NAO’s report also stated that there is no overall cross-government budget for the asylum system, but that the Home Office and Ministry of Justice together spent around £4.9 billion on asylum in 2024 to 2025, £4bn of which went on direct asylum support like accommodation.
The NAO report exposed how “for years, short-term, reactive measures have shifted pressures within the asylum system, creating new backlogs and leaving many claims unresolved for extended periods”.
“This has led to inefficiencies, wasted public funds, and harm to both asylum seekers’ life chances and the government’s ability to meet its obligations to them and UK citizens,” it said.
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Enver Solomon, chief executive of Refugee Council, told the Big Issue that the report’s findings mirror what the charity sees in its frontline services. It is “an asylum system that is simply not functioning, where people wait months or even years for a decision, local councils are under-resourced, and costs keep rising”.
“NAO’s finding that more than half of people who applied for asylum almost three years ago still don’t have an outcome is shocking,” Solomon added. “We support people who have fled untold horrors in places like Sudan and Afghanistan and want nothing more than to rebuild their lives, but the delays, bottlenecks and system failures push them into uncertainty, ill-health and, too often, homelessness.
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“This is harmful for people who come here in search of safety, and it places avoidable strain on local communities and the public purse.”
Solomon explained that the government must prioritise “a whole-system approach with timely, quality decisions and proper data and capacity”, while a focus on “getting decisions right first time and supporting people to integrate and contribute to their new communities” will “restore order and confidence in the system”.
The NAO report came after home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a number of reforms to the UK’s immigration system, leading to backlash from Labour MPs. Among the reforms was a proposal to quadruple the waiting period for some refugees to receive permanent residence in the UK, from five to 20 years. Alongside this, Mahmood proposed that migrants would only become eligible for benefits and social housing if they first become British citizens.
NAO’s report claimed that if the government’s proposed reforms succeed in moving cases through the asylum system faster, this could “relieve pressure” on the system, however the changes are “complex” and require understanding of how “people and casework” move through the system, otherwise there is a risk of “unintended consequences for already stretched systems”, such as homelessness.
Sile Reynolds, head of asylum advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said the government should “stop wasting time and resources on short-term, panic-driven system tweaks and focus instead on building a fair and effective asylum system”, adding that Mahmood’s latest immigration proposals will “bake inefficiency and unfairness into a system that is at breaking point”.
“We can’t build a system that is sustainable or capable of inspiring public confidence by stripping away the fundamental protections that ensure survivors are never sent back into the hands of their torturers,” Reynolds added.
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“We need an asylum system that treats people with dignity, gives people a fair hearing and ensures their protection needs are met promptly so that they can recover and rebuild their lives in safety.”
Charities claim the existing asylum system is ‘broken’
Nick Beales, head of campaigning at Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London (RAMFEL), commented on Mahmood’s proposals, which include making refugee status temporary, claiming that the proposals will “not just make things worse, it will bring an already unfit for purpose Home Office to its knees”.
“If over half of people who claimed asylum in January 2023 are still waiting for a decision on their claim, then the existing system is clearly broken,” Beales said.
“If the government is serious about improving the current system, rather than pursue ever more punitive and self-defeating policies, they should prioritise granting refugees permanent status sooner. This will reduce Home Office bureaucracy, save public money and improve social cohesion.”
A Home Office spokesperson told the Big Issue: “The home secretary recently announced the most sweeping changes to the asylum system in a generation to deal with the problems outlined in this report.
“We are already making progress – with nearly 50,000 people with no right to be here removed, a 63% rise in illegal working arrests and over 21,000 small boat crossing attempts prevented so far this year.
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“Our new reforms will fix the broken asylum system we inherited, restoring order and control and removing the incentives which draw people to come to the UK illegally.”
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