Working in a prison is fast-paced and varied. You will be trained for all kinds of situations, from keeping the prison safe to helping offenders to learn new skills. You’ll experience good days and tough days as a prison officer. You’ll
need to be ready for challenging behaviour, and willing to take the rough with the smooth. But with training and a supportive team by your side, you’ll feel confident and assertive in your role and prepared to make a difference.
Our prison officers come from all walks of life. Join us and you’ll be part of a diverse team working to reduce reoffending and transform lives.
Key worker
As a prison officer, you will be a key worker with responsibility for around 6 offenders.
As a key worker you will meet with the individuals on a regular basis to support their rehabilitation. This might involve encouraging participation in education, substance recovery programmes and maintaining links with family members.
Prison Types & Categorisation
Prisons are split according to male, female and young offenders. Some prisons serve local courts and hold prisoners before, during and immediately after a trial. Others have long-term prisoners serving out the majority of their sentence.
Category A – High security prison – houses offenders that would pose the most threat to the public, the police or national security should they escape.
Category B – Core local prison – houses offenders that are taken directly from courts in the area, either sentenced or on remand.
Category C – Training prison – provides offenders with opportunities for developing skills so they can find work on release.
Category D – Open prison – allows offenders to spend most of the day away from the prison carrying out work whilst on licence.
Young offender institution (YOI) – prisons that house offenders aged between 18 and 21.
To work in a high security prison, you must have been resident in the UK for the last three years.
Pay
Your pay depends on where you work in England and Wales, and your weekly shift hours.
You will start on a 37-hour contract until your initial training is complete. After this you can choose to increase your hours to 39 or 41 hours a week.
You can also earn more if overtime is available in your prison.
Figures based on new pay award from September 2022.
Example starting salary for a 39 hour week (including 20% unsocial hours allowance)
Inner London
£35,931
Outer London
£34,140 to £36,140*
South and South East
£32,702 to £34,202*
Other locations
£30,702
*includes market supplements.
Benefits
As a prison officer, you will get:
25 days annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service)
paid special leave for Reservists to participate in the continuous mandatory period of training.
reward and recognition scheme
free access to prison gym and sports facilities
access to employee benefits and a discounts portal, including a Blue Light card
*Operational grades within prisons operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and you will be
expected to work on some public and bank holidays. Any that you do work will be added to your annual
leave entitlement.
When people come to work for us we want them to feel safe and that they belong, are treated with empathy and respect, and have the support and solidarity of their colleagues and managers, so we can all deliver our services
fairly and in response to individual needs. In joining us, you join an organisation which is committed to the values of humanity, openness, together and purpose.
Our prison officer assessment centre is designed to assess if you have the skills and fitness levels needed to become a prison officer. To support you to fast track to employment, on the day we'll:
let you know if you've been successful
confirm which prison you'll be assigned to and your start date
start your pre-employment checks.*
*Please come prepared with your Armed Forces disclosure form, your Armed forces reference number and your address and work history for the past 5 years. Please also bring your pension information, and if you have ever been subject to an
IVA, bankruptcy or insolvency bring any information relating to this. As part of the checks, you will also need to identify someone who will act as a Countersignatory for you, therefore please provide their contact details.
What happens at the Assessment Centre
The assessment starts with an introductory briefing session where you'll be told what to expect and will have the opportunity to ask questions. You will complete role plays, an interview, a written test, a numeracy test and a medical/fitness
test. After your debrief you will be given a provisional offer on the day if your results meet the required criteria.
We will then start your pre-employment checks. Please see the ID
Documents page for details of the documents you will need to bring with you.
Written Test
The Written Test checks your written ability and assesses whether you are able to use written sources of information to make effective decisions.
You will be given 40 minutes to answer two exercises, so it will be important to keep track of the time to ensure that you complete the test.
You will type your answers to the two exercises.
We will assess your written responses against the following behaviours:
Ability to write in sentences that show a reasonable understanding of grammar
Ability to take information from various sources and summarise it in written format
How to prepare:
Practice timing yourself to read and type text. Practice reviewing written sources of information and typing a summary of the information presented. You could identify a couple of news articles on the same topic, and within
a short timeframe (e.g. 30 minutes) write a summary of the key issues that were presented across the articles, and any recommendations or decisions you could make from the information you have gathered. Practice explaining
what you would do next to help with the situation, and why you would take that course of action.
Check that family or friends can read and understand your responses, to ensure that your write up shows a reasonable understanding of grammar. There are also useful resources on the
BBC Skillswise
English website which you may find helpful.
Numerical Test
This short test will confirm you have the basic numerical skills needed to perform your duties as a prison officer. You will be given 10 minutes to answer 10 questions.
Questions will involve basic functions such as: counting, adding, subtracting,
multiplying and
dividing. You will need to be able to work with ratios and fractions. Questions also require you to extract relevant numerical information from tables and read the time in the 24-hour format. You'll be able to
use a calculator during the test and within the role as a prison officer, to help you with your daily tasks.
