Overview

• New refugee family reunion applications are suspended, with refugees now required to use the standard family migration route that includes a £29,000 income floor, suitable housing and basic English for relatives.
• The government plans to replace judicial asylum appeals with a new independent adjudicator body intended to speed up decisions.
• Ministers vow to end hotel use for asylum accommodation by 2029, have cut the post‑recognition move‑on period from 56 to 28 days and are exploring modular or warehouse sites.
• A pilot to return some small‑boat arrivals to France is due to start later this month, following initial detentions after the agreement was ratified in August.
• Refugee groups and some MPs condemn the changes as harmful to families, while a surge in protests over asylum hotels this summer was logged by police at 3,081 events between early June and 25 August, according to BBC data.