Guidance

Independent members recruitment and onboarding (accessible)

Updated 28 July 2025

Version 1.0

1. About this guidance

This guidance outlines the onboarding process for Independent Panel Members within Case Progression Panels. This guidance can be a point of reference for Case Progression Panel members and chairs as well as those Home Office staff that work in detained casework and are in receipt of Case Progression Panel recommendations.

1.1 Contacts

If you have any questions about the guidance and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the guidance has factual errors then email the Case Progression Panel.

If you notice any formatting errors in this guidance (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the guidance then you can email the Guidance Rules and Forms team.

1.2 Publication

Below is information on when this version of the guidance was published:

• version 1.0
• published for Home Office staff on 10 May 2022

1.3 Changes from last version of this guidance

New guidance

2. Background

Case Progression Panels (CPPs) are designed to safeguard against excessive lengths of detention, provide an independent assessment of case progression, and reduce the potential for unlawful detention litigation.

Panels were introduced in February 2017 by Immigration Enforcement in response to recommendations made in Stephen Shaw’s 2016 review into the welfare in detention of vulnerable persons.

The panels carry out an internal assessment of all cases where someone has been detained under immigration powers in an Immigration Removal Centre or prison for 3 months, and then every 3 months thereafter. They drive case progression and casework diligence to:

• effect departure from the UK whether by administrative removal, voluntary return or deportation
• provide additional oversight for the identification and management of the detention of potentially vulnerable people

For further details please refer to the full CPP guidance.

In July 2018, Stephen Shaw published his follow up report which contained further recommendations to reform immigration detention processes and safeguards. A key recommendation within this review was to establish an external independent presence within panels to make recommendations alongside Home Office Officials. A report into immigration detention by The Home Affairs Committee in March 2019 supported Shaw’s recommendation for independent oversight.

To test recommendations around independent presence in CPPs, a 6-month pilot was commissioned in May 2020, following a limited 6-week trial in November 2019. Analysis of the pilot, completed by the Home Office Analysis Insight team (HOAI), showed panels with an independent presence had a positive effect on discussion quality and the levels of scrutiny, evidencing their presence to be adopted as business as usual.

Whilst independent presence supports recommendations from both the Shaw and Home Affairs Committee reviews, it also provides increased transparency and oversight to Home Office detention decisions, including Foreign National Offender cases and those identified as Adults at Risk. Independent members have the same role as any CPP member - contributing to discussions on individual cases and recommending whether continued detention remains appropriate. They also highlight significant discussion points to inform the continued development of the process – recording and reporting these back following CPPs.

This guidance details some of the background to the recruitment process and provides guidance on how to recruit independent panel members.

3. Recruiting additional or new members

The Home Office Public Appointment Team have confirmed that the recruitment of independent panel members of CPPs is appropriate through the public appointments process on the basis that the CPPs are; non-statutory panels with a majority membership of Home Office officials sitting in an ex officio capacity; there is a minority of ‘independent panel members’ on each panel and the panels are carrying out an internal operational role rather than exercising executive powers on behalf of the department or providing independent advice to Ministers.

Public appointments usually last 18 months and, whilst members can be asked to return, it is recommended that new members are appointed annually to avoid membership becoming stagnant. The full list of current independent CPP members can be found in Annex D - Current panel members.

The recruitment and selection process is key to ensuring the success of independent membership of CPPs. The Case Progression Panel Team, working with the Public Appointments Team, will be responsible for any ongoing recruitment of independent panel members.

An assessment should be made as to whether candidates have the right measure of knowledge and experience to help deliver the key objective of bringing true independence.

If successful, candidates will need to go through a vetting process and have appropriate security clearance.

Anyone who applies to work in Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) is vetted to a minimum of the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). This includes identity, employment history, right to work, and unspent criminal record checks.

In addition, there are three separate levels of security clearance required to work in certain areas of HMG depending on the nature of the role.

The level of security required for CPP appointments is Counter Terrorist Check (CTC). This is required for those working at high-risk sites, or in close proximity of public figures.

Full details can be found in the HMG Personnel Security Controls document on GOV.UK.

3.1 Recruitment process – step by step

1. The Home Office Public Appointments Team should be contacted at the commencement of any potential campaign providing the details and background for the recruitment required. This team will provide further advice on the next steps.

2. Once contact has been established with the Home Office Public Appointments Team, the Cabinet Office Public Bodies Team may need to be contacted to advise them of the intention to hold a Public Appointment Recruitment campaign and to ensure there are no conflicts of interest.

3. Once the campaign has been agreed, the Public Appointments Team should be provided with a job advert and job description, see:

4. Timeframe and next steps in the recruitment process should be confirmed with the Public Appointment Team, as they will be responsible for advertising the positions.

