The Office for National Statistics has admitted underestimating net migration in 2023 by 181,000.
Estimates initially showed net migration stood at 685,000 in the year ending December 2023.
However, the ONS has since confirmed the figure actually stood at 866,000, revising the previous number down by a city the size of Oxford.
A similar statistical blunder was made in the year to June 2023, with the ONS upgrading its estimate from 740,000 to 906,000.
UK border at Stansted Airport in London
Getty Images
They also revised the figures from 12 months to December 2022, increasing the number of migrants from 764,000 to 873,000.
Alongside the revisions, the ONS said the the UK has seen a 20 per cent fall in UK net migration, standing at an estimated 728,000 in the year to June 2024.
The ONS said that while remaining high by “historic standards”, net migration is now “beginning to fall”.
Mary Gregory, ONS director, said the decline has come as a result of a fall in the numbers of dependants on study visas coming from outside the EU.
In the first nine months of 2024, visas issued to dependants of students fell by 84 per cent to 17,978 compared to the same period in 2023, where there were 16 per cent fewer main applicants across the same period.
“Pent-up demand for study-related immigration because of travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic also had an impact”, she added.
More to follow…