Prison Custody Officer vs Prison Officer Pay 2026

In shortOn the figures we can verify, public-sector officers are paid more, partly because of pay and partly because of hours.

• Private start, 40h£13.51 an hourRising to £15.98 after three years
• Public Band 3, 40h£18.33 to £19.30Pay point 1 to pay point 3
• Public Band 3, 37h£18.10 to £19.06Hourly, using our 52.143 weeks convention

A publicly run prison's Band 3 officer on pay point 1 is on £34,928 for 37 hours including UWH. If they work 40 hours (the contract Serco advertises at HMP Doncaster) the published figure rises to £38,232. The Serco advert starts at £28,187.

That does not mean every private-sector job pays less than every public one. Operators set their own pay, London weighting and benefits vary, and we did not find a reliable dated advert for every private prison. Use the table below as a guide and always check the current advert.

For the public figures see prison officer pay bands and contract hours 37, 39 and 41.

• The public-sector hourly rate for an officer starting today is above the private-sector rate for an officer with three years' service.

In shortThe titles overlap: public prisons employ Prison Officers, private prisons employ custody officers, and escort roles are a separate job.

This matters for pay research. The Serco escort role we opened (Prisoner Custody Officer, Rushmoor, advert posted 27 September 2026) is advertised at £25,555 for a 35-hour training week, then £29,205 for 40 hours, with £29,932 in year 2, £30,496 in year 3 and £31,063 in year 4.

That is an escort role, so do not read it across to a prison officer. Dossier-level snippets about other private prisons are useful context but unverified.

Prison Officer (public)

In publicly run prisons the grade is Prison Officer, Band 3 on the Fair and Sustainable pay structure. Public-sector officers are HMPPS civil servants.

Prison custody officer (private)

In private (contracted-out) prisons operators employ prison custody officers; the operator's advert may call the job Prison Officer or Prison Custody Officer. Serco's HMP Doncaster advert is titled Prison Officer, while Sodexo, whose adverts we saw only in snippets, uses Prison Custody Officer. Custody officers in contracted-out prisons are employed by a company working to a government contract.

Prisoner custody officer (escort)

Prisoner custody officers do escort and court work (Serco's PECS roles), which are not prison roles.

In shortThe PSPRB found Band 3 pay including UWH and two additional committed hours above the range for the private-sector prison roles it sampled.

• PSPRB remit group28,905 FTEAt 30 September 2025
• Band 3 to 5 officersDown 701 FTEIn the year to June 2026

The Prison Service Pay Review Body compares public-sector pay with other employers every year. In its 2026 report (para 2.71) it found that Band 3 pay including UWH and two additional committed hours was above the range for the private-sector prison roles it sampled.

That is an independent confirmation that, for officers, the public-sector figures sit above comparable private-sector prison jobs.

• The PSPRB's view is that retention in the first 24 months is fragile.
• Private operators compete for the same candidates, and some move to public prisons as soon as they can. We have no verified data on movement between the sectors.
• None of this means private-sector adverts are poor jobs: it means the headline salary is lower for a comparable role at a comparable hours level.
• The calculation changes when you account for pension value, leave, overtime, commuting and local labour markets; the following sections work through those.

In shortCompare at the same hours: at 40 hours the public starting salary is £10,045 above the Serco advert, and even on 37 hours it is £6,741 above.

All trainee public-sector prison officers start on a 37-hour contract, and can move to 39 or 41 hours once training is complete (PPJ). The Serco advert states an average of 40 hours a week and an average of 4 shifts a week.

A 40-hour public-sector pay point 1 officer is on £38,232; a 41-hour officer on £39,334; a 37-hour officer on £34,928. The private-sector start is £28,187 for about 40 hours. The difference at 40 hours is £10,045.

Even setting the public officer on 37 hours, the starting salary of £34,928 is £6,741 above the private advert for three fewer hours a week.

In shortEven with advertised overtime the Serco figure (about £37,800) is below the public 40-hour basic at pay point 1, and overtime is not guaranteed in either sector.

The Serco advert says that with an average of four hours of overtime a week, annual earnings could be about £37,800, while noting that overtime cannot be guaranteed. But £37,800 is below the public-sector officer's 40-hour basic pay at pay point 1 (£38,232) before any Payment Plus.

In publicly run prisons, officers in Bands 3 to 5 have no overtime except Payment Plus, £23 an hour from 1 April 2026 for specified duties such as bedwatch and constant watch, non-pensionable. Four hours a week of Payment Plus is £4,784 a year gross. See Payment Plus explained and prison officer overtime.

The public sector has a second pay layer that private adverts do not mention: market supplements of £1,500, £2,000, £3,000 or £3,500 at 18 named prisons (non-pensionable, paid monthly), and London scales. We found no verified private-sector equivalent, so we do not compare them. See market supplements.

In shortPublic officers are in the defined-benefit Civil Service Alpha scheme; we did not verify the private prison scheme type, so we do not compare accrual rates.

• Employee, up to £36,1994.6%2026/27 Alpha contribution rate on pay up to £36,199
• Employee, £36,200 to £56,0005.45%5.45% on pay from £36,200 to £56,000, then 7.35% to £150,000 and 8.05% above
• Employer contribution28.97%To 31 March 2027; 22.32% from 1 April 2027

Public-sector officers are in the Civil Service Alpha scheme, a defined-benefit career-average scheme. A new officer at £34,928 pays about £1,607 a year.

• The Serco escort advert we opened says 'up to 6% contributory pension scheme (matched by Serco)'. The HMP Doncaster advert says only that a pension scheme is provided.
• If the private scheme is defined-contribution, the eventual pension depends on investment returns and not on a formula. That is a difference in risk as well as value.
• The employer contribution is not cash in your pocket: it is the scheme's funding rate, which pays for a promised pension. But it does mean the public-sector package has a significant deferred element.
• Use Alpha explained, the civil service pension guide and the pension calculator to put a figure on it, and ask any private operator for the scheme rules in writing.

In shortThe contract is the authority: treat the advert as an invitation to ask questions, not a binding statement of terms.

The sources we read do not give the HMPPS long-service leave threshold or the number of public and privilege holiday days on top, so we do not state them. The HMP Doncaster advert did not state leave.

In shortIn all three examples the public role comes out ahead on basic pay, and overtime estimates are not guarantees.

Example 1: same hours. Kelly is offered a Serco prison officer role at average 40 hours (£28,187) and a HMPPS Band 3 role at 40 hours (£38,232). The public role pays £10,045 more in year one. After three years the Serco role pays £33,337 and the public role £40,257.

The cumulative difference over three years is about £27,264 on basic pay, before overtime or Payment Plus.

Example 2: shorter hours. Dev takes the public 37-hour contract (£34,928) because of childcare. His hourly rate of £18.10 is £4.59 an hour above the Serco starting rate of £13.51. At the public hourly rate, £28,187 would pay for only about 29.9 hours a week.

Example 3: overtime. Alex expects four hours a week of overtime in the private prison (Serco's average assumption: about £37,800 a year) and four hours a week of Payment Plus in a public prison (about £4,784 extra a year at £23).

Even after including the overtime, the private figure is below the public base at pay point 1 on 40 hours. Both overtime figures are estimates, not guarantees.

1. Get the exact hours for each job and compute the hourly rate on the same basis.
2. Ask whether the quoted salary includes unsocial hours premiums, London weighting or location payments.
3. Ask which overtime is available and how it is paid, in writing.
4. Compare pension: scheme type, your contribution, the employer's and the retirement age.
5. Compare leave and public holiday terms in hours.
6. Check the progression: pay points a year against service-based steps.