Prison Officer Flexible Working: Part-Time, Job Share, Hours

In shortThe law gives you a right to ask and to be dealt with reasonably, not a right to get what you ask for, and HMPPS options are approved locally.

Flexible working is any arrangement that changes the number of hours you work, when you start and finish, which days you work, or where you work.

GOV.UK lists job sharing, part-time, compressed hours (full-time hours over fewer days), flexitime, annualised hours (an agreed number of hours across the year), staggered hours, hybrid and remote working, and phased retirement.

For a prison officer, whose job is physically on a wing and tied to a 24/7 roster, the options that matter are the ones that change the shape of the roster: fewer hours, different shifts, fixed rest days and long or short cycles.

In shortAny employee can make up to two statutory requests in 12 months from their first day, and the employer must decide within two months.

• Right to requestFrom day one
• Requests allowedTwoIn any 12-month period
• Decision withinTwo monthsOr longer if you agree
• Contract change28 daysNo later than 28 days after approval

GOV.UK sets out the statutory scheme. The employer must handle the request in a reasonable manner, which includes assessing the advantages and disadvantages, discussing alternatives and, per GOV.UK, discussing the request with you before refusing it.

If the employer agrees, they must write with the agreed changes and start date and change your contract as soon as possible and no later than 28 days after approval. If it refuses, it must tell you and give the business reason.

In shortThe evidence is mixed and caveated: a union survey says 39% of requests were accepted, the Pay Review Body reports frequent refusals, and HMPPS holds no centralised data.

• POA 2025 survey responsesJust over 1,600Union members who chose to respond
• Had requested a flexible patternAbout a quarter26%, up 3 percentage points
• Said it was accepted39%Acceptance fell by 3 points

The best public evidence is mixed and comes with caveats. The POA's survey is a union survey of members who chose to respond, and HMPPS says it does not hold centralised data on flexible working arrangements, so we cannot compare it with an official figure.

Pay Review Body, March 2026

Flexible working continues to be an issue that staff raise on its visits, with many staff telling it that requests are often refused, which can have adverse effects on wellbeing and home lives, and with a lack of consistency of approach from prison to prison. It asked HMPPS how it plans to introduce flexible working for operational staff, how it will ensure a consistent approach and how it will monitor this centrally.

PCS and POA

The PCS union has said requests are repeatedly declined by unsupportive management despite the Ministry of Justice's flexible working policy, and the POA wants flexible working for prison officers revived after a programme designed to support it closed.

HMPPS's own evidence

Candid: it says limited flexibility in working patterns can significantly disrupt employees' personal lives, is a contributing factor in decisions to leave, and that competing employers often offer more family-friendly options. It says the Shaping A New Employee Offer programme closed after delivering guidance to support flexible working, but 'funding was not available' for the rostering technology it relied on, and that HR Business Partners and the Resource Management Support Team can help staff and managers understand the options.

In shortMost refusals come down to the manager not seeing how the roster still works, so answer the business reasons before they are raised and check the money first.

The business reasons in law include extra costs, an inability to reorganise work among other staff, an inability to recruit, effects on quality or performance, an inability to meet demand, a lack of work in the proposed times and planned workforce changes.

A request that answers those points before they are raised is much harder to refuse. Think like the person running the roster.

Be specific about what you want and why it works. 'Part-time' is too vague; 'three 12-hour shifts a week on a fixed pattern of two early shifts and one all-day, no nights' is a proposal.

If you are asking to avoid nights, say so and explain whether that is for health or caring reasons, because that can bring in other protections such as reasonable adjustments. Offer something in return: flexibility on days, willingness to cover specific gaps or a trial period.

Ask for a review date so a trial is not permanent if it does not work.

