KEY LINES THE POA WILL CAMPAIGN ON IN 2025

Prison officers’ pay, retirement age and right to strike are among the issues your association will target this year, along with prison maintenance

The POA is the largest union in the United Kingdom, representing Uniformed Prison Grades and staff working within the field of Secure Psychiatric Care, with more than 32,700 full members in the public and private sectors. The POA also has a very healthy retired members section, with more than 3,500 members, taking our overall membership to more than 36,000.

Prison Officer grades and OSGs, along with our Nursing grades, play a vital role in society; they keep the public safe, help rehabilitate offenders and lock up dangerous criminals.

Our members are proud of the job they do and are committed public servants. However, they are finding it increasingly difficult to do their job because of the crisis facing the Prison Service and our Secure Psychiatric hospitals.

This crisis is a consequence of two decades of budget cuts and under investment resulting in:

• Continued staff shortages
• Prison overcrowding
• Underfunding and under-resourcing
• A recruitment and retention crisis
• A crumbling prison estate
• Rising levels of violence
• Pay falling behind inflation by 13.1% since 2014.

Since the election of the new Labour Government in July 2024, increasing numbers of prisoners have been released early from their sentences to reduce overcrowding.

Overall, since coming to power, the new government has not addressed the multiple concerns raised by the POA. It is acknowledged that remedies created over two decades are not going to be eradicated now – after all, they have been in power for less than a year. But we cannot keep accepting the excuse that we inherited this situation, and the continued blame game, where nothing gets resolved apart from finger pointing.

There has been no progress on addressing the recruitment and retention crisis across the prison estate. The prison service is no longer seen as a desirable occupation, with large numbers leaving the service - the attrition rate since March 2024 for the B2 grade is 15.9%, up from 4.1% in 2010.

The working environment remains one of the most hostile and violent in the world. There are 88 assaults a day across the service – 28 of those are assaults on staff.

‘Out of cell’ time for prisoners is restricted because of a lack of staffing.

Overcrowding and self-harm are increasing. The use of drones to deliver contraband – such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons – into jails is increasing the risk to staff, and destabilising prisons.

Without action, it is only a matter of time before a firearm is delivered to a prison by drone. Furthermore, some drones that organised crime groups have used can carry a payload of up to 75kg, presenting an increased risk of them being used in an escape. Unlike the prison in Guernsey, mainland UK prisons have not been equipped with adequate anti-drone technology.

Prison Officers in England and Wales do not have the right to strike, unlike in Scotland, where no strikes have taken place since the right was reinstated in 2015.

PAY

Prison Officer grades, OSGs and our colleagues in the NHS are being hit hard by the cost-of-living crisis. Food, energy, housing costs etc. have all soared over the past decade, but Prison Officer pay has failed to keep up.

Prison officer pay has fallen 13.1% behind inflation since 2014 – pay restoration is a priority issue for the POA.

Prison officer pay has fallen behind other comparable roles for those with similar experience and service.

• Prison Officer £34,298
• Firefighter £37,675
• Police Officer £38,922

POA research found:

• 82.59% of Prison Officers disagree or strongly disagree that their salary accurately reflects the roles and responsibilities of their job
• Fewer than a fifth of Prison Officers believe their salary accurately reflects the roles and responsibilities of their job
• 82% agreed that their salary fails to reflect the roles and responsibilities of their job
• 88% agreed that their salary is too low
• 7% think their salary is not in line with other public-sector jobs

The POA proposes a total pay award of 13% over the next two years, split evenly 6.5% for each year. We are keen to explore a two-year pay deal commencing April 2026.

Prison Officer pay is a major barrier to recruitment – Prison Officers are leaving in large numbers, with attrition rates of up to 40% at some establishments. If pay continues to fall behind, the situation will get even worse.

Prison Officers work in a very high-pressure, hostile and dangerous environment. They work in overcrowded, understaffed prisons that hold some of the country’s most dangerous criminals. They do not have the right to withdraw their labour and have to work until they are almost 70 before they can retire. Their pay should reflect both their skills and the environment in which they work.

Prison Officers are expected to be turn-keys, police constables, firefighters, medics, mentors, role models, teachers, therapists, and more, but their pay does not in any way reflect this unique and multifaceted role.

RETIREMENT AGE

Following a 2011 review of public-service pensions by Lord Hutton of Furness, it was concluded that for the ‘uniformed services’, “where the pension age has historically been lower to reflect the unique nature of their work”, a pension age of 60 was appropriate. Prison Officers were deemed manifestly a ‘uniformed service’ and already had a retirement age of 60, but were left off the list of ‘uniformed services’.

