Hairdresser to rake in £31,500 for pampering illegal migrants awaiting deportation at Heathrow

Site operator Mitie is advertising for the full-time position, which it said would involve delivering a "range of hairdressing and barbering styles".

This includes cutting, braiding and dying hair.

The applicant would work 40 hours per week and earn £31,585 each year, as well as have access to "excellent company benefits".

The ad states that the hairdresser should create and maintain a "safe, secure, positive and friendly" environment where detainees feel "welcomed and respected".

Mitie is also currently advertising for a £30,000-per-year chef to work at the removal centre, as well as Buddhist and Hindu Chaplains.

The firm describes itself as the "Home Office’s leading provider of immigration removal service".

In July, it announced it had been awarded a six-year contract with the Home Office to run the Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre near the village of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, which is set to be reopened after it shut in 2018 due to riots, escapes and poor conditions.

William Yarwood, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told The Sun: "It’s outrageous that taxpayers are funding haircuts for people who are being deported.

"At a time when public services are crumbling and families are struggling to make ends meet, taxpayers are being forced to bankroll barbers for people who broke the law to get here.

"The only thing that deportees should be getting cut is the amount of time they spend in the UK."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We do not directly fund these roles.”

A spokesman for Mitie said: "This role is part of our contractual obligations and is standard practice in secure environments.

"We continue to work closely with the Home Office to ensure services provide value for money."

Heathrow IRC combines Colnbrook and Harmondsworth deportation centres.

It is the largest in Europe, with a capacity of around 965 detainees, according to Mitie's website.

Prison inspectors visited Harmondsworth IRC in 2024 and discovered "the worst conditions they have seen in immigration detention", their report states.

Inspectors found assaults were taking place as well as drug-taking, reporting a small of cannabis and detainees "openly smoking" in communal areas.

The report stated that almost two-thirds of men detained at the centre said they felt unsafe.

Following an inspection this year however, it was noted that "excellent progress" had been made at the site.

"Staff were now more consistently challenging unacceptable behaviour from detainees, including the smoking of illegal drugs, leading to a generally calmer and safer atmosphere," the report, published in April, stated.