MigrationWatchdog

East of England

Asylum support across East of England's 44 local authorities, as at 31 Mar 2026.

5,661
asylum seekers supported
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source
8.6
per 10,000 residents (mid-2025)
mid-2025 (one year earlier where the latest estimate is not yet published) · source
2,846
in dispersal accommodation
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source
1,858
in contingency accommodation
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source
1,390
of which in hotels
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source

East of England carries 5.8% of the UK's supported asylum caseload — 8.6 per 10,000 residents against its mid-2025 population estimate of 6,613,801. The largest concentration is in Braintree (767). All UK authorities →

The last 12 quarters

8.5k030 Jun 202331 Mar 202630 Jun 2023 — 7,75030 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 — 7,57531 Dec 2025 — 6,71531 Mar 2026 — 5,661
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 March 2026 (Home Office, Immigration system statistics).

The legal route, regionally

Alongside asylum dispersal, East of England's authorities have received 1,361 people through formal resettlement schemes since 2014 48 of them in the last four published quarters.

four quarters to 2026 Q1, and cumulative since 2014 · source

Every authority in East of England

Asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support, by local authority
BraintreeEngland76740
LutonEngland461249179
PeterboroughEngland4146666332
DacorumEngland36531513947
BasildonEngland354351
ColchesterEngland317306
NorwichEngland2664747210
StevenageEngland26121221245
Southend-on-SeaEngland257248
ChelmsfordEngland24622722718
TendringEngland21443169
BroxbourneEngland19414314335
BedfordEngland1785656111
Welwyn HatfieldEngland15312312327
ThurrockEngland145141
Central BedfordshireEngland144999939
Epping ForestEngland12810010022
IpswichEngland114105
RochfordEngland73515121
North HertfordshireEngland6858588
East SuffolkEngland6663
King's Lynn and West NorfolkEngland5049
HarlowEngland4543
UttlesfordEngland44343410
BrecklandEngland4140
St AlbansEngland4035353
HertsmereEngland3924
West SuffolkEngland3221
Castle PointEngland2623
Mid SuffolkEngland2626
South NorfolkEngland2120
BrentwoodEngland1918
WatfordEngland189
CambridgeEngland14
HuntingdonshireEngland1411
Great YarmouthEngland145
BroadlandEngland98
East CambridgeshireEngland66
BaberghEngland66
Three RiversEngland44
FenlandEngland3
North NorfolkEngland33
South CambridgeshireEngland1
MaldonEngland1
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

Sources for this page