Prisons: Pay

(asked on 21st July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Written Statement of 21 July 2020, Official Report HCWS408, Government response to the Prison Service Pay Review Body recommendations 20/21, for what reason the recommendations of the Prison Service Pay Review Body on pensionable pay were not accepted in full.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 1st September 2020

The Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) has made its recommendations for the 2020-21 pay award, and these recommendations recognise the hard work of our prison workforce in keeping some of the most vulnerable people in our society safe.

We value this immensely, which is why we accepted in full recommendations 1, 2 and 4 to 7, as made by the review body, for implementation from April 2020. For the third year in a row we have given above-inflation pay awards to our hard-working prison staff. This year’s pay award increases pay by at least 2.5% for all prison staff – with cumulative awards of up to 7.5% for some staff when progression pay is taken into account.

The PSPRB also recommended a further pay increase for ‘Band 3’ prison officers on modernised terms and conditions from September 2020 (recommendation 3). We are taking the time to consider this more carefully over the coming months as we move towards the Spending Review. We must also consider the context of the economic and labour market landscape shaped by COVID-19, and the pay awards being awarded to other hardworking public servants.

Discussions are ongoing on recommendation 3, and the government will announce its response later in the year.

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