The number of UK visas issued to foreign workers has continued to plummet, new Home Office figures show. There were 235,000 work visas granted, including for employee dependants, in the year ending June 2026 - an 18% drop on the previous 12 months and 62% fewer than in 2023.
Health and care worker visas fall sharply
The fall is predominantly down to the significant decrease in health and care worker and skilled worker visas being issued, which have reduced by 90% and 48%, respectively since December 2023.
Home Office spending on asylum seekers in Britain was also down 8% on 2024/25, but still stands at £4.36 billion a year. The drop from £4.76 billion is the second annual fall in a row, the Government figures show.
Asylum hotel numbers halve
It covers all Home Office costs related to asylum, including direct cash support and accommodation, wider staffing and other migration and borders activity, but not the interception of small boats crossing the Channel.
Asylum spending had hit a record £5.38 billion high in 2023/24. The number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in hotels stood at 16,021 at the end of June 2026, down 50% year-on-year from 32,041. It is the lowest figure since data was first reported in 2022, the Home Office figures show. The total had climbed as high as 56,018 at the end of September 2023.
Applications and backlog decline
A total of 85,891 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2026, down 21% from 108,585 in the previous year. It is the lowest 12-month total since the year to June 2022, when applications stood at 75,668.
Migrants who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats accounted for 40% (33,949) of the number of people claiming asylum in the 12 months to June 2026. There were 40,168 people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2026.
This is down 56% from 90,812 a year earlier at the end of June 2025 and is the lowest number since March 2019. The total peaked at 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 12 months for an initial decision stood at 11,014 at the end of June, down 61% from 27,998 a year earlier.
Some 42,394 people were granted refugee protection or another kind of leave to stay in the UK in the year to June, after an initial decision on their asylum claim. This is down 21% from 53,480 grants in the previous 12 months. The figure remains higher than at any point before 2023.
Political reaction
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said it showed that Labour was “restoring control”. But the Tories said the Government was simply “moving illegal immigrants out of hotels and into flats”.
Ms Mahmood said: “A little over two years into office and the asylum backlog is down, the number of asylum seekers in hotels is falling, illegal working arrests are at record levels, and deportations and returns are up markedly. Small boats numbers are also now falling, but we are not complacent and there is more we must do. That is why I have boosted enforcement on the French beaches and overseas and introduced new legislation to tackle the pull factors that draw people here through unsafe and illegal routes. This Government is restoring control at our border and fairness to the migration system.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour are moving illegal immigrants out of hotels and into flats in your building, and now they are telling them to go and disappear without a trace. More than 93,000 people are now being housed at the taxpayer’s expense, and the number crammed into dispersal accommodation has climbed by 12% under Labour. Illegal immigrants should be deported in the first place, and we should certainly not be encouraging them to just disappear.”
