Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing the pension age of prison officers on levels of staff retention.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We have seen an improving picture on retention nationally – with resignation rates at their lowest level for four years for Band 3-5 prison officers.
We recognise that pension age is an important issue for frontline staff and our recognised trade unions. Ministers regularly engage with the POA and the Deputy Prime Minister is due to meet with the POA early in the new year.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of recruitment and retention of prison officers in England and Wales; and how many positions are vacant due to retirement, resignation or ill health.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We know that sufficient and skilled frontline staffing is fundamental to delivering safe, secure, and rehabilitative prisons. We remain committed to ensuring prisons are sufficiently resourced and that we retain and build levels of experience.
Substantive recruitment efforts will continue at all prisons where vacancies exist or are projected, with targeted interventions applied to those prisons with the most need. We closely monitor staffing levels across the estate, including at a regional level, and look to provide short-term tactical support where possible. Where establishments feel that their staffing levels will affect stability or regime, there are a number of ways they can maximise the use of their own resource and seek support from other establishments in the short term, through processes managed nationally at Agency level.
HMPPS has a retention strategy in place which is linked to wider activities around employee experience, employee lifecycle, and staff engagement at work. Alongside the strategy a retention toolkit has been introduced which identifies local, regional, and national interventions against the drivers of attrition, which are utilised by establishments to ensure that they are embedding individual Retention Plans.
HMPPS publishes the following data as part of the HMPPS Workforce quarterly statistics for prison officers. This includes:
The number of prison officers appointed to HMPPS annually, consisting of direct new recruits and existing staff who converted to a band 3 officer grade;
Resignation rates cover the rate for those who voluntarily resigned from the organisation;
Leaving rates covers the rate for all leavers and all reasons for leaving, including deaths, resignation, dismissals and redundancies; and,
Reasons for leaving for prison officers.
This data can be accessed via the following link: HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: HM Prison & Probation Service workforce quarterly: September 2025 - GOV.UK:. Table 1 below gives an overview of Band 3-5 prison officer joiners, leavers, leaving rate and resignation rate: 2019/20 to 2024/25:
Table 1: Band 3-5 prison officer joiners, leavers, leaving rate and resignation rate: 2019/20 to 2024/25
12 months to end of… | Number of joiners | Number of leavers | Leaving rate | Resignation rate |
Mar-20 | 2,317 | 2,852 | 12.2% | 8.0% |
Mar-21 | 2,410 | 2,116 | 9.2% | 5.4% |
Mar-22 | 3,845 | 3,386 | 14.5% | 10.9% |
Mar-23 | 4,314 | 3,331 | 14.6% | 9.7% |
Mar-24 | 4,821 | 3,170 | 13.2% | 8.5% |
Mar-25 | 2,416 | 3,047 | 12.5% | 8.3% |
Sep-25 | 1,971 | 2,622 | 10.9% | 7.0% |
HMPPS also publishes the difference between Staff in Post (SIP) and Target Staffing Figures (TSF) for Band 3 to 5 Prison Officers at establishment and national level in the Annex of the workforce quarterly publication (Table 4 of the Prison and Probation Officer Recruitment Annex, which can also be accessed via the link above). There was a difference of 1,225 FTE between the SIP and TSF for Band 3-5 prison officers in HMPPS at the end of September 2025. We are unable to attribute specific vacancies to reasons for leaving and as such, cannot calculate a breakdown of vacancies by reasons for leaving.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of changing the rules to allow prison officers who retire after failing their annual physical fitness test to receive their full pension.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Prison officers are members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), for which the policy is owned by HM Treasury and applied to the scheme by Cabinet Office.
Like all public sector pension schemes, a member of the CSPS can consider taking retirement at any time after reaching the age of 55 (increases to 57 from 2028).
