Small-boat Channel crossings are the dominant route of detected illegal entry to the UK. This page tracks them weekly, with the official quarterly statistics for method of entry, nationality and demographics.
Weekly figures are provisional operational data and are revised; prevention counts are operational estimates provided by French authorities. Arrivals counts cover detections only — people arriving undetected or clandestinely on larger vessels are not included. The quarterly ‘Illegal entry routes’ statistics below are the authoritative series.
Cumulative arrivals by day of year
202420252026
Cumulative detected small-boat arrivals. Home Office small-boat time series, through 6 August 2026. Provisional.
Annual totals since the route emerged
Detected small-boat arrivals per calendar year (Illegal entry routes to the UK summary tables, year ending March 2026 (Home Office)). 2026* is provisional year-to-date from the weekly series, to 6 August 2026.
Monthly arrivals since 2018
Detected small-boat arrivals per month. Small boat activity in the English Channel — time series (Home Office), January 2018 to July 2026 (complete months). Provisional.
All detected illegal entry routes
Small boats are one route among several the Home Office counts. Detections in the UK and at UK ports have fallen as the small-boat route has grown.
Detected arrivals via illegal routes by method of entry and year
Method of entry
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026 (Jan–Mar)
Small boat arrivals
299
1,843
8,466
28,526
45,774
29,437
36,816
41,472
4,441
Inadequately documented air arrivals
4,769
5,237
2,328
2,561
5,130
3,854
3,349
3,027
370
Recorded detections in the UK
7,257
8,492
5,428
5,036
3,379
2,836
2,900
1,817
399
Recorded detections at UK ports
1,052
959
808
662
291
236
225
181
82
calendar years, published in the year ending March 2026 release · source
Nationalities, 2025
Top 10 nationalities of detected small-boat arrivals, 2025. Illegal entry routes to the UK summary tables, year ending March 2026 (Home Office).
Nationality as recorded at encounter; self-reported in some cases.
Who arrives: age and sex, 2025
Small-boat arrivals by age group and sex
Age group
Male
Female
Total
17 and under
3,635
1,209
4,844
18 to 24
11,744
1,809
13,554
25 to 39
16,297
2,514
18,812
40 and over
2,525
545
3,070
Not currently recorded
0
0
1,192
73.7% of 2025 small-boat arrivals were adult males (18 or over, of those with a recorded age).
Age as recorded; age-assessment disputes exist for some arrivals.
The legal routes, for scale
This site is about illegal entry — but its own rule is that legal and illegal migration are always distinguished, so here is the legal humanitarian side, from the same quarterly release.
People offered safe and legal (humanitarian) routes, by route, latest year
Route
Year ending March 2026
Resettlement route arrivals
4,894
BN(O) Hong Kong visa grants
14,212
Ukraine visa grants
154,916
Refugee Family Reunion visa grants
16,787
calendar years and Year ending March 2026 · source
Route totals count visa grants, not arrivals, and include in-country grants — most of the Ukraine figure is extensions of permission for people already in the UK. The out-of-country split above is the closest published measure of people offered a route to the UK.
What happens after arrival
Of the 40,243 people who arrived by small boat in 2025, 39,649 (99%) claimed asylum (including 7,573 who also received a modern-slavery NRM referral), and 496 neither claimed asylum nor were referred. Small-boat arrival is, in practice, an asylum-claim route.