LONDON / EuroWire / – The Home Office and Border Force recorded 11,884 migrants reaching the UK in small boats across the English Channel from January to June 2026, down 41 percent from the first half of 2025. Authorities counted 19,982 arrivals in the same period last year. The first half total also stood 12 percent below the 13,489 arrivals counted in the first six months of 2024.
The 2026 figure remained above the same point in 2023, when 11,433 people arrived by small boat. It stood below the 12,747 arrivals recorded in the first half of 2022. June brought 2,742 arrivals, making it the lowest June total since 2021. The figures cover detected arrivals by people crossing the Channel in small boats without permission to enter the UK.
The number of people per boat rose even as the total number of arrivals fell. Small boats carried an average of 65 people from January to June 2026. That compared with 58 people per boat in the first half of 2025. The full year average for 2025 stood at 62 people per boat, showing that crossings involved larger groups on each vessel.
Arrivals fall against recent highs
Small boat crossings have become a central part of the UK migration system since 2018. Annual arrivals reached about 46,000 in 2022, then fell in 2023 before rising again in 2024 and 2025. Around 41,000 people reached the UK by small boat in 2025, the second highest annual total in the available series. The first half of 2026 sits below that pace.
Broader immigration statistics show how closely the Channel route links to the asylum system. In the year ending March 2026, about 39,000 people arrived by small boat. That represented about 90 percent of all people detected entering the UK through unauthorized routes. Official statistics also show that 94,000 people claimed asylum in the UK in that year, down 12 percent from the year before.
Official data remains provisional
The government treats the daily small boat figures as provisional before quarterly immigration statistics confirm them. The UK government has reported more than 44,000 attempted crossings stopped since the election. It has also reported almost 70,000 removals or deportations of people described as illegally present. French authorities have worked with Britain on beach patrols, enforcement and action against smuggling networks in northern France.
The latest figures place UK Channel crossings lower in the first half of 2026 than in the same periods of 2025, 2024 and 2022. The data also shows larger average boat loads and a June total below recent years. The route remains the dominant recorded method for unauthorized arrivals in Britain, and most people who arrive by small boat enter the asylum system.