The number of people claiming asylum in the UK in 2024 has exceeded the previous recorded peak in 2002, according to the Home Office.

The newly released figures suggest asylum claims were at their highest level since records began in 1979.

In the year to December 2024, 108,138 people claimed asylum – an increase of 18% compared with 2023 and almost twice what it was in 2021.

The new high follows an uptick in recorded small boat arrivals in recent years. The number of small boat arrivals also increased in 2024 – 25% higher than in 2023 – but the figure was 20% lower than in 2022.

The UK now receives the fifth largest number of asylum seekers in the “EU plus” area at a time when the government is under pressure to cut the asylum decision backlog.

These figures, which cover the end of the Conservative government and the start of Labour, show the number of cases awaiting an initial decision fell by five per cent last year – with 90,686 cases, relating to 124,802 people, pending a decision as of the end of 2024.

The number remains higher than before 2022.

The UK is also sending more people into immigration detention. This figure increased by 12% last year.

Meanwhile, 8,164 people were forcibly returned to another country, an increase of 28%, with Albanians the most common nationality among enforced returns.

There has been a sharp increase in people granted citizenship, with numbers rising from 130,568 in 2020 to 269,621 in 2024. This figure is at its highest level since the government began recording in this way.

The British Red Cross’s policy, research and advocacy director Mubeen Bhutta called for the government to create “more safe routes” as part of ongoing work to prevent people taking dangerous journeys to get to the UK.

“Behind today’s numbers are real men, women and children who have been forced to flee their homes. Too many are making perilous journeys to find safety, because they have no other option,” Bhutta said in a statement.

“For the vast majority of people, there is no way to claim asylum in the UK without already being here.”

Border Security and Asylum minister Angela Eagle criticised the previous government for a “broken asylum system”, saying Labour inherited a “huge backlog of asylum claims”.

“We are beginning to get some order to the system but it will take time to make certain that we can get a grip and start making the system work again.”

Asked why asylum claims are so high, Eagle said “many people want to come here”, further referring to those coming on work and student visas and then claiming asylum.

She underlined “we have to be much tougher” dealing with visa overstayers.

While irregular arrivals rose last year, the number of work and study visas – which account for a majority of arrivals, not including visitors and transit, examined by the Home Office – both dropped.

The previous Conservative government introduced measures to reduce legal migration with changes made to visa processes in the last year – including an increase to the minimum salary for a UK skilled worker visa.

While in office, the Conservatives also banned health and social care workers and most international students from bringing family to the UK.

Thursday’s figures indicate that the number of people coming to the UK on work visas last year fell by about 250,000, according to a BBC Verify analysis.

This was almost evenly split between fewer people coming for work (down by more than 125,000) and fewer family members coming with them (down by nearly 120,000).

The fall in family members accompanying workers was much bigger than in the last set of figures.

Both falls were largely driven by trends in the health and care worker route.

The previous government introduced a special visa to bring people into the sector.

This led to huge rises in visas issued – especially since people coming to work in care tend to bring more family with them than people coming on other work visas.

But Rishi Sunak’s government tightened the rules late in 2023, leading to falls in people coming on this visa throughout 2024.

In September 2024, the current Labour government announced further measures including stronger rules around visa sponsorship of migrant workers.

A White Paper is also due to be published this year setting out a plan to reduce legal migration.

Dr Ben Brindle, researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, referred to a “boom and bust” in some visa categories over recent years, particularly for students’ family members and health and care visas.

“The large declines in visa grants have been possible primarily because the number of visas previously being issued in the post-Brexit immigration system was so high,” he said.

“Despite the declines, overall visa grants to non-EU citizens remain well above pre-Brexit levels.”