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Case study · Immigration · £11.5m a year · Solution design

Operating model for Dungavel removal centre

Our Solutions Director led the solution design for a UK public services provider bidding to run Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire, an £11.5m-a-year Home Office contract.

The challenge

The Home Office re-procured Dungavel for 125 places, with capacity to rise to 200, and for the first time asked the operator to deliver healthcare directly as well as running the centre. The solution had to work across three occupancy bands under strict working-time rules, in a listed building with a long-serving local workforce, and with the Scottish Government opposed to long-term immigration centres.

What our Solutions Director did

Our Solutions Director led the design from the solution concept to a complete operating model and mobilisation plan. The work covered:

  • A solution concept built on each person’s journey: arrival with 24-hour reception, a needs assessment and a buddy; a stay with education, paid work, a cultural kitchen and visits; departure with identity checks and records transfer; and transparency through displayed roll counts, forums and complaints
  • An organisation and workforce model for three occupancy bands: 218.85 full-time equivalent staff against 109 transferring, a 15.5-hour core day, and shift patterns tested against a 48-hour cap, a four-week average and a 15% overtime limit
  • Service realisation in operational detail: admission and discharge with six checks before release, security with biometric roll counts, a dog section sharing search dogs from a nearby prison, open residential units, visits, activities, welfare and catering
  • Healthcare delivered directly for the first time: nurses on site 24 hours a day, a GP seven days a week, clinical timelines such as a GP review within 24 hours, and a subcontractor chosen with an independent former NHS commissioner
  • Proven technology and innovation: case management, rostering, biometric readers, multilingual kiosks, secure tablets and in-room technology, with ideas from a green hat workshop priced and taken forward
  • A mobilisation plan: built on a recent mobilisation the Home Office had praised, with the transfer of around 113 staff and bespoke training on culture, self-harm, safeguarding and mental health

Services: Solution & Service Design · Mobilisation & Project Management

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While AI can rapidly generate a strong structural foundation, it will only get your draft 70% of the way there. To achieve maximum evaluation scores, guarantee  compliance, and genuinely resonate with evaluators, expert human intervention remains non-negotiable. 

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  • Operational & Workforce Modelling: We convert raw operational data into scalable staffing models. We design shift patterns, resource allocations, and management structures that meet government value-for-money criteria while ensuring safe delivery. 
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