Serco Group PLC (LON:SRP) will manage the UK Home Office’s immigration removal centres at Gatwick Airport for the next eight years.
The outsourcing company, which has paid more than £91mln in fines and settlements for overcharging on UK prisoner electronic tagging contracts over several years, said on Thursday that it had won the £200mln contract and expected to begin work on in mid-May.
Serco, which is listed on the FTSE 250 index, said it will manage and operate both the Brook House and Tinsley House immigration removal centres, as well as the “pre-departure accommodation” for people about to be deported.
Serco chief executive Rupert Soames said: "We are very pleased to have been awarded this new contract to manage the Gatwick immigration removal centres."
The contract award comes just a day after Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled an overhaul to the UK immigration rules, including an Australian-style points system.
The immigration removal centres are currently being run by G4S PLC (LON:GFS), which said last year it would no longer work in the immigration and asylum sector, after a scandal erupted over the treatment by the company's staff at Gatwick's Brook House centre.
Soames said the Home Office "has made significant investment in the design and resourcing of the new contract, and we are committed to ensuring that there is a healthy, decent environment in the centres for all residents and employees".
Shares in Serco were down more than 1% to 156.1p, while G4S was up almost 1% to 204.6p just before noon.