Small boat Channel crossings
Home Office figures for people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats, updated from the department’s weekly release. Numbers only — no commentary.
Data to 23 July 2026 · page updated 28/07/2026, 20:13:29
Over the same dates in 2025 the figure was 23,666. That is a fall of 45%. Arrivals this year came on 196 boats, an average of 66.4 people per boat.
Both years are counted to the same date so the comparison is like for like — a part year measured against a full one would be misleading.
Arrivals by year
The published series begins in 2018. The highest full year recorded was 2022, at 45,755.
* 2026 is a part year, to 23 July 2026 — not comparable with the complete years above it.
Most recent week
people, on 6 boats
arrivals on 0 boats · 0 prevented across 2 events
The two panels cover different periods: the left is the last seven days of the daily series, the right is the Home Office’s own most recent completed reporting week.
Source: Home Office — Migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats (weekly time series). This page reads that release directly and shows the date its data runs to. Because the weekly file is published on a Friday, it can trail the Home Office’s daily page by a few days; we publish the file’s own cut-off rather than blending sources.
These are provisional figures drawn from UK and French operational data and are revised over time. Final statistics are published quarterly by the Home Office in Immigration System Statistics. View the original release →
Questions
How many people have crossed the Channel in small boats in 2026?
13,007 people were detected arriving in small boats between 1 January 2026 and 23 July 2026, according to Home Office figures. Over the same period in 2025 the figure was 23,666, so arrivals are down 45% year on year. These are provisional operational figures and are revised over time.
Are small boat crossings going up or down?
Compared like for like — the same calendar period in each year — crossings are down 45% on 2025. Looking further back, the highest full year in the published series was 2022 at 45,755. Year-to-date comparisons only make sense against the same dates, which is how the figures on this page are calculated.
Where do these numbers come from?
From the Home Office publication "Migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats", which includes a time series running back to 2018 and is updated weekly on a Friday. This page reads that release directly and shows the date its data runs to, rather than mixing in other sources.
Are these figures final?
No. They are provisional figures taken from UK and French operational data and are subject to revision. The Home Office publishes finalised statistics quarterly in its Immigration System Statistics release, and those figures are the authoritative ones.
What does 'migrants prevented' mean?
The Home Office weekly summary reports crossings prevented alongside arrivals — people stopped from departing, and the number of separate events involved. Those figures come from French operational reporting and are published on the same weekly basis.