The Home Office is preparing for small boat crossings of the Channel to carry on for more than a decade after advertising contracts worth more than £520million to manage arrivals.
The department is seeking private companies to manage the Western Jet Foil in Dover, where migrants are subjected to initial checks after being picked up in the Channel, and the nearby Manston processing centre.
The tenders cover the provision of security, healthcare, catering, accommodation, transportation and other support services required by new arrivals, and are slated to start in January 2026 and run until January 2032.
There is an option to extend them for a further four years – suggesting ministers are braced for small boat crossings to continue until 2036.
The duration of the contracts appears to cast doubt on Sir Keir Starmer’s promise to ‘smash’ the people smuggling gangs behind the crossings, although they contain a break clause ‘if the need for the services is successfully reduced over time’.
It comes as the flow of Channel migrants continued unabated, with 142 making it to the UK on Friday followed by 471 people on Saturday.
The latest arrivals bring the total so far for 2024 to 27,225 which is a 5% increase on the same time last year but 25% less than 2022.
By October 12 2023, 25,931 people had made the crossing and in 2022, 36,491 had arrived.
The crossings on Saturday came a week after four people, including a two-year-old boy, died after two boats got into trouble off the coast of France on Saturday October 5.
The fatal incidents came on the same day as 973 migrants crossed in 17 small boats, the biggest daily number this year.
last week revealed how an illegal migrant has racked up millions of views on TikTok by boastfully posting videos of him attempting to cross the English Channel on a small boat.
Asylum seeker Mada Pasa, who has a Kalashnikov face tattoo, has provoked fury with his online videos in which he pretends to fire a gun and ‘vlogs’ his efforts to illegally reach the UK from northern France.
In one video, Pasa, believed to be from Afghanistan, is seen imitating firing a weapon with three young women sat on his lap. In another, he is staying in a tent with two hooded friends, one of whom is posing with a real gun.
Pasa, who had been living in Stockholm before travelling to France, has shared more than 60 videos, racking up almost 20,000 followers, 227,000 likes and millions of views as he tries to become a TikTok star by sharing content from the treacherous journey.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, wrote on X of the new contracts: ‘471 illegals crossed the Channel yesterday and now the government is giving out 6 year contracts worth £521m for processing centres. Starmer has no intention of stopping the boats.’
Outlining what the services are needed for, the contract states: ‘The Manston Reception Centre and Disembarkation Point/s in Kent require providers of Operator and Healthcare Services, including managing staffing of operations, security, healthcare facilities, and other wraparound services.
‘The aim of the services is to provide a safe and secure environment, where Border Force can register and process individuals arriving in the UK on small boats from across the English Channel.’
Outlining what services are required, the Home Office document states: ‘The Manston Reception Centre and Disembarkation Point/s in Kent require providers of Operator and Healthcare Services, including managing staffing of operations, security, healthcare facilities, and other wraparound services.
‘The aim of the services is to provide a safe and secure environment, where Border Force can register and process individuals arriving in the UK on small boats from across the English Channel.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We are committed to smashing the criminal smuggling gangs responsible for overcrowding people onto boats for financial gain.
‘We are procuring to reduce the number of providers that run the Manston site to cut costs and save the taxpayer money.
‘However, in time, as we take down the people smuggling gangs through the work of the Border Security Command, we expect to see fewer people exploited into making these dangerous journeys.’