1. Decide exactly what you want: hours, days, shift types, start date and whether it is permanent or a trial.
2. Check pay, pension, leave and TOIL consequences with HR before you apply.
3. Talk informally to your line manager first and ask how the roster could accommodate it.
4. Write the statutory request: date, 'this is a statutory request for flexible working', the change you want and when, and whether you have made a previous request.
5. Explain how the roster can still be covered and offer flexibility or a trial.
6. Attend the meeting; the employer can treat a request as withdrawn if you miss two meetings without good reason.
7. Expect a written decision within two months and keep a copy of everything.

In shortFewer hours change pay, pension build-up and holiday, and how HMPPS pro-rates its leave and supplements was not in the sources we read.

• Statutory holiday, three days a week16.8 days5.6 weeks of the days worked (GOV.UK)
• Market supplements£1,500 to £3,500At the 18 prisons that qualify; pro-rating not stated
• Unsocial hours allowance20%Of contracted hours worked, so it should move with your hours

Reducing hours changes more than the weekly pay. Statutory holiday for part-time workers is 5.6 weeks of the days they work, according to GOV.UK; HMPPS's package may be better, but how its 25 to 30 days is pro-rated for part-time officers was not in the sources we found.

Pension contributions follow your pensionable pay, so a lower salary means a lower pension build-up, and our guide on part-time careers and career breaks and the Alpha pension calculator explain the effect.

• Allowances and supplements that are fixed amounts, such as market supplements of £1,500 to £3,500 at the 18 prisons that qualify, may or may not be pro-rated; the supplement rules in the sources we read do not say.
• Unsocial hours allowance is calculated at 20% of contracted hours worked, so it should move with your hours.
• Payment Plus is paid for qualifying duties outside your scheduled pattern, so a part-timer working a non-contracted day might be eligible, but that is for HMPPS to confirm.

In shortA refusal need not be the end: ask for the reason in writing, check your appeal and tribunal options, and remember you can make a second request.

GOV.UK says employees no longer have a statutory right to an appeal but may still be able to appeal under the employer's own procedure.

You can take a complaint to an employment tribunal if the employer did not handle the request in a reasonable manner, wrongly treated it as withdrawn, dismissed or treated you poorly because of the request, or refused it on incorrect facts. You cannot go to a tribunal just because the request was refused.

The deadline is six months from the decision, appeal outcome, withdrawal or the date the employer should have replied.

1. Ask for the reason in writing: an employer may refuse for any of the business reasons set out in the law, and must have discussed your request with you first.
2. If you think the reason is weak, ask what would need to change and whether a trial or a narrower version could work.
3. You can make a second statutory request within the 12 months, so a refusal need not be the end.
4. Ask HR how to challenge a decision internally under the employer's own procedure.
5. If you are unsure of your rights, get legal advice.

In shortNew recruits appear to start full-time, so raise any arrangement at application or offer stage, and request a change well before returning from family leave.

The Employee Package refers to additional paid and unpaid special leave to support parents and carers, and the statutory scheme lets you ask for a different pattern when you return. Read our leave and time off guide and maternity pay guide for the pay side.

For officers with caring responsibilities beyond children, the same process applies and there is also unpaid carer's leave of up to a week every 12 months. See the childcare guide for how to combine requests, leave and childcare support.

• The careers site says part-time and job-share options may be available after initial training, which suggests new recruits start full-time.
• If you want a particular arrangement from day one, raise it at application or offer stage, because the contract you sign is the baseline for any later change.
• We found no published part-time route into initial training, so check the current recruitment pages.
• Returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave is a common time to request a change; make the request early, ideally well before your return date, so it is decided before you need it.

In shortHMPPS wants to expand flexible options, but none of it is a promise and we found no published national flexible working policy beyond the statutory scheme.

None of that is a promise. The Pay Review Body has asked for evidence on how HMPPS will introduce flexible working for operational staff and monitor it, and for the unions' discussions on access.

As at 3 October 2026 we found no published national flexible working policy for operational staff beyond the statutory scheme and the Employee Package list. Watch our pay rise page and news hub for developments, and check HR for what applies now.