More than 780 people crossed the English Channel in small boats and arrived in the UK on Wednesday, according to provisional figures.
A total of 781 people were recorded arriving after making the Channel crossing, taking the number of small boat arrivals so far in 2026 to 18,565.
The figures represent one of the largest single-day totals recorded this year.
Ten boats recorded
The 781 arrivals were recorded across 10 boats, equivalent to an average of around 78 people per vessel.
The figures are provisional and form part of the Home Office’s daily monitoring of small boat activity in the English Channel.
The Home Office defines small boat arrivals as people detected on arrival in the UK or detected in the Channel by UK authorities and subsequently brought to the UK.
Arrivals remain below 2025 level
Despite Wednesday’s large number of crossings, the cumulative total for 2026 remains significantly below the equivalent stage of last year.
The provisional total of 18,565 is around 42 per cent lower than the 32,188 recorded by the same point in 2025.
Official Home Office statistics published in August showed that 33,374 small boat arrivals were recorded in the 12 months to the end of June 2026, a fall of 23 per cent compared with 43,309 during the previous 12-month period.
