This report exposes leading insurers underwriting and investing in the UK detention, accommodation and surveillance contractors accused of human rights abuses.

The UK system of immigration control is designed to punish, deter, and dehumanise. Companies like Serco and Mitie run the horrific prison-like Immigration Removal Centres, where detainees face abuse, coercion and exploitative labour. Other contractors – Mitie, Clearsprings and Corporate Travel Management provide accommodation to asylum seekers, which is no better than detention. Squalid, infested and unfit for human habitation is how conditions at these sites are being repeatedly described. 

Beyond detention, the UK’s immigration system has become a laboratory for intrusive surveillance technologies, including mandatory biometric tracking and GPS tagging, treating migrants as perpetual suspects rather than human beings. 

Insurance companies named in the report: AIG, Allianz, AXA, Aviva, Intact (RSA), Hiscox and QBE profit from the violence inflicted by the government contractors running the system. These insurers are shielding the contractors from legal and financial accountability by providing them with insurance coverage, even in the wake of public scandals and regulatory breaches. Four of these insurers also collectively invest over $118 million into the detention, accommodation and surveillance contractors.