Prison Officer Contract Hours: 37 vs 39 vs 41 Pay in 2026/27

In shortEveryone starts on 37 hours; after training you can choose 39 or 41, with extra hours paid as Additional Committed Hours on top of a 20% unsocial hours allowance.

A Band 3 prison officer in England and Wales has a contracted working week. HMPPS says: "All trainee prison officers start on a 37 hour contract. Once you have completed your training you can choose to increase your contract to 39 or 41 hours a week."

The Prison Service Pay Review Body's published pay tables also include 38 and 40 hour options.

ACH (Additional Committed Hours)

The extra contracted hours. They are part of your contract, rostered into your shift pattern and included in the annual pay figures that HMPPS publishes.

ACHP (Pensionable Additional Committed Hours)

Used instead of ACH on some 39 hour contracts. The PSPRB's glossary defines it as pensionable additional committed hours. That is the only difference described in the sources we read, and it explains why the 39 hour figure on ACHP is lower than on ACH: £38,766 against £39,097 at the top National point.

UWH (Unsocial Working Hours allowance)

20% of base pay, calculated on contracted hours. HMPPS describes it as paid in recognition that some staff are expected to regularly work unsocial hours as part of their rostered shift pattern, and says it is pensionable. The published Band 3 figures include it.

In shortOn ACH each extra weekly hour adds about £1,160 a year (about £22.24 per hour worked) at the top National point; on ACHP about £994 (about £19.06).

• 37 to 39 hours (2 x ACH)+£2,319Top National point
• 37 to 40 hours+£3,479Top National point
• 37 to 41 hours+£4,639About £1,160 a year per extra weekly hour

The published tables let you work out the price of an additional hour. That is almost identical at each point on the scale. Divided by 52.14 weeks it is about £22.24 for each hour worked at the top point.

At pay point 1 the figure is about £21.12 and at pay point 2 about £21.86, because the additional hour is priced in proportion to base pay.

On the pensionable variant the 39 hour ACHP figure adds £1,988 over 37 hours at the top point, or £994 per extra weekly hour: about £19.06 an hour worked.

That is exactly the same hourly rate as the 37 hour contract including UWH, so ACHP appears to be priced pro rata to normal pay while ACH is priced at a premium.

In shortAt the top National point, take-home is about £28,396 on 37 hours and £31,534 on 41 hours, so four extra weekly hours add about £261 a month.

• 37 hours£28,396About £2,366 a month
• 39 hours (ACHP)£29,741About £2,478 a month; ACH: £29,965
• 41 hours£31,534About £2,628 a month; £3,138 a year over 37h

These use 2026/27 tax, National Insurance and Civil Service pension rates, with all pay treated as pensionable. On 39 hours with ACH the figure is about £29,965 (about £2,497 a month). The 41 hour contract adds about £3,138 a year over 37 hours, or about £261 a month, for four more hours every week.

If the plain ACH hours are not pensionable, the 41 hour take-home would be higher in the short term, about £31,736, because no pension is deducted from the additional hours, but you would build less pension.

We could not verify whether plain ACH is pensionable, so we show both. Our Alpha pension calculator shows what pensionable pay buys.

In shortMore than half of Band 3 officers had chosen additional contracted hours at 31 July 2025, and 39 hours was the most common choice.

• 37 hours45%Band 3 at 31 July 2025
• 39 hours, 2 x ACH29%The most common additional-hours contract
• 39 hours, 2 x ACHP15%
• 41 hours9%No more than 1% on 38 or 40 hours

The PSPRB's analysis of HMPPS data shows the split among Band 3 officers. So more than half have chosen additional contracted hours, and the 39 hour contract is the most common way of doing so.

That should reassure anyone who is unsure: moving to 39 hours is a mainstream choice, not an unusual one. When you compare pay with a colleague, the first question is which contract they are on. A £2,300 gap on the same pay point is most likely a contract difference.

The data are from mid-2025 and may have shifted since. The PSPRB did not publish an equivalent breakdown for Band 4 or 5, and the pay tables show only 37 and 39 hour options (with 2 x ACHP) for those grades, so the 41 hour choice is described for Band 3.

In shortExtra hours are priced from base pay so they are worth more in London, while market supplements stay flat whatever your hours.

