Manston Processing Centre, Kent

The Manston site was developed at speed in 2022 to handle the surge in Channel arrivals, working in tandem with the Western Jet Foil reception point at Dover. As an arrivals processing centre, the standard expected length of stay is 24 hours, after which arrivals are dispersed to other accommodation modalities. The October 2022 crisis was driven by an acute breakdown of the dispersal pipeline rather than the site itself^[1]GOV.UK.

In late October and early November 2022 the centre held over 4,000 people, with some arrivals reportedly remaining on site for several weeks. A diphtheria outbreak was confirmed at the site and at downstream accommodation. The ICIBI's 2023 inspection of Western Jet Foil and Manston identified failures of contingency planning, healthcare provision and onward dispersal, and the then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman was the subject of parliamentary questions about her decisions during the crisis^[1]GOV.UK.

Processing-site costs sit between asylum hotel rates and IRC bed-day costs, reflecting lower per-person staffing ratios than detention but higher infrastructure overheads than dispersed flats. The May 2025 NAO accommodation report tracked Manston operating costs separately from the £1.296 billion asylum hotel bill but identified the site as a continuing cost driver in the wider system^[2]NAO.