Excluding VAT, over the full ten-year term including options. Wider reception services, not a transport-only bill or money already spent.
01 / The Ledger · Contracts
Channel transport contracts
Who commissions transport after a Channel crossing? Examine the Home Office awards, the contract values and the questions awaiting a documented answer.
From arrival to accommodation
Who commissions the coaches?
A coach at the quayside is visible. The decision that commissioned it, the price paid and the contractor responsible are harder to follow. We are tracing the published contracts, actual payments and rules for authorising transport after a Channel arrival.
Six years initially, with four optional one-year extensions. An option is not a confirmed extension.
On 23 October the Home Office said it does not hold the requested journey-specific spending breakdown. This is not a statement that no payments were made.
The official award and linked Contracts Finder record identify MTC Definitive Limited as the supplier, with a contract term from 6 May 2026 to 5 May 2032 and optional extensions. We checked correction 050248-2026: it adds the Contracts Finder link, rather than changing the value or term. These records do not identify the operator of a particular coach seen in September or establish actual transport spending. A Home Office response dated 23 October reports a later service transition from CMAC to IMMS Operator Services after 31 October. That operational transition must not be confused with the contractual start date in the award.
The published record
What the contracts establish.
Irregular Migration Management Services, Lot 1
Award and term verified- Buyer
- Home Office
- Awarded supplier
- MTC Definitive Limited, as listed by Contracts Finder
- Associated group in award notice
- MTC Definitive Limited; Management & Training Corporation Limited; Definitive PSA
- Contract start
- 6 May 2026
- Initial contract end
- 5 May 2032
- Optional extensions
- Four further one-year periods
- Award published
- 28 May 2026 on Contracts Finder; 29 May on Sell2Wales
- Scope
- Operator services at Manston and associated disembarkation points in Kent, from disembarkation through dispersal. Road passenger transport is one of several service categories.
- Maximum value
- £539,116,089 excluding VAT over the full ten-year term
- Procedure
- Competitive procedure with negotiation; three tenders
- Procurement reference
- tender_402130/1576505
- Service transition reported
- Home Office letter dated 23 October: CMAC operates until 31 October 2026, followed by IMMS Operator Services
This is one Lot 1 award, not three amounts to add together. The maximum covers wider operator services and optional extensions. It is not transport-only expenditure, and does not identify the supplier of a specific September coach or establish whether a later variation has been made.
The earlier CMAC transport arrangement
Historical court record- Supplier recorded
- CMAC Group UK Limited
- Service
- Transportation services
- Expiry recorded
- 31 July 2026
- Document date
- 16 April 2026, judgment paragraph 9
The April judgment records an expiry of 31 July. In its 23 October response, the Home Office describes a standalone CMAC transport contract as unrelated to the contract referred to in that litigation and says CMAC operates until 31 October. The relationship between these descriptions is unresolved; the later date is not presented as a verified extension of the same arrangement.
CMAC standalone transport arrangement identified by the Home Office
Authority response, 23 October 2026- Supplier named
- CMAC Group UK Limited
- Service
- Standalone transportation provisions, according to the Home Office
- Operating until
- 31 October 2026, according to the Home Office
- Transition reported
- IMMS Operator Services begins after CMAC's service ends
- Detailed contract information
- Withheld under section 43(2); no value or detailed register extract supplied
The Home Office says this arrangement is unrelated to the contract referred to in the cited Mitie litigation. A matching contract reference has not been disclosed, so the two records are kept separate and are not counted as two verified spending amounts. No actual payment value is established.
Evidence: S6
Decision by decision
Follow the sequence.
Court permits contract-making to proceed
An interim judgment lifts the procurement suspension. It does not finally determine the merits of Mitie’s challenge.
Contract awarded and term begins
Contracts Finder records the award and contract start on this date, with the initial term ending on 5 May 2032.
The Cartulary opens the case file
Published records examined and two focused Home Office information requests sent.
Home Office acknowledges both requests
Both requests are assigned to caseworkers. The authority confirms an original response target of 23 October.
Home Office identifies a service transition; spending remains unquantified
The contracts response says CMAC operates until 31 October, followed by IMMS Operator Services. It withholds detailed contract information under section 43(2), refers to published notices under section 21, and says the specified spending breakdown is not held. A separate standby-rules request is extended for a public-interest test, with an estimated full response by 20 November.
The outstanding record
What we have asked to see.
The contracts and payments response dated 23 October identifies a reported service transition but supplies no monthly payment table. Detailed contract information is withheld under section 43(2), public notices are cited under section 21, and the specified spending breakdown is said not to be held. The separate standby-rules request has an estimated response date of 20 November while a public-interest test is considered. Read the anonymised letters in the source list or follow either request in The Docket.
Post-arrival road transport: current contracts and monthly paymentsResponse received; partial refusal
CT-FOI-0020 · Home Office · Sent 25 September 2026 · substantive response 23 October 2026
Establish the contracts in force on 25 September, including any CMAC extension or replacement, and existing monthly payment figures for April to August 2026.
Dear Home Office,
Please provide the following recorded information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
This request concerns road transport commissioned by the Home Office for people arriving in the UK by small boat: journeys from a UK disembarkation point to an initial processing or reception facility, and the first onward transfer to accommodation. It excludes subsequent routine travel by people already living in accommodation.
1. The existing contract-register entries, or equivalent contract-record extracts, for contracts and call-offs covering these services that were in force on 25 September 2026. Please include the contract reference, title, lead supplier, commencement and expiry dates, recorded value and value basis, responsible Home Office business unit, and any published notice or contract URL, where those fields are held. Where a named transport subcontractor is already recorded in that entry or extract, please include it.
