The United Kingdom and France have scrapped their "one-in, one-out" migrant returns pilot. The programme expired on October 1 and will not be renewed, a UK Home Office spokesperson confirmed to the BBC.

The pilot worked as a straight exchange. The UK returned some migrants who arrived by small boat across the English Channel to France. In return, France accepted the same number of people with a legitimate claim to enter Britain.

The scheme formed part of a three-year agreement under which the UK pledged 662 million British pounds (around 767 million euros) to France between 2026 and 2029. Of that total, an estimated 501 million pounds (around 587 million euros) went to strengthening existing border controls in northern France.

Who is affected

No new cases will be processed under the exchange. However, removal flights will continue. "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 Home Office 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."

For migrants currently in the UK asylum system, nothing changes immediately: small-boat arrivals with no right to remain still face removal under existing powers.

Why the deal ended

UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood gave a blunt assessment of the pilot's costs and limits, according to The Guardian. She estimated the deal cost about 56,000 British pounds (around 65,600 euros) for every person sent back to France.

Mahmood said the scheme had struggled to scale up to larger numbers of returns and that increasing removals had been "operationally difficult" because of constraints such as detention space.

"It's not been without its challenges. Obviously, the numbers are still relatively small," she admitted.

A new legal route opens

The non-renewal coincides with a separate announcement. At the Labour Party Conference, the Home Secretary said the government would offer new safe and legal routes into the UK.

In a press release on September 28, the government confirmed the reopening of the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) for new referrals. Around one in four referrals will go to Afghan women and girls and to Palestinian refugees fleeing war and persecution.

Pressure on the beaches

The announcement came in the same week that French police appeared to step up efforts to disperse migrants waiting to cross. On September 28, photographers captured officers using tear gas on a beach at Gravelines to prevent a departure.

The Home Office said on September 29 that joint operations had prevented more than 48,000 crossing attempts and seized 1,100 boats and engines.

The enforcement appears to be having an effect. Between January and September 27, 19,135 people crossed the Channel by small boat from France — down roughly 42 percent on the same period the previous year. Government statistics recorded 631 arrivals in nine boats between September 24 and 30.

The crossing remains deadly

The French coastline has long served as a springboard for migrants hoping to reach Britain. People reportedly pay smugglers thousands of euros to board heavily overcrowded inflatable dinghies, with reports emerging of "mega dinghies" carrying hundreds of people.

The English Channel is one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world. More than 500 commercial vessels and tankers cross it daily, through powerful tidal currents and unpredictable, freezing weather.

The risks were underscored this week. On Tuesday, a child and two women died off the coast of northern France after an overcrowded boat ran into difficulty during an attempted crossing. French authorities said the victims appeared to have been trampled to death.

Migrants and advisers should track Home Office and French interior ministry announcements for follow-up measures, since further changes to returns policy and resettlement referrals are expected as the government applies "lessons learned" from the pilot.