HUNDREDS of Home Office border guards personally experienced discrimination at work last year, an official survey has found.

Nearly 700 border force staff, or more than a fifth of those surveyed, raised concerns about discrimination in the workplace.

Some 565 staff also said they had “personally experienced bullying or harassment at work” in 2018.

As well as running passport controls at airports, border force staff play a prominent role in dealing with refugee boats in the Channel.

Similar figures for discrimination and bullying were reported in immigration enforcement, the Home Office division that deals with asylum applications, detention centres and deportations.

Among the border guards and immigration enforcement staff, 195 complained of discrimination on the basis of their ethnic background, 206 staff cited disability, 239 said it was because of their sex.

The Public & Communication Services (PCS) union, which represents Home Office workers, was dismayed by the findings.

General secretary Mark Serwotka told the Morning Star that “bullying, harassment and discrimination has been all too common across the Home Office for many years.

“We are working constructively with the employer to identify further ‘hot spots’ where we can challenge these practices and drive them out of the Home Office and create a decent environment for our members to work in.”

But Mr Serwotka warned that the issues were rooted in the Tories’ hard-line immigration policy.

“PCS has repeatedly told ministers about the link between this reality for staff and the inhumane hostile environment that the government have created,” he said.

The issues at the department stretch back to at least as far as New Labour. In 2010 a Home Office worker reported that her colleagues kept a stuffed gorilla “grant monkey,”  a badge of shame that was put on the desk of anyone who approved an asylum application.

The recent survey shows that signs of serious discontent at the department persist.

Some 13 per cent of staff said they wanted to leave their jobs “as soon as possible.”

A third responded negatively when asked: “To what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?”

The figures were even worse when they were asked: “Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?” About 40 per cent did not feel happy on the previous day and a third said they felt anxious.

The survey was commissioned by the Cabinet Office, which oversees the Civil Service.