The number of asylum seekers challenging their rejected claims skyrocketed in the past year, official figures have shown. The number of open appeals now stands at 50,976, up 88% on the year to March 2024, the Refugee Council said.

A spiralling appeals backlog will hinder the Government’s attempts to close migrant hotels, because arrivals will be able to stay in taxpayer-funded rooms while they pursue their claims. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has vowed to close every asylum hotel by July 2029, saving £1billion. Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “While we welcome the Government’s continued attempt to remedy a broken asylum system, more needs to be done to ensure right first-time decision making, so a new growing backlog is not created in a different part of the system.

Yvette Cooper is under intense pressure to end the Channel migrant crisis (Image: Getty)

Migrants waiting for a ‘taxi boat’ (Image: Getty)

“Resolving asylum cases well will help reduce costs, and the number of men, women and children trapped in limbo, stuck in hotels unable to work or move on with their lives.

“Asylum hotels have become a flashpoint for community tensions and cost billions to the taxpayer, so ending their use is good for refugees, the taxpayer and communities.

“The deadline of 2029 announced by the Chancellor yesterday is many years away and government needs to move more quickly.

“Right-first-time decision-making ensures refugees are given safety to go on to contribute to communities across the country, and those who don’t have a right to stay in the UK are removed with dignity and respect.”

Almost 91,000 asylum cases are still waiting to be heard, including more than 50,000 which have been waiting more than six months.

But the spiralling appeals backlog will prompt fears Britain will not be able to restore control of its border for years.

Treasury documents show that taxpayers will still be shelling out £2.5billion in 2028-29 on asylum.

Spending plans also show the Home Office will spend £3.6billion on asylum in 2025-26, £3.6billion in 2026/27 and £2.9billion in 2027-28.

Border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle revealed that ministers want to use more abandoned tower blocks, “old teacher training colleges”, or former student accommodation as a substitute for hotels and rented properties.

And more migrants are set to be housed in “dispersed accommodation” – houses, flats and bedsits.

The analysis comes as Ms Reeves confirmed every migrant hotel will be closed by July 2029.

The Chancellor said an extra £200million will allow the Home Office to “cut the asylum backlog, hear more appeal cases and return people who have no right to be here”.

This could save taxpayers £1billion a year, Ms Reeves has claimed.

The Chancellor admitted it could take ministers another four years to close every asylum hotel, despite fears over spiralling costs.

Some 32,345 migrants are currently living in taxpayer-funded hotels, costing an estimated £54,000 a year each.

It comes as more Channel migrants arrived in Dover on Thursday, taking the total past 15,000.

The Chancellor told MPs: “I can confirm today that, led by the work of the Home Secretary, we will be ending the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament.

“Funding that I have provided today, including from the Transformation Fund, will cut the asylum backlog; hear more appeal cases; and return people who have no right to be here, saving the taxpayer £1billion per year.

“That is my choice, Mr Speaker. That is Labour’s choice. And that is the choice of the British people.”

Ministers are considering whether to allow failed asylum seekers to appeal from their home countries to get them out of taxpayer-funded hotels.

Baroness Jenny Chapman, the Foreign Office minister responsible for migration, said there is “no legal reason” not to allow more asylum appeals from abroad.

Diplomats could even be encouraged to raise the proposition with countries refusing to take back migrants.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice have revealed a fivefold increase in the number of asylum claims waiting for a hearing.

Baroness Chapman told the Daily Express the Government is considering the shift when asked about the prospect of return hubs being set up for illegal migrants.

She said: “If they’ve applied for asylum here and their application has been declined, there’s no legal reason, in many cases, not all, because there will be some places that we wouldn’t want to send people back to Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran.

“But there are places where you could return them at that point. And then if they wanted to make an appeal, they could make that appeal in country, in their own country, and there is no legal reason why we can’t do that.

“That’s something that this department is also considering doing. So you don’t even need a big return hub in order to do that.”

Migrants can only appeal from abroad if they have already been given the legal right to appeal, meaning they will likely remain in the UK whilst they begin legal proceedings.

They currently have 28 days to appeal once they have left the country.

Asked to set out how it could work in practice, the Foreign Office minister said: “Suppose you have made your claim, it has been denied. You then have the ability to appeal.

“At the moment we’d be putting you up in a hotel for who knows how long, because it takes that long because of the backlogs. The Home Office has done a good job, and it’s getting better, thank goodness.

“But the idea that you get to stay in a hotel while you exhaust every legal process there is, is, I don’t think, the right way to think about this. We need to consider the ability to make sure that those claims can take place outside of the UK.”

Baroness Chapman said the move would signal “we’re serious about dealing with these things” and “that you can’t expect to come here and stay for years, building a life, improving your chances of getting your claim agreed, indefinitely, at taxpayers’ expense.”