However, the Home Office said “significant improvements” have been made since the audit took place.

Separate Home Office figures released on the same day also showed the backlog of asylum cases in the UK hit a new record high.

A total of 172,758 people waited for an initial decision on an asylum application at the end of March 2023 – up 57% compared with the same period last year.

Labour also claims that over the past year, only 1% of small boat asylum cases have had a decision made and that the productivity rate of Home Office workers had fallen from 14 decisions per month in 2011 and 18 in 2016, to just five per month in the last financial year.

On Thursday Mr Sunak will head to Moldova for the European Political Community summit where he will warn that a rise in illegal migration and Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine have created “unprecedented threats” at Europe’s borders.

Mr Sunak is hoping to build on migration agreements secured with France and Albania and will begin negotiations for a returns agreement with Moldova.

He will also announce a new partnership with Bulgaria to help it.

Source:  https://news.sky.com/story/spending-on-asylum-soars-as-labour-say-system-completely-broken-12893785