Prison jobs that are not prison officer: OSG, instructor and education roles

An operational support grade (OSG) keeps a prison running without being a prison officer: you work the gate, the control room, visits, reception and deliveries, and your contact with prisoners is usually limited. No qualifications are needed, and the recruitment site gives a starting salary of £30,000 to £36,000 for a 37-hour week depending on location. Other non-officer prison jobs, such as instructors, need a trade, teaching or other specific qualification. All of these are advertised for prisons in England and Wales by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

What an OSG does

HMPPS describes the OSG role as supporting the smooth and safe running of the prison. The tasks it lists include:

• gate duties: searching staff, visitors and vehicles, escorting vehicles and contractors, issuing keys and radios, and patrolling the perimeter
• operating the radio system and monitoring CCTV in the control room
• welcoming and escorting visitors
• logging incoming mail and reporting contraband
• reception: photographing prisoners and processing their property and parcels
• night duties, including checking that cell doors are locked and prisoners are accounted for
• delivering food trolleys, sometimes with an electric tug, and driving duties such as escorting prisoners to a destination

Depending on the prison you may supervise prisoners occasionally, and you will sometimes work alone, day or night. The job is active, with lifting, carrying and long periods of standing and walking.

Pay and hours

The OSG role is band 2, and the published figures include a 20% unsocial hours allowance for a 37-hour week. The starting salaries on the recruitment site are:

Location	Starting salary
Inner London	£36,752
Outer London	£34,609
Other locations	£30,491

Most prisons run a changing shift pattern averaging 37 hours a week. You work some nights, weekends and public holidays, and those public holidays are added to your holiday allowance. Shifts are known about six weeks ahead. Nights are worked in a block of seven, followed by a week of rest days. Because many prisons are rural, a driving licence helps, although it is only desirable unless the advert says otherwise. The advert is the place to check the pay band and any allowances, as the pages we read are not dated.

Instructor and education roles

Prison education, skills and work (ESW) roles help prisoners gain qualifications and work skills. Each needs specific skills, experience or qualifications. HMPPS lists these starting salaries for a 37-hour week:

• production instructor (band 3): £34,063 in inner London, £32,367 in outer London, £29,107 elsewhere
• specialist production instructor (band 4): £39,658, £37,872 and £34,440
• learning and skills manager (band 6): £46,415, £44,629 and £41,197
• head of education, skills and work (band 7): £59,366, £57,580 and £54,148

Production instructors supervise prisoners in workshops doing work such as recycling, industrial cleaning and cycle repair, or more specialist activities including woodwork, horticulture and engineering. Teaching posts exist too, and the recruitment site points to a separate page for those. Catering is a separate job family where you use catering qualifications to feed a prison.

How the OSG application works

You must be 18 or over and have the right to work in the UK and the Civil Service. After an offer, you go through pre-employment checks including HMPPS Enhanced Level 2 vetting; our pre-employment checks guide and security clearance guide explain the general process. If you apply to one of eight high security prisons (Belmarsh, Frankland, Full Sutton, Long Lartin, Manchester, Wakefield, Whitemoor, Woodhill), you also need a Counter-Terrorism Check and three years of UK residency immediately before applying.

The process takes four to five months on average from application to first day. Stage one is a short online application followed by a values-based online test, which takes up to about 20 minutes with no time limit. Stage two is an interview of about 30 minutes, with questions on behaviours and strengths. You do not need prison experience, and examples from everyday life are accepted. One application can be used for several prisons. Facial tattoos are generally not acceptable unless for cultural, religious or medical reasons.

Where it can lead

HMPPS says many OSGs choose to move on to prison officer or youth justice worker jobs. Others move into instructor roles, waste management or catering training. See how to become a prison officer and the youth justice worker guide for those routes. New OSGs get paid on-the-job training on prison security and safety, plus local training such as personal protection.