• 41 hours, National£41,417Top of Band 3
• 41 hours, Outer London£46,054
• 41 hours, Inner London£48,468

Each additional weekly hour on ACH is therefore worth more in cash terms in London, while the percentage uplift stays roughly the same. Our London pay guide has the full tables.

• Market supplements do not scale with hours. A £3,500 supplement is the same on 37 and 41 hours, so it is a bigger share of pay at the start of a career and on shorter contracts.
• If you are choosing between a supplement prison and a longer contract elsewhere, add the numbers: the supplement is a fixed amount and the contract is about £1,160 a year per extra weekly hour on ACH. See market supplements.
• In all three zones the three-point scale applies: officers move up one pay point each year until the maximum.
• In 2026/27 Band 3 staff in post on 31 March 2026 and not on formal poor performance procedures moved up one point from 1 April. That progression applies on top of whatever contract you are on.

In shortContracted hours are guaranteed, pensionable on ACHP and carry UWH; Payment Plus is flexible, £23 an hour, non-pensionable and depends on demand.

The table shows how many Payment Plus hours it takes to equal the extra pay from a longer contract at the top National pay point.

The comparison is one of gross pay. Payment Plus also has no pension deduction, so a net comparison favours it slightly if the additional hours are pensionable.

The break-even hours are high enough that, unless your establishment offers a steady stream of qualifying duties, a longer contract is the more dependable route to the same money.

In shortPensionable pay drives what you pay in and what you build, and a longer contract can lift you from the 4.6% to the 5.45% contribution band.

• Up to £36,1994.6%Alpha contribution, 2026/27, on pensionable pay up to £36,199
• £36,200 to £56,0005.45%Alpha contribution on pensionable pay from £36,200 to £56,000
• Above £56,0007.35%Alpha contribution

A Band 3 officer at pay point 1 on 37 hours (£34,928) is in the 4.6% band, while on 39 or 41 hours the pay passes £36,200 and the rate becomes 5.45%.

The rate is set by the band your pensionable pay falls in, so the contract change can raise your percentage as well as your pay. Check your payslip for how it is applied.

The sources we read describe ACHP as pensionable additional hours and the unsocial hours allowance as pensionable, but they do not say whether plain ACH is pensionable.

If it is not, a 39 hour ACH contract pays slightly more now (about £30,066 against £29,965 take-home at the top point) but builds less pension; if it is, the two are closer. Do not guess: ask HR which your contract uses.

In shortThe published sources give annual pay for each contract but not the rules for moving between them, so we have not guessed.

HMPPS says you may choose to increase to 39 or 41 hours after completing training. We could not find the policy governing how and when you can switch, how much notice you must give, whether you can reduce your hours again, how ACH is formally calculated, or whether plain ACH is pensionable.

These points can matter a great deal. If a contract is hard to reverse, a 41 hour week that proves unsustainable is a problem; if ACH is not pensionable the long-term pension effect differs from ACHP. Ask your establishment's HR and your POA representative, and get the answers in writing before you sign a change.

• Unsocial hours are under review: the PSPRB will examine UWH for Bands 2 to 5 in its 2027 Report.
• HMPPS is reviewing night working with the POA.
• Working time is a health and safety question as well as a pay one: longer contracts mean more time on shift, often including nights, in a demanding job.
• Our shift pattern earnings planner shows the money, and our guide to prison officer shift patterns covers the working week.

In shortThe money is simple to compute; the decision is not, so be realistic about your pattern and life outside work before you commit to extra hours every week.

Weigh the options against the alternative of staying on 37 hours and picking up Payment Plus occasionally. Payment Plus pays £23 an hour for qualifying duties outside your pattern and is non-pensionable, so it is flexible but unpredictable; contracted hours are predictable and, on ACHP, pensionable.

Which is better depends on your finances, your family and your tolerance for fatigue.

1. Pick your pay point and zone and compare 37, 39 and 41 hours in the salary calculator.
2. Convert the extra to take-home: about 68% to 72% of the extra gross, depending on pensionable treatment.
3. Ask HR whether the additional hours are ACH or ACHP and whether they are pensionable.
4. Ask how you can reverse the change and with what notice.
5. Check how the extra hours fit your shift pattern, commute and family responsibilities, especially on nights.
6. Compare with the alternative: 37 hours plus occasional Payment Plus at £23 an hour, as modelled in the Pay Planner.