Prison staff are set to get a 3.5% pay rise next year, justice secretary David Lammy has announced.
On Thursday, the Prison Service Pay Review Body published its annual advice for the remuneration of governors and operational managers, prison officers and support grades in the Prison Service in England and Wales.
Responding in the House of Commons, Lammy said he accepted the body’s recommendations in full.
The award will deliver an increase of at least 3.5% of base pay for all eligible prison staff between operational support grade and governors (bands 2-11), with a targeted focus on the lowest paid.
Staff in the operational support grades (band 2) will receive the 3.5% increase in addition to the automatic National Living Wage increase that comes in on 1 April. They will also continue to receive a temporary increase at 25% of base pay until publication of the 2027 report whilst work to agree an appropriate permanent approach to “unsocial hours working” is finalised.
The award will be paid by the end of June, and will be backdated to 1 April.
Lammy said that due to tight public finances, the Ministry of Justice will fund the award from existing budgets, which may impact other spending plans.
“Prison Service staff are some of our finest public servants,” Lammy said. “The role that prison staff play in keeping communities safe and supporting rehabilitation is crucial.
“Accepting these recommendations in full reflects our commitment to ensure that prison staff are able to continue delivering this essential frontline service. This also recognises the unwavering dedication of our prison staff, whose work is largely out of view of the public, but is vital for those under their care and to keep the public safe.”
Lammy said the approved recommendations are also “expected to further stabilise the recruitment and retention position in the Prison Service”.
The PSPRB report said recruitment "appears to have relied heavily on overseas applicants in recent years" and warned that "given changes to the skilled worker visa rules, the Prison Service will not be able to rely as heavily on recruiting staff from overseas".
"Therefore, looking to the future, there needs to be a sustainable pipeline of applicants from the United Kingdom especially given the level of vacancies and the planned expansion of the prison estate," the review body said.
The Home Office has granted a temporary exemption to the immigration rules for foreign nationals working in UK prisons in a bid to head off a potential staffing crisis. The exemption lasts until the end of the 2026 calendar year.
The PSPRB report also noted that retention "remains fragile, with considerable numbers of staff still leaving the service within their first 24 months of joining".
‘Insulting’ – prison officers union responds to pay award
The Prison Officer’s Association hit out at the announcement, accusing ministers of “nauseating hypocrisy”, noting that MPs will receive a 5% bump for the same period.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the POA, said: “A 3.5% increase in prison pfficer pay at a time when inflation is around 3% and we have a cost of living crisis is a kick in the teeth for our members.
It is nauseating to see MPs on almost £100,000 a year being awarded a 5% increase and our members, with all the dangers and stresses they face carrying out their duties, receiving just 3%.
“This shows once again how detached the political class is from workers who live in the real world, not the Westminster bubble. The POA will redouble our campaigning efforts to ensure prison officers are valued and rewarded for the work our members do.”
The union had sought a 6.3% rise for staff at pay bands 2 to 5 "to repair and correct years of real-terms losses, rebuild morale and support staff retention" in its submission to the pay review body in November.
Mark Fairhurst, national chair of the POA, said the award would “do little to raise the standard of living” of prison staff “who are struggling with ever increasing energy, fuel and food costs”.
And he said the pay review body and ministers were “living in cloud cuckoo land” if they believe the award will help with the recruitment and retention crisis.
He added: “Let me be clear, if prison officers in England and Wales had their industrial rights restored, I would now be balloting them for strike action over this insulting award.”