Immigration officers have allegedly been promised cake or a box of chocolates for the officer who arrests the highest number of suspected illegal immigrants.

The PCS (Public and Commercial Services) union has claimed the most 'successful' officers even had their names and photos put up on the wall by managers.

The Home Office has denied such schemes take place, however Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS union has criticised the alleged practice and called for it to be stopped.

An anonymous "informed source" reportedly spoke to the PCS union, saying: "Whoever made the most arrests in a month would get cake and possibly a box of Roses. This would be shared by the team.

"Their photograph would be stuck up on the wall, rather like an employee of the month”

In a statement Mr Serwotka said the alleged scheme:"Incentivising staff to detain people like this is frankly grotesque.

"It shows that there is indeed a target-driven culture in the Home Office – despite what Government ministers might say. Pressure on staff to deliver numbers, rather than value, is immense.

"Hostile Tory policy has created a hostile atmosphere in the Home Office where good people are being put under pressure to work in a way which treats applicants as numbers or profitable assets and as not human beings as they would like – all whilst being paid poverty wages themselves.

"We demand that the Home Office stops this practice.”

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Immigration enforcement in the UK is carried out by Ice (immigration compliance and enforcement) teams who work alongside local authorities and the police in investigating and halting immigration crimes such as "visa marriages" or overstaying on a visa.

A Home Office spokesperson said of the allegations: "We do not recognise the claims that there are any internal competitions on arrest numbers within Immigration Enforcement.

"The Home Secretary has been clear, he does not intend to set targets for enforced removals or arrests, and there are no targets in the current year.