UK Continues Sending Asylum Seekers to France Weeks After 'One In, One Out' Scheme Ended, Dozens Still Detained

The UK Home Office is still putting asylum seekers on planes to France weeks after the controversial removal scheme ended, the Guardian has learned. Although the scheme has ended, the returns are continuing.

The 'one in, one out' scheme was announced in July 2025 by French President Emmanuel Macron and then British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It aimed to deter small boats crossing the Channel to the UK from northern France. Under the plan, some asylum seekers arriving this way would be forcibly returned to France, while a similar number of people in northern France would be brought legally to the UK.

The scheme ended on 1 October. But the Home Office is understood to still be detaining dozens of people. On Wednesday officials chartered a plane to France for a group thought to have arrived in the UK on small boats before the scheme ended. A second flight is scheduled for 17 November.

Home Office sources said returns of the remainder of the 'one in, one out' cohort were continuing after the deal had ended. According to freedom of information data, almost one-third of the scheme's deportation flights — seven out of 23 — were cancelled between July and September this year, more than double the total of cancelled deportation flights to France in the first six months of 2026.

Emma Ginn, director of Medical Justice, said asylum seekers are still being held in detention centres in preparation for forced removal to France. She said that even though the scheme has been abandoned, vulnerable people still held under its powers continue to suffer immensely, because the severe harm known to be caused by immigration detention is compounded by the prospect of imminent return to France, where many have reported experiencing violence and abuse at the hands of smugglers.

The scheme has been controversial because it does not appear to have had the intended deterrent effect on small boat crossings. Many asylum seekers have reported being left homeless or abused by smugglers. Some were told they would be sent back to other EU countries they passed through on their journeys to the UK. While small boat crossings have reduced by approximately 40% so far this year compared with the same period last year, there has been a similar level of reduction in irregular migration to Europe over the same period.

Home Office data showed that after no crossings for three weeks, 263 people crossed in three boats on Thursday.

The Guardian understands that at least seven asylum seekers returned to France have come back to the UK since 1 October. Several more are reported to be waiting in northern France to cross back to the UK in the next few days when a favourable weather window is forecast.

The Guardian has interviewed two asylum seekers who were sent to France during the scheme and have returned to the UK since 1 October, and whose asylum claims are now being processed in the UK. One is Syrian and the other Iranian; both returned just days after the scheme finished.

The Syrian man said the Home Office at first put him back in detention and said they were looking for a safe third country to deport him to. But there was not one, so they released him and his asylum claim is now being looked at in the UK. He said he is very relieved that he is no longer locked up and is safe in the UK.

The Iranian man said he had been planning to return to the UK for several months, as he had been abused by smugglers in France and wanted to escape as soon as he could. He said he was tortured and beaten by the smugglers and was too afraid to go outside in France. In his words, people have no idea how difficult life is in France for people like them sent back by the UK.

Maddie Harris of Humans for Rights Network questioned the purpose of the scheme, as hundreds of people still gather along the French coast waiting to cross the Channel. She said hundreds of millions of pounds of British taxpayers' money has been transferred to the French government. Men, women and children are teargassed and beaten on the beaches, after being subjected to repetitive, violent evictions from living sites, yet people still cross to the UK. In her words, this money has done nothing but cause harm, and the government fails to acknowledge the most obvious policy to prevent dangerous crossings: accessible safe routes for all to claim asylum in the UK.

According to evidence Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood gave to a recent session of parliament's cross-party home affairs committee, removing people to France has cost at least £78 million. Some who were sent to France returned to the UK and were then returned to France a second time, incurring further cost.

One asylum seeker sent back to France under the scheme, now in the area known as the 'Jungle' in Dunkirk — a camp where asylum seekers pitch tents while waiting to cross the Channel — told the Guardian that at least five or six people from 'one in, one out' are waiting in the Jungle at the moment to cross the Channel back to the UK. The place is so full of people waiting to cross that there is no space to lie down and sleep. In his words, the Home Office has not stopped people reaching the UK, but both the smugglers and the French government have made a lot of money out of this scheme.

Another, who said he was 17 years old, explained he had been caught by police when trying to board a lorry to cross the Channel a few days ago but would continue to try to reach the UK. He said it is very dangerous to get here but they have no choice, and somehow they will handle it.