Prison Service Pay Award

Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)
11. Which organisations she consulted on the prison service pay award announced by her Department on 19 February 2017.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Sam Gyimah)
We have announced that, in prisons where recruitment and retention are most difficult, we will offer a combination of higher starting pay and an additional allowance of up to £5,000 a year, taking the salary of officers in those jails to up to £30,000. The relevant trade unions were advised in advance.

Mr Cunningham
Good management suggests that we lift up the lower paid in the Prison Service, which will help with recruitment and, more importantly, lift morale.

Mr Gyimah
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. We want to make sure that our hard-working prison officers are well rewarded. Our announcement on 19 February, to which he refers, was specifically designed to tackle jails where it is very hard to recruit because of the high cost of living in their particular market. This year’s pay award for all prison staff is a matter for the independent pay review body, to which we will submit evidence shortly.