The Home Office announced on 14 August 2026 that a 24-week target for deciding new asylum and immigration appeals took effect on 12 August 2026. It applies to appeals from non-detained foreign national offenders and people receiving asylum support and accommodation, and covers in-scope cases submitted to the First-tier Tribunal from that date. The department said the average wait for a judge to decide a case is currently 67 weeks, and that it aims to cut waiting times by over a third.

Minister for Border Security and Asylum Anna Turley said the target would reduce reliance on taxpayer-funded accommodation and speed up removal of people with no right to be in the UK. The department said more than 150,000 appeals are still waiting to be heard and that wider reform is needed, citing the Immigration and Asylum Bill, which passed its second reading earlier that month and would create an Independent Immigration Appeals Authority to run alongside the tribunal for several years.

The department also reported that asylum costs have fallen by £1 billion since the 2024 general election, that under 170 asylum hotels are in use against a peak of 400 in 2023, and that nearly 10,000 foreign national offenders have been removed, up 36% compared with the 21 months before the election. It said sitting days in the tribunal's immigration and asylum chamber are due to rise by 19% this year compared with 2024 to 2025.