The Operating Standards were set out by the Home Office in 2002 for those companies contracted to manage Immigration Removal Centres. The preface to the Standards states that they were developed out of the Detention Centre Rules (2001), and were intended to improve performance and compliance, and ensure consistency across the detention estate. Contracts between the Home Office and IRC contractors are not publicly available so the Operating Standards are the only clue to what provision is expected [1].

Under each heading, the Standard and an accompanying set of Minimum Auditable Requirements are laid out. For example, under ‘Arrangements for Expenditure’ the standard is “To provide arrangements under which detained persons may spend their money. Goods available must reflect the age, gender and cultural needs of a diverse population”. The Minimum Auditable Requirements are:

1. The Centre must provide arrangements under which detainees can either use a shop within the centre or take delivery of purchased goods by other means. If goods purchased are not available on the same day, they should be available no later than the next day unless the establishment has to order them specifically from an external source.

2. The stock must include toiletries, tobacco products, phone cards, snacks, drinks, writing materials and postage stamps.

3. In contracted out centres the contract monitor must approve prices charged.

4. The Centre must display clear details of the prices of goods for the information of detainees.

5. The Centre must advise detainees that they are able to suggest items for purchase.

6. Gross profits generated through shop sales must be made available for the benefit of detainees.

7. For the purpose of expenditure within the centre, a service must be provided to exchange foreign currency for pounds sterling at market rates and at no charge to detainees.

8. The Centre must operate systems and controls to ensure propriety and to facilitate audit processes.

9. Detainees must be able to purchase international phone cards for use in the centre.

The Communication Standard is that “Detainees must be allowed to maintain contact with family, friends and others without restrictions other than that necessary on grounds of security and safety (Rule 26)”. One of the Auditable Requirements for this standard is that “The Centre must maintain up-to-date lists of local befriending groups and contact details of the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID) and ensure that detainees are aware of their services.” However, the Communication standard makes no reference to internet access, and this absence of a requirement has likely contributed to the fact of inadequate access to the internet for people in detention in IRCs for many years.

Although the preface to the Operating Standards promises regular reviews this has not happened, and the Operating Standards are now very out of date.

1. Note however that in 2015 the Information Commissioner ruled in favour of a complainant who challenged the refusal by the Home Office to disclose self-audit reports prepared by the contractors running two IRCs. The Home Office withheld this information under the exemptions provided by sections 41(1) (information provided in confidence) and 43(2) (prejudice to commercial interests) of the FOIA. Available at

Detention Service Orders (DSOs) are mandatory instructions outlining procedures to be followed by Home Office staff and IRC supplier staff. DSOs are updated periodically and have no expiry date. They cover a wide range of topics such as visiting, room sharing, surveillance, use of restraints and access to video calls. At the outset, each DSO states where the instructions which it outlines apply (whether in IRCs, RSHTF, pre-departure accommodation or all of the above).

It is useful to access DSOs in order to gain an understanding of the responsibilities of Home Office staff and private contractors, the rights of people detained and how people in detention can access services in detention. For example, in the “DSO for Detainee access to video call service” it is stated:

“Each centre must ensure that a video call service is available for use over a minimum period of seven hours every day.”

However, visitors will find that instructions such as this are often not properly applied.

DSOs can be accessed online on the government website (you can find the link in the "Overview and Sources" section of this chapter.)

Be aware that: a) the Home Office does not put all Detention Service Orders online and b) guidance documents may be taken offline during revision by the Home Office.

The HM Prison and Probation Service has a large number of rules, regulations and guidelines by which prisons are run. People detained in the prison estate post-sentence are subject, alongside other prisoners, to the Prison Service Instructions (PSIs).

PSIs cover all aspects of prison management, regimes, and sentencing, including punishments and incentives, visiting, and communication. For example, new PSIs published during 2018 dealt with prison adjudications and records information management.

There are a small number of “foreign national” specific PSIs (see “Overview and Sources”). Be aware that these may not contain the most up to date immigration law or Home Office procedures, as these changes seem to take longer to manifest in revisions.

PSIs have an expiry date. In practice, revised versions are often not issued before the expiry date, or new legislation or reorganisation of prison and probation services dictates early revision. Until July 2009 Prison Service Orders were also issued, long-term mandatory instructions intended to last indefinitely and as such without an expiry date. Current PSOs remain in force until replaced by a PSI or cancelled.

“Foreign national offenders” (FNOs) who are subject to a licence once the custodial part of their sentence is finished should be treated in the same way as British citizens on licence, whether they are in immigration detention or on immigration bail and living in the community. Guidance for offender managers and supervisors, and probation officers, are relevant to people held in prison under immigration act powers. In practice, once someone is moved to an IRC, their overworked probation officer will assume they will be deported and are unlikely to proactively seek regular contact with them. If someone seeks release from detention during their licence period they will need the cooperation of their probation officer, and it may be helpful to consult HMPPS guidance. For example, Prison Service Instruction (12/2015) Licence conditions, licences, and licence supervision notices.

