MigrationWatchdog

Asylum accommodation in East of England

Asylum support across East of England's 45 local authorities, as at 30 Jun 2026.

5,133 asylum seekers were in receipt of Home Office support across East of England as at 30 Jun 2026 — 7.8 per 10,000 residents, including 722 in contingency hotels.

5,133
asylum seekers supported
as at 30 Jun 2026 · source
7.8
per 10,000 residents (mid-2025)
mid-2025 (one year earlier where the latest estimate is not yet published) · source
2,921
in dispersal accommodation
as at 30 Jun 2026 · source
1,195
in contingency accommodation
as at 30 Jun 2026 · source
722
of which in hotels
as at 30 Jun 2026 · source

East of England carries 5.5% of the UK's supported asylum caseload — 7.8 per 10,000 residents against its mid-2025 population estimate of 6,613,801. The largest concentration is in Braintree (791). All UK authorities →

The last 12 quarters

8.5k030 Sep 202330 Jun 202630 Sep 2023 — 8,49031 Dec 2023 — 7,58331 Mar 2024 — 6,31630 Jun 2024 — 5,60530 Sep 2024 — 6,65231 Dec 2024 — 6,87831 Mar 2025 — 6,59130 Jun 2025 — 6,84030 Sep 2025 — 7,57631 Dec 2025 — 6,71531 Mar 2026 — 5,66130 Jun 2026 — 5,133
People in receipt of Home Office asylum support across East of England, quarterly snapshots — sum of the region's local authorities. Asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support by local authority, year ending June 2026 (Home Office, Immigration system statistics).

The legal route, regionally

Alongside asylum dispersal, East of England's authorities have received 1,396 people through formal resettlement schemes since 2014 — 54 of them in the last four published quarters.

four quarters to 2026 Q2, and cumulative since 2014 · source

Enforcement activity in East of England

Immigration Enforcement made 341 illegal-working visits in East of England in Jan-26 to Jun-26 (233 in Jan-25 to Jun-25), making 273 arrests. Enforcement activity, not convictions.

to the end of June 2026 · source

What East of England petitioned for

79,778 signatures came from East of England on the largest immigration or asylum petition of the current record — “Introduce offshore detention/mass deportation for illegal migrants” (720,772 signatures in total, including those recorded outside the UK regions). The wording is the petition creator's, not this site's, and the count measures support for that wording. All petitions →

petitions open or closed as at 2026-09-21 · source

Every authority in East of England

Asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support, by local authority
BraintreeEngland791——45
PeterboroughEngland4489999331
LutonEngland377194—145
BasildonEngland352——344
ColchesterEngland302——290
DacorumEngland2742229350
StevenageEngland26721721745
Southend-on-SeaEngland264——255
TendringEngland21333—177
NorwichEngland211——199
ThurrockEngland155——149
ChelmsfordEngland143117—20
RochfordEngland14111511525
BedfordEngland139——119
Welwyn HatfieldEngland13110110126
IpswichEngland113——102
Epping ForestEngland81393937
Central BedfordshireEngland73313136
East SuffolkEngland66——63
King's Lynn and West NorfolkEngland65——63
HertsmereEngland58——43
BrecklandEngland56——55
HarlowEngland56——50
BroxbourneEngland43——28
West SuffolkEngland38——27
Mid SuffolkEngland26——26
Castle PointEngland25——22
WatfordEngland24——13
St AlbansEngland2418183
HuntingdonshireEngland23——20
BrentwoodEngland22——21
UttlesfordEngland219912
East CambridgeshireEngland20——20
South NorfolkEngland19——17
CambridgeEngland14———
BroadlandEngland13——12
Great YarmouthEngland12——5
North HertfordshireEngland8——8
North NorfolkEngland8——8
BaberghEngland6——6
Three RiversEngland5——4
FenlandEngland3———
East HertfordshireEngland1———
MaldonEngland1———
South CambridgeshireEngland1———
Counts are people supported at the snapshot date, by the local authority of their registered address; contingency sites open and close between quarters. The table lists only authorities with supported people — authorities with none are omitted by the source, but the population denominator is the published region-level estimate, not a sum of the rows shown. Numbers say where the asylum system places people — they say nothing about any individual.

Data as of

Cite this page

Asylum accommodation in East of England. Migration Watchdog, data as of 2026-09-02.
https://migrationwatchdog.com/local/region/east-of-england
Underlying figures: UK official statistics, re-published under OGL v3.0 — every figure links to its source on the page.

Sources for this page