Majority of Syrians, Afghans and Eritreans had claims approved in past 12 months Over 143,000 asylum applications outstanding, including Afghans waiting over a year LONDON: Only 13 percent of Albanian men who claim asylum in the UK have their applications accepted, official figures show. Asylum applications made to the UK, meanwhile, reached 86,000 — the highest in almost two decades. UK Home Office statistics released this week show Albanians generally made up around a third of all crossings in the English Channel over the past 12 months, with 9,076 recorded — the largest single cohort in total. Albanian women and children who had their asylum applications accepted stood at around 88 percent. The figures show that applications by refugees from Afghanistan, who made up around 15 percent of Channel crossings, as well as Syria and Eritrea, the next largest cohorts, were much more likely to be accepted, with a success rate of about 98 percent. However, the Home Office also revealed a significant backlog of 143,000 outstanding asylum claims, a figure up threefold from 2019, prompted in part by the increase in applications. Over 100,000 of those awaiting an asylum decision are currently receiving financial aid from the government, with 40,000 living in taxpayer-funded accommodation, costing the country £7 million ($8.45 million) per day. Two-thirds of asylum-seekers waiting for claims to be decided have been doing so for over six months — a figure that includes 98 percent of those who have applied in the past year. The Home Office said that of those in hotels, 9,242 were Afghans, many of whom have been waiting over a year for permanent accommodation after fleeing the country in August 2021. Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, told The Times: “These statistics underline yet again the government’s neglect and mismanagement of the asylum system due to a failure to invest in creating an orderly, efficient and effective system.” He called on the government to establish a “dedicated and well-resourced” taskforce to speed up the asylum process, adding: “These statistics underline why urgent action is so important.” Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Brinton told the House of Lords in a separate discussion that scabies, a contagious, irritating skin condition, had been found among migrants at a number of hotels, due to a lack of decent facilities to wash or clean clothes and bedding.