• Direct people you are visiting in detention to where they can find guidance and instructions relevant to their general treatment in detention/prison and their entitlements. You can print and provide hard copies of guidance documents for the person you visit if they wish.

• Take some time to familiarise yourself with Home Office and Prison Service guidance for staff and contractors as background reading. This will enable you to better discern situations where the person you visit is not being treated the way that you think they should be and raise your concerns with your group or with AVID.

Relevant policies you might find useful are included in the section of this chapter. The important Adults at risk in immigration detention policy, first published in 2016, outlined in detail in .

These are other sets of Home Office policies, some of which are detention-related, available at .

The statutory Detention Centre Rules (2001) are a piece of legislation which govern day to day life in IRCs.

The Detention Centre Rules set out that the purpose of detention is:

“3.—(1) ….to provide for the secure but humane accommodation of detained persons in a relaxed regime with as much freedom of movement and association as possible, consistent with maintaining a safe and secure environment, and to encourage and assist detained persons to make the most productive use of their time, whilst respecting in particular their dignity and the right to individual expression. (2) Due recognition will be given at detention centres to the need for awareness of the particular anxieties to which detained persons may be subject and the sensitivity that this will require, especially when handling issues of cultural diversity.”

The Rules set out what services and conditions should be provided for people in detention, including welfare services, legal advice, communication and visits, ministers of religion, washing and bathing, and time in the open air.

The Short-Term Holding Facility Rules (2018) are a piece of legislation which set out the equivalent rules for Short-Term Holding Facilities. They give the Home Office wide powers in designating a place as a short-term holding facility. The publication of these rules came after years of lobbying from AVID and others in the sector on the lack of rules governing these facilities. Much of the Short-Term Holding Facility Rules are lifted directly from the Detention Centre Rules and mainly apply to residential short-term holding facilities (RSTHFs), for which there is a time limit on detention of 5 days (with the possibility of extension to an absolute maximum of 7 days). In 2022, following controversy in Manston camp where people were held unlawfully, these rules were amended to include a new category of detention centre - “residential holding rooms” – where people can be held for up to 96 hours (unless a longer period is authorised by the Secretary of State) and for which many of the Short-Term Holding Facility rules are disapplied.

The Detention Centre and STHF rules do not apply to certain other types of places of detention where individuals may be detained under Immigration Act powers including police stations, hospitals, young offender institutions, prisons and remand centres.

People in IRC’s and in STHF’s should be provided with a copy of the detention centre rules. This in the form of a “compact” which details their rights in detention centres and should be in a language which they understand (and a full set of the rules on request).

The intentions expressed in these statutory Rules are put into operation by the Home Office by means of Detention Service Orders and by means of Detention Services Operating Standards for private contractors.

The Home Office Detention General Instructions is a policy manual published for use by Home Office staff responsible for making decisions about immigration detention. The Home Office previously published Enforcement Instructions and Guidance (EIG) which addressed the same topics. The EIG has now been withdrawn.

The Detention General Instructions policy provides guidance on the power to detain, decisions to detain and levels of authority to detain, detention procedures, how often detention reviews should be carried out, factors influencing the decision to detain and criteria for detention in prison, among other matters. It also addresses the use of detention for people detained with criminal convictions, pregnant women, vulnerable adults termed “adults at risk” and children impacted by detention. When children are likely to be impacted by detention, staff must evidence that they have considered the impact of detention on them in accordance with the need to safeguard and promote their welfare in the UK. [1]

The Detention General Instructions policy recognises that detention should be used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary. It outlines the limitations of detention in accordance with domestic law and the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). These are the Hardial Singh principles, taken from an early immigration detention case. These principles are also outlined in Lawfulness of Detention. For ease of reference, these principles are:

1. The Home Office must intend to remove or deport the person/prevent unauthorised entry and can only use the power to detain for that purpose;

2. The person may only be detained for a period that is reasonable in all the circumstances;

3. If, before the expiry of the reasonable period, it becomes apparent that the Home Office will not be able to remove the person within a reasonable period, it should not seek to exercise the power to detain;

4. The Home Office should act with reasonable diligence and expedition to effect removal.

The Detention General Instructions were updated on 28th September 2023 when section 12 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 came into force. Section 12 permits detention for a period that the Home Office considers “reasonably necessary” in order to make a decision on an individual’s removal or to actually remove them. Section 12 applies to all detention purposes (not just people who are impacted by the other provisions of the Illegal Migration Act). This impacts the third and fourth principles outlined above and make it such that:

“It is for the Secretary of State, rather than the courts, to determine what is a reasonable period of detention in order to enable the specific statutory purpose to be carried out (for example, to enable the examination, decision, removal or directions to be carried out, made or given), subject to any statutory limitations. This emphasises that the Secretary of State is the primary decision maker who is in possession of all the facts surrounding a person’s detention. Therefore, in reviewing any unlawful detention claims, the Courts should approach their task by examining the reasonableness of the Secretary of State’s assessment, rather than by substituting their own assessment of the reasonableness of a period of detention.” Extract from the Detention General Instructions (page 9 and 10).

