Detention Centres

Internal Home Office detention demand modelling indicates that demand for immigration detention places significantly exceeds current supply. Expanding detention capacity is necessary to support removals, increase the flow of removable individuals through the immigration system, strengthen resilience across the detention estate and reduce operational constraints caused by insufficient bed capacity.

While work is underway to increase capacity and improve throughput within the detention estate, current provision remains insufficient to support the Government’s returns objectives.

The operational need for additional immigration detention capacity is set out in the published planning material for the Campsfield Phase 2 proposal, within Section 5 of the Campsfield Planning Statement.

The Home Office considered the proposal against the national importance principles set out in the published Crown Development guidance. The decision on whether the national importance criteria are met is for the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The current contract for Stage 1 design work for the Campsfield Phase 2 proposal, covering RIBA stages 3 and 4, is already published on gov.uk: Campsfield IRC Phase 2 Design & Build - Contracts Finder. Construction costs have not yet been finalised and will be subject to HM Treasury approval through the Full Business Case process. Relevant contract information will be published through the usual Government transparency routes once approvals and procurements are complete.

The Home Office publishes information on the average cost per night of holding an individual in immigration detention in its detention transparency data: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK