Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice from anyone familiar with Skilled Worker sponsorship for prison officers.
Let’s say a prison officer working 37 hours per week on a salary of around £33,700, which includes the 20% unsocial hours allowance, would the full salary count towards the relevant sponsorship salary threshold, or would the allowance be excluded?
Has anyone successfully received Skilled Worker sponsorship as a prison officer on a similar salary, particularly when switching from a Graduate visa?
I’d appreciate hearing from anyone with direct experience or reliable information about how the salary requirements are assessed.
Thanks in advance!

Advice needed – Private vs Public Prison Service

Hi everyone,

I'm currently serving in the Armed Forces and will be leaving next year after a long military career.

I've been fortunate enough to receive two provisional job offers as a Prison Custody Officer / Prison Officer. One is with a privately operated Category C prison, and the other is with a public sector Category A establishment.

I'm genuinely torn between the two and would appreciate some honest advice from serving or former prison officers.

I'm particularly interested in:

Private versus public sector working conditions

Staff morale and management

Shift patterns and work-life balance

Career progression and promotion opportunities

Opportunities to move into training, mentoring or management roles

Job security, pensions and long-term benefits

I have extensive experience in leadership, training and mentoring, and would ideally like to put those skills to good use in my next career.

I'm not afraid of hard work or challenging environments, but after a long military career I'd like to make an informed decision about where I'll be happiest long-term.

Would anyone who has worked in both sectors recommend one over the other, and why?

Any honest advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Firstly, thank you to the mod for allowing me to share prisoncheck with the community. It's been a blast of a month.

I was ten years old when I first went on a prison visit, so I know exactly what that early point of anxiety feels like for a family navigating the system for the first time.

Last month, I started PrisonCheck to support families dealing with that exact stress when trying to stay connected with loved ones inside. It's a live website, up-to-date info where families meet halfway.

Recently, there has been a severe trend of visit wait delays, sudden communication system changes, and shifting policies that leave families entirely in the dark. It has even reached the point where HMIP has actively mentioned the deteriorating conditions surrounding family contact and the friction families face just trying to book a visit or get a PIN approved.

HMPPS's own policy states that keeping prisoners in touch with family helps keep them safe inside and makes it less likely they come back. According to the Strengthening Prisoners' Family Ties Policy Framework, 40% of newly sentenced prisoners said support from their family would help them stop reoffending, and 36% said seeing their children would. The framework explicitly acknowledges that "The visitor experience is very much determined by their first experience of attempting to book a visit," noting that booking rules must be accurate and easy to find. Prisons are told to give families clear information about the early days in an easy-to-understand format.

Yet, the reality on the ground rarely matches this framework. That is why Prisoncheck exists, and the response from the community has been massive. In just a short time, we have reached:

• 5,000 weekly visitors using the platform to check facility statuses.
• 1,500 published family reports logging real-time issues, wait times, and blackouts.
• Coverage for 106 out of 123 UK prisons, giving families a realistic picture of what to expect before they travel.

The community has proven how much we need an independent tool to track these changes when official channels lag behind. I would love to hear your thoughts on the recent redesign, and what other features would make your lives easier when navigating these ongoing delays

Hi there

I’m looking to understand a bit more about the realities of working as a Prison Programme Facilitator.

I am 33 (f) and have experience working in education, teaching pshe and delivering to young people/ adult students in college who display challenging behaviours. I also studied sociology and criminology and have completed counselling courses, so I am skilled at building relationships, listening, guiding etc.

I love the idea of the interventions facilitator role in the community but unfortunately, the pay isn’t as much.

I’m hoping to understand more about what’s good and what are also the challenges about the role so I can decide whether a men’s prison environment is right for me!

Any insights would be greatly appreciated ☺️

Left the prison service two months ago, Been sent a letter to say I owe £800+ all pay slips add up apart from one where I worked a full month and should’ve had that wage anyway. Anyone been in the similar position? Has gone to investigation now

Could a prisoner use a email a prisoner reply sheet to reply to someone else?

With the new uniform expected to come in soon. What does everyone think about the change from white shirts to black polo's?

