Small boats arrivals fall but more people waiting for asylum decision, figures show – UK politics live

The Home Office has released lots of data today. We will bring you the key highlights but if you want to have a comprehensive look yourself you can find the relevant links (on asylum applications, immigration enforcement, windrush taskforce, Ukraine visa schemes etc) here.

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These are a few more important highlights from the datasets on asylum applications and leave to remain decisions:

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A total of 67,978 people were granted refugee status or other leave to remain in the UK in the year to June 2024, more than three times the 21,436 in the previous 12 months. Just under three-fifths (58%) of the initial decisions were grants of refugee status, humanitarian protection or alternative forms of leave.

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Nearly all (99%) of people arriving in the UK in the year to June 2024 after crossing the English Channel on small boats claimed asylum or were recorded as a dependant on an asylum application, the Home Office said. Overall, just under a third (31%) of the total number of people claiming asylum in the UK in the year to June had arrived on a small boat.

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The number of visas granted to financially dependent relatives and partners of students coming to study in the UK has fallen sharply compared to last year, according to newly published Home Office data.

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In the first six months of this year, visas granted to dependants of overseas students fell by 81% to 11,675, compared to the same period in 2023.

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Since January, international students taking taught postgraduate courses or undergraduate degrees have been unable to bring family members or dependents on a student visa.

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Separately, Home Office figures show there were 89,095 health and care worker visas granted to main applicants in the year ending June 2024, a 26% decrease from the previous year.

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Home Office migration stats -very sharp fall in health and care workers, other skilled workers stable. pic.twitter.com/V3Xihmnho0

— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) August 22, 2024

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In March, the Conservative government, under former prime minister Rishi Sunak, announced social care workers would no longer be able to bring dependents on their visa.

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This is despite post-Brexit immigration controls and staff resignations during and after the Covid pandemic having worsened staff shortages in the care sector.

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In 2022-23 there were 160,000 vacancies, according to the charity Skills for Care, which projects there will be another 480,000 jobs in the sector by 2035.

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The Home Office statistics also reveal that the outgoing Conservative government granted about 286,382 work visas overall in the year to June 2024 – 11% down on the previous year.

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Good morning and welcome back to our rolling coverage of UK politics.

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The Home Office has released data on what it calls irregular migration. This includes those arriving on small boats across the English Channel, along with some other groups arriving illegally. Data on asylum applications has also been published. These are some of the main takeaways:

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In the year ending June 2024, there were 38,784 irregular arrivals, 26% fewer than in the year ending June 2023, and 81% of these arrived by small boats.

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In the year ending June 2024, 31,493 people arrived by small boats, 29% fewer than the 44,460 people who arrived in the previous year.

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The average number of people per boat has risen to 51, compared with an average of 44 in the year ending June 2023.

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A total of 118,882 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2024. This is up slightly from 118,329 at the end of March 2024, but down year-on-year by 32% from 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

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The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 76,268 at the end of June, down 46% from the record 139,961 at the end of June 2023.

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These statistics were released after the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, indicated she will press ahead with the previous government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in an attempt to achieve the highest rate of removals since Theresa May’s premiership.

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She announced the Border Security Command “is gearing up” after the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats exceeded 19,000 this year so far.

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The plans, which have been criticised by campaigners who say Labour are demonising migrants through their rhetoric, include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs.

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Here are some of the other main headlines today:

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The number of new child benefit claims rose to 86,656 in April, up 16% on the previous month, according to a freedom of information request obtained by the BBC. It came after the government changed the rules on how much parents can earn and still be eligible for the benefit.

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16-year-olds received GCSE grades similar to last year and only slightly above pre-pandemic levels. Ian Bauckham, the head of England’s exams regulator Ofqual, hailed this year’s results as a return to consistency, with 70.4% of entries by pupils in year 11 receiving a grade 4 – equivalent to a C – or higher, a touch higher than the 70.3% in 2023 and half a percentage point above 2019. You can follow our GCSE results day blog here for the latest.

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Membership of the main political parties continued to decline last year even as they stepped up preparations for the general election, newly published accounts have shown. Labour shed another 37,000 members over the course of 2023, bringing its total membership at the end of the year to 370,450. Although Labour remained by far the largest party in the UK, the figure is well down on its recent peak of 532,046 at the end of 2019. The Liberal Democrats lost about 11,000 members and while the Conservatives do not publish membership figures, income for the party from membership fees fell from £1.97m to £1.5m.

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It is Yohannes Lowe here with you today. Please do email me on yohannes.lowe@theguardian.com if you spot any typos or omissions.

