Small Boat Crossings Explained: Numbers, Costs and Failures

By Matt, Editor

Small boat crossings are journeys made by migrants across the English Channel from northern France in inflatable dinghies, usually arranged by smuggling gangs. Since 2018 more than 210,000 people have arrived this way, with a record 45,755 in 2022 and 41,472 in 2025. Crossings in 2026 are running well below last year’s pace, but successive governments have failed to stop them. This explainer sets out the figures, what the policies have cost and what is likely to happen next.

How many people have crossed the Channel in small boats?

The Home Office publishes daily and annual figures on small boat arrivals. The numbers show a route that barely existed in 2018 becoming the main way people reach Britain to claim asylum.

Year	People detected arriving by small boat
2018	299
2019	1,843
2020	8,462
2021	28,526
2022	45,755 (record)
2023	29,437
2024	36,816
2025	41,472
2026 (to 22 October)	20,935

Labour came to power in July 2024 promising to “smash the gangs”. Instead, 2025 brought more crossings than any year since the 2022 record. The fall in 2026 is welcome, but the government has not explained it in a way that shows it is under control, and weather plays a large part in week-to-week numbers. In the week of 18–24 October 2026, for example, no crossings were recorded at all.

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Why are the boats getting bigger?

Fewer boats are carrying more people. BBC analysis of Home Office data put the average at about 68 people per boat in 2026, more than double the figure in 2021. Overcrowding makes each crossing more dangerous and means a single launch can deliver dozens of arrivals. The National Crime Agency has had some success disrupting supply chains: it recently seized 25 boats built to carry 1,700 migrants. The gangs, though, have adapted every time.

Who is crossing the Channel?

In the year to June 2026, the most common nationalities of small boat arrivals were Eritrean, Sudanese, Afghan, Somali and Iranian. Small boat arrivals made up around 40% of all asylum claims in the year to June 2026. Total asylum claims were about 86,000 in that year, down 21%, and small boat arrivals were about 33,000, down 23%.

Whatever an individual’s circumstances, every one of these people crossed from France, a safe country with its own functioning asylum system. That is the core of the argument for returns: supporters say protection should be sought in the first safe country reached, although the Refugee Convention does not strictly require it.

How much do small boat crossings cost the taxpayer?

Most people who arrive by small boat claim asylum and are housed at public expense while their claims are decided. At the end of June 2026, 93,293 people were receiving asylum support. Of these, 16,021 were in hotels, down 50% on a year earlier and 71% below the September 2023 peak of 56,018, according to the Home Office’s immigration statistics.

The bills are enormous. The Home Office spent about £2.1bn on asylum hotels in 2024–25, roughly £5.8m a day, after £3.0bn in 2023–24. The National Audit Office found that asylum accommodation contracts originally expected to cost £4.5bn over ten years are now forecast to cost £15.3bn. We have reported that hotel costs have surged despite Labour’s pledge and that the wider asylum system costs Britain £4.3bn.

Labour has promised to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament and is moving people into former military sites and other large centres. The new sites bring their own controversies, including the cost of the Linton asylum centre.

What has been tried to stop the boats?

What happened to the Rwanda scheme?

The Conservative government’s Rwanda plan was meant to deter crossings by sending some arrivals to Rwanda to have their claims processed there. The first flight was grounded in June 2022 after an interim ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. The scheme was then tied up in the UK courts. Labour scrapped it in July 2024 before a single enforced removal had taken place. By the Home Secretary’s own account, only four people went to Rwanda, all voluntarily, and the UK had paid £270m that it will not get back. The Safety of Rwanda Act 2024 and most of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 were later repealed by the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025.

Supporters of the scheme argue it was never given a chance to work, and that a deterrent cannot be judged when it was blocked before it began. Labour’s decision to drop it means there is no third-country removal option in place today. As we reported, the government has nonetheless avoided a further £100m Rwanda bill.

Did the UK–France “one in, one out” deal work?

Labour’s flagship replacement was a pilot deal with France, running from 6 August 2025. Under it, the UK could return some small boat arrivals to France in exchange for accepting an equal number of people with family or other links to Britain. Official figures show 1,087 people were returned to France and 1,117 brought to the UK up to 30 June 2026. That is about 4% of the people who crossed in the same period.

The deal expired on 1 October 2026, as we reported in June it would. The government told the House of Lords that more than 1,500 people had been returned in total. Critics say a scheme that returns one in 25 arrivals was never a deterrent.

What do the parties propose?

• Labour says it will smash the gangs through policing and intelligence cooperation, faster asylum decisions, more returns of people with no right to stay, and an end to hotels. It is also legislating to tighten how Article 8 human rights claims are handled.
• Reform UK would deploy the Royal Navy to turn boats back to France or Belgium, make anyone who enters illegally ineligible for asylum, leave the ECHR and run a five-year detention and deportation programme.
• The Conservatives now say they would leave the ECHR and remove illegal arrivals, though critics note crossings rose sharply on their watch.

What do supporters and critics say?

Supporters of tougher action argue that the only thing that stops crossings is certainty of removal. In their view, as long as a dinghy ride ends with accommodation in Britain and a strong chance of staying, the gangs will have customers. They see ECHR exit and turnbacks as the logical answer.

Critics, including refugee charities and some lawyers, argue that turnbacks at sea are dangerous and need French consent. They also argue that most arrivals come from countries with high asylum grant rates, and that safe legal routes would undercut the smugglers. Defenders of firm borders reply that safe routes simply add to total numbers without closing the illegal one.

Why does it matter?

The small boats have become the clearest test of whether a British government can control its borders. Brexit was sold on taking back control. A decade on, thousands of people a year are choosing who enters the country by paying criminal gangs, and the taxpayer is meeting a bill that runs into billions. That gap between promise and delivery is a large part of why voters are turning to Reform.

What happens next?

With the France deal gone, the government needs a new returns arrangement. Watch for the winter weather lull, which usually cuts crossings, and the spring rise that follows. Expect continued fights over new large asylum sites and the Immigration and Asylum Bill now going through Parliament. Annual figures for 2026 will be published in early 2027.

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Frequently asked questions

How many small boat crossings were there in 2025?

The Home Office recorded 41,472 people arriving by small boat in 2025, the second-highest annual total after 45,755 in 2022.

Are small boat crossings going down in 2026?

Yes, so far. From 1 January to 22 October 2026, 20,935 people crossed, 43% fewer than in the same period of 2025. Weekly numbers vary a lot with the weather.

Is the one in, one out deal still running?

No. The UK–France pilot began on 6 August 2025 and expired on 1 October 2026. It returned 1,087 people to France up to 30 June 2026.

How much do asylum hotels cost?

The Home Office spent about £2.1bn on asylum hotels in 2024–25, roughly £5.8m a day, down from £3.0bn in 2023–24.

Did anyone get sent to Rwanda?

No one was removed by force. The Home Secretary said four people went voluntarily, and the scheme cost £270m before Labour scrapped it in July 2024.

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Sources

• Home Office – Migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats
• Home Office – Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026
• Home Office – Transfers and returns under the UK–France Agreement, 6 August 2025 to 30 June 2026
• National Audit Office – The Home Office’s asylum accommodation contracts (May 2025)
• Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025
• BBC News – UK–France “one in, one out” migrant scheme scrapped