Hi all. Has anyone had to send in their physical copy of their DBS before getting a formal offer of employment? I can't find my certificate (definitely got sent to me) and now I'm worried this will extend and already very long wait. Thanks in advance!

I’m really interested in working at a prison. I’d love to work at a Cat A prison one day but I feel working at a Cat B or C would be beneficial first and then transferring to my nearest Cat A (Wakefield). If anyone could help point me in the right direction that would be really appreciated!
I have also looked at the youth justice worker role in a YOI and wanted to know whether you can directly transfer and become a prison officer or whether you’d need extra training?
Thanks very much for any help and advice!

HMMP Prison Officer role - Is anyone else still waiting for their PEC (Pre-Employment Checks) to be completed after more than 9 months?

My application is still showing as showing ‘In Progress’, and whenever I contact the recruitment team, I’m told that the checks are in progress and they’ll contact me if they need anything further.

please anyone can share their recent experience and if there are any other contact teams to chase up( I did try emailing and calling recruitment team support)

Does anyone know what happens to books that are delivered to a prison but are refused? This is my first time sending in books? Does anyone have any tips? I’ve called the receptionist and they don’t seem to have a clue

What happens with pay when the clocks go back? Don’t gain an hours toil? If your working the overnight duty.

Please can anyone tell me what it's like working in hmp cardiff as a. PO.. l'm curious about what to expect as per staff and general working environment I would really appreciate some insight Thank you.

Hi all. I failed my blood pressure test. Anyone got an idea on what will happen next? Thanks

Hi everyone,

I’m currently going through the HMPPS prison officer recruitment process and wanted to ask if anyone has experienced something similar.

I received a conditional offer for a prison officer role at HMYOI Deerbolt. I passed my OAC, DBS, medical/fitness requirements and was later informed that my pre-employment checks had been completed.

I was then scheduled for a start-date call on 13 October, between 1:05 pm and 1:35 pm, but nobody called me.

Since then, I’ve sent multiple emails and followed up with the relevant recruitment teams. I was told the issue had been put on my file and that I should keep an eye on my emails, but I still haven’t received a new call date or a proper explanation.

I’m particularly concerned because I’m an international applicant and need clarity about my employment start date and potential visa sponsorship.

My questions are:

1. Has anyone else had their scheduled start-date call missed by HMPPS or Sopra Steria/SSCL?
2. If so, how long did you wait before they contacted you again?
3. Did your application eventually progress to a confirmed start date?
4. Is there another recruitment contact or escalation route that actually helped?

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced this, I’m trying to understand whether this is a recruitment communication delay or something I should be more concerned about.

Thanks.

Just started my foundation training, anxious as to the amount of assessments. I have done Serco ITC and C and R, and mitie ITC, C and R and also HOMES use of force with no issues. I think just after some advice as to what it is really like? How hard is it? They use the words refer instead of fail so do many people actually fail? I would say I was a competent Detention custody officer and have no issues with training or use of force instances in the past, I’ve just put my all into this really so feeling anxious and after some feedback? Thanks in advance!

Please can anyone tell me what it's like working in hmp cardiff as a. PO.. l'm curious about what to expect as per staff and general working environment I would really appreciate some insight Thank you.

Does anyone here happen to recall what the trigger is for sick review under the last 2024 hmpps policy? I'm currently having a battle with bad mental health following a family member passing and now stressing out on whether taking too much time sick will trigger a warning. I know its a confidential intranet policy, so im just asking for the trigger points if anyone can remember the threshold??

Hello all, applied for futures scheme in prison service, now I started on the 12th of this month but I’m entitled to rent claim, since I’ve not worked a full month could I claim the whole money which is £750 or half of that and also would I be able to make claim while at newbold for the month of November. Please I’d be grateful if someone has an idea on that

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Please can anyone tell me what it's like working in hmp Bristol as a. PO.. l'm curious about what to expect as per staff and general working environment I would really appreciate some insight Thank you.

How much money would you need to be comfortable in UK prison?

Hello, I am due to start as an OSG in a few weeks and wanted to know how accessible toilets are while working? Obviously you can’t just abandon your duties to go like you can in other jobs, so what is the process?