Small boat crossings
People arriving in the UK via small boats across the English Channel each year.
41.5k people
+12.6% vs 2024
As of 2025
Historical trend
Trend summary
Small boat crossings was 41.5k in 2025, up from 36.8k in 2024.
Trend
- Over the available record (2018–2025), it has ranged from 299 in 2018 to 45.8k in 2022.
- The latest reading is above the record average of 24.1k.
Context
- Home Office publishes irregular migration statistics monthly; figures cover detected crossings of the English Channel and North Sea in small vessels.
- These figures represent detected crossings; the true total may differ from the recorded figure.
Generated from the published series — describes direction, magnitude and range only, with no editorial judgement or forecasts.
About this indicator
- Source
- Home Office
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Last updated
- 10 August 2026
- Next update
- 10 August 2027
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Direction
- ↑ Rising
Statistics
- Latest
- 41.5k people
- Period high
- 41.5k people
- Period low
- 36.8k people
- Period average
- 39.1k people