The British High Court has rejected a challenge to the £1 an hour pay rate for immigration detainees.
The High Court has rejected a challenge to the £1 an hour pay rate for immigration detainees about the amount detainees who voluntarily undertake essential work, like cleaning or cooking, in detention centres should be paid on the basis that it had been made out of time.
In April 2018 the review concluded that the rate of pay should stay the same. A group of detainees represented by the law firm Duncan Lewis challenged that decision. Mr Justice Murray held that the judicial review was ultimately a challenge to the lawfulness of a Detention Services Order issued in 2013 which fixed the pay rate at £1 an hour, and held that it was five years out of time. His ruling does not take into account the fact that none of the persons who brought the action had been detained in 2013 and were therefore not in a position to challenge the policy at that time. The detainees could only challenge the policy once it was applied to them, at which point they promptly filed applications for judicial review. The judge also dismissed the claim on its merits, having concluded that the £1 an hour rate was within the bounds of the Secretary of State’s discretion under the Detention Centre Rules.
Lawyers for the claimants have indicated that they will appeal his decision, but in light of the fact that the action was also dismissed on the basis that it lacks merit means they may struggle to convince the Court of Appeal of its worthiness.