5. Once recruitment has been completed, including sifting and interviewing applicants, appointments will be confirmed by the Public Appointment Team following Ministerial approval. The Public Appointment Team will also confirm that the appointees have valid security clearance (CTC is required).

6. Prior to finalising any appointments all potential independent members should be subject to a due diligence check. This comprises of a three-page internet search to confirm if any adverse or inappropriate comments or behaviours towards the Home Office, immigration policies or extremist views.

7. Once all appropriate checks have been completed, a formal offer will be made by the Public Appointments Team. This should be followed up by an email from the CPP team informing the successful candidates of the next steps. For a draft email see: Annex E – Draft email.

8. Once appointed, a Public Office Holder 1 form will need to be completed and sent to shared service recruitment with a minimum of G7 authority. Once this has been processed, confirmation will be received which will allow payment claims to be made.

4. Post recruitment actions

Successful candidates should be provided with the best possible introduction to the Home Office, Immigration Enforcement, and Immigration Detention, including an understanding of the policies and legal framework within which we operate. First- hand experience of the detention environment and a combination of observations and formal training should be made available for all independent panel members.

The CPP support team will be responsible for arranging the following:

• a visit to an Immigration Removal Centre and/or Prison – to be arranged through Detention Engagement Teams or Immigration Prison Teams
• a half day training session with the Head of the Detained Casework Oversight and Improvement Team and CPP Lead - the session should include the delivery of the CPP Chair and Member Training pack and include, wherever possible, input from the Adults at Risk Policy lead

• observation of at least 2 Case Progression Panels: where possible one should be with a current independent panel member - there should be the opportunity to ask questions of panel members

• the independent member to shadow or speak to a member of the Detention Gatekeeper
• the opportunity to speak to the CPP lead to ask questions and to go through any administrative processes for organising panel attendance, feedback and claiming payments and expenses
• access to relevant Home Office IT, including the use of a laptop and access to the Home Office casework system, including any required training

5. Arranging panel attendance

The Case Progression Panel team will be responsible for ensuring that independent panel members attend the required number of panels. All panels will be hosted virtually using Microsoft Teams.

Normal access to the Home Office estate requires a Common Civil Service pass that needs to be individually coded to the specific building requiring access. It should however be noted that passes cannot be issued if the frequency of access is low, in which case an Unescorted Pass will need to be organised for the day of attendance.

5.1 Required actions

1. CPP team will confirm independent members availability a minimum of one month in advance of panels.

2. All panels will be hosted virtually using Microsoft Teams with the relevant invites provided by the CPP team.

3. Where required, appropriate travel arrangements will be made for independent panel members – such as, booking rail tickets or accommodation. Bookings must be completed through the Corporate Travel Management system with open return tickets to allow for flexibility. Tickets should be copied to the independent members so they can collect them from the station. All bookings should be made against the cost code 1418255.

4. The CPP team will share case lists as soon as possible and no later than 2 days prior to the date of the panel. It is essential that panel members have sufficient time to prepare for each panel they attend.

5. Unescorted building passes for Lunar House should be arranged with Croydon estate security unless the member has a permanent/contractor pass.

5.2 Business continuity arrangements

All panels will continue be hosted virtually using Microsoft Teams if access to a specific building is denied due to a National Security Threat, Local Incident, or Pandemic.

For further details regarding Business Continuity Arrangements see: Business Continuity Arrangements. The current Threat Level is set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) and can be viewed on the Security Service website.

6. Post panel actions

6.1 Feedback

Following attendance at a CPP, feedback will be captured from the Independent panel members during a ‘wash up’ session held at the end of every panel. The relevant feedback log should be completed to ensure feedback is accurately captured.

The details on how this feedback process will work is as follows:

1. Panel Chair feedback: The Independent panel member will provide positive and/or developmental feedback on individual Chair performance using the relevant feedback log (to be provided by CPP team) following a panel. The feedback should be directly sent to the CPP Lead. Once feedback has been provided to the Chair, via CPP management, the personal details of the Chair will be deleted from the logs. Details of the type of the feedback recorded will be retained to enable the CPP team to track trends. These logs will be held within the CPP team shared folder and be password protected with access limited to CPP managers.

2. Case feedback: The Independent panel member will also take part during the Chairs ‘wash up’ session on Case feedback, contributing to identifying cases that require extra escalation to casework leads and would also provide feedback on panel process using the existing ‘Case Feedback Log’ currently used.

6.2 Pay and expenses

The CPP Team should periodically share the Home Office pay-roll cut off dates with independent panel members. See: Pay and reward.

Independent panel members will need to complete the Public Office Holder Fee claim form (POH2) via Metis to claim the agreed rate of £210.00.

