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Provisional data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that net migration to the UK dropped sharply—by about two-thirds—in the year ending June 2025 compared to the previous year. The net difference between arrivals and departures stood at 204,000, a significant decline from 649,000. This reduction was primarily due to fewer people coming to the UK for work and study purposes. Meanwhile, Home Office statistics show that asylum claims hit a record high, with 110,051 people lodging claims by September 2025. The number of asylum seekers temporarily housed in hotels rose slightly by 2% compared to the previous year.
Two separate reports were released on Thursday, presenting these figures: one from the ONS covering net migration up to June 2025, and another from the Home Office detailing migration system data up to September 2025. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the decline in net migration as a “step in the right direction” during an interview with GB News. Notably, this is the first comprehensive set of migration statistics that span nearly the entire first year of Labour’s government.
The Home Office also noted that 133,502 initial asylum claim decisions were made during the year, with 45% of these resulting in grants of asylum. The backlog of unresolved initial cases has decreased by 36% from September 2024 to September 2025, despite the surge in applications. However, while fewer cases await initial decisions, there has been an increase in the backlog of appeals. The government has committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers by the end of the current parliament. As of September, over 36,000 people were temporarily accommodated in hotels, a figure that increased by 13% over the last three months but represents only a 2% rise compared with September 2024. This number remains below the peak of 56,018 hotel residents recorded at the end of September 2023. Recent legal disputes have arisen around the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, including ongoing appeals by local councils.
Arrivals by small boats increased by 53% over the previous year, with 45,659 people crossing the Channel in the 12 months leading to September 2025—almost matching the peak seen in 2022. The Home Office commented that this rise coincided with a larger average number of people arriving per boat. Among those crossing were 5,151 children under 18 claiming asylum, of whom roughly half were accompanied. The prime minister’s spokesperson acknowledged the situation, stating the government “accepts that the number of small boat crossings is too high.” Additionally, under the pilot “one in, one out” scheme, 153 migrants have been removed from the UK to France, while 134 people have come to the UK through this programme. One individual who was removed in mid-October returned via small boat in early November but was not counted twice in the data.
The ONS’s net migration figures account for individuals changing their residence for at least 12 months and include those applying for asylum by both legal and illegal routes, alongside other immigration categories. The overall decline partly reflects a notable 70% drop in non-EU+ nationals arriving on work and study dependent visas, with EU+ referring to citizens from EU member states plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government intends to “go further” in its migration policies, highlighting the strain migration places on local communities. Mahmood stated, “Net migration is at its lowest level in half a decade and has fallen by more than two-thirds under this government.” She also referenced recent reforms aimed at ensuring migrants “must contribute and put in more than they take out.”
Responses from political figures varied: Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp attributed the migration decrease to Conservative reforms but called for further action. Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s head of policy, criticized Labour’s priorities in light of the figures, while Liberal Democrats’ Max Wilkinson emphasized the need to address small boat arrivals and the use of asylum hotels. Earlier in the month, Mahmood announced proposals to reform legal migration pathways, including changes to the timeline for migrants to achieve settled status. These proposals build on previous measures targeting illegal migration, such as adjustments to how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights is interpreted in migration cases. Migration experts observe that these net migration statistics may partly reflect Conservative policy changes, including the raised salary threshold introduced in June 2024. Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, explained on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that policy impacts typically take at least a year to be fully visible in migration data, due to the definition of a long-term international migrant as someone relocating their usual residence for a year or more.
Additional reporting was provided by Robert Cuffe, head of statistics
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