Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the skills and qualifications of asylum seekers; and how many asylum seekers have been permitted to take up employment pending a decision on their asylum application in 2022 and 2023.

Those who have claimed asylum in the UK and have had their asylum claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.

There are also various legal routes for those seeking to work in the UK under the Points-Based System. These routes include Skilled Worker, Global Talent, and Health and Care routes, which are supporting UK businesses to recruit workers with the skills and talent they need from around the world.

The Home Office does not record data on the number of asylum seekers who have been permitted to work in a reportable format.