Guidance

Reporting and communicating incidents in the immigration removal estate (accessible version)

Updated 1 October 2024

Detention Services Order 05/2015

Reporting and Communicating Incidents in the Immigration Removal Estate

09 2024

Document Details

Process: This Detention Services Order (DSO) outlines how incidents in the immigration removal estate and during in country and overseas escorting (including charter flights) should be reported and communicated.

Publication Date: 09 2024

Implementation Date: December 2015 (reissued 09 2024)

Review Date: 09 2026

Version: 5

Contains Mandatory Instructions

For Action: Home Office and contracted service provider staff operating in immigration removal centres (IRC), pre-departure accommodation (PDA) and residential short-term holding facilities (RSTHF) and escorting officers.

For Information: Relevant Home Office, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force officials, including all Immigration Enforcement Senior Civil Servants acting as IE on call duty directors.

Author and Unit: Sunil Patel, Detention Services

Owner: Michelle Smith, Head of Detention Operations Contact Point: Detention Services Orders Team.

Processes Affected: The reporting of all incidents affecting the immigration removal estate and detained escorting (including overseas escorting) and the sharing of information to the wider business.

Assumptions: Staff reporting an incident will have sufficient operational knowledge of detention, relevant (internal) operational guidance and the immigration removal estate to implement the processes outlined in this instruction.

Notes: N/A

Instruction

Introduction

1. Immigration Enforcement’s (IE) Detention Services (DS) and the International and Return Services Command’s (IRSC) Escorting Operations must manage the reporting and communication of incidents in the immigration removal estate and during detained escorting operations. The system provides a support and advice structure for all IRC, RSTHF and PDA staff. This ensures that incidents which have the potential to impact wider Home Office business and attract media and Parliamentary interest are communicated accurately, promptly and appropriately to the relevant colleagues.

2. All references in this DSO to “centre” include immigration removal centres, residential short-term holding facilities and pre-departure accommodation.

3. This instruction does not apply to:

• Individuals detained in prison under immigration powers;

• Individuals detained in non-residential STHFs; or

• Individuals detained in Residential Holding Rooms (RHRs).

4. Two different Home Office teams operate in IRCs:

• Detention Services’ Compliance teams (Compliance teams)

• Detention Engagement teams (DETs)

The Compliance teams 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 the 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 carried out by the contracted service provider and overseen by the International and Returns Services Command (IRSC) Escorting Contract Monitoring Team (ECMT). In the Gatwick PDA, the local Compliance Team cover the role of detained individual engagement.

Purpose

5. To provide instruction and guidance for all Home Office and contracted service provider staff on the reporting of incidents within the detention estate and during the escorting of detained individuals, including incidents that occur outside of the United Kingdom that are witnessed by detainee custody officers (escorts).

6. This DSO outlines how incidents are categorised, how they should be reported and how they will be communicated across the immigration removal estate and the wider Home Office to ensure a standard process is followed.

Incident Management Structure

7. Separate but parallel incident management structures will be adopted by both the Contracted Service Provider (CSP) and Home Office (DS or IRSC) for all incidents where it is necessary for a command mode to be enacted to aid a successful conclusion to the incident.

8. The DS or IRSC command structure is separate to any comparable command structure initiated by a contracted service provider or, in the event of mutual assistance having been sought, that of HMPPS. This command structure will run in parallel, there will be no cross over, and the CSP remain in charge of the incident and maintain primacy unless it becomes necessary to pass command of the IRC or PDA to HMPPS.

9. Gold, Silver and Bronze designations will be used for both the Home Office and CSP and remain the same both in and out of hours. However, the staff taking up the designation will change dependent on the time of day. CSPs will hold this information locally and below sets out who will assume the positions for Detention Services.

In hours	Out of hours
Gold- Head of Detention or Escorting Operations (or a nominated deputy)	Gold- Duty Head of Detention Operations or Escorting Operations
Silver- Service Delivery Manager (or a nominated deputy)	Silver- rostered or duty Senior Manager
Bronze- Member of local compliance team/DEPMU/DS security Team	Bronze-Local DS on-call officer/DS on-call security officer/DEPMU

10. The Detention Services’ Gold commander, relevant Deputy Director (SCS) or nominated deputy (Grade 6) (or out of hours the Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above)) will lead on incidents within the immigration removal estate and relevant detained escorting arrangements and will be responsible for contacting the IE On Call Duty SCS. They will also discuss incidents that are of an IE cross cutting nature to decide whether an incident will be declared and who will take primacy.

