News has just broken out that the Home Office pays a wage of £1 an hour to detained immigrants who perform several manual labor tasks. This in actuality is true and is not, in fact, a breach of the Minimum Wage Act 1998. A minister at the Houses of Parliament that the detained immigrants ‘benefit from the £1-an-hour wage at immigration centers. A Liberal Democrat, Baroness Hamwee, has questioned the morality of such a wage and has asked if the £1-an-hour wage scheme was, “something to be proud of”. In response to this question, Baroness Williams fired back by stating that the work was voluntary and was intended to, “relieve boredom” while being detained.
Baroness Williams has also stated that the scheme is not to take advantage of helpless people and save money but to help meet “recreational and creative” needs. Recent findings have also shown the Home Office is able to save £300,000 per month by acting out this scheme which leads to a total of £3,600,000. Despite these figures Misses Williams remains adamant that immigration removal centers are not designed to provide cheap labor and exploit them. She has said that “this money is not wages as the ordinary working population would see it”, adding that the wage rate is “being reviewed” and a report is expected to be received by the end of the year.
