The number of refugees allowed to settle in the UK under UN-facilitated schemes has fallen by more than a quarter in a year, according to Home Office figures. Only 7,271 people were granted protection through refugee resettlement programmes in the year ending September 2025, a 26% drop from 9,872 in the previous year.
About half of those resettled were Afghans whose lives were at risk after an accidental data breach by a UK defence official. The figures emerge as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has promised three new safe and legal routes, but the Refugee Council warns that existing pathways are disappearing.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the sharp fall shows safe routes are vanishing when most needed, pushing people towards smugglers and dangerous journeys. He called on the government to set clear annual targets and expand safe routes to offer a genuine alternative to perilous crossings.
The largest group resettled was 3,686 Afghans under the Afghanistan Response Route, created after a Ministry of Defence data leak. Other schemes saw 1,087 Afghan translators and aides, 1,658 under the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme, and 830 through the UK resettlement scheme. Only four arrived via the mandate scheme, compared with 23 the previous year.
Mahmood announced on 17 November plans to end permanent protection for refugees and create three new routes, beginning with a few hundred individuals identified by the UNHCR. The UNHCR said it is still awaiting details. A Home Office spokesperson said the government is committed to protecting genuine refugees and will open new legal and safe routes as part of sweeping asylum reforms.
