Dear University of Sussex Executive Group,

We are writing to you to express concern over The University of Sussex’ contract with Mitie Group PLC (Mitie), and their presence on our campus. 

Mitie has been present on Sussex campus since 2020, following its acquisition of Interserve. Mitie now has a significant and expanding presence and influence at the University. Central to this is Sussex Estates and Facilities (SEF) which is part-owned by Mitie, and responsible for a host of services at Sussex.

 

Working with Mitie is completely incompatible with the University’s values. The presence of Mitie on campus directly endangers and threatens students and staff. Mitie’s continued and worsening role within the Hostile Environment, as well as their widespread mistreatment of workers, is unacceptable. Mitie is the epitome of a company that prioritises profit over people. 

 

Mitie is the largest provider of Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) ‘management, operation and secure escorting services (in-country and overseas) for the Home Office’. They are one of the largest profiteers from the Home Office’s immigration policies through detention, operation and deportation. Mitie is playing an active and increasing role in the Hostile Environment Policy, a racist, dehumanising and discriminatory set of legislation brought in to make the environment in the UK as unbearable and hostile as possible for those seeking refuge here.  

Mitie provides vehicles and staff for forced deportations, euphemistically named ‘escorting services’.  Their management of detention facilities has been exposed for breaching even the Home Office’s basic standards for sanitation, health and safety. Mitie has consistently come under fire for underpaying their workers, and for sending them into unsafe conditions. Mitie has seen its revenue double as a result of the pandemic, and we’re under no illusions: they reap their rewards by throwing workers, migrants and service users under the bus. 

The University of Sussex prides itself for being an inclusive and welcoming learning space for individuals from any and all backgrounds. In 2020, just before Mitie’s arrival on campus, the University of Sussex was awarded ‘University of Sanctuary’ status: a title given to universities who demonstrate a commitment to creating an environment that is welcoming to all, especially those who have been forced to flee their homes. The University of Sussex provides several “Article 26” sanctuary scholarships, for forced migrants or applicants granted a temporary form of leave, and does not hesitate to make use of the favourable PR this generates.

The Sussex ‘2025 Strategic Framework’ outlines the direction the university hopes to take, under the motto ‘A Better University, For a Better World’ in which it stated, to quote, “Sussex has dared to be different, to challenge, to foster a radical, progressive spirit”. Yet, alongside these alleged commitments and goals, the University of Sussex is engaged with a company which is contradicting all of Sussex’ ‘proud’ values. Partnering with Mitie is an endorsement of them as a company, an endorsement of Mitie’s racist and violent treatment of migrants. Sussex professes to be committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. The existence, presence and influence of Mitie on campus is completely incompatible with these values. 

This partnership is truly shameful and we demand change. It is important to acknowledge that the staff members of SEF, which employs around 270 people, are not the target of this campaign. The University must buy-out Mitie and in-source all of these staff, without negatively affecting their working conditions. 

Our demands:

1) Immediate publication of the university’s contract with Mitie Group PLC, relating to their part ownership of Sussex Estates and Facilities.

2) An immediate acknowledgement and condemnation of Mitie’s role in the Hostile Environment.

3) An immediate commitment to insourcing the ownership and management of Sussex Estates and Facilities, when the current contractual relationship ends, including a commitment that all jobs will be protected and workers' rights respected. 

4) An immediate commitment to blacklisting Mitie Group PLC and all of its subsidiaries, as well as any corporations that run prisons or detention centres, from all future ventures. 

5) An immediate commitment to working with students and campus trade unions to amend and update the university’s Investment and Procurement policies to be both more robust and more representative, with appropriate accountability measures put in place. The university’s practices must match its rhetoric, and its policies, its values.

For more detail, and all of our references, see here: bit.ly/mmfbriefing

Thank you for taking the time to read this and we look forward to hearing back from you soon. 

Contact: mitiemustfall@gmail.com