New evidence has emerged showing that thousands of asylum seekers are being granted refugee status without attending face-to-face interviews, as the UK’s asylum system struggles with rising demand.
New documents show that migrants from countries with high approval rates, including Eritrea, Sudan and Yemen, are being permitted to submit detailed questionnaires instead of undergoing traditional interviews with specialist caseworkers. Officials tell applicants that if their written account includes enough evidence to justify their claim, a decision may be made without meeting them.
The policy, first introduced under the previous Conservative government to address a backlog of more than 100,000 applications, is designed to speed up processing times. It also allows caseworkers to refuse applications without an interview when evidence is deemed contradictory, insufficient or clearly implausible. However, senior asylum decision-makers have privately warned that the policy carries significant risks. One experienced caseworker said the new approach eliminated the ability to deeply assess an applicant’s account, challenge inconsistencies or properly verify their claimed country of origin. They described face-to-face interviews, even when conducted online, as essential to understanding an applicant’s credibility, noting that body language and verbal cues often reveal concerns that written answers cannot.
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The Home Office rejected these concerns, insisting that all asylum applications undergo stringent checks. A spokesperson said the department did not recognise claims of shortcuts or staffing worries, adding that the current year had recorded the highest productivity on record. Officials emphasised that any case raising doubts would still be referred for an interview.
Newly released figures show an asylum system under acute pressure. The UK recorded more than 111,000 asylum applications in the year to June 2025, the highest number since records began in 2001. Small-boat arrivals accounted for more than a third of these claims, while tens of thousands more involved individuals who initially entered the UK on work, study or tourist visas before requesting asylum. As the number of applicants continues to rise, the use of hotel accommodation has become increasingly contentious. More than 32,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels as of June, an increase of almost 2,500 in Labour’s first year in office. Although numbers have fallen from the peak of 2023, analysts warn that at the current pace of reduction, it could take decades to end hotel use altogether.
The cost of the asylum system remains extraordinarily high. Home Office spending reached £4.76 billion in 2024/25, more than three times the amount recorded four years ago and over ten times the figure from a decade ago. Although overall spending has dropped from last year’s peak, hotel accommodation alone still cost taxpayers £2.1 billion.
The political fallout has been immediate. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the government of “throwing open the doors” by granting asylum without interviews, arguing that the policy risked rewarding fraudulent claims. Nigel Farage described the situation as a “disaster,” claiming most applicants should never have qualified and warning that rising migration has left the public fearful and angry. Liberal Democrat critics argued that the Conservatives left behind a broken immigration system and that Labour had yet to demonstrate control.
Advocacy groups, however, say the government should go further in finding pragmatic solutions. The Refugee Council has called for a time-limited protection scheme for people from countries almost certain to be recognised as refugees, arguing that such a move would take significant pressure off the accommodation system and accelerate hotel closures.
Former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper defended the government’s approach, saying Labour inherited a broken system marked by long delays, spiralling costs and widespread misuse of hotel accommodation. She said removals of failed asylum seekers had increased by more than 30 per cent over the past year, asylum-related spending had started to fall, and the backlog of initial decisions had been reduced by nearly a fifth. Cooper highlighted forthcoming plans to overhaul the asylum appeals system, strengthen border security through new counter-terror powers, and deepen cooperation with France to disrupt smuggling networks. She also confirmed that refugee status would become a temporary protection subject to review every 30 months, allowing the UK to return people home when conditions in their country improve.
Despite processing more applications than any year in the past two decades, the system remains under heavy strain. Backlogs persist, appeals have nearly doubled, and small-boat arrivals continue to rise. As pressure mounts on the Home Office, the government faces difficult choices about how to balance humanitarian obligations, domestic political demands and the rising financial burden of the asylum system.
For now, the debate continues to intensify, revealing deep divisions over how Britain should respond to an asylum crisis unlike any it has faced in modern times.