Small boat arrivals are down 42% on last year, and still 88% of illegal entry

18,609 people were detected arriving by small boat between 1 January and 24 September 2026. Over the same weeks of 2025 the figure was 32,188, so arrivals are running 42.2% below last year.

One year is a baseline choice, so here is the whole series of complete calendar years:

Year	Detected small boat arrivals
2018	299
2019	1,843
2020	8,462
2021	28,526
2022	45,755 (the peak)
2023	29,437
2024	36,816
2025	41,472

Against 2022 the current run rate is a large fall. Against 2023 it is a smaller one. Against 2019, arrivals so far this year are already ten times that whole year. Which of those a person quotes tells you what they want the number to say, which is why all of them are here.

The route has not been displaced. In the year to June 2026 small boats were 87.6% of all detected illegal entry, against 2,492 inadequately documented air arrivals and 1,962 detections inside the UK. When arrivals fall, they fall on the same route rather than moving to another one.

The rolling year to June 2026 totals 33,374 arrivals. The most recent full week in the series, ending 20 September 2026, recorded 199 arrivals in 3 boats, with 40 people and 5 events prevented.