Source · IMB Annual Report
North West and Midlands STHF
Year: 2025
Published: 3 Oct 2025
Type: Prison · Cat IRC
Recommendations: 7
Key concerns
Positive findings
The North West and Midlands STHF IMB monitors multiple short-term holding facilities, including residential, port, and reporting centre locations. The Board highlights commendable aspects like care for children and professional detainee inductions, but expresses significant concerns regarding detainee welfare. Key issues include a lack of access to personal medication, inadequate medical provision outside Manchester RSTHF, compromised safety and dignity for women and during transfers, and poor conditions at some facilities like East Midlands Airport.
Positive findings
The Board maintained face-to-face monitoring visits despite member reduction, demonstrating commitment. Provision for babies and children was found to be good, and emergency evacuation processes are clear and well-supported. Inductions were consistently observed to be carried out with humanity, dignity, and professionalism, with no indication of mistreatment reported by detainees. Board members commend Care & Custody officers for treating detainees with consideration and courtesy.
Key concerns
Healthcare
Repeated
The Board remains concerned that, generally, detained individuals are still being denied access to their own medication while in the holding rooms and, again, urges the Home Office to reconsider their current position.
Healthcare
Of the facilities covered by this Board, the only one that has a medical professional on duty full time is the Manchester RSTHF. At all other facilities, staff have to rely on local procedures, which include NHS services in the form of calls to 111, 999 and the local mental health crisis teams or by arranging a transfer to hospital A&E, which the Board considers is far from satisfactory.
Safety
The capacity at Manchester RSTHF means that, on occasion and when numbers in the establishment exceed seven, women are held in a room on the male accommodation corridor. The Board is very concerned about the risk to the safety of the women in these circumstances and that being accommodated alongside men may leave women distressed or uncomfortable.
Safety
When people are detained in the Port of Holyhead facility, there is no secure vehicle bay within the secure port area for their transfer to and from the holding rooms. This could compromise the safety and dignity of those being detained, as well as staff. The main gate to the facility is a few metres away from the edge of the dock and is only protected by a low rail, which could easily be scaled, with possible fatal consequences.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
The Board remains concerned that, since July 2023, individuals being detained at East Midlands Airport have no access to hot food and may be held in the CWA, where dignity and privacy is compromised when staffing levels do not permit admission to the holding room. The facility would also benefit from being upgraded to include current safety and security standards (including CCTV) and a television for relaxation.
Estate/Conditions
The Board is concerned about the time it takes to rectify deficiencies to the structure and equipment within all the facilities the Board monitors. An example concerns the temperatures in the family room at Birmingham Airport, which can be as low as 13 degrees centigrade. Another holding room has been decommissioned, leaving detained people in a small room that has no natural light or TV. The family room can also get cold and draughty.
Staffing
There was an incident at Loughborough in 2024, during which a detained person tried to damage the room, using a large piece of wood with protruding nails as a weapon. The DCOs rang for re-enforcements and a crew arrived from Yarl’s Wood IRC, who are trained in control and restraint. However, this is not compatible with DCOs, who are trained according to the Home Office manual for escorting safely (HOMES). In the Board’s view, a consistent approach to training needs rolling out to all staff, so there is uniformity across the estate.
Recommendations
| # | Recommendation | Addressee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | For the seventh year in succession, the Board repeats its concern at the lack of proper procedures that would allow the Home Office or its contractors to routinely provide detained individuals with access to their own medication. The Board considers the welfare of some of those who have been detained may have been adversely affected by this situation, depending on individual medical conditions. Repeated | Home Office | |
| 2 | Hot food is not available for those detained at East Midlands Airport (see section 5). The Board would recommend that this decision is reconsidered. Repeated | Home Office | |
| 3 | Whilst the detaining officers have a direct view to constantly watch and monitor detained individuals within the holding room at East Midlands Airport, the Board recommends that the facility be upgraded to include the current safety and security standards used in new facilities. Repeated | Home Office | |
| 4 | A television is not available for persons detained in East Midlands airport (see section 5). Television can have a calming effect and be a distraction for those being detained. The Board recommends that a television is fitted. Repeated | Home Office | |
| 5 | The Board is concerned at the practice of leaving detained people in the CWA, and recommends that they should always be afforded the dignity, privacy and relative comfort of being moved into the holding room where there are toilets and other facilities to help them rest while being detained (see section 5/Fair and humane treatment). Repeated | Home Office | |
| 6 | The Board is concerned that a holding room at Birmingham Airport has been decommissioned and turned into a storeroom. When the Family Room is cold and draughty, detained individuals have been moved into a small room, which compromises their comfort and wellbeing. | Home Office | |
| 7 | We recommend that the bed capacity for women in increased. Bedroom 7 in Manchester RSTHF, which has been designated for their use, is on a corridor where all the male bedrooms and male showers and toilets are located. The risk of possible physical harm to, and abuse of, women in this location has, therefore increased, in the Board’s view. We would recommend that the designation of bedroom 7 is rescinded. | Governor / Director |
Other reports for North West and Midlands STHF
Report details
- Establishment
- North West and Midlands STHF
- Type
- Prison · Cat IRC
- Report year
- 2025
- Published
- 3 October 2025
- Recommendations
- 7
Population
| Operational capacity | 32 |
Service providers
Border Force operations
UK Border Force
Detention services
Mitie Care & Custody