It should be noted the above rate of £210.00 is for, but not limited to, preparation, participation, assimilating evidence, and drafting feedback for each panel. It is expected that these activities will amount to no more than one day’s work. This excludes the time taken for a lunch break, and travel time from a place of residence to a Home Office building, should travel be required. Independent panel members can be flexible in how they manage their work and are not expected to complete all required activities on the day unless they choose to do so. For example, some may prepare a day before a panel, some may choose to draft feedback the day after, and some may use a combination of both, and a different approach entirely.

It is reasonable to expect that all duties can be completed in one working day, but in exceptional circumstances, and where the weight of business has resulted in the panel or associated activities exceeding more than one day’s work this can be raised with the CPP team before adding an additional line to the POH2 form. If approved, the additional line should be added to claim at either a half day rate of £105.00, or the full day rate of £210.00. These 2 rates also apply to training or any other events outside of the core scope for this role such as attending regular feedback meetings which will fall under the half day rate.

Any official business-related travel (such as, between 2 Marsham Street and Lunar House) should also be completed within the parameters of a working day wherever possible. Expenses associated with this can be claimed separately if, for example, tickets were not pre-booked.

Independent members will be compensated the full rate of £210.00 in the unlikely event of a panel being cancelled either on the day, or 72 hours before it was due to take place. To this end, we encourage panel members not to prepare too far in advance, particularly as case lists can be subject to change at short notice.

All expense claims should be made on Metis and copies/photographs of receipts should be kept, and shared (if required) for auditing purposes. We would expect claims to be made within one month of panel attendance.

POH2 forms must be signed and authorised at Grade 7 or above and sent to SSC Pay for processing. All claims are against cost code 1418255.

7. Funding

Funding for the independent members of Case Progression Panels will be provided from the National Returns Command, within Returns and Detention Operations within Immigration Enforcement. The funding for the pilot was from Immigration Detention Reform Board.

The CPP team may be asked to provide regular updates on expenditure and should ensure that an accurate record of costs and expenses is kept and updated on a monthly basis.

8. Annex A - Independent panel member: Role description

Title: Case Progression Panel Independent Member

Duration: 18 months fixed term appointment with the possibility of extension or re- appointment, subject to review.

Remuneration: £210 per day. (Please refer to the Pay and Expenses section)

Time Commitment: The expected time commitment of the role is 15-30 days per annum.

Location: National/Remote working

Accountable to: Home Secretary

Purpose: We are seeking to appoint independent panel members for case progression panels (CPPs) to provide additional external oversight to the detention decision making process.

Responsibilities:

Members will be responsible for:

• adding value to the panels and helping to achieve a consensus among panel members in its review of all cases of immigration detention over 3 months
• ensuring a consistency of process and approach to reviewing detention and case progression across the detained immigration system
• driving case progression and casework diligence to effect departure from the UK whether by administrative removal or deportation
• providing additional oversight of public protection issues and management of the detention of potentially vulnerable people
• recording and reporting back the recommendations made by the panel highlighting significant discussion points to inform the continued development of the process
• attending meetings, as frequently as required, with other independent CPP members to share lessons learned and best practice identified during the panel

We anticipate based on current workflow volumes that we will appoint between 6 and 10 Independent Panel Members.

9. Annex B - Independent panel member: Personal specification

The criteria that will be used to assess whether candidates have the required qualities, skills and experience are listed below.

Given the nature of the role we are looking for candidates who understand the need to balance public protection against the vulnerability factors of a person in detention. Candidates must not be currently employed by a statutory agency or a public protection related non-governmental organisation.

9.1 Part 1 - Skills and experience

Essential:

• professional experience in immigration or law and order
• knowledge of safeguarding and vulnerability issues
• knowledge of public protection issues - a significant number of cases will involve Foreign National Offenders and difficult conversations will occur to consider offending history and the likelihood of further public harm.
• experience of working in a multi-disciplinary environment
• excellent communication, interpersonal and influencing skills, with a personal and professional demeanour that generates trust and confidence in others
• strong organisational skills and the ability to effectively communicate in meetings
• ability to think logically and objectively in analysing complex information in order to identify key issues and make effective recommendations

Desirable:

• experience of dealing with public protection issues with an understanding of the law enforcement perspective or experience of working in a safeguarding environment in relation to vulnerable people
• report writing skills

9.2 Part 2 – Personal abilities and behaviours:

• ability to work collaboratively using persuasion and influence effectively in a high-profile environment
• the ability to recognise and draw appropriately on professional expertise with self-awareness

As a public appointee you will be expected to follow the 7 Principles of Public Life, as set out by the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life.

Due diligence: To note - as part of the recruitment process, due diligence, including social media checks will be undertaken on the appointable candidates.

10. Annex C - Independent panel member: Media advert

Roles: 6 - 10

Time commitment: 15-30 days per annum

Remuneration: £210 per panel including associated preparation and activities.

