Duration of detention

United Kingdom

Country Report: Duration of detention Last updated: 10/07/24

Author

Sonia Lenegan

The Home Office is responsible for ordering detention of asylum seekers. There is no maximum period set in law, with the exception of detention of pregnant women and children which cannot exceed 72 hours, or 7 days with Ministerial approval.

While data on length of immigration detention is now available for the last six years, the figures do not distinguish between asylum seekers and other immigration detainees. Periods of immigration detention including asylum seekers and other foreign nationals vary enormously from a few days to several years. During 2023, 15,354 left immigration detention.[1] Of these:

Duration of stay in detention 2018 – 2023
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Less than 29 days 17,655 18,076 11,968 21,074 14,150 9,346
From 29 days to 2 months 3,489 3,622 1,770 1,428 2,862 3,007
From 2 to 4 months 2,401 1,869 1,023 1,061 1,610 1,910
From 4 months to 12 months 1,752 849 641 710 735 942
From 1 to 2 years 188 122 100 79 72 110
At least 2 years 14 6 8 10 18 39

Source: Home Office, Immigration Statistics, Detention.

The longest periods of detention are usually of people awaiting deportation after having served a criminal sentence.

 

 

[1]          Home Office, Immigration system statistics data tables, Immigration detention detailed datasets, year ending December 2023, table Det_03, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdhnwfkr.

Table of contents

  • Statistics
  • Overview of the legal framework
  • Overview of the main changes since the previous report update
  • Asylum Procedure
  • Reception Conditions
  • Detention of Asylum Seekers
  • Content of International Protection