Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the definition is of the asylum legacy backlog.

The legacy backlog is made up of 92,601 asylum claims lodged before the 28 June 2022 which is when provisions within the Nationality and Borders Act came into force. The commitment made by the Prime Minister on 13 December 2022 was to clear this backlog by the end of 2023.

All cases in the legacy backlog have now been reviewed, with 86,800 decisions made. An additional 25,300 Flow cases (claims made on and after 28 June 2022) were decided in 2023.

Every single case was reviewed and all those that could be concluded were. Around 4,500 claims require further investigation. We will never compromise the integrity of the UK immigration system and will ensure that rigorous checks are made on these claims before decisions are made.

Increased efficiency and capacity has seen the Home Office not just clear the equivalent 92,000 legacy asylum backlog, but exceed it, processing over 112,000 cases.