In the 2020s, crossing the English Channel in a small boat has become a popular method of unauthorised immigration into the UK. Almost all of those who arrive by this route go on to claim asylum.

33,000 people arrived by small boat in the year ending June 2026, making up around 88% of all people detected arriving in the UK without authorisation. Around 72% of those arriving were adult men, 13% were adult women and 15% were children.

The nationalities of those entering the UK by this route have changed over time, and the number of nationalities recorded has increased.

How many people cross the Channel in small boats?

People were first detected crossing the Channel on small boats at a significant scale in 2018, when 299 people were recorded arriving in the UK in this manner. Numbers rose sharply, reaching a peak of around 46,000 in 2022. Arrivals then fell in 2023, before rising again to 41,000 in 2025.

In the year ending June 2026, the number of detected arrivals fell to around 33,000. This was similar to the level recorded in the year ending June 2024 (31,000).

The charts below show the annual and monthly numbers of people arriving on small boats. Between 2018 and June 2026, a total of 205,000 people were detected by this route.

Alt text: The first chart shows annual small boat arrivals rising from 2018 to a peak in 2022, then falling in 2023, before increased again in 2024 and 2025. A monthly heatmap shows lower numbers in winter months and higher numbers in summer, with the highest monthly levels occurring in 2022 and 2025.

Source: Home Office, Immigration statistics quarterly: Illegal entry routes to the UK detailed dataset, table IER_D03 and Illegal entry routes summary table IER_02a

The average number of people per small boat has increased each year, from 7 people per boat in 2018 to 65 people per boat in the year ending June 2026.

How does this compare to other unauthorised arrivals?

The latest data shows that around 38,000 people were detected arriving in the UK via unauthorised routes in the year ending June 2026. This is around three times the number detected in 2018.

88% of those detected in the year ending June 2026 arrived on small boats. Other unauthorised routes included inadequately documented air arrivals (7% in the latest year), recorded detections in the UK (4%), and recorded detections at UK ports (1%).

The chart below shows that small boats have been the most frequently recorded entry method for unauthorised arrivals since 2020.

Chart showing detections of people arriving in the UK by unauthorised routes from the year ending December 2018 to the year ending June 2026. Total detections have risen over the period shown, with small boat arrivals making up most of the change over time.

Source: Home Office, Immigration statistics quarterly: Illegal entry routes to the UK detailed dataset, table IER_D01

In 2018 and 2019, before the rise in small boat crossings, recorded detections in the UK were the most common form of unauthorised entry. This category refers to people identified within the UK, rather than at the border, after having entered the country by an unauthorised route up to 72 hours prior. According to the Home Office, “many of these will have arrived clandestinely, for example in a vehicle or on a ferry”.

Not all unauthorised arrivals are detected, and detection rates vary across different methods of entry. Small boats crossings are the most visible route and therefore the most likely to be recorded.

In addition, it appears that most people arriving on small boats are not seeking to evade detection once they reach UK waters, with the vast majority going on to claim asylum. It is unclear whether that is also the case for those who arrive clandestinely – for example, by stowing away in lorries, or on trains or ferries – and we have no way of knowing the number that arrive undetected. For these reasons, comparisons between detection figures for different entry methods should be made with caution.

Changes in the number of detections may not always reflect changes in the number of people attempting to enter the UK via unauthorised routes; they may also be due to operational factors, such as changes in levels of surveillance and enforcement activity.

Demographics of people arriving on small boats

Published statistics on small boat arrivals include breakdowns by age group, sex and nationality.

Age and sex

Adult men aged 18 and over accounted for 72% of people detected arriving on small boats in the year ending June 2026 for whom age and sex information was recorded. Adult women made up 13%, while the remaining 15% were children under the age of 18.

These proportions have remained broadly similar since 2018.

Nationality

The chart below shows trends in the nationalities of people arriving on small boats since 2018.

Arrivals from Eritrea increased fairly steadily across the period shown. In the year ending June 2026, Eritrean nationals accounted for the largest share of small boat arrivals (18%), followed by Sudanese (13%), Afghan (12%), Somali (12%) and Iranian nationals (11%).

In recent years, Eritrean nationals have consistently had some of the highest asylum grant rates in the UK. Between 2021 to 2023, grant rates at initial decision ranged from 96% to 99%. In 2024 and 2025, rates fell slightly to 87%.

Chart showing detected small boat arrivals to the UK from the year ending December 2018 to the year ending June 2026 for the nationalities with the highest totals. Trends vary by nationality and year, with the ‘other’ category forming an increasing share over time.

The composition of nationalities detected arriving by small boat has shifted over time. In the earlier years shown, Iranian and Iraqi nationals accounted for a substantial share of arrivals.

This pattern changed in 2022, when arrivals by Albanian nationals increased sharply, becoming the largest single nationality group. Arrivals from Afghanistan also rose around this time, following the withdrawal of allied forces from the country and the resurgence of the Taliban.

