Originally due to end today, 11 June 2026, the UK-France ‘one in, one out’ pilot has been extended until October 2026 despite overwhelming evidence of the harm it is causing. The scheme treats displaced people as bargaining chips – for each person removed to France, another person in France can apply for asylum in the UK.
High levels of vulnerability and extensive evidence of harm
The high levels of vulnerability among, and the harms caused to, people detained under the scheme have been comprehensively documented by Medical Justice clinicians and our casework team. Medical Justice reviewed the cases of 20 of our clients who had a medico-legal report from our independent clinicians and published our findings in Politics over people?. All 20 had clinical evidence of a history of torture, ill-treatment and/or trafficking. All 20 had serious mental health conditions.
Clinical safeguards are failing to protect vulnerable people detained under this scheme. For example, we found that immigration removal centre staff identified five clients as being at risk of self-harm or suicide, but only one received the required Rule 35 (2) safeguarding report to alert the Home Office. Our research found high levels of suicidality among our clients, with one person attempting to take their own life and two self-harming in detention. Sadly, as reported by the Guardian, another person detained under the scheme attempted to end their life last month.
In shocking statistics published last month, Jesuit Refugee Service and Humans for Rights Network found that at least 141 age disputed young people have been detained under the scheme; at least 64 have subsequently either been found to be children by local authorities, or are in their care pending further inquiries; and 18 age disputed young people have been removed to France. Medical Justice had also previously flagged we had been receiving more referrals from age-disputed young people detained for forced removal to France than in any other cohort subject to immigration detention.
Importance of medical evidence
We have been told that in some cases our medical evidence was a significant factor in clients being dropped out of the UK-France scheme. Some clients dropped out have subsequently had their asylum claims considered in the UK and been granted refugee status. Medical Justice is also providing evidence for a potential legal challenge to particular aspects of the scheme.
Raising awareness and calling for scheme to be scrapped
Since the scheme’s inception, Medical Justice, alongside other charities, has consistently raised its concerns and called for the scheme to be scrapped. In September 2025, we joined the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) and others in highlighting the lack of legal aid provision for those detained under scheme. We submitted evidence to the Home Affairs Committee in December 2025 We have also written to Home Office ministers with our findings. In February 2026, we teamed up with British and French NGOs in a joint statement on the harm caused by the scheme and witnessed by our organisations.
As secretariat of the APPG on Immigration Detention, we organised an expert briefing in November 2025 which was attended by MPs, peers and staff as well as clerks from the Home Affairs Committee, Joint Human Rights Committee and the Commons Library. Alongside speakers from Medical Justice, Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group and ILPA, we shared the testimony of a client who had been subjected to the use of force during an attempt to remove him to France, bringing the voices of those most affected by the scheme to parliament.
Widespread concern and independent scrutiny
Concerns about the harm caused by the scheme have been echoed widely beyond the charitable sector. In their annual report published yesterday, the Independent Monitoring Board reported that they were told the inclusion criteria for the scheme was “random by design” to undermine smuggling operations but that this resulted in leaving detained people highly confused. The IMB found systemic deficiencies in safeguarding mechanisms and was deeply concerned about their implications for people detained under the scheme whose vulnerabilities were “acute”.
In December 2025, nine UN experts led by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants wrote to the UK and French governments calling for the scheme to end. The UK government has yet to respond to their detailed concerns about potential human rights violations, including conditions of detention that may amount to breaches of Article 3 of the ECHR, failures to take measures to protect the right to life, and lack of protection for people in vulnerable situations (including victims of contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons, unaccompanied children and survivors of torture).
HM Inspectorate of Prisons has published reports on two charter flights to France under the scheme, noting inadequate provision of interpretation – for example, the one in-person interpreter sent in November 2025 spoke languages understood by very few of the people being removed. This meant that many of those being removed could not ask questions or understand the process.
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration is carrying out an inspection of the implementation of the deal. Medical Justice submitted evidence and is awaiting the outcome of the review.
How you can take action
In light of serious human rights violations resulting from the scheme, Nadia Whittome MP has tabled an Early Day Motion urging the Government to end the pilot immediately and to work with international partners to establish safe, accessible and humane routes for people seeking protection.
Medical Justice is part of the campaign calling on MPs to sign the EDM. Please take a moment to email your MP and urge them to support the motion and end this cruel and inhumane policy. You can access a template email and take action on Care4Calais’s website here.
