Prison Officer (Womens Prisons) – Advance into JusticeMinistry of Justice

All

staff have a responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The post holder must undertake the appropriate level of training and is

responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding

policies of the organisation.

Job description

Advance into Justice Prison Officer

Prison officer –

HMP Askham Grange

HMP Downview

HMP Drake Hall

HMP East Sutton Park

HMP Eastwood Park

HMP Foston Hall

HMP Low Newton

HMP New Hall

HMP Send

HMP Styal

Vacancy type:   Merit

Duration: 2 Year Fixed Appointment

HMP Askham Grange, HMP Downview, HMP East Sutton Park, HMP Foston Hall and HMP Styal is open to female applicants only as an occupational requirement exception under Sch 9 of the Equality Act 2010. These establishments are not open to male applicants

Skilled Worker visa sponsorship may be available for this role, subject to eligibility and in line with the UK Immigration Rules in force at the time of application. However, due to current immigration requirements and recruitment timescales, candidates who require Skilled Worker visa sponsorship are unlikely to be sponsored if applying to this campaign.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to consider their right to work in the UK carefully before applying. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and eligibility criteria at gov.uk.

The Department will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service.

Advance into Justice is a recruitment scheme targeted at supporting those who have served in the Armed Forces and their families into employment within operational roles within HMPPS.

Advance into Justice is open to Service Leavers, Armed Forces Veterans, their Spouses and Legal Partners.

Eligible applicants who pass our assessment processes will be offered a 2 year fixed-term appointment with the option after 12 months, to convert to permanency, subject to approval, under Exception 10 of the Civil Service recruitment principles.

All provisional offers will be held for a period of 12 months from the point of offer, to allow service leavers to plan for their exit from the Armed Forces and transition directly into a career with HMPPS.

Applicants are required to pick 3 establishment preferences

Working in women’s prisons

Working with women in custody has some specific challenges that you may not encounter in a male prison.

Women in custody have often had extremely difficult backgrounds. The majority of women in prison have experienced emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. This can lead to a lack of trust in staff.

An extraordinary job. Done by someone like you.

Prison officers protect the public and help make an impact on prisoners' lives.

If you have the integrity, skills and strength of character we’re looking for, this fast-paced role could be the start of a successful career.

Someone like you

There’s no such thing as a typical prison officer. Our officers come from different walks of life, just like the offenders they work with. Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, have worked in retail, the armed forces, or just feel like you’re a natural people person, you’ll have the empathy, self-confidence, great communication skills and resilience we want.

No matter the challenge, you’ll take the time to build constructive, positive and professional relationships with prisoners who could be at the lowest point in their lives.

Teamwork plays a vital role in this environment, so you’ll need to be fully committed to supporting your colleagues and understand the importance of acting as one team to keep the prison, and everyone who works here safe.  You will be required to work various shifts and some weekends.

An extraordinary job

In this unique career, you’ll have the opportunity to carry out many different roles in any one day. One minute you’re a peacekeeper, the next you’re a counsellor or a teacher. You’ll work directly with prisoners in a unique environment, helping to protect the public and make a positive impact.

Find out more about this varied role and day-to-day life as a prison officer.

Job details

Eligibility

To become a prison officer, you will need to:

· be at least 18 years old at the point you commence employment

· meet the Civil Service Nationality requirements (see nationality requirements section below)

· as this is a physically active job, you will need to pass a medical and fitness assessment as part of the application process

· meet the required eyesight standard in both eyes (both with and without corrective lenses)

· For safety reasons, everyone training to be a prison officer needs a suitable standard of hearing (without the use of hearing aids)

· Whilst tattoos are permitted, including those that are visible, they must not be deemed as offensive, discriminatory, violent or intimidating in any way. Facial tattoos are generally not acceptable, except where this is for cultural, religious, or medical reasons.

To work in a high security prison (category A) you must have been a resident in the UK for the last 3 years.

Travel to Work

Some prison establishments are situated in rural locations with limited public transport options; therefore, a driving licence and own transport is beneficial but is not an essential requirement of the role (unless specified).  Please note that shift start, and finish times are fixed, and it is your responsibility to get to and from your place of work on time for the start of your shift. Please carefully consider the location of this vacancy and your transport options before applying.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

·       UK nationals

·       nationals of the Republic of Ireland

·       nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

·       nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

·       nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

·       individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

·       Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules.

Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

Essential skills

You don’t need qualifications to become a prison officer. Personal qualities are more important. You need to show:

communication and influencing skills

commitment to quality

effective decision-making

care and understanding

Pay

The initial training is 37 hours a week. After training, you can choose to work 37, 39 or 41 hours a week. Your annual salary will reflect your weekly hours.

Salaries quoted are for National - 37 hours a week & include an unsocial hours allowance - £34,928

HMP Askham Grange

HMP Drake Hall

HMP Eastwood Park

HMP East Sutton Park

HMP Foston Hall

HMP Low Newton

HMP New Hall

HMP Styal

Salary - £36,928 (includes £2000 market supplement)

HMP Send

Salaries quoted are for Outer London – 37 hours a week & include an unsocial hour’s allowance – £40,840 (includes £2000 market supplement)

HMP Downview

All salary figures quoted include any additional allowances that are applicable to the role/location.

Prisons operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means you will have to cover various shift patterns that will include evenings, some nights, weekends and public holidays (these days are added to your holiday allowance).  Most prisons work with a changing shift pattern of 39 hours a week.

You may also have opportunities to work additional paid hours.

Benefits

25 days’ annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service)

paid time off for public holidays and 1 extra privilege day

Civil Service pension with employer contributions of 28.97%

cycle to work scheme, travel loans and other benefits

Read more about prison officer benefits.

Assessment Process

During the recruitment process you will be assessed on the behaviours, strengths and abilities you need to become an effective prison officer. These include:

communicating and influencing

managing a quality service

making effective decisions

caring

Your natural strengths are assessed to find out what motivates and energises you. We will also assess your numerical, written English and spoken English abilities.

Online Tests

Once you have completed your initial application form, you will be invited to complete stage 1 of the online test, to see if you have the basic judgement and numerical skills expected of a prison officer.

If you are successful, we will invite you to the stage 2 online test (values-based assessment). We use this assessment to understand how well you demonstrate the values needed to be an effective prison officer.

If you successfully pass the Values Based Assessment (VBA), you'll be eligible to progress to the Online Assessment Centre (OAC), where we'll assess the behaviours, strengths and abilities needed to become a Prison Officer.

As demand for assessment places can vary, candidates who achieve a higher pre-determined VBA score may be invited to the OAC sooner. This approach is applied consistently and fairly to all applicants within the campaign.

If you meet the required VBA pass mark but are not selected for an initial invitation, you will remain under consideration and may be invited to attend an OAC as additional assessment capacity becomes available.

If you were unsuccessful at the stage 2 online test in the last 6 months, you can now re‑apply.

The online assessment centre (OAC)

On successful completion of the online test, we will invite you to an online assessment centre where we test to see if you have the abilities, behaviours and strengths to be a prison officer.

After this you will be invited to provide a written response to 3 behaviour-based questions. We will explore your understanding of the prison officer role in a women’s prisons and why you are interested in the role.

Once you’ve successfully completed the online assessment centre, we will invite you to complete a medical and fitness test. This will cover an eyesight test, hearing test and basic health screening, including a blood pressure check.

Read more about the application process.

Job offers: merit vacancy

This is a merit job vacancy. If you are successful at the online assessment centre, you will be added to a merit list based on your score.

When all applicants have completed the assessment centre, the prison will make job offers to individuals with the highest scores first when positions become available.

You can stay on the merit list for 12 months. After this, you’ll need to apply again.

If your application is unsuccessful at the sift/assessment stage, a six month waiting period will be applied during which time you will not be allowed to submit any further applications for prison officer positions.

Operational Support Grade Role

Our Online Assessment Centre (OAC), will not only assess you against the key criteria to become a prison officer but will also determine your suitability for appointment as an operational support grade  OSG   If following attendance at your OAC, you are unsuccessful in your application to become a prison officer, we may instead offer you an alternative role as an OSG.

Medical and Fitness

Once we identify a vacancy for you, we will invite you to complete a medical and fitness test. This will cover an eyesight test, hearing test and basic health screening, including a blood pressure check.

Please note we are not able to facilitate medical and fitness assessments outside of the UK. Applicants will be required to attend a UK based medical and fitness assessment centre to progress their application.

Find out more about the medical assessment and fitness test on the application information centre

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