Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the average total cost to the public purse per asylum seeker over the duration of their claim, including accommodation, healthcare and support services; and, if no such estimate has been made, whether she will commit to producing and publishing one.

The Home Office has published an indicative estimate of £18,700 for the average cost of an asylum claim as part of the Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026 Impact Assessment. This is a forward-looking estimate for economic appraisal, based on recent data from asylum claims and captures the support and accommodation, processing, and appeals costs during a claim.

Support and accommodation costs have been averaged across the different accommodation types used by the Home Office given the wide variation in their costs. The estimate covers the time to initial decision, appeals and move-on period, and is adjusted for proportions of asylum claims that are granted protection, that go on to appeal and that are likely to require support. It averages across asylum claims that cover different numbers of people. The estimate is in 2026/27 prices.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-02/0105/ImpactAssessment.pdf

The costs of each asylum claim will vary depending on factors such as length of time to decision and whether asylum seekers require accommodation and support. The Home Office has publicly stated that it can cost the Department up to £158,000 to house a family of three in an asylum hotel for a year.

Home Secretary's speech on immigration: 5 March 2026 - GOV.UK

For asylum seekers whose application is refused there will be further costs to remove individuals from the country (where they do not leave of their own accord). The average cost of an enforced return is estimated to be £48,800 and a voluntary return is £4,300 in 2024/25 prices.

Average cost of an Immigration Enforcement return FY 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK

We do not have an estimate of the non-asylum related costs to other departments throughout the duration of an asylum seeker’s claim.