Guidance

Management of detained individuals' cash exceeding the value of £1000 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (accessible version)

Updated 24 July 2024

Detention Services Order 05/2011

Management of detained individuals’ cash exceeding the value of £1000, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) and the referral process

July 2024

Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at DSOConsultation@homeoffice.gov.uk

Document details

Process: Guidance for those operating in the removal estate on the correct process for reporting cash amounts of at least £1000 to enable seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), where appropriate.

Publication date: July 2024

Implementation date: May 2011

Review date: July 2026

Version: 4.1

Contains mandatory instructions

For action: Contracted service providers in Immigration Removal centres (IRC) Gatwick pre-departure accommodation (PDA) and residential short-term holding facilities (RSTHF).

For information: Responsible case workers and Home Office contract monitoring staff.

Author and unit: Sunil Patel, Corporate Operations and Oversight Team

Owner: Michelle Smith, Head of Detention Operations

Contact point: Detention Services Orders Team

Processes affected: Guidance about reporting of cash amounts of £1000 or more that are identified in the removal estate.

Assumptions: All staff will have the necessary knowledge to follow this guidance.

Notes: N/A

Instruction

Introduction

1. This Detention Services Order (DSO) guides staff managing cash amounts of at least £1000 (or equivalent value in any other currency).

2. Referrals for port cases are the responsibility of Border Force and will be dealt with separately. This DSO does not apply to cash recovery from people arriving at an IRC or RSTHFs directly from an airport.

3. All references in this DSO to “centre” include IRCs, RSTHFs and Gatwick PDA.

4. This instruction does not apply to Residential Holding Rooms (RHRs) or non-residential short-term holding facilities.

5.Two different Home Office teams operate in IRCs:

• Detention Services (DS) Compliance team (Compliance team)
• Detention Engagement team (DET)

The Compliance team are responsible for all on-site commercial and contract monitoring work. The DETs interact with detained individuals face-to-face on behalf of responsible officers within IRCs. They focus on communicating and engaging with people detained at IRCs, serving paperwork on behalf of caseworkers and helping them to understand their cases and detention.

There are no DETs at RSTHFs, or the Gatwick PDA. Some of the functions which are the responsibility of the DET in IRCs, are instead conducted by the contracted service provider and overseen by the International Returns Services (IRS) Escorting Contract Monitoring Team (ECMT) in RSTHFs. In the Gatwick PDA, the local Compliance Team cover the role of detained individual engagement.

Policy framework

6. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) provides powers for the civil seizure, detention, and forfeiture of cash and listed assets which are suspected to be recoverable property derived from or intended for use in crime. The purpose of these powers is to remove cash and listed assets from the criminal economy, to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their criminality and reduce the pool of funds available for future criminal activities. A welfare check must be carried out if cash is seized (see guidance in Welfare provision in immigration removal centres - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

7. Under POCA, cash is defined as notes and coins in any currency, postal orders, cheques of any kind (including travellers’ cheques), banker’s drafts, bearer bonds and bearer shares, gaming vouchers, fixed-value casino tokens and betting receipts. It can be recovered where it is £1000 or more (or of a value equivalent to £1000 or more).

8. Under POCA, listed assets are defined as precious metals (gold, silver or platinum, precious stones (diamonds etc), watches, artistic works, face value vouchers (store vouchers etc) and postage stamps (stamp collections). They can be recovered where it is suspected that they are valued at £1000 or more.

9. The recovery of cash and listed assets under Chapter 3 Part 5 of POCA is a civil power, and although cash recovery is often linked to a criminal investigation and/or immigration offence, there does not need to be an arrest or associated criminal investigation to recover cash.

Purpose

10. This DSO will ensure that all staff in IRCs, RSTHFs and PDA are aware of POCA and how it applies to managing cash amounts of £1000 or more or listed assets that are found within the removal estate.

Procedures

11. All cash that is equivalent to £1000 or more (or the equivalent in any other currency) or listed assets valued at £1000 or more found in the possession of a detained individual - either handed in on a visit from friends and family, sent in through the post or found in their possession when entering the removal estate - must be referred by the supplier as soon as possible (see paragraphs 11 – 15) to the Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) on-call Officer or the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) inbox (see paragraph 10).

