Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the claim reportedly made by a Home Office official to The Times newspaper that just one in every hundred asylum claims is genuine.

We do not comment on anonymous briefings.

The Home Office is committed to ensuring that the asylum system is not open to abuse. It is the responsibility of everyone claiming asylum in the UK to co-operate with the Home Office and tell us the truth. It is a crime to make an asylum application that involves trying to deceive the Home Office. If anyone does this and is found guilty of it in a court, they may receive a custodial sentence, after which they may be deported.

All asylum claims are considered on their individual merits, and decision makers assess the credibility and reliability of evidence submitted in support of a claim in accordance with published asylum guidance.

Asylum decisions are subject to stringent quality checks to ensure that claims are properly considered, decisions are sound, and protection is granted to those who genuinely need it.

The grant rate was 38% in the year ending June 2026. This was lower than the grant rate of 48% in the year ending June 2025, and substantially below the peak grant rate of 77% in the year ending September 2022.

The overall grant rate can vary for a number of reasons, including the mix of nationalities applying for asylum, and the protection needs of those who claim asylum in the UK. It is also affected by operational resourcing and policy decisions, such as changes to the types of cases prioritised for decisions. The Home Office guidance on caseworking prioritisation is published on GOV.UK.