Recommendation 1
Recommendation (the Board's words)Introduce a time limit for immigration detention (repeated from 2018, 2019 and 2020).
Source text verified
Independent Monitoring Boards annual report
Gatwick IRC
Report year 2021
Published 23 Jun 2022
Type IRC
Population 107
Responsible body Gatwick IRC
17 recommendations
The summary and positive findings below were written from the report by an AI model. The Board's own wording is in the report linked above.
Summary
Summary written by this site (AI-generated)The 2021 report covers the first year of the combined Gatwick IRC (Brook House and Tinsley House) under merged IMB oversight and Serco management, with the year dominated by Covid-19 restrictions, unprecedented Channel crossing arrivals through Tinsley House, and ongoing Home Office case management failures leading to prolonged and often unnecessary detention. While Serco staff generally treated detained men with respect and compassion, systemic failings in mental health support, access to legal advice, property management, and Home Office communication remained serious and in many cases repeated concerns.
Positive findings
Summary written by this site (AI-generated)Serco introduced an improved standardised reception and induction process from April, including a house rules booklet in 22 languages with earlier Welfare team involvement. A new Vulnerable Residents meeting improved focus on individual vulnerability needs. Officers generally treated detained men with respect and dignity. Healthcare transitioned successfully to Practice Plus Group from September, with expanded services including podiatry and physiotherapy. Catering received largely positive feedback (66% positive). No deaths occurred at either centre in 2021. Self-harm and ACDT figures fell substantially from the exceptionally high 2020 levels.
Recommendations
- Recommendation 1Addressed to Home Office
- Recommendation 2Addressed to Home Office
- Recommendation 3Addressed to Home Office
Key concerns
- Key concern 1Other
- Key concern 2Mental Health
- Key concern 3Regime/Time Out of Cell
Recommendations 17 items · 8 repeated
Recommendations were extracted from the report by AI, and responses and their status from the ministerial response by AI. Each recommendation shows whether its wording has been checked against the report.
Recommendation 2
Recommendation (the Board's words)There should be some supplementary basic information provided by the Home Office on the steps in the asylum claim process that arrivals will go through while held in the RSTHF. The Home Office should follow the suggestion in paragraph 8 of Detention Services Order 06/2013 to repeat the important basic information through use of a format such as posters and leaflets (section 4.1).
Source text verified
Recommendation 3
Recommendation (the Board's words)Home Office and Serco should consider how the perceptions of the detained men about their safety can be collected consistently through the year and used as a meaningful tool for improving the centres' management (section 4.3).
Source text verified
Recommendation 4
Recommendation (the Board's words)As we have recommended for the past two years, there should be a full review of Adults at Risk (AAR), ACDT and Rule 35 policy and procedure (section 4.4).
Source text verified
Recommendation 5
Recommendation (the Board's words)The role of the Detention Gatekeeper should be reviewed, in particular its effectiveness in preventing men with significant mental health issues or vulnerabilities from being detained (section 4.4), and psychological support provided on-site in the Gatwick centres should be increased (section 6.3).
Source text verified
Recommendation 6
Recommendation (the Board's words)Operation of the process for complaints against Serco should be reviewed, including factors behind withdrawal rates, and this should consider changes such as introducing specialist teams to handle complaints, shortening the time for responses, and whether contractual penalties for substantiated complaints can be modified (section 5.7).
Source text verified
Recommendation 7
Recommendation (the Board's words)Suitable systems and organisation should be put in place to avoid detained men's property being lost at Dover or en route to Gatwick, and to find it rapidly if it is lost or misplaced (section 5.8).
Source text verified
Recommendation 8
Recommendation (the Board's words)Proactive engagement processes should be instituted and communication should be improved so that detained men are kept adequately informed of the progress of their immigration and asylum cases and bail applications (section 7.2).
Source text verified
Recommendation 9
Recommendation (the Board's words)Suitable technical equipment should be installed in Brook House to provide adequate mobile phone access for the detained men to ensure that they have meaningful access to advice from their solicitors and contact with their families (sections 7.2.4, 7.3).
Source text verified
Recommendation 10
Recommendation (the Board's words)Home Office should work with the Legal Aid Agency law firms and Serco to ensure a return to fixed time and on-site in-person appointments for detained men (section 7.2.4).
Source text verified
Recommendation 11
Recommendation (the Board's words)Training should be strengthened for frontline staff, especially in Tinsley House, to help ensure that potentially under-age individuals are identified and feel able to challenge the age imputed to them (section 4.4.3).
Source text verified
Recommendation 12
Recommendation (the Board's words)While we recognise that controls are needed to manage Covid risks, the Board considers that more could be done to ensure uptake of educational opportunities at Brook House (section 7.1).
Source text verified
Recommendation 13
Recommendation (the Board's words)The Board believes that some activities, such as English language classes, should be offered to men detained in Tinsley House even when it is a RSTHF (section 7.1).
Source text verified
Recommendation 14
Recommendation (the Board's words)There are insufficient opportunities for detained men to acquire vocational skills which might assist them on return or release. The vocational training programmes available at Brook House should be reviewed and expanded. In particular, while the Board welcomes the introduction of online Virtual College courses, their range and relevance to the centre's population should be improved (section 7.1).
Source text verified
Recommendation 15
Recommendation (the Board's words)Serco should work with the Legal Aid Agency law firms and the Home Office to ensure a return to fixed time and on-site in-person appointments for detained men (section 7.2.4).
