Press release: Pay boost for public sector prison staff

• All public sector prison staff to receive a pay uplift after Justice Secretary, David Lidington, implements in full Public Sector Pay Review Body’s recommendations

• Pay uplift follows £100 million government investment to recruit 2,500 new prison officers by 2018.

All prison staff in England and Wales will receive a pay boost as Justice Secretary, David Lidington implements in full the independent Public Service Pay Review Body’s recommendations.

All prison staff, including operational support grades and governors, will receive an increase to their salary averaging 1.7% across the service.

Justice Secretary David Lidington said:

Our hardworking prison staff do an outstanding job, often in the most challenging of circumstances. It is therefore right that this work is recognised and that they are awarded a well-deserved increase in pay.

During my visits to prisons around the country I have been hugely impressed with the commitment and dedication they show to make prisons safer and improving the lives of the offenders they manage.

Prison officers provide a vital public service. Their work is often out of sight but is crucial to keeping the public safe.

The government has already boosted the pay of thousands of frontline staff in London and the South East thanks to a £12 million package announced in February. Prison officers at 31 establishments have received a boost of up to £5,000 and new starters are now receiving a total pay of up to £29,500 — an increase of £5,000.

The £29 million of funding for the annual pay increase announced today will be drawn from existing budgets. It comes just weeks after the Justice Secretary announced a net increase of 868 new prison officers between January and June 2017. An additional 738 job offers have been made to potential recruits who are expected to start after June 2018.

This means more support for colleagues, and more support for prisoners, implementing the new key-worker scheme that will train each officer to work more closely with 6 offenders, building stronger relationships to bring about positive change.

By having more staff on the ground, staff will be better supported to do the job they came into the prison service to do, and spend more time reforming offenders.