Telephone referrals – contact numbers

12. The contact details for the on-call CFI Officer are on the Detention Services and IRS Escorting Ops on-call list. The FIU email address is FIInbox@homeoffice.gov.uk .

13. Weekdays (office hours) between the hours of 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday a referral must be made by phone to the CFI (Crime Team) in the region where the removal centre is located. The CFI Officer taking the referral will provide their email address. The referral form must be sent to the email address provided. The CFI and FIU team will record all the referrals made to them on CLUE and Atlas.

Weekdays and weekends (out of hours)

14. Outside office hours, referrals must be made by email to the FI inbox. This inbox is managed by FIU on call Officers.

Written referrals

15. Immediately following the referral process above, a cash referral form (see Annex A) must be completed and sent to the CFI Officer the referral was made to (office hours) or the FI Inbox (out of hours and weekends). Where needed, the on-call CFI Officer will provide contact details. The Annex A referral must include full details of the cash find and both telephone and email contacts of the centre’s security team, so they can be contacted as soon as possible during office hours.

16. All finds of cash of £1000 or more or listed assets valued at £1000 or more must also be reported by contracted service provider staff by completing a Security Information Report (SIR) – see DSO 11/2014 ‘Security information reports’.

Securing cash sums following referral (IRCs, residential STHFs & PDA)

17. When a referral is made, all cash and listed assets in the detained individual’s possession must be secured in an evidence bag. However, the individual must be allowed to keep any allowances received while detained or cash earned through engaging in paid activities in the centre (see DSO 01/2013 ‘Paid Activities’).

18. Where detained individuals arrive from another IRC with £1000 or more, the receiving centre must make a referral to the CFI/FIU team. It must be made clear in the referral that the detained individual has arrived from another IRC.

19. Where detained individuals are transferred from prison, the receiving centre must seek to establish whether the cash was earned through paid work in prison, if the cash was earned through paid work, then no referral is required.

20. Cash brought into the centre by friends or relatives subsequently (amounts less than £1000) is not to be added to the original amount and may be spent by the individual. It is the centre manager’s responsibility to ensure all cash sums and listed assets being referred are kept securely until CFI or FIU have determined whether the cash will be recovered. A clear audit trail must be kept of the date and time the cash and/or listed asset was secured, where it was kept and the reference number of the evidence bag. Details of any cash or listed asset being secured must be recorded in the detained individual’s property log. The individual must then be asked to sign the forms to confirm that the records are correct. A refusal by the individual to confirm if the records are correct should be noted.

21. Following a referral being made, the FIU must provide written confirmation by email to the centre’s security team (see paragraph 13) of whether an investigation under POCA will be conducted or if the cash can be returned to the detained individual. This confirmation must be provided as quickly as possible and no later than two working days from the time of the referral.

22. Unless the centre has been provided with written confirmation from the CFI team or the Financial Investigation Unit that they will attend the centre to recover the cash or listed asset, no detained individual can be released, or otherwise permanently discharged from a centre, without all cash sums being returned to his or her property. Such cases must be notified to the Financial Investigation Unit in accordance with paragraphs 12 – 14.

23. When any cash sums are recovered by CFI or the FIU, details of the recovery must be updated on the detained individual’s property log and records of cash recovered kept within the detained person’s individual IRC records and Atlas.

Annual self-audit

24. An annual self-audit of this DSO is required by contracted service providers to ensure that the processes are being followed. This audit must be made available to the Home Office on request.

Revision history

Review date	Reviewed by	Review outcome	Next review
Mar 2015	F Hardy	Rebranded	Mar 2017
Nov 2016	K McDonnell	Update to process to clarify that cash should not be returned until instructed by FIU.	Nov 2018
Dec 2017	K McDonnell	Update to on-call process	Dec 2019
July 2018	J Domingos	Update to on-call process	July 2020
Jan 2022	Runa Miah	HO Teams updated, link to DSO added, detainee changed to detained individual, policy framework updated, and referral process updated.	Jan 2024
July 2024	S Patel	Minor update to wording	July 2026