Removing Prison Officers from the list of uniformed services and making them work until the age of 68 was, and is, unfair and unjust. A clear error was made in not including Prison Officers, but when this was pointed out to UK ministers, they doubled down on this mistake and have tried to claim that 68 is an “appropriate” age for Prison Officers to retire, as prisons are a “controlled environment”.

Retirement at 68 ignores the reality of prison life for those being asked to work on the front line of a service with:

• Rising levels of violence, 88 assaults a day in prisons, 28 against staff
• The impact of the new trends in drug use
• Overcrowding, understaffing and a recruitment crisis
• The actions of very active organised crime gangs
• A prisoner population with significant and complex mental health issues.

The combination of these things makes the environment more complex and challenging than ever before. It is outrageous that prison officers have to deal with these threats and challenges up to their 68th year. They should have the option to retire at 60. In a recent survey, it was found that 95% of POA members believe the retirement age is too high.

Prisons are increasingly violent places that are overcrowded and understaffed – to expect Prison Officers to work in such an environment until they are almost 70 years of age is irresponsible, dangerous and an abdication of an employer’s duty of care to its employees.

Prison Officers are expected to work until they are 68 in an environment that is one of the most dangerous and hostile of any occupation. The POA is extremely concerned about the impact of prolonged exposure to this environment on frontline staff.

Would you like your mum/dad/grandparent/aunt/uncle to have to work in a prison and deal with some of the most dangerous people in society at the age of 68? This is not good for prisoners, not good for society, and most certainly not good for Prison Officers.

The POA ‘68 Is Too Late’ campaign seeks to work with politicians of all parties to bring about change that would provide Prison Officers with the option of retiring at 60 with no detriment to their pension.

RIGHT TO STRIKE

The right to withdraw one’s labour is a fundamental human right recognised by the International Labour Organization.

In 1994, the right to strike for Prison Officers was removed by the Tory Government during the passage of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994 Section 127). Subsequently, the Blair Labour Government committed to reinstating the right to strike in England and Wales, but failed to follow through on this pledge.

The Scottish Government reinstated the right to strike in 2015. Prison Officers take their responsibilities and duties seriously, evidenced by the fact that, since the right was reinstated in Scotland, not a single day has been lost to strike action.

Strike action is a last resort, but it is one of the few ways that workers can fight back against poor pay, punishing terms of service, and workplace conditions. Banning the right to strike is the action of repressive and totalitarian regimes. Britain is supposed to be a democracy – that should include industrial democracy and universal human rights.

This appalling restriction of basic human rights lets the Government legally exploit loyal and brave public servants, who are limited in their ability to protect their pay, terms or conditions. The only avenue open to them is through costly and lengthy court action.

POA leaders have been threatened with the seizure of assets or imprisonment for “inducing, authorising or supporting any form of industrial action by any Prison Officer”. This is an outrage.

The United Nations recognises the right to strike as a fundamental human right that should be protected by international labour law. Commitments from previous Labour governments to reinstate the right never materialised. This must be reversed.

It is unfair and unjust for Prison Officers to be denied the basic and fundamental human right to withdraw one’s labour.

PRISON MAINTENANCE

‘Outsourcing’ by the Ministry of Justice has been a disaster. The Tory Government’s decision to privatise all prison maintenance (to Carillion and Amey) in England and Wales in 2015 resulted in conditions across the prison estate deteriorating immediately.

After Carillion’s collapse three years later, a corporate-style ‘GovCo’ – Government Facilities Services Limited (GFSL) – took over its contracts. The race to the bottom continued and now, 10 years later, there is widespread squalor in prisons and an estimated maintenance backlog of almost £2 billion.

These contracts are up for renewal over the coming months. After Labour’s pre-election pledge to oversee “the biggest wave of insourcing for a generation”, the POA is calling for maintenance to be brought back in-house, with a return to full works departments in every establishment.

However, the Government has stated (PQ 21413) that the public sector won’t be invited to bid for the new contracts, after a 2023 assessment (which ministers won’t release) “determined that a privatised solution was the preferred option for meeting prison maintenance service needs”.

This is deeply concerning. The POA, with the help of supportive MPs and Peers, are campaigning for an end to privatised prison maintenance.

Prison maintenance privatisation over the past decade has proved a costly failure – more expensive than the public sector, but delivering a far worse service; a classic false economy. Prison conditions have deteriorated, with many in a state of squalor, evidenced by a crumbling estate, rodent infestations and appalling conditions.

With these failing contracts soon to expire, the Government has the perfect opportunity to make good on its promise to oversee the biggest wave of insourcing for a generation. These contracts should be brought back in-house to improve quality, provide value for money for the taxpayer and end the privatisation rip-off.

Recent pledges by Prisons Minister James Timpson to keep an “open mind” about a “public-sector option” for maintenance are warmly welcomed by prison unions, which urge him to look closely at the evidence.