Crime Analysis Unit
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
www.gov.uk/home-office
Our Ref: FOI 66313
October 2021
Dear G Taylor,
Thank you for your email of 5th October, in which you ask for: the number of people in the UK that have been
charged with people smuggling in the last 3 years, the number of those have been convicted, and the
number of those convicted have received the present maximum sentence of 14 years?
Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).
There is not a specific criminal offence of “people smuggling” but the Home Office holds information on the
number of charges and convictions as a result of action by Immigration Enforcement officers to combat those
facilitating illegal entry, an offence under section 25 of the Immigration Act 1971.
In the last three years (2018, 2019 and 2020 combined), there were 311 charges and 292 convictions for
facilitating illegal entry. Of those convicted during this period none received the maximum sentence of 14
years. It should be noted that, due to the time lag in processing cases, some of the convictions may relate to
an earlier period and not all charges during this period will have yet reached court.
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of our handling of
your request by submitting a complaint within two months to
xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx quoting
reference 66313. If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are
dissatisfied with the response.
As part of any internal review the Department's handling of your information request would be reassessed by
staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you were to remain dissatisfied after an
internal review, you would have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by
section 50 of the FOIA.
Yours sincerely
Sean Keane
Crime Analysis Unit