If there is an underlying medical condition which significantly impacts a prison officer from carrying out their role, they may be considered for Ill Health Retirement.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the appropriateness of the retirement age for prison officers given the (a) mental and (b) physical health challenges of the role.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
We recognise the unique and challenging role that prison officers play in protecting the public and reducing reoffending. The Lord Chancellor has requested advice from officials on the pension age of prison officers, and we will continue to engage with trade unions as this is considered.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reducing the retirement age for prison officers in line with (a) police officers and (b) firefighters.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
We recognise the unique and challenging role that prison officers play in protecting the public and reducing reoffending. The Lord Chancellor has requested advice from officials on the pension age of prison officers, and we will continue to engage with trade unions as this is considered.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has plans to lower the prison officer retirement age.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Prison officers are members of the Civil Service Pension scheme (CSPS), and the normal pension age (at which unreduced benefits can be taken) is linked to their state pension age.
We recognise the unique and challenging role that prison officers play in protecting the public and reducing reoffending. The Lord Chancellor has requested advice from officials on the pension age of prison officers, and we will continue to engage with trade unions as this is considered.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on restarting negotiations with the Prison Officers Association over the pension age of prison officers.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The pension age in all public sector pension schemes is set under legislation by HM Treasury, and the merits of any review in pension age would be for them to consider. The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice is committed to listening and working with officers, staff and trade unions, and Ministers will continue to meet with the Prison Officer’s Association and other unions to discuss a range of issues. We highly value our hardworking prison officers and take very seriously the safety of all staff working within prisons, whatever their age.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2023 to Question 197911 on Prison Officers: Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the pension age of prison officers to 60.
Answered by John Glen
The Government values hardworking prison officers and has recently accepted the recommendations of the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) for 2023/24 in full. Normal Pension Age in the civil service alpha scheme is set at a member’s State Pension age, and the Government notes the concerns raised in this regard by workforce representatives.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the pension age of prison officers to 60.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The pension age in all public sector pension schemes is set under legislation by HM Treasury and the merits of any review in aspects of the pension scheme, including pension age, would be for them to consider. I am committed to listening to and working with officers, staff and trade unions and I continue to meet with the Prison Officer’s Association and other unions to discuss a range of issues, including pensions. We highly value our hardworking prison officers and take very seriously the safety of all staff working within prisons, whatever their age. The Ministry of Justice continues to review and roll out new safety equipment and provide new skills to prison officers to deal with challenging situations and reduce the risk of assault.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2023 to Question 184944, Prison Service: Dismissal, what proportion of prison staff aged 60 or over were dismissed from service because of medical inefficiency in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Information on the proportion of staff, aged 60 and over in HM Prisons (including YCS) who left for reasons of ‘Dismissal - Unsatisfactory attendance’ or ‘Dismissal - Medical Inefficiency’ is given in the table below. Between January 2017 and December 2019, cases of ‘Dismissal - Medical Inefficiency’ were recorded as ‘Dismissal - Unsatisfactory attendance’ on our internal reporting system, and so these have been combined in the response throughout the time series.
Table 1: Proportion of prison staff aged 60+1 who were dismissed due to medical inefficiency/unsatisfactory attendance2, from 01 April to 31 March; 2013/14 to 2022/23 |
(headcount)
Financial Year | Proportion of prison staff aged 60+ dismissed due to medical inefficiency/unsatisfactory attendance |
2013/14 | 1.7% |
2014/15 | 2.1% |
2015/16 | 1.8% |
2016/17 | 2.1% |
2017/18 | 1.0% |
2018/19 | 1.3% |
2019/20 | 1.8% |
2020/21 | 1.2% |
2021/22 | 1.5% |
2022/23 | 2.3% |
Notes
1. Age as at time of leaving
2. From January 2017 to December 2019, information regarding dismissals as a result of medical inefficiencies were recorded as unsatisfactory attendances. Therefore, these categories have been combined here throughout the timeseries.
Prison officers are part of the Civil Service Pension Scheme which has a pension age linked to the individuals state pensions age – this is between 65 and 68 depending on their date of birth. This is the same for HMPPS in England and Wales as it is for the Scottish Prison Service.
This is a defined benefit scheme which pays a pension for life without investment uncertainties. It has one of the lower employee contribution rates across the public sector, whilst employer contributions are 27%
Whilst the fire and police service pensions have a lower retirement age of 60, members of these schemes pay between 12% and 14% contributions, whereas prison officers pay only 5.45%
HMPPS takes very seriously the health and safety of all prison staff – whatever their age. All prison officers who joined the service after April 2001 must pass an annual fitness test in order to remain a prison officer.