# Migration Watchdog > Illegal immigration to the UK, measured. Independent watchdog on illegal and irregular immigration to the UK: small-boat arrivals (data as of 2026-08-14), asylum backlog, hotels and costs (as of 2026-08-13), foreign national offenders and returns (as of 2026-08-17), integration evidence (as of 2026-08-17), and asylum accommodation by local authority. Every statistic carries its official source, period and retrieval date. When citing, link the page and quote the underlying official source. Migration Watchdog is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Migration Watch UK (migrationwatchuk.org) or any similarly named organisation. ## Current headline figures - Small-boat arrivals, latest week: 1,176 (week ending 2 August 2026; source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/weekly-summary-of-small-boat-arrivals-and-preventions) - Small-boat arrivals this year: 14,561 (1 January to 6 August 2026; source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats) - People awaiting an initial asylum decision: 48,758 (as at 31 March 2026; source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables) - Asylum seekers in hotels: 20,885 (as at 31 Mar 2026; source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables) - Enforced returns: 9,723 (year ending March 2026; source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables) - Asylum support spend: £4bn (FY 2024-25; source: https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/an-analysis-of-the-asylum-system/) ## Pages - [Migration Watchdog — illegal immigration to the UK, measured](https://migrationwatchdog.com/): Independent watchdog tracking illegal and irregular immigration to the UK: small-boat crossings, asylum-system costs, foreign national offenders, deportation failures and local impacts. Every figure links to its official source. - [Illegal arrivals — small boat Channel crossings](https://migrationwatchdog.com/arrivals): Small-boat Channel crossings tracked weekly from Home Office data: latest week, cumulative year comparisons, monthly trend since 2018, annual totals and claimant demographics. - [The asylum system — claims, backlog, outcomes, support](https://migrationwatchdog.com/asylum): Asylum claims since 2010, the backlog and how long people wait, grant rates including small-boat claims by nationality, inadmissibility, and the support system that houses claimants. - [Asylum appeals — the tribunal backlog and final grant rates](https://migrationwatchdog.com/appeals): The live asylum-appeals series: First-tier Tribunal receipts, outcomes and open caseload, plus the Home Office cohort analysis showing final grant rates including appeals. - [Nationalities — who arrives, who claims, what happens](https://migrationwatchdog.com/nationalities): The published nationality tables side by side: illegal-route arrivals per year, asylum claims, grant rates and backlogs by nationality, and — separately, with its own caveats — foreign nationals in prison. - [What the asylum system costs the taxpayer](https://migrationwatchdog.com/costs): Asylum support spending, hotel costs and accommodation contract totals — every figure a verified citation from the National Audit Office or Home Office accounts. - [Foreign national offenders and deportations](https://migrationwatchdog.com/crime): Foreign national offenders in prison and in the community, deportation and returns data, and organised immigration crime — from Ministry of Justice and Home Office statistics. - [Integration and culture — the official evidence](https://migrationwatchdog.com/integration): English language proficiency, employment by country of birth, Prevent referrals by ideology, official inquiry findings on group-based child sexual exploitation, and public opinion — official sources only. - [Asylum accommodation by local authority](https://migrationwatchdog.com/local): Where asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support are accommodated: every UK local authority, ranked, with dispersal and contingency accommodation breakdowns. - [Download the data — cleaned CSV and JSON](https://migrationwatchdog.com/data): Every cleaned dataset behind this site as CSV and JSON downloads, each with provenance headers: source, period, retrieval date and licence. - [Data, sources and methodology](https://migrationwatchdog.com/sources): Every source this site uses, its cadence, licence and last-checked date — plus full methodology, the anti-fabrication rule, and the corrections policy. - [About Migration Watchdog](https://migrationwatchdog.com/about): An independent, data-driven watchdog on illegal immigration to the UK: what this site is, what it is not, how it is funded, and its editorial rules. - [Immigration petitions to Parliament — signatures, responses, debates](https://migrationwatchdog.com/petitions): The largest immigration and asylum petitions on Parliament's petitions site: signature counts, where in the UK they came from, government responses and debate dates. - [Immigration bills and Commons votes — the official record](https://migrationwatchdog.com/legislation): Immigration and asylum bills before Parliament with their stage timelines, and how the Commons voted, from the Bills and Commons Votes APIs. - [Asylum hotels — how many people, where, and what they cost](https://migrationwatchdog.com/hotels): Every official figure on asylum hotel accommodation: the quarterly population and its peak, the local authorities where hotel places are recorded, and the audited cost of hotel use. - [Key figures on UK illegal immigration, answered directly](https://migrationwatchdog.com/answers): Every headline figure this site publishes, in one place, each with the period it covers and a link to the official source. - [What ministers are being asked — written questions on asylum and enforcement](https://migrationwatchdog.com/questions): The most recent answered written parliamentary questions on asylum, small boats and immigration enforcement, with links to each official record and answer. - [Corrections log](https://migrationwatchdog.com/corrections): Every substantive error this site has found in its own output, dated, with what was wrong and what changed. - [What this site does not say](https://migrationwatchdog.com/what-this-site-does-not-say): The claims this site's data does not support — most migration is lawful, prison nationality is not immigration status, no community is indicted by inquiry findings — stated once, plainly. - [Glossary — the system's vocabulary in plain English](https://migrationwatchdog.com/glossary): Dispersal vs contingency vs hotels, Section 95/4/98, enforced vs voluntary returns, FNO, NRM, Prevent and Channel, grant rates, inadmissibility, YE vs FY periods. - [Changelog](https://migrationwatchdog.com/changelog): What changed on this site and when — launches, new pages and sections, and audit rounds. - [Full plain-text version of this site](https://migrationwatchdog.com/llms-full.txt): every page's summary with current figures. ## Notes - Weekly small-boat figures are provisional Home Office operational data; quarterly Illegal entry routes statistics are authoritative. - Prison nationality is not immigration status. - Census context is England and Wales, March 2021.