Incident categories

11. Incidents that occur in the immigration removal estate or on detained escorting operations are categorised according to their seriousness as green, amber or red.

12. Green incidents relate to occurrences which do not or will not disrupt the normal operation of a facility or adversely affect the safety and security of staff, detained individuals, and visitors.

13. During office hours, contracted service providers should report such incidents to the DS Compliance manager or their deputy, verbally in the first instance, followed by a Security Information Report (SIR) within 24 hours (DSO 11/2014 – Security Information Reports) or any other such report as appropriate.

14. Amber incidents relate to the management of an event outside of usual centre business that has, or potentially will have an adverse impact on the normal operation of a facility or the safety and security of staff, detained individuals and visitors and may result in reputational damage to the Home Office, adverse political impact, or national media attention.

15. When notified of an amber incident, the local DS Service Delivery Manager, or their deputy (or ECMT equivalent) will assess the information provided to ensure that appropriate action is being taken and whether a wider notification to inform colleagues outside of DS or IRSC Escorting Operations is necessary. The relevant casework SCS should also be notified. Out of hours it will be the responsibility of the rostered or duty Senior Manager to assess this information to ensure appropriate action is being taken or if for wider notification is necessary, escalating to the duty Head of Detention operations, if necessary. The relevant Deputy Director (SCS) or Grade 6 (or Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above outside of normal business hours) will decide whether to include the Immigration Minister and Permanent Secretaries’ offices in this notification.

16. Red incidents relate to the management of an event outside of usual centre business that has, or potentially will have a serious impact on the operation of a facility or the safety and security of staff, detained individuals and visitors or the wider public and may result in reputational damage to the Home Office, adverse political impact, or media attention.

17. When notified of a red incident, the local DS Service Delivery Manager, or their deputy (or ECMT equivalent) will assess the information provided to ensure that appropriate action is being taken. Out of hours it will be the responsibility of the rostered or duty Senior Manager to assess this information, provide advice as required and prepare a formal response to the wider copy list, included below at paragraph 36. During office hours, if available, the relevant Chief of Staff will lead on reporting for Red incidents, out of hours the rostered or duty Senior Manager will lead on this reporting. The Duty Head of Detention Operations will be sighted on and agree this formal response prior to distribution.

18. Within 24hrs of the reported red incident, contracted service providers must liaise with the on-site DS Compliance Team or ECMT Manager/ nominated deputy for RSTHFs) to agree timescales for the provision of all service provider records held relating to the detained individual(s) involved in the reported red incident, this agreement must include details of the records the contracted service provider intends to provide to the Home Office and the timeframes for this. A record of this meeting must also be kept by the DS Compliance Team and stored locally on a shared (internal) folder.

19. An indicative list of incidents and their categorisation can be found at Annex B.

Detention Services and IRS Escorting Operations’ reporting process

20. Green, amber and red incidents must be reported by the contracted service provider to either DS or IRS without delay. A member of the Compliance team or ECMT must then notify the relevant DS, DET and IRSC Escorting Operations colleagues immediately, for all amber and red incidents, providing as much information as possible on the reporting template (attached at Annex A Local Incident Notification). Reporting arrangements are set out within this document at paragraph 35. A local incident notification is only required for green incidents by exception, when an incident of significance has taken place, or when an incident relates to a specific area of interest for the DS and/or IRSC Escorting Operations’ SMT. In these circumstances, they should be reported in the same way as an amber incident.

21. Once a local incident notification is sent, unless directed by the relevant DS Grade 6 (or above), the local DS Service Delivery Manager or their deputy (or ECMT equivalent) must assess whether a wider notification to inform colleagues outside of DS or IRSC Escorting Operations is necessary. Out of hours the rostered or duty Senior Manager will assess this information for wider notification, escalating to the duty Head of Detention Operations, if necessary,

22. If a wider notification is deemed to be necessary, it should be sent to the wider incident copy list (included below at paragraph 34). The decision to widen the notification of a red or amber incident must be based on the seriousness of the incident, its impact, and whether it is likely to be picked up by the media. This notification would typically include the Annex A, alongside a covering email, stating that a further response will be sent if the incident isn’t resolved as expected (such as an external demonstration), or a progress update and concluding email for incidents that take longer to resolve or when there will be an interest in the outcome.

