A family-of-seven were found near the coast this morning.

A mother, father and their five children were found in Kingsdown after their RHIB was spotted off the coast. Border Force were alerted at around 4.20am.

The boat was recovered a mile off shore and the family were found by police nearby.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "Today Border Force responded to an incident in Kingsdown following reports of a boat in the channel. Border Force are confident the vessel was used for a migrant crossing.

“Since the Home Secretary declared a major incident in December we have tripled the number of cutters operating in the Channel, agreed a joint action plan with France and increased activity out of the Joint Coordination and Information Centre in Calais.

“The number of individuals attempting to cross the Channel decreased from around 250 in December to around 90 in January, with roughly half of the January attempts being intercepted by partners in France before they could make it to British waters.”

The family have been transferred to inmigration officials for interview.

This incident now means that, since November 8, 307 people have arrived in Britain by small craft in 36 incidents. These would be people landing on the Kent coast by themselves or brought in after being rescued at sea.

There is a gross figure of 45 incidents involving 386 people, which also includes those stopped early by the French authorities and brought back to France.

By late December Home Secretary Sajid Javid declared the situation as a"major incidents" as attempts continued.

The Home Secretary met his French counterpart in January to discuss possible solutions.

A group calling themselves 'patriots' also announced earlier this month that they would begin monitoring the coast in an attempt to halt migrants landing on the shore.

The Romney Marsh-based South East Coastal Defence claims its 40-member strong patrol will monitor the waters between Dungeness and Deal, and notify authorities of any arrivals.

The Home Office has advised the group against taking direct action.