The number of refugees allowed to settle in the UK under UN-facilitated schemes has dropped by more than a quarter in a year, according to figures released by the Home Office.
Just 7,271 people were granted protection through refugee resettlement programmes in the year ending September 2025, about half of whom were Afghans whose lives were at risk after an accidental data breach by a UK defence official.
This compares with 9,872 people allowed in under the same schemes to September 2024 – a fall of 26%.
The figures have emerged two weeks after Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, sought to justify hardline policies by saying she will soon launch three new “safe and legal” routes for a “modest” number of applicants. A scheme allowing refugees to bring their family members to the UK was suspended in September.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the figures showed that the existing “safe and legal” routes are disappearing, forcing refugees to instead seek irregular routes such as small boat crossings.
He said: “The sharp fall in resettlement numbers shows that the few safe and legal pathways we had for people escaping war and persecution to get to the UK are disappearing just when they’re most needed.
“When legal routes aren’t available, people are pushed towards smugglers and dangerous journeys. The suspension of family reunion – a route that overwhelmingly helped women and children – only makes it harder for families to stay together safely.
“If the government truly wants to take on the gangs and stop Channel crossings, they need to set out how many people it intends to help each year and how it will grow safe routes so families have a genuine alternative to perilous journeys.”
The latest Home Office statistics show that 3,686 people whose lives were endangered by an accidental Ministry of Defence data leak were allowed to come to the UK last year under the Afghanistan Response Route.
The scheme was launched after the personal details of nearly 19,000 individuals who were applying for resettlement along with their family members had been accidentally sent by a London-based defence official to Afghanistan.
Others granted resettlement this year included 1,087 Afghan translators and aides to UK forces who applied under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy, and 1,658 people who had applied under the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.
Another 830 people arrived through the UK resettlement scheme, under which the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) identifies and interviews people and refers them to the UK.
Four people came to the UK under the mandate scheme in the year to September, compared with 23 in the previous year. The mandate scheme is for a refugee who has been identified as a minor child, spouse, or parent or grandparent aged over 65 with a UK-based relative.
Mahmood announced plans on 17 November to end permanent protection for refugees, who will instead have their claims reassessed every 30 months escalate the removal of failed applicants, including their children, and take away the assets of individuals arriving by small boat.
She said the government would create three routes for refugees to come to the UK, and would prioritise individuals identified by the UNHCR, but told journalists that the scheme would start by admitting “a few hundred” refugees. Asked by the Guardian, the UNHCR said it was still waiting for the details on these schemes.
The government has removed 153 people through the “one in, one out” scheme with France and accepted 134 people deemed to have a valid asylum claim.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government committed to protecting genuine refugees who are fleeing war and danger. That is why as part of the most sweeping reforms to the asylum system in modern times, we will open new, legal and safe routes into the country to protect those in need.”
