The Home Office has provided border officers with mental health workshops to help them manage the stress of dealing with the small boats crisis.
Spending data released by the Home Office shows it hired mental health professionals referred to as “resilience practitioners” for UK Border Force staff who were dealing with small boats.
The sessions were held this spring with border officers in Folkestone, Kent, where asylum seekers travelling on small boats often land.
In social media posts seen by the Guardian, one of the resilience practitioners described the officers as dealing with a “humanitarian crisis”. Another said on their website that their sessions often involved “positive psychology and cognitive behavioural theory”.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents government workers, said the workshops were offered after trauma assessments were carried out on staff by fellow trained officers. The assessment is offered to those involved in potentially traumatic critical incidents.
Last October, when an immigration centre in Dover was petrol bombed, the PCS said all staff involved in the incident were offered the assessment.
The Home Office has spent £7,696 on the workshops for staff “involved in the small boats activity” so far this year.
The PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “While we welcome workshops to support our members in the Border Force, we would prefer the government stopped putting our members in this position in the first place.
“Rather than the prime minister continuing to promote his unpopular, immoral and failing illegal migration bill, he should instead support our call for safe passage – a humane solution to the dangerous and uncontrolled situation in the Channel.”
The government last month passed its illegal migration bill, which will allow the Home Office to send asylum seekers who arrive on small boats to Rwanda.
Earlier this month, the government launched its “small boats week” to coincide with its use of the Bibby Stockholm barge to house asylum seekers. By the end of that week, all those living on the Bibby Stockholm were evacuated after legionella was found onboard.
The next day, six asylum seekers drowned after their small boat capsized during an attempted Channel crossing. Two British ships were involved in the search and rescue operation.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We take staff welfare extremely seriously and are committed to supporting our staff who work in incredibly challenging environments.
“We are committed to delivering the best value for money for the British taxpayer and all spending is carefully scrutinised to make sure that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent in the most effective way.”
