Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Prison Service Pay Review Body’s Nineteenth Report on England and Wales 2020, Recommendation 3, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of increasing annual pay for Fair and Sustainable National Band 3 Prison Officers by £3,000.

The 20/21 PSPRB report included a recommendation, recommendation 3, to uplift the pay of Band 3 prison staff on F&S terms by £3,000. This recommendation was ultimately rejected by the government and this was announced on 10 December 2020. Nonetheless, this was the third year in a row that prison staff have benefitted from an award of at least 2% - which delivered an above inflation increase.

The Department estimates the total cost of increasing annual pay for all Fair and Sustainable Band 3 Prison Officers by £3,000 to be around £35.3m. However, the total cost of this £3,000 increase would be around £46.8m, as the £3,000 uplift would also be applied to non-operational prison service colleagues paid within the same band.

Prison Officers working in the 31 ‘Market Supplement’ sites (primarily in London and the South East), already receive a supplement of £3,000 - £5,000 to support recruitment and retention.