Albanian arrivals have since fallen markedly. The government has attributed this decline to a new agreement with the Albanian government made in December 2022 to accelerate the return of Albanian nationals. This built on a series of existing formal and informal bilateral cooperation arrangements between the two countries.

By contrast, the number of Afghan and Iranian arrivals has remained comparatively high.

In the most recent year or so, there has been an increase in small boat arrivals from countries in east and north-east Africa (Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia).

The range of nationalities has also broadened over the period shown: 71 nationalities were recorded among people who crossed the Channel on small boats in the year ending June 2026, up from 24 in 2019.

Asylum claims by small boat arrivals

Since 2018, 95% of people detected arriving on small boats have gone on to claim asylum. Among those detected in each year except 2021 and 2022, the proportion was 98% or higher.

Around 180,000 asylum applications have been made by people who had arrived in the UK on small boats from 2018 to 2025. Of these, 138,000 (77%) had received an initial decision on their asylum claim as of the latest statistical release; 81,000 (59% of those decided) resulted in a grant of protection and 56,000 (41%) were refused. We do not know how many of those initially refused were later granted protection on appeal, as data on final outcomes is not available.

Around 8,000 applications (4%) made over this period were still awaiting an initial decision. A further 19% had either been withdrawn or received an ‘administrative outcome’, such as being voided or suspended. This is shown in the chart below.

A stacked bar chart shows the initial outcomes of asylum claims made by people arriving in the UK by small boat between 2018 and 2025, grouped by year of arrival. A higher number of cases from more recent arrival cohorts were still awaiting an initial decision.

Source: Home Office, Immigration statistics quarterly: Illegal entry routes to the UK detailed dataset, table IER_D03

Overall, around a third (33%) of people who have claimed asylum in the UK since 2018 arrived by small boat. In the year ending June 2026, this figure was 40%.

Returns of people who arrived on small boats

Around 9,700 people who arrived on small boats were returned from the UK to another country between 2018 and June 2026. This represents 5% of the total number of small boat arrivals during this period.

It is not possible to tell from published data how many of these returns were government-enforced and how many were undertaken voluntarily. However, across the returns system as a whole, the majority of returns are voluntary.

Home Office statistics indicate that, overall since around mid-2022, most returns of people who arrived in the UK by small boat have involved Albanian nationals. In the latest year of data, Albanian nationals remained the largest nationality group, although their share of small boat returns had fallen to 40%. Turkish and Eritrean nationals were the second and third largest groups, collectively accounting for a further 15%.

The number of Albanian small boat arrivals being returned has declined from its peak in 2023, reflecting a fall in the number of arrivals from this group.

Returns agreement between the UK and France

The UK introduced a “one-in, one-out” returns pilot scheme with France in August 2025. This allows the UK to return to France some people who arrive by small boat, after declaring their asylum claims inadmissible in the UK. In exchange, the UK accepts an equivalent number of asylum seekers from France who haven’t made a Channel crossing attempt. The pilot was due to run until June 2026 but has been extended to 1 October 2026.

As of 30 June 2026, the Home Office reported that 1,087 people had been returned to France and 1,117 had arrived in the UK under the scheme.

The UK and French governments hope that the pilot will help to undermine the business model of people smugglers by showing that:

  • people who arrive by small boat will be liable for removal to France
  • there is an authorised alternative route to the UK

However, many commentators have suggested that this is unlikely to happen if the scheme only applies to a small proportion of people who arrive by small boat or want to come to the UK.

Further detail on the scheme is available in our briefing, Unauthorised migration: UK-France border cooperation.

Preventing small boat crossings

The UK began funding French operations to counter small boat Channel crossings in January 2019. In November 2024 the government reported that, since then, over 5,000 boats carrying more than 115,000 people had been prevented from crossing.

The Home Office publishes weekly figures on the number of people prevented from crossing the Channel in small boats, as reported by the French authorities. This includes people stopped before departure, and those intercepted at sea and returned to France. These figures show that around 22,500 people were prevented from crossing in 2025, with a further 6,300 prevented in the first half of 2026.

We do not know how many of those prevented went on to make another successful crossing attempt.

The UK has agreed to provide £662 million (€767 million) to France between 2026/27 and 2028/29 to “strengthen operations to combat illegal migration in northern France to prevent crossings to the Unted Kingdom”. This commitment is discussed in further detail in our briefing, Unauthorised migration: UK-France border cooperation.

Data sources

Official statistics on small boat arrivals are published by the Home Office as part of its Immigration statistics quarterly release, within the datasets on illegal entry routes.

The Home Office also publishes daily updates on Small boat activity in the English Channel. These figures are derived from provisional operational data supplied by UK and French authorities and are subject to revision.

Related posts