Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November to Question 12585 on Undocumented Migrants, if she will make an estimate of the number of asylum seekers for which her Department doesn't have an address listed.

There is no data published regarding asylum claimants without an address.

The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of people in asylum accommodation in table Asy_D09 of the quarterly Immigration System Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables. Not all asylum seekers will be housed in Home Office accommodation as some will be supported by friends and family, for example.

The Home Office maintains records of addresses of asylum claimants and updates these records in the event the Department is informed an asylum claimant moves address.

Asylum claimants must maintain contact with the Home Office and report changes of their circumstances, such as change in address, as soon as reasonably possible, as referenced in paragraph 358B of Immigration rules: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules.

If an asylum claimant fails to update the Home Office with change of circumstances, such as an address, as soon as reasonably possible their asylum claim may be withdrawn, as referenced in Paragraph 333C of the Immigration Rules. More information can be found at the Implicit Withdrawals section of the Withdrawals Guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/withdrawing-asylum-applications/withdrawing-asylum-claims-accessible.