Register Your Interest | Advance into Justice

Prison Officer – Advance into Justice scheme - Express your interest

Advance into Justice – what is the scheme?

Advance into Justice is a specific fast-track scheme aimed at supporting armed forces veterans into prison officer roles. It highlights our commitment to our armed forces personnel, recognising the transferable skills you bring to our workplace.  Once you have applied, we will invite you to attend an assessment centre.  This will be a full-day assessment where should you be successful, you will be provided with a provisional offer.  Find out more about what the assessment entails on our website.

Advance into Justice is open to the following people: 

• Service Leavers – those in transition from the UK Armed Forces (in their last 12 months); or 
• Armed Forces Veterans – those who have left Her Majesty’s Armed Forces within the last five years having serviced for at least one year as a regular or reserve, and be either currently unemployed or not in full-time work (for instance, working part-time or on a zero-hours contract)

As part of the Advance into Justice scheme you will be offered one of two options: 

• If you live within 75 minutes of the allocated establishment, you will be offered home-to-work travel expenses for your first 2 years in service, up to a total of £8,000
• If you live more than 75 minutes from the establishment, you can claim up to £12,000 in receipted relocation costs. Relocation costs over £8,000 are usually taxable, however, we will be covering the tax burden for the additional £4,000

You will initially be placed on a 2-year fixed-term contract; with the potential to change to a permanent contract after 12 months with the relevant approvals.  

When you apply to the scheme you will be asked to select up to 3 preferred establishments you would consider working in.  You will be allocated by the business need in the first instance and your preference will be considered however we cannot guarantee that the establishment(s) that you have selected will be the establishment you are offered. 

What are the benefits?

It can be a challenging but rewarding career, and in return, you will receive a great pension (25% plus employer contribution), competitive pay, training, benefits and have the support of a strong team.

The initial training is 37 hours a week. After training, you can choose to work 37, 39 or 41 hours a week. Your annual salary will reflect your weekly hours.

Example starting salary for a 39-hour week
 (including 17% unsocial hours allowance)

Inner London: £32,044*
Outer London: £30,461*
South and South East: £27,427*
Other locations: £24,427

* includes market supplement

This is an example, and not an exhaustive list of salaries.  You may also have opportunities to work additional paid hours. 

Benefits

• 25 days of annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years' service)
• Civil service pension with employer contributions of over 25%. Civil Service Pensions : Contribution Rates (civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk)
• paid time off for public holidays and 1 extra privilege day*
• extensive training opportunities and access to a wide range of courses
• a wide range of career progression opportunities, eg Physical Education Instructor, Dog Handler, Custodial Manager, find out more here 
• generous parental leave cover
• cycle to work scheme and travel loans
• property rental deposit loans
• access to local keyworker housing schemes
• employee assistance programmes
• Paid special leave for Reservists to participate in the continuous mandatory training
• Opportunities for overtime

*As prisons operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you will be expected to work on some public and bank holidays. Any that you do work will be added to your annual leave entitlement.

Express your interest in this role now and we will be in touch as soon as applications open.