23. In accordance with DSO 08/2016 – Management of adults at risk in immigration detention - all communications relating to individuals being managed under this policy must clearly identify the individual as an adult at risk.

Wider communication of red and amber incidents

24. The DS Service Delivery Manager or their deputy or, out of hours, Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above), must text the SCS Deputy Director of Detention Services to notify them of any red incident that has occurred, and for any amber incidents of significance including concerted indiscipline that require the attendance of NTRG, or that have a major impact on the running of an IRC.

25. Contracted Service providers should make local arrangements with Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs) on how red and amber incidents will be reported to them. Verbally communicating an incident to a Board Member in person is preferable, or over the phone when Board Members are not on site, with a text message to follow to evidence that contact has been made or attempted.

26. Where an incident has occurred elsewhere in the immigration removal estate that may impact another centre or our detained escorting operations, the relevant Grade 6 (or a nominated deputy (or if out of hours the Duty Head of Detention Operations will send one formal communication for the attention of all relevant Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB), copying the mailbox from the IMB Secretariat in the Ministry of Justice.

27. It will be for the Head of Detention Operations and Head of DEPMU (or their relevant deputies outside of normal business hours) to consider whether a red or amber incident has the potential to impact the management of the population in the individual IRC or wider estate.

28. The DS Security Team provide on call support to other DS and IRSC operational teams and will be contacted by the DS rostered or duty Senior Manager outside of normal office hours should an estate-wide security bulletin need to be circulated to the relevant colleagues, including our contracted service providers.

29. Where appropriate, the DS or IRSC Grade 6 (or Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above)) may amend the distribution list below if additional notifications are required, or if they are satisfied that the handling and resolution of the incident do not require further immediate escalation.

Critical incidents (CI)

30. A CI is a red incident that requires a response outside of normal business arrangements and which will likely continue for an extended duration, be of significant complexity and may require enhanced measures, resources and/or mutual aid over and above those required to respond to a normal isolated incident, such as professional assistance from a specialist authority.

31. An incident in the immigration removal estate is critical if it is likely to result in one or both of the following:

• significant risk to lives, harm to individuals, property, and the good order and discipline of the of the centre or wider detention estate.

• significant impact on the confidence of the public in the Home Office.

32. The response to a CI is likely to include some or all the following characteristics, although it is common for isolated incidents to contain some of the below characteristics, and this is not to be confused when declaring a CI:

• It requires an immediate response that cannot be managed within normal arrangements (such as enhanced levels of rapid briefing to provide situational awareness or out of hours cover).

• It requires action by emergency services in response to a declared ‘major incident’ (see JESIP Joint Doctrine for definition of a major incident) or mutual assistance from outside agencies, such as His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) National Tactical Response Group or local police forces.

• It requires engagement with senior officials and ministers.

• It requires co-ordination with other government departments.

33. A CI can only be declared by the DS or IRSC Deputy Director (SCS), their nominated deputy (Grade 6), or the IE On-call Duty SCS outside of normal business hours (after speaking to the DS Duty Head of Detention Operations or IRSC Senior Manager (Grade 7 or above)).

34. When raising a CI, National Command and Control Unit (NCCU) are to be contacted by the DS or IRSC Gold commander. Ahead of the formal (wider) incident notification, the NCCU CIO should be called on the number published internally. NCCU, or a senior DS or IRSC manager, should contact IE’s Duty Director to inform them of our intention to raise a CI before it is communicated to the wider business. Senior managers should also call the NCCU CIO if there is a possibility that a red incident may end up as a CI.

35. NCCU will advise on the action to take after being notified of the decision to declare a critical incident. It will be the responsibility of the relevant Deputy Director in Detention Services, who will function as IE’s gold commander in many instances, or a nominated deputy or out of hours the Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above), to specify roles and actions. NCCU will pass on their critical incident management guidance to inform the approach to take, however, as a minimum we must:

• Log and record all decisions made in relation to the CI in the relevant SharePoint folder and the rationale for them, including the time these were made and by whom.

• Ensure reporting (follow the initial incident notification) continues to the wider copy list for a red incident and includes those colleagues assisting with the critical incident.

