Increasing numbers of asylum seekers in the UK are dying with many committing suicide, new data shows.

The number of deaths among asylum seekers under the care of the UK’s Home Office has more than doubled over the past year, according to figures published in the UK media.

Reports say some of the deaths were a result of illness or old age, but many others are said to have been the result of suicide.

Refugee advocates have called the development “deeply troubling” and charities have laid the blame on the former conservative government’s policy of creating a “hostile environment” for asylum seekers.  

They say that the treatment of asylum seekers in the UK has adversely affected the health of an already vulnerable group of people.

Many asylum seekers in the UK have fled persecution in their home countries where some experienced rape and torture or abuse by traffickers on their journey in search of safety.

The data covers the period January to June 2024, in which 28 people died, including two babies – one from Pakistan and another from Afghanistan – and a 15-year-old boy from Iraq.

Figures obtained and published by the NGO The Civil Fleet show that for the same period in 2023, there were 13 deaths.

Chief executive of the UK’s Refugee Council Ever Solomon said: “The fact that there has been a sharp rise in the deaths of people in asylum accommodation is deeply troubling”.

“We see the hugely negative impact of men, women and children being left isolated in poor quality accommodation for months on end with minimal financial support. Let’s not forget these are people who’ve fled war, violence and terror in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan and come to the UK to be safe. It is the legal responsibility of government to ensure they are kept safe and well so that tragic deaths are avoided,” he said.

The UK’s Home Office does not publish information about deaths of asylum seekers in their care.

The data for the first six months of 2024 does not provide detail of deaths beyond saying that the cause of some is unconfirmed, the media reported.

But the 2023 data provides more detail showing that some lives were cut short.

One person died as a result of a hit-and-run traffic incident and another was forced to jump from a window of his room, which caught fire after the lithium battery on his e-bike exploded.

According to longer-term data, there has been a sharp increase in deaths in Home Office accommodation since 2020 including a doubling in suicides.

The increase in deaths coincides with a change by the Home Office from accommodating almost all asylum seekers in shared housing to moving tens of thousands into long-term hotel accommodation at the start of the pandemic.

The British Red Cross, the UK’s largest refugee services provider, has warned that people seeking asylum are falling through the cracks in the healthcare system and have launched a plan to help GPs, health workers, charities and local authorities work together to ensure everyone who arrives to seek asylum is getting the healthcare they need and are entitled to.