Martin Hewitt, the Border Security Commander appointed to smash people-smuggling gangs, left his role with a £52,000 payoff after 18 months in which more than 100 migrants a day crossed the Channel. Hewitt was appointed by Labour ministers in October 2024 and left on 31 March 2026, with crossings up almost 10 per cent on his watch.
Payoff and pension boost
His payoff, and a £47,000 rise in the value of his pension, took his package for the year to £310,000 — more than any other Home Office official. The figures were disclosed in the department's annual accounts, which also show its most senior officials sharing at least £35,000 in bonus payments over the last financial year.
When Hewitt left his post earlier this year he was paid £51,629 in lieu of notice – the equivalent of around three months wages. He also pocketed another £6,754 which was to pay him for around eight days of holiday that he hadn’t taken when he stood down.
Crossings rise during tenure
Hewitt took the senior role at the Home Office, after a long career in policing and crisis management, and was tasked with overseeing a fall in the number of small boat crossings. But Home Office figures show during the 18 months he was in post 56,117 people made it across the Channel compared to 51,150 in the 18 months before he was appointed.
It meant the daily average crossing number while he was in charge increased to 104 as the people cramming onto each boat rose from 52 to 60 per vessel. When news broke that he was to leave the post one insider said: “There was a view that the objectives were not being met, and there needed to be a tighter, more defined operational focus.”
Worst day and criticism
One of the worst ever days for Channel crossings came in the middle of his tenure on May 31 last year when 1,195 crossed over to the UK in 19 separate boats. In October last year he was grilled by MPs about when a new tactic would come into force which would allow French cops to intercept boats at sea.
“It is frustrating that it’s taken the time that it has,” he told the home affairs select committee. “Your point about the political instability, clearly that has been a backdrop.” Crossings did fall away towards the end of his time in charge, and arrivals so far in 2026 are running more than 40 per cent below last year.
Other bonuses and costs
Other bonuses handed out to senior staff at the Home Office include Bas Javid, the Director General of Immigration Enforcement, who took the largest single bonus of as much as £15,000 on top of a salary of £185,000. He runs the arm of the department responsible for tracking down and removing people who have no right to remain in the United Kingdom.
Phil Douglas, the Director General of Border Force, saw his own bonus fall to no more than £5,000, down from £15,000 the previous year. Simon Ridley, the Second Permanent Secretary who twice stepped up to run the entire department, was handed up to £10,000 on top of a salary of £185,000. Dan Hobbs, who heads the Migration and Borders Group, and Joanna Rowland, who ran Customer Services until December 2025, each collected bonuses worth up to £10,000.
The payments were signed off in a year when the accounts themselves concede the department has not delivered the government's ambition to reduce small boat crossings. Arrivals climbed to 41,472 during 2025, the second highest annual total on record, with officials warning there is not yet evidence of any sustained reduction. The average number of people crammed into each boat also rose over the year, from 53 in 2024 to 62 in 2025, according to the department's own analysis.
Asylum costs across the Home Office group ran to £2.96billion in the year to March 2026, down from £3.2billion the year before but still equivalent to £57million a week. The number of asylum seekers housed in hotels fell to 30,657 by the end of December 2025, although the accounts admit further work is required to end their use.
Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration UK, said: “I wonder if Martin Hewitt took on the job of Border Security Commander against his better judgment and quickly realised, after starting, that he was faced with an impossible task. Even so, £310,000 is a hell of a pay packet. What happened and the huge costs it entailed, were entirely due to the ministerial incompetence and a spendthrift approach to government.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Martin Hewitt resigned with effect from 31 March 2026. An interim Border Security Commander was appointed immediately. Mr Hewitt received payment in lieu of notice, as there was no requirement for him to serve a notice period.”