• Consideration is given as to who will support the IE ‘gold’ commander as part of the command structure. ‘Silver’ and ‘bronze’ commanders will be required to support them.

Distribution Lists

36. The Annex A local (initial) notification is to be sent to the appropriate distribution list as detailed below. Consideration should be given to the content of the notification being shared, should it be deemed that the information contained will likely cause upset then the email subject should contain the following wording CONTAINS DETAILS THAT MAY CAUSE DISTRESS.

• Green- DSGreenIncidentNotification adding the local Service Delivery Manager and Area Manager in addition to on call managers.

• Amber- DSAMBERIncidentNotification

• Red- DSREDIncidentNotification

As a minimum these distribution lists include the following recipients.

Green incident (poise addresses) – initial notification

DS Service Delivery Manager, DS Area Manager and DS Compliance Manager

DET Area Manager, local DET HEOs

DS Operations Chief of Staff, DS Incident Oversight, and IRSC Escorting Operations Staff Officer, DS On-call senior managers (inc rostered duty SEO)

DS Security Team mailbox

DS COOT Senior Managers (G6 and G7)

DEPMU Duty Manager, DEPMU Duty SEO

Head of Escorting Performance, Delivery and Compliance (for escorting-related issues) (G7)

DS Ops – Incident reports

Method and frequency

Reported by exception and via email.

Separately, Service Delivery Manager or DS Operations Chief of Staff or IRSC Escorting Operations Staff Officer should forward anything considered significant to Deputy Director of Detention Services or Deputy Director of IRSC, alongside the relevant Grade 6s

Amber and red incident (poise addresses) – initial notification

DS Service Delivery Manager, DS Area Manager and DS Compliance Manager

DET G7, Area Manager, local DET HEOs

DS Operations Chief of Staff, DS Incident Oversight, IRSC Escorting Operations Staff Officer, COOT Chief of Staff, DS On-call senior managers (inc rostered duty SEO)

DS Security Team mailbox

Head of Detention Services (SCS)

Head of International and Returns Services Command (SCS)

Head of Detention Operations (G6) Head of Detention Operations Projects (G6)

Head of DEPMU (G6)

Head of Escorting Operations (G6)

Head of Detention, Progression and Returns Command (G6)

DS COOT Senior Managers (G6 and 7)

DEPMU Duty Manager, DEPMU Duty SEO

Head of Escorting Performance, Delivery and Compliance (for escorting- related issues) (G7)

IRC-SLT distribution list (for red incidents)

National Command and Control Unit (NCCU) CIO

DS Ops – Incident reports

Method and frequency

Email and call to DS Service Delivery Manager to alert them to incident. Head of Detention Operations to then be called for all red incidents.

Consider texting Head of Detention Operations and Deputy Director of Detention Services

Send notification to relevant casework SCS.

Updates to take place at the start and end of an incident, or any frequency stipulated by DS Service Delivery Manager or Area Manager.

Outside of regular business hours, the rostered or duty Senior Manager is to call the DS Security Officer for any incident which may have wider implications for the estate and our operations, for which a security bulletin may be required.

Wider notification to be considered, i.e., Comms News desk and Rebuttal

Comms SMT for incidents that may attract media attention.

37. The wider (formal) incident copy list I below. Those individuals/teams marked with an asterisk should be included for incidents that occur out of regular business hours only.

Red incident (poise addresses)	Amber incident (poise addresses)
Private Office – Out of hours *	Immigration Enforcement Secretariat -
Minister for Border Security and Asylum and Permanent Secretaries’ Private Office	Director General for Immigration Enforcement and Private Office
Director General for Immigration Enforcement and Private Office	Migration and Borders Rapid Response Team Hub on call*
Migration and Borders Rapid Response Team
Migration and Borders Rapid Response Team Hub on call* Migration and Borders Rapid Response Team	Deputy Director of Detention Services Deputy Director of Detention Strategy and Programmes
Immigration Enforcement Secretariat -	Director, Immigration Detention
Immigration Enforcement On-call Director	Detention Services’ Security Team
Deputy Director of Detention Services Deputy Director of Detention Strategy and Programmes	IRC – SLT DS Ops SMT DEPMU Duty Manager
Deputy Director of International and Returns Services Command	Deputy Director of Casework and Returns & FNO Returns Command
Directors, Returns Logistics, Casework and Returns	Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime and Director of Strategic Services and Transformation
Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime Director of Strategic Services and Transformation	Press Office News desk and Rebuttal Comms SMT Comms – Asylum and IRCs Comms – Illegal Migration
Comms News desk and Rebuttal Comms SMT Comms – Border Security and Asylum	Comms News desk and Rebuttal Comms – Border Security and Asylum
National Command and Control Unit (NCCU) CIO	National Command and Control Unit (NCCU) CIO
Detention Services’ Security Team	Detention Services’ Security Team
IRC – SLT DS Ops SMT DEPMU Duty Manager

