The number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels stood at 16,021 at the end of June 2026, down 50% year-on-year from 32,041.
It is the lowest figure since data was first reported in 2022, Home Office figures show.
There was rise of 4% in the number of asylum seekers in dispersal accommodation – privately managed houses, flats or rooms in properties of multiple occupancy – up from 66,234 in June 2025 to 69,038 in June 2026.
But this was more than offset by the sharp drop in asylum seekers in hotels and other types of contingency accommodation, meaning the overall number of claimants receiving any kind of support was down 12% year-on-year, from 106,075 to 93,293.
Home Office spending on asylum in the UK has also decreased.
It stood at £4.36 billion in 2025-26, down 8% from £4.76 billion in 2024-25 and the second annual fall in a row.
The total covers all Home Office costs related to asylum, including direct cash support and accommodation, plus wider staffing and other migration and borders activity, but it does not include costs relating to intercepting small boat migrants.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the figures showed her Government is “restoring control at our border and fairness to the migration system”.
The Labour Government has pledged to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament.
Another 13 such hotels closed earlier this month as Andy Burnham’s Government continues the process of moving people into alternative accommodation.
The total number is now below 160 – having peaked at around 400 under the Conservatives.
Ministers are increasing the use of more “basic” sites including former military barracks.
Responding to the latest figures, Ms Mahmood said: “A little over two years into office and the asylum backlog is down, the number of asylum seekers in hotels is falling, illegal working arrests are at record levels, and deportations and returns are up markedly.
“Small boats numbers are also now falling, but we are not complacent and there is more we must do.
“That is why I have boosted enforcement on the French beaches and overseas and introduced new legislation to tackle the pull factors that draw people here through unsafe and illegal routes.
“This Government is restoring control at our border and fairness to the migration system.”
Dr Nuni Jorgenson, from the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, said the Government has largely been able to close hotels because asylum decisions were being made more quickly.
She said: “In its first two years in office, the Government has made some progress on its pledge to close asylum hotels. It has done so by primarily making asylum decisions faster.
“That reduced the size of the initial decision backlog but shifted the problem to a new appeals backlog in the courts.
“The initial backlog is now actually relatively low, and most decisions take a few months. The biggest remaining challenge for the Government is now the backlog in the courts.”
Home Office figures released on Thursday also reveal that the number of people who applied for asylum in the UK is down by 21%.
A total of 85,891 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2026 compared with 108,585 in the previous year.
It is the lowest 12-month total since the year to June 2022, when applications stood at 75,668.
The asylum backlog has also gone down.
There were 40,168 people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2026.
This is down 56% from 90,812 a year earlier at the end of June 2025 and is the lowest number since March 2019.
The total peaked at 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.
The number of people waiting more than 12 months for an initial decision stood at 11,014 at the end of June, down 61% from 27,998 a year earlier.
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