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Prison Service Officers (Below Principal Officer)

Prison service officers (below Principal Officer) direct, co-ordinate and participate in guarding inmates and maintaining discipline in prisons and other detention centres.

Wages

New workers
AVERAGE
Experienced
£ 19,789
£ 30,293
£ 39,116

New workers start around £19,789. Normal pay is £30,293 per year. Highly experienced workers can earn up to £39,116.

Available jobs

In the past year there were 30,307 vacancies for this type of job

5.51%

Projected job growth over the next 8 years

Related courses

People work towards these careers by taking these courses at college and uni.

What they do most days?

  • Reports on prisoners’ conduct as necessary.

  • Trains and supervises prison staff.

  • Provides care and support to prisoners in custody including prevention of self-harm.

  • Runs prisoner rehabilitation and support programmes.

  • Escorts prisoners transferred from one institution to another.

  • Investigates disturbances or any other unusual occurrences.

  • Guards entrances and perimeter walls.

  • Watches for any infringements of regulations and searches prisoners and cells for weapons, drugs and other contraband items.

  • Escorts prisoners to and from cells and supervises them during meals, recreation and visiting periods.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, learnable, measurable, often industry or occupation-specific abilities related to a position.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Psychology

  • Data Entry

  • Criminology

  • Numerical Analysis

  • Operations Support Systems

  • Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

  • Optometry

  • Carpentry

  • Working With Children

  • Futures Exchange

Soft Skills

Soft skills can be self-taught and usually do not necessitate a certain completed level of education.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Communication

  • Management

  • English Language

  • Resilience

  • Written English

  • Interpersonal Communications

  • Detail Oriented

  • Decision Making

  • Empathy

  • Patience

How do I get a job like this?

People in these types of job started their career paths after studying courses like the ones below.

Routes to this career

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Related careers

Senior Police Officers

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Police Community Support Officers

Air Transport Operatives

Related industry guides

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Protective services