All Red and Amber incidents must also be sent to the relevant casework SMT, and the DET. Notification should be made to the relevant casework area using the details provided in the Migration and Borders’ weekly duty rota. All emails should be copied to the relevant casework G6 and G7 mailboxes.

DS and IRSC Escorting Operations On-call structure

38. Detention Services and IRSC Escorting Operations operate an on-call structure, with a weekly rota. The weekly period of duty for a DS and Escorting Operations on call officer starts at 17:00hrs on Friday through to 09:00hrs the following Friday morning.

39. Contact details for on call officers are circulated weekly, in advance, by Detention Services. It is the responsibility of each individual DS Compliance team to provide the Detention Services on call list to the centre contracted service provider at their centre as soon as it is available. Local arrangements should be put in place to ensure that all contracted service providers operating at the centre (e.g., healthcare) are aware of how to raise an incident through a single point i.e., the IRC contracted service provider.

40. The three levels of on call for Detention Services are:

• A local DS Compliance on call officer (EO/HEO) for each IRC who is the initial out of hours point of contact for IRC contracted service providers and IE staff for both Compliance and DET based at IRCs.

• A DS rostered or duty Senior Manager (SEO/G7), who is the first point of contact for the local Compliance team on call officer to report and escalate a category Red or Amber incident.

• A DS Duty Head of Detention Operations (G7/G6/SCS), who is the point of escalation for the IE on call manager in the event of a Red or Amber incident. The DS Duty Head of Detention Operations can also be contacted directly if the DS rostered or duty Senior Manager is not available.

41. Separately, the Detainee Escorting and Population Management Unit (DEPMU), provides a 24-hour duty officer for escorting matters and short-term holding facilities, including holding rooms at ports of entry and reporting centres. The Duty Officer can deal with most issues flagged to DEPMU, however, if matters are complex or require escalation the DEPMU Senior on call manager will be contacted. The DEPMU senior on call manager will then, where required, consult with the DS Senior Manager and escalate amber and red incidents to the IRSC Senior Manager and/or the DS Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above)

42. In addition to the On-call system for immigration detention facilities and related operations, IE operates an IE wide on call director (SCS) system. The IE on call SCS is a point of consultation for the DS Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above) in the event of an incident that extends beyond the immigration removal estate and involves other IE or Home Office areas of responsibility. This is most relevant in the case of an escape or abscond.

43. Any contact by the Compliance team with on call officers should be made to their mobile telephone number and if there is no reply the rostered or duty Senior Manager should be the second of point of contact. Officers who know they are not going to be available for short periods should arrange in advance for their mobile telephones to be diverted to a colleague who is competent and authorised to undertake on call duties.

44. Incidents in IRCs should be reported to the most senior member of the on-site Compliance team on duty who will then escalate as appropriate. If the on-site member of the team cannot be located or the notification is required out of hours, this should be made directly to the local DS on-call officer.

45. Red or Amber incidents that begin during office hours must be handed over by the DS Area Manager to the rostered or duty Senior Manager with the Duty Head of Detention Operations being made aware, where possible this should be done verbally. Thereafter the rostered or duty Senior Manager and Duty Head of Detention Operations must be copied into local incident notifications. Where possible, a decision on whether an incident should be circulated to the wider incident copy list should be made within office hours.

46. The DS or IRSC Grade 6 (or above) will consider the commissioning of an internal review or independent investigation into red and amber incidents, particularly if there are Article 3 (ECHR) considerations (DSO 02/2020 Commissioning reviews of serious incidents refers). This will be done immediately following the return to business as usual and where this occurs out of hours, consideration should be given on the next working day. Special arrangements for notifying a death in detention.

47. In the event of a death in detention certain additional notifications must be undertaken without undue delay (as set out in DSO 08/2014 Deaths in Detention).

