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Original poster

Immigration - wanting some stats

134 replies

ITSJUSTBRIDGET · 12/08/2025 20:08

I’m so so sick of the immigration media headlines

the attached shows the immigration backlog since 1990. I’m wanting to add in the number or home office immigration staff into the graph

how did we go from a low of around 3000 in 2005 to this years figure of 91,000

ive googled home office staff in 2010 which had a total of 28,423 staff

2010, the Home Office had a total of 2811 payroll staff. This figure represents the total number of employees within Additionally, the wider Home Office group included other agencies like the Criminal Records Bureau with 668 staff, the Identity & Passport Service with 3944 staff, and the UK Border Agency with 21752 staff.

At the end of March 2024, the Home Office employed over 51,000 people in a wide range of roles, across the UK and overseas

So to summarise 2010 there were around 28k staff with a backlog of around 4000 migrants/asylum seekers

today - we have a backlog of 91000 applications with a total number of home office staff at 51000

can anyone help me out with this logic?

TO BE VERY CLEAR, I AM NOT A EXTREME RIGHT WING VOTER, I’M FOCUSED ON WHY OUR GOVERNMENT HAS NOT/IS NOT SEEMINGLY ABLE TO DEAL WITH THE BACKLOG WHICH IS NOT FAIR ON ANYONE

Immigration - wanting some stats
OP posts:
Original poster
ITSJUSTBRIDGET · 12/08/2025 20:23

Bambamhoohoo · 12/08/2025 20:18

I’m talking about like for like changes, not adding in departments that were there in both 2010 and 2025. For example, how do you know they didn’t add a division of from elsewhere into the home office in 2018? It’s not something you work out by googling

Show quote history

No I know all that but how on earth do you get like for like

ok so here are some more figures

2010 total civil service number was 490k - that’s when immigration backlog was around 5000

2025 total civil service number is 510,000 with a immigration backlog of 91,000

the big caveat here was that more staff were hired for brexit

OP posts:
titchy · 12/08/2025 20:22

But the HO’s remit is far far far wider than immigration. So how is comparing raw staffing levels remotely relevant to immigration.

Oh and post in ‘Politics’ - though you won’t because you obviously do have an agenda.

Bambamhoohoo · 12/08/2025 20:18

ITSJUSTBRIDGET · 12/08/2025 20:16

Well yes, when you google the home office staff in isolation in 2000 it states that there were 2800 home office staff, that same figure in 2025 is 51000 which is why I added in the other agencies in 2000 that came under the home office

Edited
Show quote history

I’m talking about like for like changes, not adding in departments that were there in both 2010 and 2025. For example, how do you know they didn’t add a division of from elsewhere into the home office in 2018? It’s not something you work out by googling

Original poster
ITSJUSTBRIDGET · 12/08/2025 20:16

Bambamhoohoo · 12/08/2025 20:14

Surely you’d need to do quite a lot of research yourself and potentially some FOI requests to the home office but tbh, I suspect they haven’t done much in be way of this analysis themselves

You’d further need to know, at the very least -

how the scope, reasonably and remit of the HO has changed over this period

what the jobs were (i presume you have no reason to think they have been recruited to process asylum applications directly?)

whether here are compensating for merger of consolation of other government departments thus there are reductions elsewhere

Well yes, when you google the home office staff in isolation in 2000 it states that there were 2800 home office staff, that same figure in 2025 is 51000 which is why I added in the other agencies in 2000 that came under the home office

OP posts:
Bambamhoohoo · 12/08/2025 20:14

Surely you’d need to do quite a lot of research yourself and potentially some FOI requests to the home office but tbh, I suspect they haven’t done much in be way of this analysis themselves

You’d further need to know, at the very least -

how the scope, reasonably and remit of the HO has changed over this period

what the jobs were (i presume you have no reason to think they have been recruited to process asylum applications directly?)

whether here are compensating for merger of consolation of other government departments thus there are reductions elsewhere

Original poster
ITSJUSTBRIDGET · 12/08/2025 20:13

Maybe we all need to look at the stats and ask some difficult questions

OP posts:
Someiremember · 12/08/2025 20:12

ITSJUSTBRIDGET · 12/08/2025 20:10

Where else would you put it?

Mumsnet wouldn’t be my first port of call

Original poster
ITSJUSTBRIDGET · 12/08/2025 20:10

Where else would you put it?

OP posts:
Someiremember · 12/08/2025 20:10

And mumsnet AIBU is where you have decided to seek that “logic”?