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Campsfield immigration removal centre: factsheet

Updated 9 December 2025

December 2025

Introduction

The Home Office has redeveloped an immigration removal centre (IRC) at the former Campsfield House, near Oxford. Development is being undertaken in two phases: refurbishment of existing buildings (Phase 1 now complete) and new build accommodation (Phase 2).

Campsfield IRC, once completed, will be a mixture of refurbished and new-build accommodation built to the latest standards, taking account of findings from external scrutiny reports and internal lessons learned reviews to provide modern, safe, secure and connected accommodation for detained men.

Detention general

Published Home Office detention policy is clear that detention for the purpose of removal must only ever be used where there is a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable timeframe.   

In the year ending September 2025, the data shows that the majority of people (98%) who left detention were detained for less than 6 months, 67% were detained for 1 month or less, and 27% were detained for 7 days (1 week) or less.

Individuals can be granted bail, by either the Home Office or Court.

People who are granted bail will be released to addresses throughout the UK. Some of them will have accommodation and are often released to it.  We would not expect large numbers of individuals released on bail to remain in the local area given people are likely to have addresses throughout the UK.   

Read more about how many people are detained or returned.

Campsfield IRC

Campsfield IRC opened on 1 December 2025, following completion of Phase 1 construction, providing 160 bed spaces for detained men in refurbished accommodation (compared to 282 in the former IRC which closed in 2018).

Phase 2 will develop alongside the operational IRC and will provide a further 240 beds - increasing the capacity of the IRC to 400 beds in total - once complete.

Planning permission is required for Phase 2 of the development and will be sought via the Crown development route. Crown development applications require extensive consultation of the local planning authority.

As part of our planning for the development of this IRC, we have been in discussion with local councillors and Members of Parliament, other local stakeholders such as the police, fire, health services and independent oversight bodies.

Read more about Crown Development.

Facilities and environment

The site is a secure IRC and has robust physical security measures and appropriate security procedures in place to ensure the facility operates safely and securely, including fencing at the perimeter of the site and security measures in place to keep the site safe and secure, protecting both local residents and those detained. Detained men are held under immigration powers and are not free to leave the centre or access the local area or services.

The IRC holds a mixture of time-served foreign national offenders and immigration offenders while we prepare to remove them from the UK. An individual may be detained under immigration powers under certain circumstances, for example whilst their identity is being established, where there is a risk of absconding, or in support of the return of an individual with no legal right to be in the UK.

All rooms meet the standards as set out in the accommodation standards Detention Services Order (DSO). Bedrooms will primarily be dual occupancy.

Further information about our DSOs can be found on GOV.UK.

Any provision of recreational, educational, healthcare, living and faith-related facilities for individuals detained at the facility is contained onsite.

Healthcare provision has been procured through NHS England, and there is no impact on primary healthcare services provided within the local community.

Visits are facilitated in line with those in other centres. Visitors arriving at the nearest main train station are transported to the centre via a shuttle bus service.

A car park is provided for staff and visitors. Further information on transport links to the IRC can be found on the IRC visits page.

We have aligned our environmental and climate change sustainability strategy with our suppliers to ensure that the buildings and infrastructure we build at Campsfield contribute towards net zero carbon emissions and reduce operational costs.

Our sustainability performance is measured using the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), which is a sustainability certification method which uses 10 different measurement categories such as materials, energy, water, waste, pollution and more, to rate environmental performance.

The refurbished and new buildings use sustainable architecture techniques that use the natural environment to reduce energy. This includes air source heat pumps, solar panels to offset energy use, improved insulation, and ventilation.

Costs and contracts

The Home Office is committed to ensuring value for money on all IRC sites. The costs to refurbish/build are approved via a robust government approval process and scrutinised throughout the duration of the build. Costs will be refined during the planning process and once contractors have been onboarded.

Current costs in the public domain:

• the contract award notice for the provision of operational, management, maintenance and related works and services at Campsfield IRC

• the contract award for Phase 1 construction