THE UK asylum appeals backlog has skyrocketed to a record high of more than 90,000 – and is now over 17 times higher than it was six years ago.

‘s government has been blasted amid the spiralling crisis, with claims ballooning by more than half in the space of a year.

An overcrowded inflatable boat carrying migrants across the English Channel.The UK asylum appeals backlog has skyrocketed to a record high of more than 90,000 Credit: Getty A group of people wearing orange life vests are disembarking from a Border Force vessel with a Union Jack flag on its side.It dwarfs the 59,925 figure recorded at the same time last year Credit: PA

The number has now topped 90,000 for the first time, according to figures released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

There were 90,341 cases in the system by the end of June, dwarfing the 59,925 figure recorded at the same time last year.

And it is incredibly 17 times larger than the 5,209 claims in June 2020.

The huge increase in cases waiting to be heard by judges comes after Labour’s push to quicken initial decisions on asylum claims.

Data released last month by the showed the number of people waiting for an initial decision is at its lowest level since 2019.

The total has more than halved in the space of a year, falling from 90,812 in June 2025 to 40,168 in June 2026.

But the move – designed to clear cases from the Home Office – has instead pushed the backlog onto the .

It has led to a growing number of claimants going to tribunals and appealing against the initial decision in a bid to have it overturned.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) say the Home Office has focused on short-term fixes and does not have a clear strategy.

It has also called for a “complete overhaul” of the system for monitoring those facing removal.

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy accused Labour of making courts a “holding pen” for immigration.

He told MailOnline : “Sadly, Labour will never tackle the lawfare holding this country back.

“The Conservatives would scrap the immigration tribunal and restore control over our border to elected ministers.

“We also need to look more widely at how courts act as a block on the functioning of government.”

The latest MoJ figures also show more than a third of asylum appeals were successful between April and June this year.

And the average waiting time to clear an asylum appeal was 72 weeks, up from 67 weeks in January-March.

An asylum appeal case can refer to one person or to a group of people – typically a main applicant and their family members.

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

Earlier this year, we revealed how four in five asylum decisions were made with insufficient evidence.

An internal quality check of 47 random calls by Home Office staff, from August and September 2025, revealed 37 were “likely to be incorrect”.

Independent border inspection chief John Tuckett said: “Although this was only one limited exercise… these results suggested that the quality of asylum decision-making was not in a good state.”

And inspectors warned managers had prioritised “quantity over quality”.

A huge 83 per cent of staff told an internal survey they were pressured to make decisions quickly to reduce waiting times.

The Home Office said: “This is from a small sample of 47 cases.

“Our assessment of nearly 4,000 cases shows 94 per cent of decisions are considered ‘correct’ against agreed criteria.”