External assistance (for red and amber incidents)

48. Where, on the recommendation of an IRC contracted service provider in England, external aid is required from HMPPS, a senior manager from the relevant contracted service provider should alert the HMPPS’ National Incident Management Unit (NIMU) using the single incident number which is published with the weekly on call contact details, without delay.

49. For incidents that require mutual assistance, the local Service Delivery (Grade 7) will be available to advise the HMPPS’ Gold Commander. Outside of normal business hours, the DS Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above) will be available.

50. Different arrangements for mutual assistance are in place in Scotland. In the case of a disturbance in Dungavel House, Police Scotland will provide mutual aid. Outside of normal business hours, the DS Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above) will provide advice to the Police Scotland Gold Commander to assist in the management of the incident.

51. It may be necessary for DS staff to attend the command suite of the Centre if it is essential and where the need cannot be met in some other way. The decision as to whether it is necessary to attend the command suite will be reached during discussion between the local on-call officer and rostered or duty Senior Manager, including the Duty Head of Detention Operations if deemed necessary.

Continuing incidents

52. In the event of a prolonged incident outside of normal business hours, the rostered or duty Senior Manager dealing with the incident will consult with the DS Duty Head of Detention Operations Duty (Grade 7 or above) regarding the provision of an alternative duty Senior manager for the rest of the estate.

53. For incidents requiring ongoing management, the relevant Deputy Director (SCS), Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above), may decide to open an incident suite in either the Home Office Croydon estate or at DEPMU’s London office, if remote arrangements aren’t deemed sufficient. A room with facilities and support will be designated in these locations to manage the incident. This will be in addition to any incident suite that may be opened by the contracted service provider at the affected immigration detention facility. The relevant DS Grade 6 or Duty Head of Detention Operations (Grade 7 or above) outside of normal business hours) will determine how the IE incident suite will be staffed and by who. The relevant staff would need to be spoken to during normal business hours to discuss the ongoing management of any incident and the responsibilities of their staff.

54. Red and Amber incidents that start during office hours should be escalated by the Compliance manager or their deputy (or other team member) to the area manager responsible for that centre, who will then escalate further as appropriate. Should the severity of the incident have the potential to impact on other centres in the detention estate the local Compliance team manager or their deputy will assume the responsibility for contacting the DS Security Team so an estate-wide security bulletin can be circulated to the relevant colleagues, including our contracted service providers.

Reporting incidents occurring on charter flights

55. Returns Logistics Operations (RLO) Charter Team (RLO Charters) is operationally responsible for reporting and communicating incidents relating to charter flights and have their own command structure for each flight. This reporting structure is activated;

• once the charter flight escort provider has left a centre and the RLO flight Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) is contacted by the Senior Security Officer (SSO) or an Assistant Security Officer regarding an incident; and

• in any event, once the flight CIO has arrived at the port of departure and met face to face with escorts, medics and returnees.

Mid-Flight / Disembarkation incidents

56. Prior to departure for the return journey, the SSO will call the DEPMU Duty Officer to report all incidents involving self-harm or use of control and restraint that occurred after departure or during disembarkation. Any serious incident that has the potential for wider impact will be reported by the flight CIO without delay to the RLO Charters flight silver commander on landing at the destination or where an unscheduled landing is made. The silver commander will determine whether the incident should be notified to the gold commander.

Post incident reporting (All)

57. At the conclusion of a reportable incident, IRC contracted service providers will provide a factual summary of the incident to the DS Compliance Manager. This report must include a timeline of key events, actions, interventions, and notifications occurring and the outcome / lessons learned from any post incident de-briefs within 24 hours. A summary of all incident reports, observations from CCTV or body worn cameras, interviews or other intelligence gathered must be made available to the Compliance Manager as soon as operationally possible (as set out in DSO 02/2020 commissioning of investigations)

58. Following the incident and as soon as practicably possible, IRC contracted service providers must conduct a welfare check on affected individuals and staff.

59. The Home Office Compliance Manager will escalate daily to the local Area and Service Delivery Manager (SEO and Grade 7) a summary of all Red and Amber incidents. A summary of Green incidents reported by the contracted service provider must also be escalated to the local Area and Service Delivery Manager, when further investigation is considered appropriate by the Compliance Manager, as soon as possible.

