Tinsley House IRC, Gatwick

Tinsley House opened in 1996 as one of the UK's earliest IRCs and was the first to be paired with another centre on the same site when Brook House opened alongside it in 2009. The Gatwick IRC contract is held by Serco. The centre holds men under immigration powers, plus families with children in a separate annexed unit^[2]GOV.UK.

Since May 2017 a pre-departure accommodation unit at Tinsley House has held families with children for up to 72 hours pending removal. Following the closure of the Cedars pre-departure accommodation, the site was scaled up in 2023 with a new welfare contract awarded for the family unit. The April 2023 HMIP inspection recorded that, of 19 families that had been detained, five were released following legal challenge. The Chief Inspector recommended that the Home Office analyse why so many removals fail, with a view to reducing the detention of children and families^[1]GOV.UK^[3]Press.

At an indicative IRC bed-day rate of £350, the 219-place capacity at Tinsley House implies an annual operating run-rate of roughly £28 million if fully utilised. The May 2025 NAO accommodation report tracked detention costs separately from the £1.296 billion asylum hotel bill but identified detention modalities as among the most expensive accommodation options^[4]NAO.