New Home Office figures reported by multiple outlets say each asylum claim costs taxpayers an average of £18,700. The stated average includes several components: providing asylum accommodation and living support, as well as administrative costs for processing claims and spending related to legal appeals. One report also points to an overall national bill associated with asylum, citing figures that put the wider cost at about £1.7bn, based on the scale of claims handled. The sources describe the same cost breakdown and the same headline per-claim figure, attributing the figures to Home Office data. Taken together, the coverage indicates the government’s estimate of average per-claim spending is driven by both day-to-day support for people seeking asylum and the costs of handling the legal and procedural aspects of the process. The reports do not provide additional detail in the excerpts provided about time periods, methodology, or whether costs vary by case, but they consistently present the per-claim average and the components included in that calculation.