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Key events

These are a few more important highlights from the datasets on asylum applications and leave to remain decisions:

A total of 67,978 people were granted refugee status or other leave to remain in the UK in the year to June 2024, more than three times the 21,436 in the previous 12 months. Just under three-fifths (58%) of the initial decisions were grants of refugee status, humanitarian protection or alternative forms of leave.
Nearly all (99%) of people arriving in the UK in the year to June 2024 after crossing the English Channel on small boats claimed asylum or were recorded as a dependant on an asylum application, the Home Office said. Overall, just under a third (31%) of the total number of people claiming asylum in the UK in the year to June had arrived on a small boat.

Fall in number of visas granted to health and care workers and families of overseas students

In the first six months of this year, visas granted to dependants of overseas students fell by 81% to 11,675, compared to the same period in 2023.

Since January, international students taking taught postgraduate courses or undergraduate degrees have been unable to bring family members or dependents on a student visa.

Separately, Home Office figures show there were 89,095 health and care worker visas granted to main applicants in the year ending June 2024, a 26% decrease from the previous year.

Home Office migration stats -very sharp fall in health and care workers, other skilled workers stable. pic.twitter.com/V3Xihmnho0

— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) August 22, 2024

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In March, the Conservative government, under former prime minister Rishi Sunak, announced social care workers would no longer be able to bring dependents on their visa.

This is despite post-Brexit immigration controls and staff resignations during and after the Covid pandemic having worsened staff shortages in the care sector.

In 2022-23 there were 160,000 vacancies, according to the charity Skills for Care, which projects there will be another 480,000 jobs in the sector by 2035.

The Home Office statistics also reveal that the outgoing Conservative government granted about 286,382 work visas overall in the year to June 2024 – 11% down on the previous year.

The number of UK asylum applications withdrawn in the year to June 2024 was 21,425, relating to 23,246 people, up from 14,789 applications and 15,857 people in the previous 12 months.

About 76% of withdrawn applications in the year to June were classed as “implicit withdrawals”, meaning the Home Office chose to withdraw the application rather than the applicant withdrawing it themselves.

Implicit withdrawals cover a range of scenarios, including an applicant not attending an interview, failing to complete a questionnaire by a particular date, or not providing up-to-date contact information.

This has drawn criticism in the past that the Home Office has used withdrawals to speed up clearing the backlog.

Charities have said that withdrawals should never be used to do this and should only be used under very specific circumstances.

Opening summary

Good morning and welcome back to our rolling coverage of UK politics.

In the year ending June 2024, there were 38,784 irregular arrivals, 26% fewer than in the year ending June 2023, and 81% of these arrived by small boats.
In the year ending June 2024, 31,493 people arrived by small boats, 29% fewer than the 44,460 people who arrived in the previous year.
The average number of people per boat has risen to 51, compared with an average of 44 in the year ending June 2023.
A total of 118,882 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2024. This is up slightly from 118,329 at the end of March 2024, but down year-on-year by 32% from 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.
The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 76,268 at the end of June, down 46% from the record 139,961 at the end of June 2023.

She announced the Border Security Command “is gearing up” after the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats exceeded 19,000 this year so far.

The plans, which have been criticised by campaigners who say Labour are demonising migrants through their rhetoric, include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs.

Here are some of the other main headlines today:

The number of new child benefit claims rose to 86,656 in April, up 16% on the previous month, according to a freedom of information request obtained by the BBC. It came after the government changed the rules on how much parents can earn and still be eligible for the benefit.
16-year-olds received GCSE grades similar to last year and only slightly above pre-pandemic levels. Ian Bauckham, the head of England’s exams regulator Ofqual, hailed this year’s results as a return to consistency, with 70.4% of entries by pupils in year 11 receiving a grade 4 – equivalent to a C – or higher, a touch higher than the 70.3% in 2023 and half a percentage point above 2019. You can follow our GCSE results day blog here for the latest.
Membership of the main political parties continued to decline last year even as they stepped up preparations for the general election, newly published accounts have shown. Labour shed another 37,000 members over the course of 2023, bringing its total membership at the end of the year to 370,450. Although Labour remained by far the largest party in the UK, the figure is well down on its recent peak of 532,046 at the end of 2019. The Liberal Democrats lost about 11,000 members and while the Conservatives do not publish membership figures, income for the party from membership fees fell from £1.97m to £1.5m.

It is Yohannes Lowe here with you today. Please do email me on yohannes.lowe@theguardian.com if you spot any typos or omissions.