Research and analysis

Average cost of an Immigration Enforcement return FY 2024 to 2025

Published 9 March 2026

1. Introduction

The Home Office is responsible for returning migrants from the UK who have no right to be here, including failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders.

There are 2 principal forms of return that Immigration Enforcement delivers: enforced and voluntary. An enforced return requires resources such as detaining people prior to their return and escorting them where appropriate to the flight and on the flight. A voluntary return requires less resource and primarily involves case working, flight tickets and financial support once the person has left the UK. The estimated average cost for these different types of returns are set out in Table 1.

For further information and data on who is returned from the UK see the Immigration Statistics release^{[footnote 1]}.

2. Methodology

Return costs are calculated using Immigration Enforcement financial actuals from each relevant service area and dividing by the total number of returns over the financial year 2024 to 2025. The costs included are those directly associated with the returns process and do not include costs prior to the return such as arrests and contact management. There may be wider costs to removals that are not captured such as appeal costs.

These estimates broadly represent the cost of returning a single adult, as this reflects the majority of returns^{[footnote 2]}.

It is not possible to isolate the cost of successful returns only, so the average presented here will include some costs associated with failed returns as well. A failed return could include an individual frustrating their removal, which incurs additional cost such as flight tickets having to be rebooked.

These estimates provide the average cost for 2 distinct types of return. Some returns will be more complex and not fit exclusively into either of these 2 categories, for example where enforcement action is taken but the individual subsequently decides to leave the UK voluntarily. Additionally, these cost estimates do not reflect the cost of port returns or other verified returns.

3. Cost categories

1. Case working and logistics – the staff time required to process and arrange returns.
2. Detention – where it is required to detain people this represents the cost of the detention estate and services such as security and subsistence.
3. Escorting – this is required when enforced removals are transported within the UK as well as on a return flight.
4. Flight costs – for scheduled flights this includes tickets for the person being returned and any escorts. For charter flights this is the cost of chartering a plane to return a group of people.
5. Voluntary Returns Payments – financial support payments made to irregular migrants to help them when they leave the UK voluntarily.

4. Estimated average cost of returns

Table 1: Estimated average cost of return 2024 to 2025

Return type	Spend on return type	Number of returns	Average cost
Enforced	£420 million	8,600	£48,800
Voluntary	£58 million	13,700	£4,300

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded and so may not sum.

1. How many people are returned from the UK? How many people are returned from the UK?. ↩

2. Total family returns here can be subtracted from the total returns in reference 1. Family returns from the UK between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025. ↩