What was claimed
We don’t know how many asylum seekers have been dispersed across Wales.
Our verdict
This isn’t correct. The government publishes quarterly figures showing the number of asylum seekers being supported by each local authority in Wales. As of December 2025, 3,353 asylum seekers were being supported in Wales, most of whom were in Cardiff.
“Eluned Morgan: How many asylum seekers are housed in hotels across Wales? How many?
Dan Thomas: At the moment it’s a low number, we don’t know how many have been dispersed across Wales.
Ms Morgan: We’re absolutely clear about how many. How many in North Wales? The answer is zero. How many in West Wales? The answer is zero. How many in East Wales? Zero. There are 76 in Cardiff, that’s it. Let’s talk in facts, and let’s not raise concerns where there shouldn’t be any.
Mr Thomas: We don’t know how many have been dispersed across Wales, and across the UK 5% of the equivalent of the Welsh government is spent, £5 billion a year is spent on those so-called asylum seekers, we could be spending that on our own NHS.”
During an ITV Wales election debate earlier this week, Reform UK’s leader in Wales, Dan Thomas, and Eluned Morgan, the First Minister and Welsh Labour leader, clashed over the number of asylum seekers being housed in Wales.
Mr Thomas claimed that “We don’t know how many have been dispersed across Wales” while Ms Morgan claimed that when it comes to asylum seekers being housed in hotels “there are 76 in Cardiff, that’s it”.
Ms Morgan is broadly right that when it comes to asylum seekers being housed in hotels—as of December 2025 there were 74 in Cardiff, and none in the rest of Wales.
It’s not clear what Mr Thomas meant when he claimed that “we don’t know how many are dispersed across Wales”—Reform UK did not clarify what Mr Thomas meant by his comments when we asked.
Figures showing the number of asylum seekers being supported by each local authority in Wales are published quarterly by the UK government
A total of 3,353 asylum seekers were being supported by local authorities in Wales, the vast majority of whom were being provided with other forms of accommodation.
We don’t have data on the location of asylum seekers who aren’t receiving support from the government, however.
Immigration policy, including asylum policy, is the responsibility of the UK government. The debate did however discuss the Welsh government’s Nation of Sanctuary plan—which broadly speaking seeks to improve outcomes and promote integration for asylum seekers, displaced people and refugees living in Wales. Approximately 91% of the funding for the Nation of Sanctuary between 2019 and 2025 has been spent supporting Ukrainians, with the remainder spent on “support and integration services” for asylum seekers and refugees.
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The latest government figures show that as of 31 December 2025 a total of 3,353 asylum seekers were receiving support from local authorities in Wales. Eighty of these were receiving “subsistence only” support (meaning they weren’t being provided with accommodation).
Of the 3,273 asylum seekers being housed by local authorities in Wales, 74 were being housed in hotels, all of whom were in Cardiff.
Most of the remaining 3,199 asylum seekers were being housed in “dispersal accommodation”. This typically refers to private dwellings like flats or houses, or rooms in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). A smaller number (89) were being housed in “initial accommodation”—usually hostel-style residences used to house people who are waiting to be moved to dispersal accommodation.
Approximately 42% of asylum seekers being supported by local authorities in Wales were in Cardiff, including all of those being housed in initial accommodation, as well as hotels.
Only two (Ceredigion and Monmouthshire) of the 22 local authorities in Wales were not providing support for any asylum seekers.
It’s worth noting that all local authorities in the UK are expected to participate in the dispersal of asylum seekers, and individual local authorities usually can’t refuse to house asylum seekers. The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory has written in more detail about how this policy works.
The government also publishes data showing the number of refugees resettled in each local authority, as well as the number of people supported in each local authority who arrived in the UK via the Homes for Ukraine and Afghan resettlement programme routes.
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