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The asylum appeal backlog has climbed to 87,450 cases despite a drop in new appeals lodged. The problem isn't intake — it's throughput. Judges are deciding cases at a static rate that simply can't keep pace, and the gap keeps widening quarter on quarter.
ICYMI: We published Jasmine Quiller-Doust's guide to the new judicial guidance on remote hearings in the immigration tribunals. The First-tier and Upper Tribunal now take different default positions — worth understanding if you're preparing cases in either chamber.
Free Movement
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2. Colin Yeo takes us through the numbers and what they mean. The appeal grant rate is 40%, so many claimants will wait three years — forbidden from working, reliant on asylum support — only to be granted protection that could have come far sooner.
3. There are two ways to control the backlog: fewer inputs or more outputs. The Home Office could reduce appeals by improving first-instance decision quality. But more tribunal resources and efficient working methods are also urgently needed.
ICYMI: We published Jasmine Quiller-Doust's piece on a case where a STOP marker error led to unlawful detention at Heathrow. It examines how automatic Home Office flagging on the Warnings Index breached the public sector equality duty — an important read for practitioners.
In Scotland, courts can't determine a person's age for themselves when a local authority age assessment is challenged — they can only review the decision. That's a significant divergence from the position in England and Wales, as Iain Halliday explains in our latest analysis.
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1. The asylum appeal backlog has risen to 87,450 cases, according to the latest quarterly tribunal statistics. Appeals lodged actually fell, but with fewer than 7,000 decided per quarter, the queue keeps growing. Waiting times are now around three years.
New: Asylum appeal backlog rises to 87,450 cases — by Colin Yeo
4. It is not just asylum cases. The total immigration tribunal caseload now exceeds 150,000. Human rights and deportation appeals face similar delays. The tribunal is in a deep hole, and the government's response so far has been wholly inadequate.
The latest quarterly tribunal statistics show that the backlog of asylum appeals has continued to rise. The statistics cover the period January to March 2026.
