The number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels stood at a new low of 20,885 at the end of March 2026, down 35 per cent year-on-year, Home Office figures show.
It is the lowest figure since data was first reported in 2022, Home Office figures show. The total had climbed as high as 56,018 at the end of September 2023. The Labour government has pledged to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers by the next election.
The figures come as UK net migration dropped to an estimated 171,000 last year, the lowest level since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The figures for the 12 months to December are down 48 per cent compared to the previous year (331,000), according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
It is the first time the estimate, which is the difference between the number of people moving to the UK and the number of people leaving the country, has fallen below 200,000 since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.
In the year to March 2021, it stood at 132,000, at a time when travel restrictions were still in place to contain the virus and the post-Brexit immigration system had been introduced.
The continued fall in net migration is being driven by fewer people from outside the EU arriving in the UK for work, the ONS said.
Meanwhile, more British nationals are estimated to have left the UK in the year to December 2025 (246,000) than moved to the country (110,000), the ONS said.
It was a similar picture for nationals from “EU-plus countries” – covering the 27 members of the EU plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland – with a higher number emigrating from the UK (118,000) than immigrating (76,000).
By contrast, more people from outside the EU moved to the UK in 2025 (627,000) than left (278,000).
