Job Description

Prison officer - HMP Deerbolt

HMP Deerbolt, Bowes Rd, Barnard Castle DL12 9BG

Starting salary: \xc2\xa332,851 (for a 39 hour week inc 20% unsocial)

City/Town: Darlington

Region: North East

Vacancy type: Merit

As a prison officer, you\'ll be part of a diverse team, making an impact, doing meaningful work in our prisons.

Working in a prison is fast-paced and varied, and no two days are the same. You\'ll work with a range of people and perform a variety of tasks - from keeping the prison safe and secure, to helping vulnerable people through a difficult time in their lives. Once you\'ve qualified, you\'ll have a range of opportunities to specialise and progress your career and earning potential.

It can be a challenging job, but in return you will get good pay, training, benefits and have the support of a strong team.

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Job details

Eligibility

To become a prison officer, you will need to:

• be at least 18 years old
• have the right to work in the UK
• be reasonably fit and able to pass our fitness test
• have good eyesight in both eyes (both with and without corrective lenses)
• For safety reasons, everyone training to be a prison officer needs a suitable standard of hearing (without the use of hearing aids)

To work in a high security prison ( ) you must have been a resident in the UK for the last 3 years.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Visa sponsorship

Please note we are unable to sponsor any individuals via the Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visa.

Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

Essential skills

You don\'t need qualifications to become a prison officer. Personal qualities are more important. You need to show:

• communication and influencing skills
• commitment to quality
• effective decision-making
• care and understanding

Pay

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.

• 37 hours a week = \xc2\xa330,902 a year
• 39 hours a week = \xc2\xa332,851 a year
• 41 hours a week = \xc2\xa334,800 a year

All salary figures quoted include any additional allowances.

Prisons operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means you will have to cover various shift patterns that will include evenings, some nights, weekends and public holidays (these days are added to your holiday allowance). Most prisons work with a changing shift pattern of 39 hours a week.

You may also have opportunities to work additional paid hours.

Benefits

• 25 days\' annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years\' service)
• paid time off for public holidays and 1 extra privilege day
• Civil Service pension of up to 20% of your salary
• cycle to work scheme, travel loans and other benefits

Assessment Process

During the recruitment process you will be assessed on the behaviours, strengths and abilities you need to become an effective prison officer. These include:

• communicating and influencing
• managing a quality service
• making effective decisions
• caring

Your natural strengths are assessed to find out what motivates and energises you. We will also assess your numerical, written English and spoken English abilities.

Online Test

You will be invited to complete the online test, to see if you have the basic judgement and numerical skills expected of a prison officer.

The online assessment centre (OAC)

If you pass the online test, we will invite you to an online assessment centre.

We test to see if you have the abilities, behaviours and strengths to be a prison officer.

Once you\'ve successfully completed the online assessment centre, we will invite you to complete a medical and fitness test. This will cover an eyesight test, hearing test and basic health screening, including a blood pressure check.

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Job offers: merit vacancy

This is a merit job vacancy. If you are successful at the online assessment centre, you will be added to a merit list based on your score.

When all applicants have completed the assessment centre, the prison will make job offers to individuals with the highest scores first when positions become available.

You can stay on the merit list for 12 months. After this, you\'ll need to apply again.

If your application is unsuccessful at the sift/Interview stage, a six month waiting period will be applied during which time you will not be allowed to submit any further applications for prison officer positions.

Operational Support Grade Role

Our Online Assessment Centre (OAC), will not only assess you against the key criteria to become a prison officer but will also determine your suitability for appointment as an operational support grade If following attendance at your OAC, you are unsuccessful in your application to become a prison officer, we may instead offer you an alternative role as an OSG.

Working for the Civil Service

The sets out the standards of behaviour expected of Civil Servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in . If you feel the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you can raise a formal complaint in the following order:

• Shared Services Connected Ltd: call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or email

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We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging.

Disability support

As a Disability Confident employer, the Ministry of Justice is committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. We can offer reasonable adjustments to help with the online tests and online assessment centre.

The jobholder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.

Allowance Details

Please refer to additional job description attachment

Additional Information

If you require any assistance, please call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am-6pm) or e-mail . Please quote the job reference 77909.

The jobholder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.

Closing Date: 07th September 2023.

Supporting document 1

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit :

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are \'at risk of redundancy\'.

MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidate\'s will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

Ministry of Justice