Policy paper: Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026: factsheets

The Immigration and Asylum Bill will deliver key reforms announced by the Home Secretary in the Restoring Order and Control statement in November 2025.

It will seek to bring into force important changes to how the immigration and asylum system operates, reducing illegal arrivals and increasing the removals of those with no right to be here.

The bill will establish a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority to create a swift and fair appeals system which can meet increased appeals demand. It will also bring about important reforms to the application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Modern Slavery system, providing robust legal protections while tackling abuses of human rights law. The bill will establish a single core protection model for refugees and those requiring humanitarian protection, whilst ensuring that those with the means to provide a contribution towards the asylum support they received, do so when they are financially able to.

Most of the bill, relating to the reserved matters of immigration and asylum, will apply UK-wide. Amendments to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 will largely apply only to England and Wales, where the substance of the Act is reserved; some modern slavery reforms will also apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland, some of which may impact devolved areas.

The Home Office and officials in the Welsh Government, Scottish Government, and Northern Ireland Executive, continue to work together to ensure the approach to the extent of the measures (i.e. where the measures apply) is appropriate and that legislative consent motions are in place where needed.

The current immigration and asylum system was never designed to deal with the sheer number of individuals that it is seeing today. Since 2021, over 460,000 people have claimed asylum in the UK.