The number of people claiming asylum in the UK in 2024 has exceeded the previous recorded peak in 2002, according to figures released by the Home Office.

In the year to December 2024, 108,138 people claimed asylum – an increase of 18% compared with 2023 and almost twice what it was in 2021.

The new high follows an uptick in recorded small boat arrivals in recent years.

The number of small boat arrivals also increased in 2024 – 25% higher than in 2023 – but the figure was 20% lower than in 2022.

The UK now receives the fifth largest number of asylum seekers in the “EU plus” area at a time when the government is under pressure to cut the asylum decision backlog.

These figures, which cover the end of the Conservative government and the start of Labour, show the number of cases awaiting an initial decision fell by five per cent last year – with 90,686 cases, relating to 124,802 people, pending a decision as of the end of 2024.

The number remains higher than before 2022.

The UK is also sending more people into immigration detention. This figure increased by 12% last year – an uptick after a downward trend since 2015.

Meanwhile, 8,164 people were forcibly returned to another country, an increase of 28%, with Albanians the most common nationality among enforced returns.

There has been a sharp increase in people granted citizenship, with numbers rising from 130,568 in 2020 to 269,621 in 2024. This is a figure that also represents its highest level since the government began recording in this way.