Removals and Returns from the UK

Of the 40,605 returns from the UK in the latest year, three-quarters (76%) returned voluntarily and one-quarter (24%) were enforced by the Home Office. In addition to those returned from the UK, 18,646 were refused entry on arrival and subsequently departed (‘port returns’) (see Section 4).

There were 9,669 enforced returns recorded in YE June 2026, 7% higher than the previous year (9,077). Figure 1 shows that enforced returns have increased steadily following the low number of returns during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

In YE June 2026, there were 30,936 voluntary returns, an increase of 9% compared with the YE June 2025. This was partly driven by an increase in asylum-related voluntary returns (up 10%).

Returns of FNOs averaged around 5,500 per year during the period from 2010 to 2019. FNO returns reached a peak in 2016 at 6,437, subsequently falling to below 3,000 per year in 2020 to 2021. Since then, returns of FNOs have been gradually increasing, although in the latest year were still 7% below the 2016 peak.

In the YE June 2026, there were 12,568 asylum-related returns, 14% more than in YE June 2025. Nearly a third (31%) of total enforced and voluntary returns were asylum-related – a proportion that has risen steadily from 15% in 2021. Asylum-related returns in the YE June 2026 are the highest volume in this statistical series (starting YE December 2010).

A total of 9,694 people who arrived on a small boat between 2018 and the YE June 2026 have been returned from the UK. A vast majority of small boat arrivals claim asylum and there will be a period of time for their claim to be assessed, prior to it being known whether they will be subject to return.

The statistics in this section show the number of returns from the UK. One individual may have been returned more than once in a given period and, if that was the case, would be counted more than once in the statistics.

Around 38,000 people without the right to be in the UK were recorded leaving in 2025 – 9% more than in 2024, and the highest number since 2016. Returns fell sharply in the second half of the 2010s, declined further during the pandemic, then began to recover. However, in 2025 numbers remained slightly lower than a decade before.

The initial decline in returns in the late 2010s thus seems to have been driven by a combination of resource constraints, increased legal challenges, administrative delays, and fewer people being referred to Immigration Enforcement. The subsequent increase in returns may have resulted from a combination of budget increases and higher immigration.

Higher enforcement costs and fewer resources available to Immigration Enforcement likely contributed to the fall in returns during the 2010s. Spending on Immigration Enforcement fell by 19% in real terms between 2014/15 and 2020/21 (Figure 2).

Legal challenges. An increase in legal challenges to removal is likely to have played a role in the decline of returns during the 2010s, though limited data prevent a definitive assessment. A report from the National Audit Office showed that 52% of enforced return attempts were cancelled in 2019, up from 11% in 2013 – a rise the authors say is “mostly explained” by last-minute asylum claims and legal challenges.

Cooperation from origin countries is often essential for returns, particularly to secure travel documents. A 2014/15 inspection report found that the inability to obtain documents was the most common reason officials decided against detaining individuals liable for removal.

A formal deal, however, is neither sufficient nor necessary to ensure a high number of returns. Several studies have found they had little to no effect on overall return rates in the EU. In the UK, many returns are to countries it does not have a formal agreement with, which together accounted for 49% of all returns in 2025.

The Home Office prefers voluntary returns, partly because they are much cheaper. Enforced returns cost an average of £48,800 in the 2024/25 financial year, compared to £4,300 for a voluntary return.

In theory, people who are refused asylum and have exhausted all rights of appeal do not have a right to stay in the UK and are liable for removal. However, in recent years many refused asylum seekers were not removed from the UK. Of all asylum applications submitted between 2010 and 2022 which had been refused by the end of 2025, around half had resulted in a return from the UK by this date.

Around 72% of refused asylum seekers who first submitted a claim in 2010 had been returned by the end of 2025. That share falls to 33% among refused asylum seekers who applied in 2018, but increases to 48% among those who applied in 2022.

In response to Freedom of Information requests, the Home Office said it did not hold data on the following: the number of people issued notices of liability to remove who were subsequently granted legal status (e.g., following a human rights claim); the number of foreign national offenders of different nationalities who had been removed vs. not removed after finishing a prison sentence; and the number of people detained ahead of removal (as opposed to detained for initial processing).

However, between June 2024 and June 2025, 58,000 people had their asylum claim refused. In the same period, less than 11,000 people were removed from the country.

