Government Advertises £500 Million Contract to Manage Illegal Immigrant Reception Centres

The government is advertising a contract worth more than £500 million to manage two illegal immigrant reception sites in Kent for at least six years. The tender document published on Friday on the government website says the contract will involve managing services at the Home Office’s Disembarkation and SOLAS (Saving of Lives at Sea) centre at Western Jet Foil in Dover, where immigrants are taken after being picked up by Border Force or other rescue services in the English Channel. The provider will also be managing the Manston Reception centre near Ramsgate, where the arrivals are processed. The estimated total value is £521.3 million and the notice is split into two lots. The larger of the two is the operational management of Western Jet Foil and the Manston centre, worth £462.6 million, and the other being for the provision of health care services, at a value of £58.7 million....