See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 18:24 BST, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 18:24 BST, 1 July 2026
Every asylum claim lodged in Britain hits the taxpayer with an £18,700 bill, astonishing new figures disclose.The average sum includes the cost of providing accommodation and living costs, as well as the sums spent on processing claims and any legal appeals.It will include Channel small boat arrivals who are housed in migrant hotels as well as less costly types of claimant, such as those who arrive legally on work or student visas and then claim asylum in a bid to remain in Britain.The Home Office published the figure in background papers to the new Immigration and Asylum Bill, published on Tuesday.The costings were based on ‘asylum claims from July 2024 to June 2025’, the papers showed.It would mean the 93,525 asylum claims lodged in the year to March will cost the taxpayer a staggering £1.7billion to resolve.There were 2,742 small boat arrivals in June which, using the same average figure, will cost more than £51million to support and process.However, the true cost of dealing with different types of asylum applicants will vary. Each asylum claim lodged in Britain costs the taxpayer £18,700. Pictured: Channel small boat migrants attempt to board an overloaded dinghy bound for the UK at Wissant beach, France, on Tuesday Migrants hold onto a raft after getting into difficulties trying to board a dinghy to cross into the English Channel on Tuesday in Wissant, France Migrants wait on a beach to board a dinghy to cross into the English Channel on TuesdayFor example, the Home Office disclosed earlier this year that it costs an average of £158,000 a year to support a family of asylum seekers.The official ‘impact assessment’ published alongside the Bill also revealed that more than three-quarters of those who made ‘right to family and private life’ under human rights laws are unemployed.