Between 2021 and 2025, 446,000 UK asylum claims have been made, while 33,000 asylum-related returns have been carried out in the same period.

Most people detained following immigration offences were recorded as having raised one or more of the issues in detention (73% in 2019), with the majority (94%) subsequently released.

Asylum applications were the most common issue raised by people detained following immigration offences (during 47% of detentions) and were almost always followed by release (97%).

At the same time there has been a decrease in the proportion of detentions during which the person: applied on human rights or other right-based grounds (from 10% to 5%) lodged an appeal (from 6% to 3%) lodged a judicial review (from 20% to 9%) caused a return attempt to fail due to physical disruption (from 13% to 5%).

Between 2017 and 2019, there has also been a rise in the proportion of people in this group who, while in immigration detention, were: referred as a potential victim of modern slavery (from 3% to 16%) the subject of a MLR (from less than 1% to 19%, a rise from fewer than 50 instances in 2017 to over 2,000 in 2019)

Table 2a: Number (and proportion) of detentions in which each issue was raised, by year, for people detained within the UK following immigration offences

Table 4a: Number (and proportion) of detentions that resulted in return where each issue was raised, by year, for people detained within the UK following immigration offences

Where none of these issues were raised, detention generally ended with the person being returned to another country (67%), and most of these people returned within 28 days of entering detention (88%).

Reasons for release can be complicated and may involve multiple factors. As a result, we cannot say that someone raised an issue and was released as a consequence, only that they raised the issue and were subsequently released.

Looking back at issues raised during detentions ending in 2017 for immigration offenders from the community, 12% resulted in a positive decision for the individual or some form of concession being made, 83% did not result in a positive decision, and 5% are ongoing.

For FNOs who left detention in 2019, the most common issue raised was an appeal (536 instances, 9% of detentions). Rule 35 reports featured in 8% of detentions (458 instances), judicial reviews in 7% of detentions (397 instances), and asylum claims were made in 6% of detentions (335 instances).

Article 8 rights are also used to stop the removal of those who are living here illegally. In January to September 2022, 86% of people who raised rights-based applications, while in detention awaiting removal, were released. The Home Office published a research report in March 2021 looking at the issues raised by people facing return in immigration detention. Further analysis using data up to 2022 has been produced, and the figure above is taken from this. The full updated analysis will be published on GOV.UK as soon as possible.

More than 2 in 5 people detained for removal between January 2022 and September 2022, were referred as potential victims of modern slavery.

However, our analysis of the available data suggests that in the 12 months to the end of December 2019, the Department set 25,700 removal directions and cancelled 13,500 (52%) of these.

In the 12 months to the end of December 2019 it released 14,900 (62%) of the detainees whom it intended to remove from the country

Immigration Enforcement tells us that many of the reasons that returns may not happen as planned are outside its control. For example, it cites an increase in individuals making late or spurious claims for asylum while in detention, claiming for medical reasons or that they are victims of modern slavery. It believes many of these claims are used to delay removal but noted in 2019 that it did not have a strategy across the work of Immigration Enforcement and the rest of the Department to mitigate the abuse or to tackle the backlogs being caused by associated delaying tactics. We have not seen any systematic analysis designed to help the Department understand why claims are increasing, or to rule out if Immigration Enforcement’s own actions might have contributed to the increase.

There are many reasons why the Department cannot return someone to their country of origin. It cannot remove some individuals on humanitarian grounds, because their home is in an area of conflict or because their personal circumstances would place them in danger in their own country. If someone has been in the UK for some time, it is likely they have established a life within the country and are therefore harder to remove on Human Rights grounds. The Department may also have practical and logistical reasons for being unable to remove individuals, for example because the individual does not have identity documentation or because the Department does not have a return agreement with a country.

Figure 6: Outcome of planned FNO removals 2014/15 to 2016/17 [...] Total 24,289 16,517 (68%) 7,772 (32%)

During focus groups and interviews, CC caseworkers and managers told inspectors that a significant number of the FNOs, for whom removal directions were set, were not removed. This was because the FNO submitted a fresh asylum claim, made further representations, or lodged a Judicial Review, after the removal directions had been set. Often these submissions were received shortly before, sometimes on, the planned removal date, and CC believed that they often had no merit and were made with the sole purpose of frustrating the removals process.

