Britain’s Home Office has handed out 974 free hijabs to migrants who arrived in small boats across the English Channel in the first half of this year, according to internal figures reported by the Mail on Sunday.
The documents cover January to June and show an average of 162 Islamic head coverings issued each month. The department has not said what the items cost the taxpayer.
At the same monthly rate the total would be approaching 1,500 by now, the newspaper estimated. That projection has not been confirmed by official data.
The hijabs form part of the dry clothing packs handed to new arrivals at short-term holding sites such as Manston, in Kent, southeast England. A Home Office source said the department was bound by the Short-term Holding Facility Rules.
Those rules require basic clothing provision to cover cultural and religious needs as far as is practicable. “All arrivals receive a basic dry clothing pack where required,” the source said.
The disclosure has drawn immediate criticism from the opposition. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was not for British taxpayers to fund other people’s religious observance.
“The Government must stop handing out hijabs to illegal immigrants immediately,” he said. The Conservative Party said State-funded clothing of that kind was an affront to the people paying for it.
Reform UK has also demanded an end to the practice.
Crossings themselves have fallen steeply. Some 11,884 people arrived by small boat between January and June, down 41 per cent on the same period of 2025, according to Home Office figures.
That amounts to roughly one hijab for every 12 people landed. A Home Office spokesman said crossings were down significantly and that the summer had brought the fewest arrivals since 2020.
The row has landed while London leans on the returns arrangement agreed with France, under which some arrivals are sent back in exchange for asylum seekers admitted through legal routes.
Brussels Signal reported in September that the scheme was costing about €65,500 for each person returned, with roughly 1,400 people removed since the pilot began in August 2025.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is pressing an Immigration and Asylum Bill that would make refugee status temporary and speed up removals. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said his government’s approach was starting to work.
Neither has addressed the clothing packs, which the department says it is legally obliged to provide.
