Recommendations on prison officer pay

That this House notes that the Government has rejected as unaffordable Recommendation 3 by the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) of a £3,000 pensionable pay rise for Band 3 prison officers on Fair and Sustainable conditions, the main operational recruitment grade into the Prison Service; further notes that the PSPRB considers Band 3 pay to compare poorly against other occupations in the same broad occupational group, and calculates the cost of new recruits leaving after less than two years at £30 million annually, which it calls an inefficient use of public money; further notes that the PSPRB was established in 2001 to compensate prison officers for the loss of their right to take industrial action in any form, and that, in response to a successful complaint by the Prison Officers Association (POA) to the International Labour Organisation in 2004, the Government committed only to depart from its recommendations in exceptional circumstances; further notes that the Government pledged in July to open discussions with recognised trade unions on the implications of this recommendation, yet no such discussions have taken place with the POA; believes that the decision to deny prison officers pay justice threatens to damage morale and exacerbate the current recruitment and retention crisis; questions whether the recommended award is genuinely unaffordable at a time when billions of pounds have been budgeted to build a new generation of private prisons; and calls on the Government to accept the PSPRB’s recommendations in full.