The number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in hotels has fallen to the lowest level for 18 months, Home Office figures show.

The statistics released on Thursday also show a drop in asylum granting rates.

The figures have been seized upon by the government as evidence that Labour’s tightening of the asylum system is working. But they have prompted concern from a refugee charity that the clampdown is turning away people seeking refuge from war and oppressive regimes.

According to the statistics, there were 30,657 people staying in hotel accommodation while awaiting a decision on their asylum claim at the end of December.

The issue of people being housed in hotels rose to prominence last year with protests outside some sites. The number of asylum seekers in hotels peaked at 56,018 at the end of September 2023 under the then-Conservative government, but dropped to a record low of 29,561 at the end of June 2024 just before the general election.

The latest data showed December levels were 15% lower than the previous quarter at the end of September, when there were 36,273 people in hotels. Figures for hotels, which represent the total population at that point in time rather than across the three-month period, date back to December 2022.

Overall, the figures show that 100,625 people applied for asylum in 2025, down 4% on 2024. The number of people arriving in the UK on small boats rose by 13% year-on-year to 45,774. Small boat arrivals made up 41% of the total number of people claiming asylum last year, with Eritrean being the most common nationality.

Alex Norris, the minister for border security, said: “Genuine refugees are receiving the protection they need, while those with false claims are being identified and returned to their home country.

“As a result, we are reducing the numbers in taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation, with 45% less hotel use than at the peak under the last government.”

In the year to December 2025, the asylum grant rate was 42%, lower than the grant rate of 47% in 2024, and substantially below the peak grant rate of 77% in 2022.

Louise Calvey, the director of Asylum Matters, said: “Fewer people moving to this country is nothing to celebrate or strive for. People who come here to work and raise their families in peace make us all richer, both economically and culturally.

“Instead, our government’s hostile policy risks making us all poorer – and we’ve not yet seen the impacts of its latest attack on indefinite leave to remain.”