Immigration officers are being encouraged to compete to arrest the highest number of suspected illegal migrants and can be rewarded with chocolate cake or a box of Roses, according to a trade union.
The names and occasionally the photographs of the most successful officers are fixed to the wall of their offices by managers, in an echo of an employee of the month award, according to the PCS union.
Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the union, which represents many of the officers, is demanding that the Home Office curtails the informal practice in the wake of the Windrush scandal.
He said the schemes were supposed to incentivise officers but may be seen as evidence that staff are still under pressure from the Home Office to apprehend suspects in significant numbers.
Theresa May’s government abandoned immigration removal targets seven weeks ago after the Guardian uncovered the Windrush scandal. Campaigners claimed the targets encouraged Home Office staff to pursue people seen as “low-hanging fruit”.
After the resignation of Amber Rudd as home secretary, her successor, Sajid Javid, claimed he had rejected May’s “hostile environment” policy and said he would pursue a “fairer, more compassionate” system.
Serwotka said he was shocked to hear from members about the incentives. “The pressures on staff in the Home Office and those working in immigration in particular has been intolerable, with people being moved from pillar to post because of staff shortages.
“Our members have been clear that they have been put under pressure to implement what have been racist policies for too long. We know that managers have presented cakes and chocolates to officers who detained the highest number of people – a way of trying to incentivise staff – but it is grotesque. We demand that the Home Office stops this practice,” he said.
There are 19 immigration compliance and enforcement (Ice) teams across the country. They work alongside the police, HM Revenue & Customs, local authorities and other local partners.
Ice teams carry out various operations including breaking up sham marriages, raiding homes and tracking down and arresting refused asylum seekers, people who have overstayed their visas and others identified to be detained and deported.
An informed source said some offices had employed different ways of encouraging staff for many years, and some practices had taken place as recently as several weeks ago. “Whoever made the most arrests in a month would get cake and possibly a box of Roses. This would be shared by the team. Their photograph would be stuck up on the wall, rather like an employee of the month,” the source said.
Rudd was forced to resign after telling the home affairs select committee that there were no removal targets, only for such targets to be uncovered the following day.
Javid has since challenged some of the targets used by the Home Office. He said there was a “perception problem” over the decision to include students in net immigration figures and said he would “think more carefully” about the cap on the number of skilled workers given visas.
A Home Office spokesperson said the department did not recognise the claims of internal competition. “We have been clear, we do not intend to set targets for enforced removals or arrests, and there are no targets in the current year.
“Immigration enforcement is an operational directorate within the Home Office responsible for enforcing immigration law. The conduct of the officers is of the utmost importance throughout this process, and we are clear that they must act lawfully, professionally and treat people with dignity,” he said.