Please include any extension or replacement of the CMAC Group UK Limited transport arrangement described as expiring on 31 July 2026 in paragraph 9 of Mitie Care and Custody Limited v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 867 (TCC): https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/tcc/2026/867
2. For 1 April to 31 August 2026 inclusive, the existing financial-system extract showing payments made for the services within scope, by calendar month, supplier and contract reference. Please state whether the figures include VAT. Where transport is bundled with other services and cannot be separated in the existing records, please identify that fact and provide the existing combined figure clearly labelled as such. I am not requesting a new apportionment or estimate.
An existing spreadsheet or CSV extract is preferred. No passenger identities, individual staff names, accommodation addresses or live journey details are requested. If any part would exceed the cost limit, please prioritise the contract-register information and advise how the remaining request could be narrowed. Please release the parts that can be disclosed and explain any redactions.
Thank you for your assistance.
The Cartulary
Post-arrival road transport: standby commissioning and payment rulesExtended; records awaited
CT-FOI-0021 · Home Office · Sent 25 September 2026 · extension 23 October · estimated response 20 November 2026
Establish who can commission standby capacity, what approval records must be kept, and how unused capacity, cancellations and invoices are checked.
Dear Home Office,
Please provide the following recorded information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
This request concerns road transport commissioned by the Home Office for people arriving in the UK by small boat: journeys from a UK disembarkation point to an initial processing or reception facility, and the first onward transfer to accommodation.
Please provide the relevant sections of the policy, procedure and contract schedules in force on 25 September 2026 that set out:
1. The role or business unit authorised to commission standby vehicle capacity and approve its use.
2. The decision, approval and audit records that must be kept when that capacity is commissioned.
3. The basis for paying for standby capacity, cancellations or unused capacity, and the checks required before the associated invoices are approved.
Where the provisions sit within a larger contract or operational manual, the relevant sections, their document titles, contract references, versions and effective dates will suffice. Links to the applicable published material are welcome. This is a request for existing documents, rather than a request to create an explanation or undertake a fresh analysis.
I am not requesting individual staff names, passenger information, live vehicle movements, accommodation addresses, operational intelligence or forecasts of future arrivals. If part of a document is exempt, please provide the remaining material with the reason for each redaction. If the scope needs narrowing, please identify the relevant documents or schedules so that I can refine it.
Thank you for your assistance.
The Cartulary
Read the evidence carefully
What remains unproven.
- A maximum contract value is not actual expenditure. Transport is part of a wider operator-services contract.
- The operator of a particular September coach, actual transport payments and any later contract variations are not established by these award records.
- The Home Office's 23 October letter says the specified journey-level spending breakdown is not held. That does not establish that no invoices or transport expenditure exist. Its description of a standalone CMAC contract has not been reconciled with the earlier court record.
- The published redacted contract is linked below, but its text was not accessible for this review. It may already contain some commissioning or payment rules. Our requests seek the applicable current provisions and the payment records; we do not claim those rules are wholly unpublished.
- The April court ruling was interim. It does not establish misconduct or finally decide whether the procurement challenge was well founded; its subsequent outcome has not been verified here.
- Transport after arrival shows how reception is organised. A waiting coach does not, by itself, establish the cause of a crossing or prove misconduct.
Original documents
Check the source.
- S1 / Home Office / Sell2Wales
IMMS Lot 1 contract award, MAY621687 ↗
Published 29 May 2026; reviewed 25 September 2026 · Official award notice
Full notice retrieved. Contract conclusion 6 May; dispatch 28 May. The stated value includes optional extensions.
- S2 / The National Archives / Find Case Law
Mitie v Home Office [2026] EWHC 867 (TCC) ↗
Judgment 16 April 2026; reviewed 25 September 2026 · Primary judgment
Paragraph 9 records earlier suppliers and expiry dates. Paragraphs 84–85 give the interim procedural outcome.
- S3 / Find a Tender
Correction notice 050248-2026 ↗
Published 28 May 2026; checked 25 September 2026 · Official correction, verified
Section VII.1.2 changes section VI.3 by adding the Contracts Finder URL. It does not change the stated award value or contract term.
- S4 / Home Office / Contracts Finder
IMMS Lot 1 award and published contract ↗
Published 28 May 2026; checked 25 September 2026 · Official contract record
Names one awarded supplier, MTC Definitive Limited, and records the initial term from 6 May 2026 to 5 May 2032. Includes the published redacted contract attachment.
- S5 / Home Office / Contracts Finder
IMMS Lot 1 Operator Services contract, Redacted V2 (PDF) ↗
Linked from the 28 May 2026 award; link checked 25 September 2026 · Published contract attachment
Published redacted contract; text not reviewed in this release. The attachment could not be retrieved through our available tools. No findings about its transport, standby or payment clauses are asserted here.
- S6 / Home Office / reviewed Cartulary copy
Contracts and payments response, 23 October 2026 (anonymised PDF) ↗
Dated and reviewed 23 October 2026 · Six-page authority response
Full letter and Annexes A to C, with identifying details redacted. Records a CMAC service end and IMMS transition, section 43(2) withholding, section 21 referrals and a not-held spending breakdown. Docket record CT-FOI-0020 preserves the findings and limits.
- S7 / Home Office / reviewed Cartulary copy
Standby-rules extension, 23 October 2026 (anonymised PDF) ↗
Dated and reviewed 23 October 2026 · Interim public-interest-test notice
The authority is considering sections 43 and 31 and aims for a full response by 20 November. No requested standby records or final refusal are contained in this interim notice. Docket record CT-FOI-0021 retains the full review.
