Up to the end of May 2025, more than 14,800 people had crossed the English Channel in small boats, a 42% rise from last year. The crossings continue day after day, while the government issues statements but takes no meaningful action. Britain’s borders are no longer under control, and the public knows it.
But small boats aren’t the whole story. They only account for around a third of all asylum claims. The rest come from people who arrive here legally on student visas, tourist visas, or work permits, and then, when their time’s up, they switch status and claim asylum to stay longer. That’s not what asylum is for.
Asylum is meant to protect people fleeing immediate danger, war, persecution, or violence. It’s not a loophole for those who don’t want to leave when their visa expires. But that’s exactly how it’s being used.
Take Pakistan, the most common nationality among people claiming asylum in the UK. Very few Pakistanis are coming across the Channel in small boats. Most arrive through official routes. But once here, many then claim asylum.
And yet, Pakistan is broadly considered a safe country. There’s no war. No mass persecution. Millions live safely within its borders every day. So why are thousands claiming asylum here? Because the system allows it.
Once someone claims asylum, whether they came in legally or not, they’re pulled into the same taxpayer-funded process, with housing, legal aid, and healthcare, all paid for by you.
These are people who, quite literally, arrived yesterday. They haven’t contributed a single penny to the UK, not in tax, not in National Insurance, not in work. But the moment they claim asylum, they’re placed into a system that gives them everything they need, while many hardworking British families go without.
The Asylum System Isn’t Just Generous — It’s Expensive
The cost of asylum accommodation in the UK is staggering. The National Audit Office reported that the UK government spent £4.7 billion on asylum accommodation alone in the 2023/24 financial year, which works out to around £41,000 per asylum seeker, per year, just to house them. And that’s the key point: this figure only covers accommodation. It doesn’t include legal costs, healthcare, education for dependents, cash support, or the massive bureaucracy needed to run the system.
In other words, the true cost of supporting someone in the asylum system is significantly higher than £41,000. But even the accommodation cost alone is already more than what many British workers earn in a year.
To make matters worse, companies like Serco are striking deals with landlords to house asylum seekers. They’re offering five-year contracts with guaranteed rent, no tenant risk, and full maintenance costs covered. That’s right, your tax money is being used to pay someone else’s rent and bills, while you’re still struggling with your own.
600,000 UK Workers Are Now Paying the Bill
In 2024, the mean average salary across all UK workers, full-time and part-time, was £38,224. The average combined Income Tax and National Insurance contribution per worker in the 2023/24 tax year was estimated to be £8,081.
And here’s what that means: to fund the government’s £4.7 billion asylum accommodation bill, it takes the entire annual tax contribution of around 582,000 workers. That’s not a rounding error. That’s the size of an entire city. And it highlights the scale of the failure.
600,000 British workers, teachers, carers, lorry drivers, and shop workers. going to work every day, handing over a chunk of their wages, just to fund housing and hotels for people who’ve never paid into the system.
We’re not talking about helping a handful of desperate people. We’re talking about a bloated, broken model that’s swallowing up billions, while ordinary working people are being taxed more than ever and getting less in return. The cost of asylum accommodation UK taxpayers now carry is simply unsustainable
This Isn’t Compassion — It’s Exploitation
These are the people who’ve played by the rules. They work. They pay in. They ask for nothing more than fairness and a government that’s on their side. And instead, their taxes are being used to support a system that’s spiralling out of control.
Meanwhile, many of them can’t even afford to buy their own homes. They’re being dragged into higher tax brackets as wages go up, but thresholds stay frozen. UK taxes are now the highest since World War II. You’re paying more, getting less, and footing the bill for people the government refuses to turn away. This isn’t just unsustainable. It’s outrageous.
A government that borrows billions each year, can’t control its borders, and taxes its citizens to pay for hotel rooms and housing for people who’ve just arrived is not working for the British public. It’s time for a system that protects the people who pay in. That rewards contribution. That puts citizens first.
Because 600,000 British workers shouldn’t be carrying the cost of asylum accommodation in the UK under a government that’s lost control
Follow me on X, Instagram, and Facebook for my regular updates or read my recent post on Starmer’s Britain: A Magnet for Small Boats with record numbers in 2025