60. A DEPMU Duty Manager will escalate all Red and Amber incidents, or Green incidents considered to require further investigation, to a DEPMU senior manager (Grade 7).

Contingency planning

61. The contracted service provider shall provide, outline Contingency Plans that, as a minimum, address the following incidents:

• Concerted indiscipline (Active or Passive);

• Escape from an IRC;

• Escape from escort;

• Hostage (static and on the move);

• Death of a resident in custody (please refer to Rule 36 link in point 45 of this document);

• Death of a resident whilst on escort;

• Death of other person (on duty or in the IRC);

• Roof climbing;

• Bomb threat / explosion;

• Firearm/ ammunition / CI spray (actual find/threat of presence);

• Key/Lock compromise;

• Radio compromise;

• Full close down search;

• Fire;

• Barricade;

• Widespread illness; communicable diseases, including pandemics;

• Intruder in the grounds;

• Tool loss;

• Public demonstrations;

• Loss of Services, including third-party non-sub-contracted Services;

• Total evacuation of the IRC to a temporary site, and

• Withdrawal of labour/Contracted Service Provider Staff strike.

• Incident at Height

62. The IRC contracted service provider shall operate a monthly testing regime for contingency plans where all contingency plans are tested annually including two (2) separate live exercises, to which the local DS compliance team and DS Incident and Counter Corruption Hub shall be invited.

63. The schedule of planned testing shall be agreed with the local DS Compliance team at the commencement of each contract year.

64. Contingency Plans shall be reviewed and updated following lessons learned from incidents and completed tests.

Lessons learned

65. The IRC contracted service provider shall conduct a review to which DS compliance team and Incident and Counter Corruption Hub will be invited following the resolution of any incident which required command mode to be enacted. Any review conducted after the resolution of an Incident shall be completed within 14 working days and will include:

• analyse all aspects of the Incident, including the procedures used to resolve the incident;

• View all available footage;

• assess the reactions and responses of staff at the IRC to the incident;

• review the effectiveness of the Contingency Plans in the light of the Incident; and

• seek prior written approval from the Authority and consider the media responses, if any, to the Incident.

Self-Audit

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

67. Compliance teams must also conduct annual audits against their respective responsibilities stated within this DSO for the same purpose.

Revision History

Review date	Reviewed by	Review outcome	Next review
March 2016	Gillian Foley	Expansion of notifications for Red and Amber incidents and clarification on primacy of national versus detention on call structures	March 2017
May 2016	Emily Jarvis	Amendments to wider internal communications section	May 2018
March 2017	Jose Domingos	Reformat and corrections to the contact details of wider stakeholders and incident rating	July 2019
June 2020	Shadia Ali	Updated to include - the distribution of roles between Compliance teams and DETs - taken out of hours element to include incidents at all hours	June 2022
March 2021	Kevin Teefey	Updated actions for Contracted Service Providers and Compliance Teams following reported RED incidents.	June 2022
September 2024	Kyle Butler	Updated to include: - Clarified reporting requirements (including initial notification requirements) - Updated red and amber incident copy lists - Included detail around raising a critical incident - Included incident type list - Self-audit section added	September 2025

Annex A: Reporting Template

Location of Incident
Date of incident		Time of incident
Type of incident (Primary)
Type of incident (Secondary)
Type of incident (Tertiary)
Summary of incident (reports of protest to include reason/s if known)
Immediate actions taken
Emergency services in attendance
Mutual aid requested
Command suite opened
Key notifications undertaken (including time of notification)
Key impact on immigration removal facility
IMB on site
Press in attendance
Planned frequency of updates

Surname of resident/residents involved (if applicable)	Role in incident	Nationality	ATLAS reference	AAR If yes add level	FNO Y/ N	Casework command

Annex B: Incident Type List

Note: This list is not exhaustive and is used as a reference. Centre Contracted Service Providers and Home Office staff must communicate issues sooner if they believe the incident has escalated more than this list suggests.