Figure 7: Jamaica charter flights – Planned FNO removals and numbers successfully removed Date Planned removals FNOs removed September 2016 144 42 March 2017 163 32

Figure 8: Most common reasons for failed removals on Jamaica charter flights in September 2016 and March 2017

The review of case progress showed that almost 80% of the 1,653 cases had one or more barriers to removal. Only 194 were considered to be ‘removable’.

Home Office management information shows that, from April 2008 to June 2021, 21,521 appeals against deportation were lodged by FNOs, ranging from around 1,300 to 2,220 per year, with a reduction towards the end of the period linked to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of the appeals that have been determined, 6,042 FNOs had their deportation appeal allowed at the First Tier Tribunal, with around 40% (2,392) of them doing so on Human Rights grounds.

In the period 1 April 2016 to 8 November 2021, of 1,011 appeals against deportation by FNOs that were allowed on Human Rights grounds at First Tier Tribunal, an estimated 70% were allowed solely on Article 8 grounds.

During this roughly five year period, 922 foreign national offenders successfully challenged their deportation on human rights grounds in the First-tier Tribunal. During the same period, 26,091 foreign national offenders were deported. In other words, the number of human rights-based appeals allowed was 3.5% of the number of deportations. Again, this figure may be an overestimate since some of these First-tier Tribunal appeals might have been later overturned by the Upper Tribunal.

This number remains very small in comparison to the number of foreign national offenders who were deported within the same time period: around 2.5%.

In the same 2015/16 to 2020/21 period, the Home Office removed 31,400 foreign national offenders from the UK. The 1,000 foreign criminals able to block deportation on ECHR grounds alone represent 3% of that figure.

From 2015/16 to 2020/21, the Home Office win rate in all First-tier Tribunal appeals against criminal deportation was 70% (5,900 out of 8,400). Of the appeals won by the person contesting deportation, around 1,000 were successful on ECHR grounds only, although some of the other 1,500 appeals won by migrants may have been a mix of ECHR and non-ECHR reasons.

From 2015/16 to 2024/25, immigration judges granted 61,000 out of the 115,000 human rights appeals brought against the Home Office (53%).

Article 3 prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. If someone would experience treatment reaching this threshold, as interpreted by the court, they cannot be removed under any circumstances.

In cases where the person has committed a criminal offence, legislation passed in 2014 has raised the bar for an appeal to succeed, although British judges still retain some discretion to block deportation in compelling cases.

In 2017, the Supreme Court held that this obstructed appellants’ ability to effectively prepare and present their appeal. It highlighted the practical difficulties, at that time, of giving evidence from abroad by video link. Certifying cases when the resulting appeal would not be fair and effective would be unlawful. As a result of the judgment, the Home Office paused the ‘deport first, appeal later’ policy. Six years later, in June 2023, Home Secretary Suella Braverman restarted it for people being deported to countries where appropriate video link facilities are available.

The government does not publish data on either the proportion of FNOs removed or the status of those removed. However, available figures show that the number of FNO removals declined between 2017 and 2021. The Home Office has attributed this fall to several factors, including a 2017 Supreme Court judgement that prevented FNOs from being returned before appeals had been reviewed by the courts, a 2019 legal challenge that led to charter flights being suspended, and removal restrictions implemented during the pandemic.

One indication that FNO removals may not have kept pace with prison releases is that the number of deportable offenders living in the community has risen (i.e., people who were neither in prison nor immigration detention, and had not been granted the right to remain in the UK long term on human rights or other grounds) (Figure 10). The size of this group grew by 36% from the end of 2022 to March 2026, equivalent to 1,600 people per year.

The latest statistics on ‘FNOs in the Community’ show there were 21,294 FNOs subject to deportation being monitored in the community at the end of June 2026, which is an increase of 12% from end June 2025 (18,993), and an increase of 6% from end March 2026 (20,027). The substantial increase since last year mainly occurred since March 2026, coinciding with changes introduced through the Sentencing Act 2026.

There were 2,152 people being held in detention (at an immigration detention facility or in prisons under immigration powers) at the end of June 2026, 19% more than on 30 June 2025. This is the highest number in detention since end June 2018.

Just under half (46%) of people leaving detention in the YE June 2026 were returned from the UK, up slightly compared to the previous year (44%), and nearly double the proportion seen in the YE June 2023 (25%).

