The Home Office is still putting asylum seekers on planes to France weeks after the controversial one in, one out scheme formally ended, the Guardian has reported. Officials chartered a flight to France on Wednesday for a group of people believed to have reached Britain by small boat before the programme closed, and a second flight is already scheduled for 17 November, according to the report.

The arrangement, announced in July 2025 by French President Emmanuel Macron and then Prime Minister Keir Starmer, aimed to deter small-boat crossings of the Channel: some asylum seekers arriving in Britain would be forcibly returned to France, while a similar number in northern France would be brought legally to the UK. The scheme ended on 1 October, but the Guardian understands the department is still detaining dozens of people in connection with it, with Home Office sources saying returns of the remaining members of the scheme's cohort are continuing.

What the figures show

Freedom of information figures show almost one in three of the scheme's removal flights, seven out of 23, were cancelled between July and September, more than double the total cancelled in the first six months of 2026.

What is not yet established

Two cautions matter: the group on Wednesday's flight was thought to have arrived before the arrangement ended, suggesting earlier cases being processed rather than a reopening; and the report gives no named Home Office response or legal authority for the post-1 October detentions. At least seven people returned to France have since come back to Britain, and 263 people arrived in three boats on Thursday after three weeks without a crossing. This article reports the policy and the reporting around it; it is not immigration advice, and readers should check official guidance for their own circumstances.