Revealed: Britons will save £106K for every Channel migrant deterred from reaching the UK, but will have to spend £169K to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, according to Home Office

• More than one in three potential arrivals would have to be deterred from trying to cross Channel for policy to break even

Taxpayers will save £106,000 for every migrant deterred from reaching the UK by small boat, the Home Office has estimated.

An official analysis of the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill said the potential savings could reach £165,000 per person if hotel costs for would-be refugees continue to rise.

But the Impact Assessment also estimated it would cost £169,000 to deport someone denied asylum in Britain to another country such as Rwanda.

As a result, it concluded that more than one in three potential arrivals would have to be deterred from trying to cross the English Channel in order for the policy to break even.

Ministers are now braced for a crucial ruling by the Court of Appeal on Thursday on whether or not the flagship policy of deporting asylum-seekers to Rwanda is legal, which could pave the way for flights to start as early as September.

Taxpayers will save £106,000 for every migrant deterred from reaching the UK by small boat. Pictured: A training exercise for the RNLI to prepare for small boat incidents in the Channel

More than one in three potential arrivals would have to be deterred from trying to cross the English Channel in order for the policy to break even. Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants, including young children, walk up the beach in Dungeness, Kent, after being brought from the RNLI Dungeness Lifeboat

It comes as latest figures show that another 163 people arrived by dinghy on Sunday, taking the total for the year to more than 11,000 and putting fresh pressure on Rishi Sunak over his pledge to ‘stop the boats’.

Last night Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: ‘Our Impact Assessment shows that doing nothing is not an option.

‘We cannot allow a system to continue which incentivises people to risk their lives and pay people smugglers to come to this country illegally, while placing an unacceptable strain on the UK taxpayer.

‘I urge MPs and Peers to back the Bill to stop the boats, so we can crack down on people smuggling gangs while bringing our asylum system back into balance.’

The Home Office said the costs of accommodating illegal migrants have increased ‘dramatically’ since 2020, with £3.6billion a year now spent on putting up 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels.

Its analysis estimates that ‘relocating an individual’ to a third country such as Rwanda would cost the public purse £169,000.

This figure is made up of £105,000 in payments to the country receiving them to cover their processing costs, along with £22,000 on flights and on-board guards, £7,000 for detention, £18,000 Home Office legal and case costs plus £1,000 in legal aid.

By contrast, the savings from ‘reduced asylum support’ are estimated at £106,000 per person, rising to £165,000 if the ‘per night cost’ of hotels continues to soar.

There would be further savings for councils no longer having to support asylum seekers as well as a reduced burden on public services such as healthcare and transport.

The impact assessment said that if 1,000 people arrive and every one of them is deported, it would cost taxpayers £63m – but if the same number were deterred from arriving it would save £106m.

The break-even point was ‘calculated to be at 37 per cent deterrence’.

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