There are 40 per cent fewer experienced prison officers in England and Wales than there were in 2010, FactCheck analysis shows. 

We’re talking about officers with at least five years of service under their belt.

And the picture looks even worse if you consider officers with at least ten years of service – there are half as many of these compared to 2010. 

Our findings come as the government announces an extra £100m for HMP Wandsworth, after it received a “catastrophic inspection” from the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor. 

Wandsworth inspection report

The inspection report into Wandsworth found “chaos” in the prison, and attributed some of the problems to staff inexperience.

Three quarters of prisoners reported spending at least 22 hours per day locked in their cells.

And the report said that “inexperience across every grade of operational staff” was preventing them from “bringing about much needed change” and sustaining progress.

It’s one of several reports by the prisons inspectorate in recent months which has linked the dire situation in our prisons to the inexperience of staff.

So what has happened to prison staffing over the past decade or so?

FactCheck analysis: 40 per cent fewer experienced officers

FactCheck analysis of data held by the Ministry of Justice shows that the number of prison officers with at least five years of experience has fallen by 40 per cent since 2010. 

And the number of officers with at least ten years of experience has fallen by 55 per cent.

Another way of looking at the data:

In 2010, the vast majority – around 80 per cent – of prison officers had more than five years of experience on the job.

But today, only half of prison officers have this much experience.

So how did we get here?

Prison staffing since 2010

Under the Coalition government of the early 2010s, prison officer numbers fell by a quarter. 

A Voluntary Early Departure Scheme in those years saw hundreds of experienced officers exit the workforce. And very few new officers were hired.

The figures from 2014, for example, paint a stark picture – just 45 new officers were hired that year, while almost 3,000 left the service. 

And over 2,300 of those who left that year had more than ten years of service under their belt.

Overall prison officer numbers began to partly recover from 2018 onwards, as the Conservative government undertook a recruitment drive.

However, overall officer numbers are still about 5 per cent lower today than they were in 2010. 

And in case you’re thinking that’s because we have fewer prisoners – it’s not. The prison population is about 3 per cent higher. 

Experienced officer numbers worst hit

And crucially, experienced officer numbers were the worst hit – and have never recovered.

Why? Well, part of the reason is that new officers don’t stay in the service long enough to gain experience.

Ministry of Justice data shows that around 13 per cent of frontline officers left the service in the past year. This high turnover means that workforce numbers are always being topped up by new, inexperienced staff.

And the lack of recruitment in the early 2010s means that many would-be officers, who could by now have over ten years of experience, simply don’t exist.

Worse outcomes for prisoners

Experts have linked staff inexperience to problems in prisons.

A recent justice inspectorate report highlighted how many prison officers are so new to the job, they’re “nervous” about letting prisoners out of their cells. 

The prisons inspectorate recommends that prisoners should be “unlocked” for at least ten hours per day. 

However, it said in its last annual report that many male prisoners are getting less than two hours out of their cells per day. 

And this was echoed in this week’s report into HMP Wandsworth, with three quarters of prisoners saying they were getting less than two hours out of cell.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:

“The Government has taken immediate action to grip the serious issues facing our prison system, to ensure we can lock up dangerous offenders, protect the public and make prisons safer for hard-working staff.”

“We have also recently agreed a five percent pay rise which will raise a prison officer’s starting salary to over £34,000 and ensure we can recruit and retain the staff needed to help offenders turn their backs on crime.”

(Image credit: Juiced Up Media/Shutterstock)