The number of people returned from the UK after arriving by small boat rose by 39% in the latest 12-month period covered by Home Office figures.
Official data shows 3,427 returns of people who had arrived via small boat between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026, compared with 2,458 during the equivalent period a year earlier.
The figures include both enforced and voluntary returns, meaning they should not be interpreted as 3,427 deportations.
Nearly 40,000 total returns
Across all categories, the Home Office recorded 39,690 returns during the 12 months to the end of July 2026, a 5% increase from 37,713 during the corresponding previous period.
Of those, 9,679 were enforced returns of people with no legal right to remain in the UK, up 5% from 9,238.
The figures also include 5,928 returns of foreign national offenders, an increase of 11% from 5,363, and 12,412 asylum-related returns, up 10% from 11,264.
Small-boat returns up 39%
The 3,427 returns involving people who had previously arrived by small boat represent a 39% year-on-year increase.
Home Office methodology makes clear that the small-boat figure includes both enforced returns and voluntary departures by people who were liable to removal action or subject to immigration control.
The date of a person's return is used for the statistics, and they did not necessarily arrive in the UK by small boat during the same 12-month period.
The Home Office also warns that voluntary-return figures can be revised upwards because officials may only discover later that somebody has left the country. Recent periods can therefore initially undercount the eventual number of returns.
94 charter flights used during latest year
The Home Office said 94 charter flights were used for returns to countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026.
Its figures also show 3,141 foreign national offenders were returned through the Early Removal Scheme during the period, a 20% increase from 2,615 a year earlier.
What counts as a small-boat return?
For these statistics, the Home Office matches records of people detected arriving by small boat with subsequent returns data.
The department says the figures count the earliest enforced or voluntary return following a small-boat arrival. It cautions that a small number of people may not appear in the data where arrival and return records cannot be successfully matched.
The figures therefore provide evidence of an increase in returns involving people who previously crossed the Channel by small boat, but do not show that all of those returns were compulsory removals.