How to prepare
Take the practice
tests to get you started. Practice using your numerical skills, especially involving each basic function outlined above. There are also some useful resources on the BBC Skillswise Maths website that you may find helpful.
Role-plays
During two 10-minute role plays, you will take on the role of a prison officer who is interacting with a prisoner in different scenarios.
The role plays are based upon challenging scenarios that you could be faced with as a prison officer.
We're looking for natural responses based on the information provided to you prior to and during the role plays. You do not require any prior knowledge of the prison officer job role; what's important is how you interact
and communicate with others.
We will assess your responses against the following behaviours:
During the assessment, treat the role plays exactly as you would a real-life situation. Be yourself; we want to measure your natural responses and not what you think we're looking for.
Interview
The interview is strengths-based and will last for 30 minutes. This means that questions will focus on what motivates and energises you.
Although no specific preparation is required, you may find it helpful to consider why you would like to become a prison officer and reflect upon your strengths prior to your online assessment centre. We're interested in
what motivates and energies you. Some people may find it more difficult to identify their own strengths, so consider talking to family or friends about what strengths they feel you have.
As spoken English is assessed in this Interview, please make sure that other people can understand what you are saying to them. If spoken English is something you struggle with, you could try having a conversation with
others and asking for feedback.
You will be required to attend a medical assessment with an Occupational Health professional. The purpose of the medical is to assess the general level of health, including weight, blood pressure, eyesight in both eyes
and hearing so that an informed opinion can be made on whether you are fit for a role as a Prison Officer and can undergo a fitness test such as the bleep test.
If your blood pressure is too high (i.e. more than 160/100 mmHg) you won't be allowed to take the fitness test due to health and safety reasons. You will be invited back to re-sit your medical assessment. 90/60 to 140/90
- is deemed within healthy range and remains fit to proceed to the fitness test.
If you use an inhaler you must bring an in date one with you for the fitness test.
Eye test: You MUST have a minimum uncorrected (without glasses or lenses) distance visual acuity of 6/36 with both eyes open and have a corrected visual acuity with a minimum of 6/12 with both eyes open.
If correction required to achieve this, at least 6/36 uncorrected with both eyes open.
Hearing test: You should be able to hear normal conversation at a distance of 10 feet (3m) without the use of hearing aids. Hearing will be tested by formal assessment on the day.
How to prepare
Bring your glasses or contact lenses with you, as well as contact lens solution if you will need to put your lenses back in after the eye test. Avoid caffeinated drinks which may affect your blood pressure.
Fitness Tests
Prison Officers need to be capable of performing to a certain standard to ensure their safety, as well as the safety of everyone else, including prisoners and work colleagues. Maintaining a certain level of fitness promotes
general health and well-being and helps prevent injury. The fitness test includes the 15-metre shuttle run - the 'bleep' test. The bleep test, which involves running/jogging, is not a specific test to assess your ability
to run, but a simple test to assess the efficiency of your working muscle's capacity to use oxygen during physical stress/activity using the large muscle groups of the body. Once in post you will be subject to an annual
fitness test, so will be expected to maintain your level of fitness during your employment.
To ensure that you are prepared to pass the fitness tests at your assessment centre practice them first using our mobile web application.
Our web application lets you practice both the bleep test and agility test and lets you know how far ahead or behind the required pass mark you are.
We will ask you within your application form if you would like to request reasonable adjustments. If you feel you require any kind of support and/or would like to discuss this with someone, please indicate 'yes' to requesting
reasonable adjustments within the application form. Our Reasonable Adjustments Scheme Team will then contact you following your application to discuss and confirm your reasonable adjustments based on your individual
needs.
If you have already applied and have not indicated that you require reasonable adjustments to support you during the Assessment Centre and would now like to make a request, please contact SSCL as soon as possible on 0345
241 5358 prior to attending your Assessment Centre. If you have any queries about your adjustments on the day of your Assessment Centre, please make the Centre Manager aware in the first instance. Reasonable adjustments
must be requested and confirmed prior to your Assessment Centre, to ensure these adjustments can be implemented.
Please note that we will hold Assessment Centres for any candidates requiring reasonable adjustments on Friday 11th March in Croydon and Thursday 17th March in Wakefield.
Behaviours
Communicating and Influencing - Which means you have excellent interpersonal skills, communicating clearly challenging and influencing others with confidence. You collaborate with others, showing good listening skills
and easily developing mutual respect and understanding.
Managing a Quality Service - You take pride in yourself and your work and demonstrate a strong work ethic. You manage your own time, quickly adapting to changing circumstances, whilst adhering to processes and rules.
You lead others by taking charge and providing direction, and take personal responsibility for your actions.
Making Effective Decisions - You have good judgement and problem-solving ability, using a wide range of information and evidence to build a full picture of a situation to guide your decisions.
Caring - You are open-minded, and non-judgemental, treating others with decency and respect. You develop meaningful relationships, empowering and supporting others, whilst maintaining clear boundaries You manage
other’s expectations and deliver on your promises and commitments.
