"Work is well underway to move illegal migrants"
Net migration to the UK fell by 69% in the year ending June 2025 compared with the previous 12 months.
The difference between the number of people arriving in the country and those leaving was 204,000, down from 649,000, with the fall mainly driven by fewer arrivals for work and study reasons, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
It comes as Home Office figures show the number of people who claimed asylum in the year to September 2025 reached a record high of 110,051.
The statistics also show the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels in September rose by 2% compared with the same time last year.
The figures form part of two separate releases published on November 27 – the ONS release on net migration to the year ending June 2025, and Home Office figures on the immigration system for the year ending September 2025.
The Home Office numbers show initial decisions on asylum claims increased to 133,502 across the year, almost half of which (45%) were granted.
The release said: “Decision making has reached a historically high level and the number of cases awaiting an initial decision fell 36% between September 2024 and September 2025, despite a record high number of asylum claims in this period.”
The backlog of those waiting for a first decision has been declining steadily, but there has been a growing backlog of appeals.
The government has committed to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.
More than 36,000 people were temporarily housed in hotels in September. This is up 13% on the last three months, but only 2% higher than September 2024. It remains lower than the peak of 56,018 people in hotels at the end of September 2023.
The figures follow legal battles over hotel use, with Epping Forest District Council confirming plans to appeal against a High Court decision rejecting its case to close Epping’s Bell Hotel to asylum seekers.
Responding to the statistics, a Home Office spokesperson said there were fewer than 200 hotels in use and vowed “to close every single one”.
“We are furious at the levels of illegal migrants and asylum hotels. Work is well underway to move illegal migrants into military bases to ease pressure on communities across the country.”
Small boat arrivals increased by 53% compared with the previous year, with 45,659 arriving via this route in the 12 months to September 2025. The Home Office said this figure is close to the 2022 peak of 45,774.
Some 5,151 children under 18 crossed the Channel in small boats and claimed asylum during this period, 2,700 of whom were accompanied.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said the government “accepts that the number of small boat crossings is too high”. Separately, 153 migrants have been removed to France under the pilot “one in one out” scheme.
The ONS net migration figures include those claiming asylum via both regular and irregular routes, as well as other forms of immigration. They relate to people changing their usual residence for 12 months or more.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government would be “going further” in tackling migration pressures.
She said:
“Net migration is at its lowest level in half a decade and has fallen by more than two-thirds under this government.”
“Last week, I announced reforms to our migration system to ensure that those who come here must contribute and put in more than they take out.”
Mahmood proposed reforms to the legal migration system, including changes to how long some migrants take to achieve settled status.
Other measures to tackle illegal migration include altering the application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in migration cases.
Migration experts have suggested the net migration numbers could reflect previous Conservative policies, including the June 2024 salary threshold increase.
Peter Walsh, senior researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “For the most complete and accurate picture, it takes at least a year for policy changes to show up in the statistics.
“That’s the definition of a long-term international migrant (someone who changes their usual country of residence for at least one year).”
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