The number of people granted asylum by the Home Office jumped by more than a third last year.
Official figures showed nearly 55,000 migrants were handed refugee status or another type of permission to stay in Britain in the year to December.
It was up 35 per cent on the previous 12 months but 14 per cent below the peak seen in 2023.
The figures only cover those granted asylum by the Home Office at the initial decision stage, and do not include those who successfully appeal against a refusal in the immigration courts.
Statistics also showed the total number of asylum claims lodged in the year was 101,000, a four per cent fall on the previous year.
The total number of claims to receive an initial decision from the Home Office hit an all-time high of more than 135,000, meaning the proportion of those granted was 42 per cent, down from 47 per cent the previous year.
The number of migrants receiving taxpayer-funded support dipped at the end of last year, including those given full-board accommodation in hotels.
Data showed there were 107,003 people receiving State support, a five per cent fall year-on-year and 14 per cent below the peak of almost 124,000 in September 2023.
Of those 31,000 were in hotels, 19 per cent lower than a year previously.
Just under 73,000 were in other types of accommodation such as self-catering properties, up two per cent.
There was a 15 per cent rise in those receiving subsistence-only hand-outs – and no accommodation – to 3,577.
Migrants sprint across the beach at Gravelines, northern France, to board a smugglers’ dinghy to Britain last summer
Home Office minister Alex Norris said: ‘Today’s figures show the impact of our action to end the costly use of taxpayer-funded hotels, with overall asylum costs dropping by 12 per cent as a result.
‘The population in asylum hotels has fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last year and by 45 per cent since the peak under the previous government.
‘But we won’t stop until every asylum hotel is closed.
‘We are already moving out of hotels and into alternative accommodation, including ex-military sites.
‘And we are making major reforms to reduce the pull factors that draw people to this country, and increasing removals and deportations of those with no right to be here.’
