Immigration staff at Heathrow Airport are recruiting a hairdresser to offer a trim to illegal migrants who are waiting to be kicked out of the country.
The position, which pays £31,500-a-year, has been advertised by Mitie, which has a £290million contract to run the Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre.
The job requires the hairdresser to work 40 hours a week at the airport, offering the service to those about to be deported from the UK.
The job advert requested a candidate who would be able to ‘deliver a range of hairdressing and barbering styles’ which included ‘braiding and dying’.
And it said the successful applicant would ‘provide a hair-cutting and barbering service to residents which reflects the cultural needs of the population’.
Applicants have also been told they must maintain a positive and friendly environment for clients to feel ‘welcomed and respected’.
It comes after the centre previously advertised for a hospitality and floristry tutor, painting and decorating tutor and gym manager at the male-only facility.
Salaries for the full-time roles were for more than £30,000 a year – with the gym manager role being advertised for £38,873.66 per annum.
Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre, where migrants stay shortly before they are deported from the UK
The adverts were pulled in August after they caused an outcry as Home Office Minister Seema Malhorta said the department had asked for the roles to be scrapped as they ‘don’t believe all these roles are necessary’.
Two immigration centres, Harmondsworth and Colnbrook, are near Heathrow to allow easy transfers to planes.
Harmondsworth can house up to 658 people and Colnbrook 300 – migrants, including asylum seekers can be housed there while their immigration status is resolved.
Asked about the hairdressing job advert, a Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We do not directly fund these roles.’
A Home Office source said that there is a legal requirement on the government to allow detained people to have their hair cut on a regular basis.
A spokesperson for Mitie said: ‘This role is part of our contractual obligations and is standard practice in secure environments. We continue to work closely with the Home Office to ensure services provide value for money.’
It comes after a migrant sex offender who was wrongly released from prison was handed £500 in taxpayers’ money to leave Britain.
Footage captured from Heathrow Airport showed the moment Hadush Kebatu, 38, was escorted on to a plane to Ethiopia last night.
He was mistakenly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning after serving just one month of his year-long sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
Immigration staff at Heathrow Airport are recruiting a hairdresser to offer a trim to illegal migrants
Kebatu was given a ‘discretionary’ payment of £500 by the Home Office, it is understood.
The money was handed over because of the threats by Kebatu to ‘disrupt’ the removals flight, sources said.
It is understood that even though his original trial heard it was his ‘firm wish’ to return to Ethiopia, his compliance with immigration officials deteriorated on Tuesday.
He threatened to launch a legal challenge against his removal and even said he was considering lodging a new asylum claim with the Home Office.
After indicating he would go quietly in exchange for the cash, Kebatu was forcibly deported from Britain by a team of five security escorts.
Kebatu should have been transferred to a deportation centre last week, but clueless prison officers repeatedly told him to leave and get on a train to London instead.
The Ethiopian national, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was arrested in north London on Sunday morning after a two-day manhunt.
He was pictured being detained by four officers inside Finsbury Park, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowing he ‘will be deported’.
The Home Office confirmed Kebatu was removed on a flight to Ethiopia on Tuesday night and arrived on Wednesday.
