Local councils across the United Kingdom say they have uncovered large groups of asylum seekers placed in their areas with little or no advance warning, intensifying a dispute with the Home Office over transparency and resources. As of 18 August 2025, officials and public data point to hundreds to thousands of people being moved into cities and towns without prior notice, leaving local councils to react after arrivals are already in place rather than plan for them.
At the end of March 2025, the asylum system still carried a heavy load: 78,745 cases (covering 109,536 people) were awaiting an initial decision, a 13% drop on the year but still historically high. The Home Office has expanded relocations to free hotel space and move toward longer-term housing. While councils agree that clearing the backlog matters, they argue the way relocations happen—often quietly and quickly—creates fresh pressure on services and community planning.
Where supported asylum seekers are located
- The share of supported asylum seekers is concentrated in England, where 89% live under Home Office support.
- Regional spreads show both London and the North West hosting close to 20,000 supported asylum seekers each.
- Several local authorities carry especially heavy caseloads:
- Glasgow City: 4,152
- Hillingdon: 2,946
- Birmingham: 2,504
- Liverpool: 2,385
- Hounslow: 2,097
Councils in the North East and North West report some of the highest rates per million residents, which they say compounds the strain on already stretched services.
Tensions over unannounced relocations
Multiple local councils report discovering that hundreds of asylum seekers have been placed in their areas without advance consultation. Leaders accuse the Home Office of “shipping in” arrivals and bypassing local planning channels. Several councils say they learned about new placements after residents noticed coaches at accommodation sites or after schools and GP surgeries flagged sudden demand.
Local officials say the lack of notice has real costs. Without time to plan, staff struggle to arrange immediate housing support, school places mid-term, or access to primary care. Council officers describe urgent meetings to find emergency beds, interpreter services, and safeguarding checks, all while keeping routine social care on track for existing residents.
The Home Office publishes periodic updates showing the number of supported asylum seekers by local authority. However, councils argue these reports lag behind real-time arrivals and don’t reflect where needs are greatest in a given week. They want faster data sharing, including forward schedules of relocations, so they can budget and coordinate with the NHS, schools, and charities. As one senior official put it in a briefing note shared with colleagues: “We need notice measured in weeks, not hours.”
Irregular arrivals have stayed high. In the year ending March 2025, the UK detected 44,000 irregular arrivals, including 38,000 (86%) who crossed the Channel in small boats — a 22% rise on the year. From January to June 2025 alone, authorities recorded around 20,000 small boat crossings, a new high for that period. Afghans were the most common nationality among small boat arrivals. Councils say these flows, combined with faster relocations, have made short-notice placements more frequent.
Policy shifts and community impact
The Home Office’s push to exit hotel use after the £5.4 billion hotel bill in 2023/24 has accelerated moves into dispersed housing, mostly procured through private contractors. The intended steps are:
- Identify properties,
- Relocate asylum seekers,
- Notify councils,
- Provide local support.
Councils say the third step—notification—often comes late or is incomplete.
Councils describe a familiar scramble when buildings open suddenly: buses arrive, new residents get keys, and the council team gets an email afterwards. Schools face mid-term enrollments; GPs must add patients without extra clinic time; and voluntary groups stretch food banks and advice sessions. In areas where properties cluster street-by-street, tensions can rise if residents feel left out of discussions, even when local communities want to help.
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, councils are pushing for:
- Legal duties on early consultation
- Automatic funding when numbers pass agreed thresholds
- Clearer escalation routes if a contractor opens a site without the promised local liaison
The Local Government Association has echoed these calls, arguing that better planning would help both asylum seekers and settled communities.
The Home Office defends relocations as necessary to meet statutory duties and manage the caseload. Officials highlight the fall in the initial-decision backlog and the shift away from costly hotels. They also point to public dashboards and routine publications that show where supported asylum seekers live. Yet council officers say these datasets don’t fix the timing gaps, where a few days’ notice can make the difference between calm planning and emergency response.
Experts at the Migration Observatory in Oxford note the system remains under unusual pressure. Despite recent progress on decisions, overall numbers are still high by UK standards. That reality shapes the trade-offs visible on the ground: the need to house people quickly while keeping community services stable.
Impact on families and practical consequences
For families seeking safety, the uncertainty is personal. Asylum seekers often wait months for an initial decision, with limited access to work and frequent moves between addresses. A family moved twice in one term might lose a school place for a child and need to register with a new GP from scratch.
Advocates say predictable placements and better information—about school spots, bus routes, and local support—help people settle faster and reduce strain on neighbours.
Practical steps that councils say would help include:
- Advance notice with numbers, address lists, and arrival dates
- Ring-fenced funding tied to placements and released quickly
- On-site induction by contractors with local councils and NHS partners present
- Real-time data sharing so schools and clinics can plan capacity
- Clear escalation procedures when housing opens outside agreed processes
Data, transparency, and next steps
The Home Office continues to publish official figures that track supported populations by area and trends in arrivals. A current summary is available in the official Home Office immigration statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2025. Local leaders say such transparency is helpful, but they want it paired with early planning information and predictable budgets.
Backlog trends since 2023 show steady, if uneven, progress. The government has pressed contractors to find homes in more areas to spread placements and lower hotel costs. That shift aims to improve long-term integration outcomes, but councils warn that poor coordination risks the opposite: temporary friction, unstable schooling, and repeat moves that slow community ties.
As autumn budgets approach, the immediate questions are practical:
- Will the Home Office share firm, early schedules for placements?
- Will funding reach frontline teams fast enough to pay for school places, GP capacity, and translation?
- Will local councils be able to shape where and how new sites open within their boundaries?
For now, most agree on the destination—fewer hotels, quicker decisions, and safer accommodation for asylum seekers—but argue over the route. The balance between speed and consent remains the test for a system still under strain and communities working to make it all hold together.
Key takeaway: Councils want weeks of advance notice, ring-fenced funds, and real-time data to avoid emergency responses and to support both asylum seekers and the communities that receive them.
This Article in a Nutshell
Councils say sudden relocations of asylum seekers strain services. With 78,745 cases pending, officials demand weeks’ notice, ring-fenced funds and real-time data to plan schooling, GP access and safeguarding as the Home Office shifts people from hotels into dispersed housing via contractors.
