Image source, Getty ImagesThe UK government has announced the “one in, one out” agreement with France to send back some migrants who cross the Channel has been scrapped.
The pilot scheme allowed the UK to return some small boat arrivals while agreeing to take in the same number of people from France who were believed to have a legitimate claim to come to Britain.
Only around 1,500 people have been removed to France since the scheme began just over a year ago.
The BBC understands the government would have liked the scheme to continue, but felt it did not reach the desired scale.
A Home Office spokesperson said “lessons learned” would be used to “accelerate efforts” to return small boat migrants with no right to remain.
“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 spokesperson said.
“However, flights will continue over the coming weeks to swiftly remove small boat migrants from the UK, and we will use lessons learned from the pilot to accelerate efforts to return small boat migrants with no right to remain in the UK.”
The government would continue working with France to tackle small boat crossings, the spokesperson said, adding that “real progress” had been made with numbers “significantly down on last year”.
The French Interior Ministry told the BBC: “We are discussing with the British the terms of exit from the agreement.”
How many people cross the English Channel in small boats?
Who is arriving in the UK on small boats?
In the latest figures covering January 2025 to December 2025, at least 2,335 people who arrived by small boat were found to be potential victims of human trafficking or other forms of modern slavery, according to the Home Office.
How else do people stay in the UK without permission?
Earlier this month, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted the scheme had “not been without its challenges”.
“The numbers are still relatively small,” she told MPs.
“What has been more operationally difficult is to scale up very large numbers of removals every week into the French system.”
However, she also said the UN and other agencies had reported that some migrants were not getting on small boats because they thought there was a chance they could be accepted under the “one in, one out” scheme.
So far this year, 19,135 people have made the Channel crossing, which is 42% lower than the same period in 2025 when 32,188 crossed in small boats.
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