A large number of security staff did not turn up to work at a former RAF station housing asylum seekers on Thursday 23rd October 2025.
Wethersfield in Essex has housed hundreds of single male asylum seekers since July 2023.
22 out of 31 SIF members did not show up at the site on in a dispute over pay, terms and conditions.
SIF General Secretary, Daniel Garnham, said, “Our union represents all of the security workers at Wethersfield and we have relayed their legitimate concerns to Clearsprings Ready Homes and the Minister for security, Dan Jarvis, with no response. These seasoned professionals have been in charge of the security and safety at Wethersfield for a long time as self employed workers and have now been told that they must apply for their jobs which are advertised at a lower pay rate that they currently have. On top of this, they are being asked to clean and deal with waste as an additional workload.
Our members have been backed into a corner and asked to sign a contract they have never seen in order to continue working at the site for a company who are not a security provider by trade. We are extremely concerned that our members who did not attend work have been dismissed and there are reports that night shift security workers were phoned threatening dismissal if they did not attend work.
Although this was not an official SIF trade union staged walkout, due to awaiting an official response, our members feel like they have no choice but to show their value to Clearspings Ready Homes, who I believe are doing very well from this Government contract. The Security Industry Federation stand with our members and are ready to finally speak to Clearspings in order to come to a swift resolution”.