Detained individuals who claim asylum, or raise other claims (for example, modern slavery or human trafficking) or appeals which prevent progress of their removal, may be granted bail into the community. While on bail, individuals are subject to conditions while their claims are concluded. If a claim is refused, the individual may depart the country voluntarily or re-enter detention if required to facilitate enforced removal.

People entering detention fell from 32,447 in 2015 to 24,480 in 2019 partly due to changes in the use of detention and greater use of alternatives as a response to the 2016 Stephen Shaw review of detention.

As a consequence, we see examples of foreign national offenders who are being allowed to stay in the UK on the basis of an Article 3 protection claim, despite committing serious criminal offences in the UK. Others have blocked a deportation because their healthcare needs, including mental healthcare, cannot be fully met in their country of origin.

It would not be appropriate to set a fixed target for reducing Article 8 grants, successful appeals or the number of people granted leave.

The Tories will pledge to create a new "Removals Force" tasked with deporting 150,000 people a year

Tory plans announced on Sunday would see the Removals Force given £1.6 billion

DHS (ICE and CBP combined) completed about 980,000 deportations, a figure in line with the department’s public statements. On an annual basis, total deportations are up from the Biden and first Trump administrations but remain well below the levels routinely observed in the early 2000s.

The other 31 percent of deportations (300,000) were of immigrants initially arrested within the United States—in other words, individuals likely to have some years of residence in U.S. communities.

Third country nationals returned following an order to leave - annual data (rounded)

As of 30 June 2026, there were 1,117 individuals transferred to the UK and 1,087 individuals returned to France under the agreement.

The most recent Home Office figures show that 1,087 people were returned to France between 4 August 2025 and 30 June 2026, while 1,117 were transferred to the UK under the scheme. Over the same period, 27,920 migrants arrived in the UK on small boats, meaning only about 4% of arrivals were sent back.

"The government's pilot with France to remove asylum seekers in exchange for an equal number of legal migrants is no longer processing new cases," the Home Office said, confirming the end of the so-called "one in, one out" deal, which was launched in August last year and was due to expire on Thursday.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs on 15 September that it cost the UK taxpayer an average of about £56,000 (€65,500) per migrant to return them.

The two most recent estimates are for 2017, with both putting the figure in the high hundreds of thousands. They were separately produced by the Pew Research Center and the Greater London Authority, both using the residual method (see Understanding the Evidence). The GLA’s central estimate stood at 674,000, going up to 809,000 when including UK-born children of unauthorised migrants. The Pew study originally suggested a range of 800,000 to 1.2 million unauthorised residents in the UK, but this was retracted in March 2025 and revised down to between 700,000 and 900,000.

The Home Office has stated that “It is not possible to know the exact number of people currently resident in the UK without permission, nor the total number of people who enter the UK irregularly, and so we do not seek to make any official estimates of the illegal population.”

Between 2010 and 2024, 177,000 people applied for asylum but had been refused protection after appeal, as of January 2026. Another 85,000 people had their application withdrawn. Of these, around 69,000 were recorded as having left the UK via enforced or voluntary return by January 2026. This shows that 193,000 people had not been recorded as having left the UK after a refused or withdrawn asylum application submitted between 2010 and 2024.

Some departures will not have been recorded for reasons other than overstaying, such as because the asylum applicant has been granted legal residence or has no entry record against which their departure can be matched. This includes people who left the UK via Ireland. Therefore, these counts represent the upper bound of the number of asylum seekers who have become unauthorised migrants in the UK.

Ret_01: Returns from the UK, by type of return, year ending December 2004 to year ending June 2026

Ret_02a: Returns of foreign national offenders from the UK, year ending December 2010 to year ending June 2026

Ret_05: Returns from the UK, by type of return, and asylum and non-asylum, year ending December 2010 to year ending June 2026

Asy_D04: Outcome analysis of asylum claims, 2007-2025 - dataset

Det_04a: Number of occurrences of people leaving immigration detention, by reason for leaving, year ending December 2010 to year ending June 2026

Appeal Lodged Financial Year | Number of Appeals Lodged | of which Number of Appeals Allowed | of which Number of Appeals Allowed, Human Rights grounds only

FNO_08: FNOs subject to deportation action living in the community and the length of time since the end of their custodial sentence

Table 1: Number of individuals per month who have been transferred to the UK (‘IN’) and returned to France (‘OUT’) under the UK–France Agreement on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys, August 2025 to June 2026