Cost of Asylum Seekers Tops £2 Billion a Year Amid Record Waves of Illegal Boat Migrants

Demonstrators gather for a march calling for the British parliament to welcome refugees in
DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The cost of the United Kingdom’s asylum system has reportedly eclipsed £2 billion per year amid record-setting numbers of migrants crossing the English Channel.

With asylum claims hitting a 20-year high and tens of thousands of illegal migrants — the vast majority of whom apply for asylum — crossing in small boats from France, the cost to the British taxpayer has soared to £2.1 billion, an increase of £756 million or 56 per cent over the previous year.

At present, there are 116,109 alleged asylum seekers receiving financial support from the government, an increase of 31,000 in the past three months alone, the Daily Mail reports.

While applying for asylum, migrants are afforded free accommodation, a weekly stipend of at least £39.63, access to National Health Service (NHS) healthcare, free dental care, and education for supposed children between the ages of five and 17 — all of which is paid for by the British taxpayer.

Driven in large part by the Channel migrant crisis, the United Kingdom has seen a sharp rise in the number of people applying for asylum, with 63,089 reported claims in the year leading up to June, with that number rising to 75,181 when factoring in dependants.

The massive sums of money are mostly being spent on the ever-growing backlog of asylum cases, which has ballooned to over 166,000, with over 117,000 cases not even having had an initial decision on their asylum application from the Home Office.

Despite or perhaps because of the big backlog, the Home Office has approved the highest proportion of asylum claims in over 30 years, with 76 per cent of all applications granted.

Responding to the figures, Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet said: “It’s all too clear that our system lends itself to exploitation and gaming.

“It takes months, if not years, to process asylum claims while claimants are accommodated and given spending money. This in the knowledge that they will almost certainly never be removed, which encourages more to come.

“It’s a vicious and costly circle that both the Government and aspiring [prime ministers] have shown little sign of being able to solve.”

The strain from the vast numbers of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel, initially combined with the Chinese coronavirus crisis, saw the government begin placing asylum seekers in hotel accommodation across the country, further increasing the cost of the system.

According to a report from the pro-migration Refugee Council last month, there were 26,380 asylum seekers living in hotels at the end of last year, and with over 23,000 crossing the English Channel so far this year that figure is likely higher now.

Last month also saw a report from the independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration state that due to the “inexcusably awful” performance from border officials in recording names or fingerprints of boat migrants, hundreds of illegals who were being housed in taxpayer-funded hotel accommodations have disappeared into the country after absconding, raising the spectre of a potential national security threat.

Meanwhile, the bill for the taxpayer to deal with the migrant crisis might increase again, with the French reportedly demanding an additional £110 million to continue patrolling their own beaches for people-smugglers.

This would be in addition to the over €100 million that Britain has already paid to the French in exchange for patrols of the coast and the installation of CCTV and night-vision cameras, none of which have stopped the Channel crisis from getting consistently worse.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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