This section of the Detention General Instructions is useful reading to understand how the Home Office see’s this change introduced by the IMA affecting previously applied principles on detention. As this change takes more effect, what is “reasonably necessary” is likely to be subject to legal challenges which scrutinise the Secretary of States assessment of what is reasonable.

1. Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 requires certain Home Office functions (including the power to detain) to be carried out having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children in the UK. Statutory Guidance on the s.55 duty titled, “Every Child Matters” was published in 2009 and is still applicable:

The Home Office publishes a wide range of instructions and guidance for staff and contractors designed to enable them to carry out work related to the detention, escorting, and removal, as well as the conditions of detention and treatment of those held in administrative detention. These instructions deal with the elements of daily life in detention (for example, access to the internet in IRCs), legal procedures (the preparation by the Home Office for a bail hearing or a judicial review), and the correct use of detention powers.

The Home Office makes its policies, and instructions and guidance for staff publicly available [1]. Documents may have operationally sensitive information redacted in these publicly available versions. This section will show you where to find this guidance.

Background

Detention visitors will find that guidance and instructions to Home Office staff offers helpful background reading to understand how detention decisions should be made. It is useful to discern Home Office attitudes and the complexity of immigration enforcement work as it relates to detention and removal. Remember that - although specific actions, steps and notifications are set out in this often-extensive guidance - they may not happen when they should, or may happen at the wrong time or in the wrong format. Home Office guidance sets out what should happen, not what actually happens. This is another important reason to be aware of this guidance so that visitors can advocate for people detained by, for example, reporting procedural failures to monitoring bodies or to AVID.

Many Home Office policies and instructions governing the use of immigration detention in IRCs have been lifted from or modelled on processes and practices used in the prison estate. This has been criticised, for example, by Stephen Shaw who noted, in his final report on the review into the welfare in detention of vulnerable people, that -

"When I spoke to senior officials of the private sector contractors, a theme of our conversation was the need for Home Office policy and process to reflect what was actually required for the immigration detention estate to do its job rather than trying to transpose prison practices into a very different environment. Current policies and processes do not always distinguish the role of an IRC from that of a prison” [2]

Areas for particular cause for concern about Home Office policy or guidance include the use of segregation in IRCs, the management of age disputes in detention, medical rights, and Rule 35 (a process meant to ensure the identification and potential release from detention of victims of torture). More detail about guidance in these areas is included later in .

From time to time, if a particular policy or piece of Home Office guidance is thought to be operating in an unfair way that harms significant numbers of people in detention, the lawfulness of that policy (or a section of it) may be challenged via the courts. There are a number of grounds on which Home Office policy or guidance can be challenged, depending on the particular policy. It may be possible to argue that the policy or instruction is a blanket policy (that it is being applied by the Home Office to an entire group of people without consideration of the facts in individual cases, making detention arbitrary for some or all members of the group); or that the effect of the application of the policy is a breach of a person’s human rights (for example aspects of a policy on detaining mentally ill detainees could breach the right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment under Art 3 ECHR).

Another type of challenge could be brought in the event that the Home Office is required - as a result of legislation - to provide a certain service or benefit but evidence suggests that it does not do so in practice, or does so only after unreasonable delay, or the hurdles to eligibility are so high as to make the benefit impossible to obtain, and people are suffering some detriment as a result.

Sources

The Home Office updates policy and guidance documents every so often in response to new legislation or litigation. You will generally find the version number and date of publication, along with a note on which sections of the document have been revised, at the beginning or end of the document.

The Home Office may consult with relevant organisations - including AVID - when drawing up or revising its policies and guidance, but it is also possible that new policies and new versions of policies are published online with no announcement.

Some IRC management contractors operate their own additional local policies. These are not usually made publicly available but may be known to the local visitors group. Partnership agreements, Service Level Agreements, and memoranda of understanding, are designed to try to ensure the consistent and effective delivery of business plans, including services provided within IRCs [3]. These agreements shape the delivery of services and the treatment of people detained. While they are not government policy documents, they can provide useful background information on which elements of services are prioritised by contractors, for example.

1. There have been some rare instances of the Home Office operating secret - that is to say unpublished - policies towards people detained. See for example Adam Wagner, (23 March 2011), ‘Secret foreign nationals detention policy was “serious abuse of power”’. UK Human Rights Blog. “The Supreme Court has ruled that it was unlawful and a “serious abuse of power” for the Home Office to follow an unpublished policy on the detention of foreign national prisoners which contradicted its published policy. Two convicted prisoners were therefore unlawfully detained.” Available at

2. Stephen Shaw, (2016), Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons: A report to the Home Office by Stephen Shaw. Available at

3. See: Partnership Agreement between Home Office Immigration Enforcement NHS England Public Health England (April 2015); Ministry of Justice/NOMS & Home Office/UK Border Agency, (2011), Service Level Agreement for detention services provided by NOMS for UKBA 2011-2015; Memorandum of Understanding and Service Level Agreement between Immigration Enforcement of the Home Office And The National Council of Independent Monitoring Boards for the Home Office’s Removal Estate