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LONDON: Asylum claims to Britain have shot up to their highest level since 2004, amid a record number of migrants crossing the English Channel, the Home Office has revealed. 

Some 37,562 applications were made in the year to September, with a significant proportion of claimants arriving from Iran, Iraq and Syria. 

The latest figures are higher than any 12-month period since the year to June 2004, when 39,746 applications were made.

Some 25,000 people have crossed the English Channel from France so far this year, almost triple the number of crossings made in 2020.

Despite the high number of applications, 67,547 were still awaiting a decision at the end of September, a 41 percent increase year-on-year, and the highest number of people who are waiting for a decision since records began in 2010.

The number of appeals lodged on asylum decisions was down 30 percent on the previous year to September. It has been falling since 2015. Data from the Home Office reveals that just under half of appeals are successful.