Manston Inquiry

Ongoing
Chair Sophie Cartwright Legal professional (non-judge)
Established 12 Feb 2025
Commissioned by Home Office

Non-statutory Article 3 ECHR independent inquiry into conditions and treatment of detainees at Manston Short-Term Holding Facility between 1 June and 22 November 2022, when the facility held approximately 4,000 people against a capacity of 1,600. Hussein Haseeb Ahmed died after contracting diphtheria while detained. Commenced 17 March 2025; first public hearing held 15 January 2026. Potential witnesses include former PMs Johnson and Sunak.

Live tracking hearings, witnesses and documents synced daily from the inquiry website Open live tracker Search evidence
1 year, 7 months Duration (ongoing)
£2.8m Total Cost
4 statements since Feb 2025
Written Ministerial Statement Manston Inquiry Terms of Reference
Alex Norris (Labour)
18 Dec 2025
Written Ministerial Statement Manston Inquiry Terms of Reference
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
18 Dec 2025
Written Ministerial Statement Manston Inquiry
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
12 Feb 2025
Written Ministerial Statement Manston Inquiry
Dame Angela Eagle (Labour)
12 Feb 2025
12 Feb 2025
Inquiry established

The Home Office announced a non-statutory inquiry, under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, into the conditions and treatment of people detained at the Manston Short-Term Holding Facility between 1 June and 22 November 2022.

Source
12 Feb 2025
Chair named

Sophie Cartwright KC was named as Chair of the Inquiry.

Source
12 Feb 2025
Terms of Reference published

The Inquiry's original Terms of Reference were published.

Source
17 Mar 2025
Inquiry commenced

The Inquiry formally commenced its work.

Source
18 Dec 2025
Terms of Reference expanded

The Terms of Reference were expanded to include how, and in what circumstances, a man detained at Manston came by his death in November 2022.

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15 Jan 2026
First preliminary hearing

The Inquiry held its first preliminary hearing.

Source
Total Inquiry Cost £2,768,000
Sum of annual reports
Cost Breakdown (to Mar 2026)
Inquiry Legal Costs £1,889,000 Panel remuneration & Counsel to the Inquiry
Core Participant Legal Costs - Legal funding for core participants
Panel £129,000
Staff £372,000
Accommodation £120,000
Technology £225,000
Safeguarding £2,000
Other £31,000
Verbatim: 'This document sets out the expenditure of The Manston Inquiry from 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026, the full financial year.' 'The total expenditure for the full financial year 2025-2026 is £2.768m with the breakdown in the table below.' Published breakdown in £'000s: Chair's fees 129; Secretariat salaries 372; Inquiry legal team 1,714; Counsel costs 175; Additional IT costs 4; Psychological support and safeguarding 2; Document Management 214; Office/other rent costs 119; Other accommodation costs 1; Audio-visual & associated costs 10; Stakeholder engagement, communications & associated projects 8; Website costs 7; Expenses 8; Other 5 -- all multiplied by 1,000 here per the report's own note: 'All figures are in thousands of pounds and include VAT, where applicable.' Report also states these figures 'have not been compiled by accountants and are not intended to be equivalent to company accounts.' Mapping decisions: inquiry_legal_costs = Inquiry legal team (£1,714,000, Solicitor to the Inquiry/GLD/DWF) + Counsel costs (£175,000, Counsel to the Inquiry) = £1,889,000; no core-participant legal funding is reported. panel_remuneration = Chair's fees only. staff_costs = Secretariat salaries. accommodation_costs = Office/other rent costs (£119,000) + Other accommodation costs (£1,000, ushering service at preliminary hearing). technology_costs = Additional IT costs (£4,000) + Document Management (£214,000, 'costs of the evidence management system, including associated software') + Website costs (£7,000, hosting/design/maintenance). safeguarding_costs = Psychological support and safeguarding (direct match, £2,000, 'emotional support services to victims and witnesses'). other_costs = Audio-visual & associated costs (£10,000, AV/technical services for the preliminary hearing) + Stakeholder engagement, communications & associated projects (£8,000) + Expenses (£8,000, accommodation/travel/subsistence for Chair/Secretariat/legal team/Counsel) + Other (£5,000, translation, office supplies, postage) = £31,000. Mapped components sum to exactly £2,768,000 = total_cost, no residual. This is the Inquiry's first published financial report. Chair Sophie Cartwright KC was appointed 17 March 2025 but this report covers FY2025-26 (from 1 April 2025) only; no report addresses any spend in the 17-31 March 2025 gap. is_cumulative=False: report is framed as 'the full financial year', not as cumulative since inquiry start.