Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the timeliness of payments owed to former HM Prison Service staff under the Harper Judgement.

Following the Supreme Court judgment in Harpur Trust v Brazel, the Ministry of Justice developed an approach to identify and address cases where individuals may have received an incorrect amount of annual leave.

Guidance issued in 2023 made clear that former employees who considered that the judgment may have affected the amount of annual leave they received while employed by the Ministry of Justice should contact the Department. Former employees were not contacted proactively. Cases raised by former employees have been considered individually to determine whether they were affected and whether any payment is due.

As these cases have been considered on a case-by-case basis, the Department has not undertaken a central assessment of the timeliness of payments made to former HM Prison Service staff.