Prison Service Pay Review Body reports on prison pay
The twelfth report of the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) is being published today.
The twelfth report of the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) is being published today.
The report makes recommendations on the pay of Governing Governors and other operational managers, prison officers and related support grades in England and Wales in 2013/14. Copies have been laid in the Vote Office and the Library of the House.
The key recommendations for 2013 are:
New fair & sustainable bands
- Endorsement of the introduction of the new Bands 4,5,7,8,9,10 and 11 pay ranges as the final stage of the wide scale reforms to pay systems being introduced across NOMS
- Endorsement of adjustments to the pay ranges for the previously endorsed Bands 2 and 3
- Pay progression increases of 1 pay point for staff in Bands 2 to 5 and of 1.5 per cent for staff in Bands 7 to 11
- Non consolidated payments of one per cent of base pay for staff in Bands 7 to 11 who have achieved an “outstanding” performance assessment
Closed grade structures
- Non consolidated awards of £250 for prison officers, senior officers and remit group Manager G staff on the maximum of their closed pay scales at 31 March
The PSPRB make a number of other recommendations that do not affect pay for remit group staff this year but highlight issues which it wishes parties to address as part of the next pay round.
Jeremy Wright, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Minister for Prisons and Rehabilitation, said of the recommendations:
‘The Government values the challenging, demanding and crucial work that prison staff undertake.
‘The Government has accepted the Prison Service Pay Review Body’s recommendations in full which will be implemented from April 1 2013. The PSPRB’s recommendations are framed on the basis of Government policy, that public sector pay awards will average one per cent for the two years following the pay freeze.’
NOMS Chief Executive Officer, Michael Spurr said:
‘I am pleased that the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) continues to endorse the implementation of Fair and Sustainable; which introduces new working structures and pay reform which is essential in ensuring long term efficiencies and improvements to the Prison Service.
‘HM Prison Service staff are at the forefront of protecting the public and rehabilitating offenders, working with some of the most vulnerable, disturbed and disadvantaged in society. I welcome the PSPRB’s report as a fair and independent judgement on pay for their remit group and the Government’s decision to accept the recommendations in full. The cost of the award will be met from within the budget for the National Offender Management Service.’
Notes to editors
- This is the 12th report of the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB).
- The role of the PSPRB is to provide independent advice on the remuneration of Governing Governors and other operational managers, prison officers and unified support grades within its remit in the England and Wales Prison Service. The overall number of staff within this remit group on December 31 2012 was just under 30,800.
- From April 2011 the PSPRB has been chaired by Dr. Peter Knight CBE. Peter Knight retired from the position of Vice Chancellor of Birmingham City University in 2007 and has since held the appointment as a Local Government Boundary Commissioner for England. From 2004-2010 he was a member of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body.
- The full report is available on the Office of Manpower Economics website.