Source text verified
Recommendation 16
Recommendation (the Board's words)Systems and training should be improved, or additional resource provided if necessary, to ensure adequate and effective monitoring of men whose physical or mental condition may be deteriorating (sections 6.1, 6.3).
Source text verified
Recommendation 17
Recommendation (the Board's words)The planned dental suite should be implemented and on-site dental services begun (section 6.2).
Source text verified
Key concerns 16 items
Key concerns were extracted from the report text by an AI model.
Key concern 1
At the end of December, 34% of the population had been there for more than 10 weeks20; Mr AA21 had been detained in Brook House for 343 days (49 weeks).
Key concern 2
Home Office Detention Gatekeeper not adequately preventing detention of men with serious mental health needs; two men sectioned under the Mental Health Act during 2021.
Source wording under review
Key concern 3
Cohorting and bubbling has led to some men being moved numerous times from wing to wing in Brook House. We presume that these moves, made under Home Office instruction, were intended to maximise the effective capacity and to release beds for further intake. There have been informal and formal complaints from men about this; one formal complaint from seven men referring to them having been “treated like cattle”.
Key concern 4
7.2.4. Access to legal advice There has been anecdotal evidence for some time about poor mobile phone reception in Brook House having a negative impact on the ability of detained men to communicate with their solicitors. The reception problems were confirmed in July in an expert report which has recommended adding boosters throughout the centre.
Key concern 5
53% of men leaving Brook House in 2021 were released rather than removed, raising questions about the lawfulness of their initial detention.
Source wording under review
Key concern 6
Complaints process not operating fairly: 13% success rate, 20% withdrawal rate, 20-working-day response time, and frontline officers as investigators.
Source wording under review
Key concern 7
Systemic loss of detained men's property between Dover and Tinsley House; no effective tracing system and generic, boilerplate responses to enquiries.
Source wording under review
Key concern 8
This did not improve in 2021. From May to December there were a total of 51 age disputes, 31 of whom were ultimately released to the local authority.
Key concern 9
Bail accommodation delays leaving men in detention beyond bail grant; 8% of Brook House population awaiting accommodation in mid-December.
Source wording under review
Key concern 10
41% of Tinsley House departures between 9pm and 7am; groups of 43 and 37 men released at 23:58 and 00:30 on separate nights.
Source wording under review
Key concern 11
Adults at Risk In our annual reports for 2019 and 2020 the Board pressed for a review of Adults at Risk (AAR), ACDT and Rule 35 policy and procedure. While we were told that these were under review in 2019, we noted in 2020 that there had been no progress. We are disappointed that this situation has not changed in 2021. Indeed, although we heard in May that new paperwork to go with the AAR process had been put on hold while the Home Office reviewed the Detention Service Order on AAR, at the end of the year there had been no change and no information about a future timeline.
Key concern 12
Mental health support insufficient; psychology services unavailable for most of 2021; use of force to prevent self-harm rose to 28% of all UoF incidents.
Source wording under review
Key concern 13
Planned dental suite at Brook House still not operational by 31 December 2021 despite longstanding recommendation.
Source wording under review
Key concern 14
Insufficient vocational training at Brook House; virtual college limited to eight short courses with low uptake.
Source wording under review
Key concern 15
8 n/a n/a Rule 42 (hours) Rule 40 has been used less frequently than in 2020 and 2019 (160 and 187 events respectively). On nine occasions, men have been held in separation to facilitate their removal; this includes eight men who were due to fly on the charter flight to Jamaica in November. The Board questions the necessity, appropriateness and legality of using Rule 40 as a blanket approach in such circumstances.
Key concern 16
De facto separation via informal 'Rule 15' — men held in CSU beyond Rule 40 expiry due to Covid-related placement difficulties — no legal basis identified.
Source wording under review
Safety statistics
Incidents during the reporting year.
| Indicator | This year | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths in custody | 0 | not recorded |
| Use of force | 157 | not recorded |
| Drug finds | 10 | not recorded |
Population
| Population | 107 |
| Operational capacity | 610 |
Applications to the IMB
| Category | Current | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation (incl. laundry, showers) | 1 | 1 |
| Conduct of staff and detained men (incl. bullying) | 6 | 1 |
| Covid measures | 19 | 0 |
| Equality | 0 | 0 |
| Escorts | 1 | 1 |
| Finance | 0 | 2 |
| Food and kitchens | 11 | 1 |
| Health (physical, mental, social care) | 21 | 17 |
| Immigration case (incl. access to legal advice) | 46 | 20 |
| Letters, faxes, visits, phones, internet access | 1 | 1 |
| Other | 0 | 1 |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment | 5 | 3 |
| Property within centre | 3 | 0 |
| Purposeful activity (education, paid work, training, library) | 4 | 0 |
| Use of force, removal from association | 1 | 1 |
Report details
- Establishment
- Gatwick IRC
- Type
- IRC
- Report year
- 2021
- Published
- 23 June 2022
- Responsible body
- Gatwick IRC
- Recommendations
- 17
Service providers
| Service | Provider |
|---|---|
| Detention management | Serco Ltd |
| Healthcare (January-August 2021) | G4S Health Services Ltd |
| Healthcare (September-December 2021) | Practice Plus Group |
| Immigration detention legal support | Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) |
| Mental health (subcontracted, until November 2021) | Elysium Healthcare |
| Substance misuse (until August 2021) | The Forward Trust |
| Welfare and legal support | Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group (GDWG) |