More than 108,000 people applied for asylum in the UK last year – the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001, figures show.
The total of 108,138 asylum seekers is up 18% from 91,811 in 2023, according to data published by the Home Office.
The previous record was 103,081 in the 12 months to December 2002.
Migrants who made the journey to the UK across the English Channel in small boats accounted for 32% of the total in 2024.
The data shows 38,079 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in hotels at the end of December, up 2,428 from 35,651 at the end of September.
This is the second quarterly rise in a row, although the figure is still some way below the recent peak of 56,042 at the end of September 2023.
Asylum seekers and their families are housed in temporary accommodation if they are waiting for the outcome of a claim or an appeal and have been assessed as not being able to support themselves independently.
They are housed in hotels if there is not enough space in accommodation provided by local authorities or other organisations.
The rise comes as the Government plans to close nine more asylum hotels by the end of March.
Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said on Thursday that the Government is “on track” to close more asylum hotels next month as decision-making on claims has increased by 52% in the last three months of 2024, as part of efforts to clear the backlog.
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Responding to the figures on Thursday, Marley Morris, from the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank, said: “If the Home Office wants to end the use of hotels, it will need to double down on efforts to improve the speed and quality of decision-making.
“Applications should be triaged early and decisions for high-grant nationalities should be streamlined.
“Crucially, the Government must take care that its efforts to accelerate decision-making do not result in these cases simply shifting over into appeals.”
Mihnea Cuibus, researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, added that “the combination of more refusals, a long appeals backlog in the courts, and a moderate increase in asylum applications towards the end of the year have all contributed” to the Government’s struggle so far to progress its goal of ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers.
There were 124,802 people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application at the end of December – down 6% from 133,409 at the end of September.
The total peaked at 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.
The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision was 73,866 at the end of December, down from 83,888 at the end of September and well below the recent peak of 139,961 in June 2023.
A No 10 spokesman said the asylum system had been “broken” over the last six years but within six months the new Government had put in place a “serious long-term plan”.
The Government has set up a Border Security Command, increased return figures and produced plans for a “world-first” smuggling sanctions regime, the spokesman added.
It comes as Labour’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which scraps the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan and introduces new offences to crack down on people smuggling across the English Channel, continues through Parliament.
But shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that with “no deterrent” the figures are “no surprise”, adding: “Despite promising to end hotel usage for asylum seekers, the numbers have gone up again and they are costing Britons dear.”
The data shows that the most common nationality among asylum applicants in 2024 was Pakistani, accounting for 10,542 people or 9.7% of the total.
Afghan was the second most common nationality (8,508 people, 7.9% of the total), down from 9,710 (10.6%) in 2023, when it was the most common.
Along with Pakistan, the largest increase in asylum claims in 2024 came from Vietnamese nationals, at 5,259 (4.9% of the total), up from 2,469 (2.7%) in 2023.