Civometry

Home Office immigration statistics

Small boats

People detected crossing the Channel by small boat, whether they claim asylum, what happens to the claims, and modern slavery referrals — the whole chain from the Home Office's own detailed datasets. Claim outcomes are a cohort: each quarter's decisions describe the people who arrived that quarter, restated as their cases resolve.

Stage by stage

Each stage is the latest official figure for that stage. The stages do not follow one set of people or cases; a decision this year is on a claim from an earlier year.

Detected arrival33,374
Asylum claim6,908 · 21% of the first stage
Modern slavery referral2,486 · 7% of the first stage
Each bar is the latest published figure for its stage, on that stage's own basis and period — the stages do not follow one set of people or cases, so the widths are rough proportions, not the survival of one cohort.
  1. Detected arrival33,374 people Year ending June 2026 · down 22.9%
    People detected arriving by small boat; a detection, not an asylum claim.
  2. Asylum claim6,908 decisions 2025 Q4 · down 38.3%
    Claims raised by that quarter's arrivals; almost all arrivals claim.
  3. Modern slavery referral2,486 referrals 2025 Q4 · up 4.0%
    National Referral Mechanism referrals for that quarter's arrivals; a referral is not a finding that the person was a victim.

The weekly count

Detention and returns

People often confuse this with

Small boat arrival ≠ Asylum decisionSmall boat arrivals are people detected crossing the Channel. Almost all claim asylum, but an arrival is not a claim, a claim is not a decision, and a decision is not a grant. The Home Office publishes each stage separately.

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