Ministry of Justice

Address: National

Salary: £33,746 - £44,474

City / Town: National

Region: National

Vacancy Type: Merit

It is now more straightforward than ever to apply to become a prison officer or youth justice worker and progress your career via the fast track scheme exclusively for our OSGs. 

You will be unable to apply for Channings Wood, Dartmoor (remains closed and is likely to do so for the next two years), Downview, Ford, Foston Hall, Littlehey, North Sea Camp and Standford Hill because they will not be open to receiving successful candidates on this occasion.

Askham Grange, Drake Hall, East Sutton Park, Eastwood Park, Low Newton, New Hall and Styal will be open to female applicants only because an occupational requirement exception under Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010 is in place for these establishments at the current time.

Eligibility

To be able to apply for the fast track scheme, you must:

• ·       be a directly employed OSG, appointed through open and fair competition;
• ·       have passed your six-month probation period; and
• ·       not be subject to any formal procedures which remove you from the avenue of promotion or having direct prisoner supervision.

If you are employed on a fixed term contract basis, then you must have completed six months effective service and also been appointed through open and fair competition.

In addition, as per external prison officer recruitment, you will be ineligible to apply if you have received an unsuccessful result at the online assessment centre or a failed third attempt at the medical and fitness assessment within the last six months.

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.

Essential Skills

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

• ·       Good communication and influencing skills;
• ·       Commitment to quality;
• ·       Effective decision-making; and
• ·       Care and understanding.

If applying for a youth justice worker role, you also need to show you have the skills to work with children and young people.

Application Process & Assessments

As you already have some of the essential knowledge and experience needed, we have shortened the usual application process:

• ·       You will complete a short application form. This gives you the option of selecting your preferred establishment to take up post and a second choice.
• ·       After you have submitted your application, you will be invited straight to the online assessment centre (OAC), skipping the online tests.
• ·       If you are successful at the OAC, you will be invited to the medical and fitness assessment, and your vetting checks will be initiated, if there are immediate spaces at your chosen establishment(s).

If applying for a youth justice worker role you will undertake an additional role play at the OAC relating to the youth estate.

If applying for a women’s prison, following a successful result at the OAC, you will also need to complete the women’s prisons additional assessment which requires written responses to three behaviour-based questions. You will do this assessment online at a time that suits you best and each response requires a 250 word answer.

Hours & Pay

Your pay will be calculated as a promotion in line with HMPPS pay policy and you will move to the appropriate pay point. You will also be entitled to any additional payments operating at the establishment to which you are appointed.

You will start on a 37 hour contract until your initial training is complete. After this you can choose to increase to 39 or 41 hours a week.

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.

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.

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 of up to 20% of your salary
• ·       cycle to work scheme, travel loans and other benefits

Read more about prison officer benefits.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of Civil Servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. If you feel the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you can raise a formal complaint in the following order:

1.    Shared Services Connected Ltd: call 0845 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or email Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com

2.    Ministry of Justice Resourcing

3.    The Civil Service Commission.

Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

Reasonable Adjustment Support

As a Disability Confident employer, the MoJ is committed to ensuring that everyone can demonstrate their skills, talent, and abilities. Offering reasonable adjustment support to candidates when they apply for one of our jobs is just one way, we do this.

Before attending an online assessment centre, it is essential to arrange reasonable adjustment support. Due to practical and logistical constraints, our assessors cannot accommodate requests on the day of the assessment centre. Therefore, we kindly request that you let us know in plenty of time if adjustments are required. This will help ensure the right support is in place for you when you need it. 

Applying for reasonable adjustment support has been made simple. Just select ‘yes’ in the application form when it asks if you think you might need it.

Additional Information  

Please refer to the attached Band 3 prison officer and youth justice worker job descriptions.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please email the team assigned to support you at: PrisonsResourcing-Projects@justice.gov.uk

Closing date: This campaign will close on Friday 31 October 2025 at 2355 hours.

Supporting document 1  

Band-3-PO-Safe-Decent-and-Secure-JD048-v8.0 (1).pdf – 150KB Opens in a new window

Supporting document 2

Band 3 youth justice work job description 

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.

This role is not eligible for new Skilled Worker visas in accordance with the current immigration rules.

From 22 July 2025, the Government introduced changes to the Skilled Worker visa route. The department cannot consider sponsoring you for this role unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes. If you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously, please raise this during your vetting checks and eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place.

If you are applying for this role and you have not held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes, you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

The Department will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here.

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

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

If you require any assistance, please call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am-6pm) or e-mail MoJ-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com. Please quote the job reference 10414.

The jobholder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.