Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she would establish a new body staffed by independent adjudicators to address what she called “unacceptable delays”. Ministers have pledged to end the use of hotels during this Parliament – though 32,000 asylum seekers are accommodated in them.

While initial decisions on asylum applications have been accelerated, appeals remain a bottleneck. It currently takes more than a year on average for an appeal to be heard, with 51,000 cases awaiting resolution. During this time, failed applicants continue to be housed.

To relieve pressure on the system, the government has provided funding to increase the number of sitting days in the First-tier Tribunal, with the aim of ensuring it operates at maximum capacity. However, the tribunal cannot keep up with increasing demand. The government believes that a panel of independent adjudicators could process appeals more swiftly than the courts. Details of the reforms are expected in the autumn.

Ms Cooper said: “We inherited an asylum system in complete chaos with a soaring backlog of asylum cases and a broken appeals system with thousands of people in the system for years on end. That is why we are taking practical steps to fix the foundations and restore control and order to the system.

“We are determined to substantially reduce the number of people in the asylum system as part of our plan to end asylum hotels. Already since the election we have reduced the backlog of people waiting for initial decisions by 24 per cent and increased failed asylum returns by 30 per cent.

“But we cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays in appeals as a result of the system we have inherited which mean that failed asylum seekers stay in the system for years on end at huge cost to the taxpayer. Overhauling the appeals system so that it is swift, fair and independent, with high standards in place, is a central part of our Plan for Change.”

Imran Hussain of the Refugee Council argued that reducing errors in initial decisions would cut appeals more effectively. He told the BBC that about half of appeals succeed because “the decision was found to be flawed in some way”. 

“It’s really important that, when we’re talking about these life-and-death decisions on asylum, there is judicial oversight, so the courts can intervene if the law isn’t being kept to,” he said.

The announcement comes after protests against asylum hotels across the UK, with demonstrations in Bristol, Liverpool, London, Perth, Mold and County Antrim. Police intervened to keep opposing groups apart, with at least 15 arrests on Saturday, including 11 in Liverpool and one woman in Bristol on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker. Protests continued on Sunday outside hotels in Birmingham and London.

Tensions have been particularly high in Epping, Essex, where thousands have protested outside the Bell Hotel after an asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Last week the High Court granted the council a temporary injunction to stop asylum seekers being housed there, ruling the change in use breached planning controls. Current residents must be relocated by 4pm on 12 September.

Figures published by the Home Office show that 131 of the local authorities in England and Wales currently house asylum seekers in hotels and other “contingency accommodation”. Of these, 74 are Labour-run, 30 led by the Liberal Democrats, 19 by the Conservatives, nine by the Greens and one by Reform UK.