on asylum hotels. Pictured: The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex

A further 56 per cent of cases had not concluded. This included 41 per cent which were effectively in ‘limbo’, with their cases not being progressed by the Home Office.

NAO chief analyst Ruth Kelly said: ‘The Home Office doesn’t have robust data on the number of people who have absconded, so we’re not entirely sure of the circumstances of those people. Some may be getting… accommodation support, some may still be reporting to the Home Office.’

Those listed as absconders are likely to have slipped into the black-market economy to earn money illegally.

Others may have left the UK voluntarily or have died. The Home Office does not know.

There were a record 110,051 asylum claims in the 12 months to September.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood intends to strip back the appeals system and let successful asylum seekers stay temporarily rather than permanently. But unlike Tory and Reform proposals, Labour will retain membership of the ECHR, which can be a block on deportations.

Mr Philp added: ‘We need to leave the ECHR and ban asylum claims by illegal immigrants so we can deport them all within a week of arrival.’

The Home Office said: ‘The Home Secretary announced the most sweeping changes to the asylum system in a generation to deal with problems outlined in this report.

‘We are already making progress, with nearly 50,000 people with no right to be here removed, a 63 per cent rise in illegal-working arrests and over 21,000 small-boat crossing attempts prevented this year. Our reforms will restore order and control, remove the incentives which draw people to come to the UK illegally and increase removals of those with no right to be here.’