Home Office contractors stationed at Manston to process small boat arrivals are being bussed to Europe’s largest immigration detention centre to plug a significant staff shortage, the Guardian has learned.
Heathrow immigration removal centre, next to the airport, has such a big shortage of guards that an agreement has been made with the outsourcing company Mitie to redeploy Home Office contractors from Manston, in Kent, on days when there are no small boat crossings. The shortages come at a time when the Home Office wants to expand detention tenfold as part of the new Illegal Migration Act.
It has also been disclosed that the Home Office is planning a new immigration removal centre on the Manston site.
While the government publicly confirmed last year that two immigration removal centres it had closed – Haslar in Gosport and Campsfield in Oxfordshire – would be reopened to expand capacity, there has been no government announcement about Manston being used as a site for a new immigration removal centre.
Home Office sources have confirmed that contractors are being bussed from one site to another, as well as the plans for the new detention centre at Manston.
Andy Baxter, of the Prison Officers Association, said: “The POA can confirm that its members from the Manston short-term holding facility have been providing support to colleagues at Heathrow immigration removal centre. The catalyst for this support is a large number of the existing staff at Heathrow not being available for full operational duties.”
Emma Ginn, director of the charity Medical Justice, which supports the health of immigration detainees, said: “The recent Brook House inquiry warned of the dangers of low staffing levels and the detrimental impact such shortages have on detained people’s safety and access to even the basic services. Immigration detention already poses a serious risk of harm to people’s wellbeing; inadequate staffing levels adds to this dangerous environment and risks abuses of human rights. This is an ongoing failure of the Home Office, at a fundamental level, to avoid unnecessary, additional harm and suffering of detained people.”
Thanet district council, the planning authority for Manston, said it was aware of the Home Office’s plans to construct an immigration detention centre on the site. It said: “The council has not been contacted directly by the Home Office in relation to expansion plans for the Manston site. We understand that the Home Office has discussed plans to expand the Manston centre, and would use the special development order process. If the SDO process is undertaken, the council would be a consultee and not a decision maker.”
The Home Office said: “The Illegal Migration Act means people who come to the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed, to their home country or a safe third country. The act creates a requirement for additional detained accommodation to enable the removal of those with no right to remain in the UK.”
