Rising Asylum Seeker Deaths Spark Transparency Demands for UK Home Office
A growing chorus of human rights and refugee advocates is demanding greater transparency from the UK Home Office regarding the deaths of asylum seekers within its care, calling for the publication of quarterly data mirroring reporting standards in other government departments. Currently, obtaining information on these deaths relies heavily on Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, a process officials don’t consistently honor.
The lack of readily available data stands in stark contrast to the reporting practices of agencies like the National Health Service (NHS), which regularly publishes figures on hospital deaths, and the Ministry of Justice, which does the same for deaths in custody. This disparity fuels concerns about accountability and the well-being of vulnerable individuals seeking refuge in the UK.
According to FoI data, 51 people died in Home Office-provided asylum accommodation in 2024 – an 11-person increase from the previous year and a more than twelvefold rise compared to 2019, when only four deaths were recorded. The initial figures released by the department for 2024 were significantly lower, claiming only 30 deaths, before a subsequent apology and correction revealed an additional 21 fatalities.
Recent deaths have highlighted the precarious conditions faced by those navigating the UK’s asylum system. These include Leonard Farruku, an Albanian national who died on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in December 2023; Mehrab Omrani, an Iranian man believed to have been deceased for four months within Home Office accommodation before his body was discovered in March 2024; and Hussein Haseeb Ahmed, a Kurdish Iraqi man who succumbed to diphtheria at the Manston processing center in Kent in November 2022.
Efforts to legislate for greater transparency have so far failed. An amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 that would have mandated the publication of this data was ultimately not passed. Liberty Investigates, an investigative journalism unit, appealed to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for the Home Office to release the information, but the appeal was unsuccessful.
The ICO sided with the Home Office, citing concerns that releasing the data could lead to “potential harassment or violence against vulnerable individuals and staff.” Officials argued that disclosing the names of deceased individuals could indirectly reveal the identities of their relatives and accommodation providers, potentially exposing them to targeted attacks, particularly in light of incidents in August 2024 where asylum locations were targeted. They further stated that releasing the information could endanger staff working at these locations.
The charity Asylum Matters is spearheading a campaign advocating for the publication of all deaths of asylum seekers, both those occurring within Home Office care and those who perish attempting to cross the Channel. “People are dying in our asylum system,” stated Louise Calvey, the organization’s executive director. “They’re dying at our borders, yes, but they’re also dying in camps, hotels, and other privately run, profit-driven Home Office funded accommodation. People are dying by suicide, dying of infectious disease, dying avoidable deaths. What we know for certain is that lives are being lost – but what we don’t know is how many.”
Calvey emphasized the inconsistency, stating, “It’s an utterly shameful outlier: when people die in government care in other settings, such as the prison system, there’s a duty to report and track that data. Not tracking the figures in the asylum system makes it impossible to take effective action to reduce these tragedies – and it sends the appalling message that the deaths of people seeking sanctuary don’t matter.”
Adding to the concerns, the Home Office previously acknowledged it does not routinely inform families when an asylum seeker dies in its care, and expressed reluctance to publicly share details of these deaths, citing potential distress to relatives and risks to their “mental health.”
A department spokesperson offered condolences, stating, “Our thoughts and sympathies are with the families and friends of any asylum seeker or migrant who has died. We have taken immediate action to restart asylum processing and robust measures are in place to prioritise the safety of anyone in asylum accommodation. Our Border Security Act will also make it an offence to endanger another life during perilous small boat crossings, including a sentence of up to five years in prison.”
The lack of transparency, coupled with a rising death toll, raises serious questions about the safety and accountability within the UK’s asylum system, leaving advocates and concerned citizens demanding answers and meaningful change.
