How many people are deported or removed from the UK?

The Home Office's quarterly statistics report "returns": enforced returns, voluntary returns and port returns, plus returns of foreign national offenders. The term "deportation" has a narrow legal meaning; most people leaving are counted as returns.

Detailed tables show nationality and type of return, and the same release covers immigration detention.

Official sources: Immigration system statistics · Returns datasets

The latest figure

The newest value is at Home Office. More on it: Asylum claims in the UK.

When is the next figure out?

Quarterly in Immigration system statistics, late February, May, August and November at 9:30am. Year ending June 2026 was published on 27 August 2026; year ending September 2026 is confirmed for 26 November 2026. Data file URLs change each quarter; the statistical data set page lists them

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Asylum backlog
  The number of asylum claims awaiting a decision. Usually means claims awaiting an initial Home Office decision, not appeals.
• Asylum grant rate
  The share of asylum decisions in a period that resulted in a grant of protection or other leave, usually calculated at the initial decision stage.
• Irregular migration (illegal entry routes)
  People arriving in the UK without permission, such as by small boat or hidden in vehicles. Home Office statistics now use the term illegal entry routes.
• Rolling average
  An average recalculated each period over a fixed window, such as the latest three months or twelve months, to smooth out short-term ups and downs.
• Administrative data
  Information collected by organisations while running a service, such as tax records, benefit claims or hospital activity, and then used to produce statistics.
• Calendar year
  January to December. Used for GDP annual totals, registered deaths and many international comparisons, unlike the April to March financial year.

Where the figures come from

• Higher education and student finance statistics (HESA, Student Loans Company, Office for Students and DfE)
  Official figures on UK student numbers, international students, student loan debt, graduate earnings, university finances and apprenticeships.
• UK population and vital statistics (ONS, National Records of Scotland and NISRA)
  Where to find official UK figures on births, fertility, baby names, marriage, divorce, households, population estimates, projections and the census.
• Home Office statistics (immigration, borders and policing)
  Find Home Office figures on small boat arrivals, asylum, hotels, visas, returns, detention, police numbers and stop and search, and how to read them.

Related questions

• How many asylum applications does the UK receive?
• How many small boats crossed the Channel today?
• What is net migration to the UK?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about immigration, small boats and asylum: all Immigration, small boats and asylum questions.