Do you want to play a role in assisting the recommendations of a panel to consider the impact of detention on a person and balance the need for public protection?

If so, you can do this by becoming an Independent member of Case Progression Panels, which form part of the Government’s Immigration Detention Reform agenda. In 2018 the Home Office announced a wide-ranging package of reforms to Immigration Detention. A key aspect of the reforms was the establishment of an independent element to the existing Case Progression Panel process which reviews all cases of individuals in immigration detention for over three months.

The purpose of the panels is to ensure robustness and a consistency of process and approach to reviewing detention and case progression across the detained immigration system, thereby improving individual and stakeholder confidence in detention decisions.

As an independent panel member, you will have key responsibility for:

• Contributing to panels and helping to achieve a consensus among panel members in its review of all cases of immigration detention for over three months; and
• recording and reporting back the decisions made by the panel highlighting significant discussion points to inform the continued development of the process.

We are therefore seeking candidates with experience of working in a multi- disciplinary environment - particularly protection, with excellent communication, interpersonal and organisational skills, as well as an ability to analyse complex information to identify key issues and make effective recommendations.

Given the nature of the role we are ideally looking for candidates who understand the safeguarding landscape but are not currently employed by a statutory agency or linked to a related non-governmental organisation. Applications from candidates in the following fields are particularly welcome - criminal justice, health and social care, education and local authorities.

This will be an 18-month fixed term appointment with the possibility of extension. No existing knowledge of the Immigration Detention process is required. The successful candidates will be provided with training on appointment.

11. Annex D - Current panel members

11.1 Helen Chamberlain

Helen joined CPPs in 2019, having previously worked within the Police Force for 30 years, retiring as chief superintendent in 2018. Helen was head of public protection during her time, responsible for Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) cases involving domestic abuse and serious sexual offences.

11.2 Simon Torr

Simon has worked for many years within the Police Force as a divisional command officer, assistant chief constable and deputy chief constable, before retiring in 2017. During his time within the Police Force, Simon worked alongside local authorities on safeguarding partnerships, with his main operational background being in firearms and public order with a particular interest in threats/risk. Simon joined the Independent Family Returns Panel (IFRP) following retirement, and subsequently joined the CPP as an independent member.

11.3 John Clements

John has previous experience in MAPPA, modern slavery, adult safeguarding and domestic abuse. He has also previously worked in the Police Inspectorate, and currently is an Independent Chair on the MAAPs.

11.4 Mike Taylor

Mike was previously director of a local authority social services as well as a director of two national charities, Save the Children and NSPCC. He has chaired a number of safeguarding boards involving adults and children and is currently chair on the MAAP for the Single Competent Authority.

11.5 Glen Suttenwood

Since 2018, Glen has been a Regional Manager for the TTC Group where he is responsible for ensuring the efficient and effective operation of the National Driver Offender Rehabilitation Scheme (NDORS). Between April 2017 and April 2018, Glen was a Lead Investigator for Derbyshire Police Professional Standards Department and prior to this, he worked in South Yorkshire Police as a Chief Inspector.

11.6 Valerie Brass

Valerie previously spent twenty years in the Civil Service, most recently working as the Secretary for the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. Previously Valerie has also been an Independent Panel Member for the BASMON inquiry, a Member of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission and an advisor to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry.

11.7 Jo Dowling

Since 2016, Jo has been an Independent Parole Board Member, having previously worked as an Assistant Inspector for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, as well as a Probation Officer.

11.8 Chantelle Whitehead

Since 2016, Chantelle has been the Deputy Head of Children and Families Legal Group for Manchester City Council. Chantelle is also an Independent Monitoring Board Member (IMB), a statutory appointment responsible for monitoring immigration short-term holding facilities.

11.9 Joanne Mitchell

Since 2018, Joanne has been a Consultant for MTC Previously Joanne has worked as a Consultant for Local Authority Transformation at various Local Authorities and was previously a Governor grade in the Scottish Prison Service - working on justice transformation in the Scottish Government Justice Directorate.

11.10 Bryan McAlley

Since 2020, Bryan has been an Independent Member for Police Gross Misconduct Hearings for Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Thames Valley Police Forces. Previously Bryan has also worked as an Independent Member for the Parole Board of England and Wales, before which he was a Governor in HM Prison Service.

12. Annex E - Draft email

Dear (insert name of independent Panel member)

Thank you for applying for the role as an Independent member of the Home Office Case Progression panels. We are most grateful for your interest in this role, and we look forward to working with you.

We are pleased to inform you that all of the appropriate Home Office checks have been completed and we are now ready to start your induction into the Home Office and/or the work of the Case Progression Panel team.

(Provide appropriate introductions and details of next steps and required training in line with this guidance)

Signed

Head of CPP Team.