MIGRANT LABOUR
Pound of flesh
IT’s 17 years since the Home Office decided that those held in immigration removal centres (IRCs) could be paid the paltry sum of £1 an hour for the work that keeps the detention estate running – cleaning, kitchen prep, laundry, maintenance and running detention centre shops.
The rate was introduced in 2008 and the scheme is now being used more than ever, but the pay has remained frozen, while the national minimum wage has more than doubled. A court challenge in 2019 was rejected, with a judge concluding the pay rate was acceptable as the work wasn’t compulsory and helped to “alleviate boredom”.