FOI reference: FOI-2026-3497
You asked
1. Please send forth all information, both quantitative and any qualitative, on the "volunteer hours" that the channel-migrants entering the UK, have contributed to the GDP - from 2016, to the present.
2. Please also send forth all information and reporting on the channel-migrants entering the UK, have contributed to the specific targets of the "Sustainable Development Goals" (i.e.: UN's 2030 agenda, namely "SDG" 8 & 12) - from 2016, to the present.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We do not hold information on volunteer hours that channel-migrants entering the UK have contributed to GDP.
We do however hold the following information on volunteering which may be of interest.
The UK Household Satellite Account reports the value of organisation-based unpaid volunteering, however, estimates are for the UK population as a whole and it is not possible to break them down to be representative of the channel migrant population. Estimates of volunteering activity are derived using the community life survey, and there is no immigration data available within this data.
The UK Measures of National Well-being framework reports the proportion of people who provided unpaid help to clubs, groups, charities or organisations in the last 12 months. This information is disaggregated by sex and age, but not by immigration status.
The framework also reports, among those who provided unpaid help at least once in the last 12 months, the percentage who did so at least once a month. These estimates are derived using Opinions and Lifestyle survey data.
We do not produce estimates of illegal migration. This would be something that would need to be asked of the Home Office.
The closest information that we hold would be those that claimed asylum, which was 96,000 in YE June 2025. This will include some individuals that arrived via irregular routes, though not all and we are unable to distinguish who those would be. You can find our long-term migration estimates on our website.
We also do not hold information on how channel-migrants entering the UK have contributed to the specific targets of the SDGs.