Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken from submission to decision was for applications for support under section 4(2) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 for (a) applications made on medical grounds and (b) applications for additional support in the last 12 months.

For information on support provided under sections 4(2) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Table AS_01 of the Asylum Support Data in the Migration Transparency Datasets provides the total number of applications for S4 support, with data available back to 2010. This table can be used to address questions relating to overall volumes of section 4 support applications.

Further detail on grants of Section 4 support is available in Table Asy_09c within the Asylum summary tables (Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK), which shows the of number of decisions to grant section 4 support. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2026.

Healthcare for asylum seekers in Home Office accommodation including hotels and large, former military, sites is provided through the NHS in line with national guidance for newly arrived migrants.

The Home Office does not routinely publish average processing times for Section 4 support applications by application type, including applications made on medical grounds or applications for additional support. The Home Office categorises Section 4 support applications as either imminent, where there is an urgent need for support, or non-imminent. Between June 2025 and May 2026, applications categorised as imminent were completed in an average of 3 days, whilst non-imminent applications were completed in an average of 9 days. Delays can occur where additional information is required from applicants or other departments, or where specialist medical advice is required as part of the decision-making process.