Home Office upgrades inquiry into Kent immigration centre after legal challenge

Manston, a short-term holding facility where overcrowding led to an outbreak of diphtheria and scabies in 2022. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Asylum seekers will receive funded legal representation at an inquiry into a catalogue of failures at a centre in Kent where small boat arrivals are processed, after a legal challenge by detainees.

Manston, a short-term holding facility outside Ramsgate, was established in January 2022 to deal with the increasing numbers of asylum seekers crossing the Channel to the UK in dinghies.