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Prison Officer

Prison Officer Image

Prison officers supervise people who have been convicted of a crime, or who are 'on remand' and waiting to go on trial, in prisons and young offenders' institutions.

The Work

You could be:

Officers of both genders serve in both male and female prisons. You could work your way up to the post of residential officer within the prison service (see the Getting On section).

Pay

As of January 2023 the starting salary for a newly recruited operations officer working for the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is £24,705 a year rising to £28,491 over a three year period. (Prison officers in HMP Grampian receive an annual geographical supplement of £1000 in years 1-3 and £500 in year 4.)

The salary for a residential officer starts at £31,289 a year rising to £37,063 within three years.

Conditions

Workforce Employment Status

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Getting In

Workforce Education Levels (UK)

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Job Outlook Scotland

Employment

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Job Outlook Scotland and UK

  Scotland
2022
3049
4.3 %
RISE
2027
3180
  United Kingdom
2022
27125
2 %
RISE
2027
27667

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What Does it Take?

You need to have:

You need to be able to:

Training

Getting On

More Information

The Scottish Prison Service:

In Scotland, all prisons, including privately managed prisons, are part of the SPS estate so all prisoners are in government care.

Video

Courtesy of Ministry of Justice

Contacts

The following organisations may be able to provide further information.

Scottish Prison Service (SPS)
Tel: 0131 330 3500
E-mail: gaolinfo@sps.pnn.gov.uk
Website: http://www.sps.gov.uk/
Twitter: @scottishprisons
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScottishPrisonService

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