EXCLUSIVE: Government data suggests that more people have been given grants.
Shabana Mahmood wants to reform the system (Image: Getty)
The Government is “steering Britain towards a cliff edge”, a campaigner has suggested, after figures revealed that more migrants have been offered settlement grants than by the same month last year. Government data revealed that 39,621 more people were issued grants for settlement, EUSS settled status and immediate settlement in the year ending June 2026 (537,698). In YE 2025, the same figure was 498,077. The Government earlier this year announced reforms to the process whereby migrants are awarded indefinite leave to remain and settled status. Both of these give individuals a permanent right to live, work and study in the UK.
But the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has been under pressure to alter her plans, including from the Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, and trade unions. Ms Rayner, before being brought back into the Cabinet by Andy Burnham, said Ms Mahmood was “moving the goalposts”, and branded her proposals “un-British”.
Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control told the Express: “The Labour government is allowing our country to drift into a fiscal and social calamity. Rather than do what is in the national interest and block the BorisWave, the Cabinet is squabbling amongst itself.
“The open border faction of the Labour Party has clearly grabbed the steering wheel and is now steering Britain towards a cliff edge. The damage done will be huge.”
In June, Ms Mahmood said Asylum seekers would be made to pay up to £10,000 towards the cost of their accommodation and support once they start earning. They would pay off the full amount before they can be eligible for settled status.
Eligible adults would likely pay off an amount each month above a set threshold – similar to a student loan. The Government said it spent £4billion on accommodation and support for asylum seekers in 2025, and the Home Office estimated the average cost per person per night of accommodating asylum seekers is £23.25 in dispersal accommodation and £144 in hotels, while subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 per person per week.
Government data
| Year ending June | Settlement | EUSS settled status | Immediate settlement (Family) | Total |
| 2017 | 58,262 | z | 2,801 | 61,063 |
| 2018 | 81,585 | z | 2,675 | 84,260 |
| 2019 | 86,079 | 141,657 | 2,420 | 230,156 |
| 2020 | 85,591 | 1,459,894 | 1,853 | 1,547,338 |
| 2021 | 110,421 | 862,459 | 1,726 | 974,606 |
| 2022 | 122,715 | 435,568 | 1,596 | 559,879 |
| 2023 | 115,294 | 293,003 | 2,390 | 410,687 |
| 2024 | 135,765 | 345,990 | 3,023 | 484,778 |
| 2025 | 161,585 | 333,718 | 2,774 | 498,077 |
| 2026 | 199,628 | 336,229 | 1,841 |