Use of asylum hotels falls to new low as net migration also plummets

WorldPolitics
21 May 2026 • 6:54 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Use of asylum hotels falls to new low as net migration also plummets

  • The number of asylum seekers housed in temporary UK hotels reached a new low of 20,885 at the end of March 2026, a 35 per cent year-on-year reduction and the lowest since data collection began in 2022.
  • It comes as UK net migration fell to an estimated 171,000 last year, marking the lowest level since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • This figure represents a 48 per cent decrease compared to the previous year's 331,000, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
  • The decline is primarily attributed to fewer people from outside the EU arriving in the UK for work.
  • More British nationals and those from "EU-plus countries" are estimated to have left the UK than moved to it in the past year.

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