Private companies awarded lucrative government contracts to run immigration detention centres in the UK are failing to properly train staff on the needs of LGBTIQ+ migrants, new documents reveal.
openDemocracy has reviewed diversity and equality training slides for staff at immigration removal centres run by Serco and Mitie, two of the UK’s biggest immigration service providers. The slides wrongly refer to the migrant people who are held in the centres while awaiting deportation or release, many of whom are very vulnerable, as “prisoners”.
And while the training materials, which were obtained by London-based charity Rainbow Migration under Freedom of Information laws, educate staff on how to recognise and combat racism, they often fail to offer equivalent information on tackling homophobia or addressing the specific vulnerabilities of LGBTIQ+ detainees. Not all of the training materials are dated, but those that are say they were created between 2018 and 2024.