Incident Type	Categorisation
Authority required to use DC Rule 40/42 (Or when DC Rule 40/42 is used in an emergency)	Green
Resident attending hospital outside of an arranged appointment.	Green
Use of Force used (DC Rule 41)	Green
Drug or alcohol finds	Green
Minor physical altercations between residents	Green
Damage to property	Green
Weapons finds	Green
Theft	Green
Fire that does not require the presence of emergency services (Non-serious)	Green
Breach of Internet security	Green
Key, lock (including handcuffs) or radio compromise	Green
A resident making an age dispute claim	Green
Confirmed pregnancy of a detained individual	Green
Any attempted breach of a security system that does not relate to an abscond or escape, where no weaknesses in security measures are exposed or overcome	Green
Loss or theft of any media sensitive information (e.g., laptops or media storage device)	Green
Full closedown search	Green
Mobile phone signal, internet, or Wi-Fi outage (Amber incident if outage lasts over 6 hours)	Green
One case of a minor infectious or notifiable disease (copy DS Healthcare lead into notification)	Green
Self-harm attempts not considered life-threatening	Green
Medical issue which requires the attendance of an ambulance and /or hospitalisation of a resident (non-blue light)	Green
Incident which requires the attendance of an ambulance and /or hospitalisation of a resident (non-blue light)	Green
Serious medical issue which requires the attendance of an ambulance and/or hospitalisation of a resident (blue light)	Amber
Serious incident which requires the attendance of an ambulance and/or hospitalisation of a resident (blue light)	Amber
Successful or attempted external breach of physical security,	Amber
Barricade / prevention of access by residents	Amber
Physical assault on a resident, staff member or visitor where the police have been notified and/or medical treatment is required	Amber
Sexual assault on a resident, staff member or visitor where the police have been notified and/or medical treatment is required	Amber
Near death incidents (which include serious acts of self-harm considered life threatening, accidents, medical emergencies, assault, or injury because of use of force which have required hospitalisation or the use of techniques to resuscitate an individual and which would have resulted in death within minutes had staff or circumstance not intervened)	Amber
Any internal demonstration (green incident if an internal protest is passive and involves five residents or fewer)	Amber
Any external demonstration (green incident if external demo is planned and consists of two individuals or fewer)	Amber
Credible attempts to abscond or escape.
(Especially where physical security measures are overcome or weaknesses in security measures exposed or overcome)	Amber
Incident in the public domain	Amber
Concerted indiscipline involving 2 or more residents	Amber
Loss of services, that impact the operational delivery	Amber
Industrial action by IRC contracted service provider staff	Amber
Loss of tool/implement (Any item that is etched and/or accounted for)	Amber
Outbreak (2 or more cases) of a minor infectious or notifiable disease	Amber
An assault of a child (at the PDA or a visiting child) by either a resident, member of staff or visitor to an IRC	Amber
Any instance of unlawful detention (likely to be a DET or caseworker lead for wider reporting*)	Amber
Release of a resident in error (DET lead)	Amber
Data loss (which requires a report to the Office of the Data Protection Officer (ODPO))	Amber
Incident at height (Internal area of centre which include but are not limited to; safety netting, contained within courtyards, bunk beds)	Amber
Serious loss of data that could result in significant risk to individuals or reputational damage	Amber
Concerted indiscipline involving several residents that requires the presence of HMPPS “Concerted indiscipline involving 2 or more residents where significant damage has been caused and/ or has led to staff withdrawal from an area of the centre or resulted in staff becoming trapped and requires the assistance of specialist resources”	Red
Bomb or other threat of explosion	Red
An assault of a child (at the PDA or a visiting child) by either a resident, member of staff or visitor to an IRC which requires external medical treatment	Red
Death in detention (including resident, staff, or visitor)	Red
Escape when a detained individual overcomes a physical barrier/s to unlawfully gain freedom from detention (so you escape from an IRC or STHF).	Red
Abscond - when a detained individual is outside of a centre/facility for legitimate reasons (i.e., an escorted move) but fails to comply with the conditions of the discharge and unlawfully gains freedom from detention.	Red
Incident at height (External area of centre, which include but are not limited to; centre roof, sterile areas, any areas that could attract public or media attention)	Red
Serious fire resulting in loss of accommodation and/ or an evacuation	Red
Unplanned demonstration outside the IRC that requires police intervention	Red
Hostage situation	Red
One or more case of a high-consequence infectious disease	Red
Any event outside of the control of the centre or the Home Office that is likely to render the centre completely or partly inoperable or necessitate any evacuation.	Red
Any serious incident involving a high-profile resident	Red
Serious weapons find (e.g., firearm, ammunition)	Red
Evacuation of an IRC or RSTHF	Red