Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that Prison Service staff undertaking the same work receive the same level of remuneration.

In 2012 NOMS introduced significant reforms to their pay and grading structures through the introduction of ‘Fair and Sustainable’. The reforms included the introduction of a new job evaluation scheme, standardised job descriptions and a new pay structure and aimed to mitigate equal pay risk.

All jobs are evaluated using the Job Evaluation Scheme (JES), and this determines the pay band the role it falls within.

The pay for operational prison staff, including officers, is considered on an annual basis by the independent Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB), based on evidence relating to private sector pay structures, public sector pay policy, recruitment and retention of staff, budget restrictions set by HM Treasury and the UK economy growth and inflation forecasts. We have however taken a number of steps to improve remuneration for prison officers over the past year, including:

• Increasing the rates of Payment Plus and Tornado allowances for staff working extra hours or taking on additional duties.
• Announced plans to introduce temporary market supplements to our 31 hardest to recruit sites for the remainder of this Parliament, which will boost prison offer pay by up to £5,000.
• Creating 2,000 new senior positions available for promotion which provide further opportunities for officers to boost their take home pay as part of our continued plans to professionalise the workforce.

A number of prison officers remain in the old “closed” pay structures and are unlikely to opt into the new structures due to the salary differential. NOMS is looking at all potential options to bring all staff into Fair and Sustainable terms and onto the same pay structures.