Prison Officer Ranks and Grades: Bands 2 to 12 Explained

In shortPrison staff are graded in numbered bands, not police-style ranks, and the band is the fixed point for pay, contracts and adverts.

Titles still carry meaning, and people still talk about “officers”, “supervising officers” and “custodial managers”. The HMPPS careers site calls custodial managers the most senior uniformed officers in a prison.

But for pay, contracts and adverts, the band is the fixed point. When you read a job advert, check the band first, then the title.

In shortBands 2 to 12 run from a £25,409 operational support spot rate to a £125,902 Prison Group Director, with Band 6 shown as not published.

The table below uses the grade names in the PSPRB’s Appendix E tables and HMPPS’s own career pages. Pay shows National zone, 37-hour contract, from 1 April 2026: base pay and, for Bands 2 to 5, pay including the unsocial working hours allowance (20%, or 25% for Band 2 temporarily).

For Bands 7 to 11 the extra is a 20% Required Hours Addition (RHA).

In shortBand 3 is the entry grade, Band 4 splits into supervising and specialist officer, and Band 5 custodial manager is the most senior uniformed grade and needs accreditation.

Band 3 is the prison officer grade; see our guide to Band 3 prison officer pay for the pay points and contract hours.

Band 4 has two branches on the HMPPS site: supervising officer, who supervises and supports prison officers and operational support grades, and prison officer specialist. Our guides to the supervising officer role and Band 4 pay go deeper.

See the custodial manager role and Band 5 pay guides.

In shortOperational support grades are a separate job family, not a junior rung of the officer ladder, with their own pay arrangements.

• OSGs, 30 September 20255,388 FTEPSPRB count
• Band 2, 30 June 20265,661 FTEHMPPS statistics
• Unsocial hours allowance25%Temporarily higher

Operational support grades (OSGs) are Band 2. HMPPS describes the role as security and searches at the gate, managing deliveries, supervising visitors and monitoring phone calls and CCTV, with limited prisoner contact depending on the prison.

OSG is a separate job family, not a junior rung of the officer ladder, though the roles can lead to officer posts. The PSPRB noted that HMPPS was strengthening streamlined routes for existing OSGs to progress to prison officer roles.

The detail is in our operational support grade role guide and the OSG pay guide.

In shortAbove Band 5 sit Head of Function, Deputy Governor, Governor and Prison Group Director posts, and Band 6 has no published pay row.

• Bands 6 to 8 (managers)771 FTE30 September 2025
• Bands 9 to 12 (senior managers)212 FTE
• Band 3 and 4 officers per custodial managerRoughly 1119,124 and 1,747 FTE (our arithmetic from the PSPRB table)

Above Band 5, HMPPS career pages describe senior management as Bands 6 to 8 including deputy governor and governor roles. The PSPRB’s tables show the titles listed above.

The PSPRB grouped staff at 30 September 2025 as 771 FTE in Bands 6 to 8, managers, and 212 FTE in Bands 9 to 12, senior managers. These numbers tell you how steep the pyramid is.

See prison governor roles for the posts and legal powers, and Band 6 and Band 7 prison manager pay for what is known about those grades.

• Band 7: Head of Function
• Band 8: Deputy Governor or Head of Function
• Band 9: Deputy Governor
• Bands 10 and 11: Governor
• Band 12: Prison Group Director

In shortThe remit group was 28,905 FTE at 30 September 2025, and higher grades are much more stable, with a 1.0% resignation rate for Band 5.

• Remit group, 30 September 202528,905 FTE
• Resignation, Band 3 and 47.8%Year to 30 September 2025
• Resignation, Band 4 supervising2.8%
• Resignation, Band 51.0%

The PSPRB’s Table 2.2 gives the remit group by grade group. At 30 September 2025 it was 28,905 FTE in total: 5,388 Band 2, 19,124 Band 3 and 4 officers including specialists, 1,663 Band 4 supervising officers, 1,747 Band 5 custodial managers, 771 Bands 6 to 8 and 212 Bands 9 to 12.

Over the period from March 2022, Band 4 supervising officer numbers moved from 1,761 to 1,663 and Band 5 from 1,819 to 1,747.

In shortAround 0.5% of the remit group, 145.7 FTE, remained on older closed grades at 31 July 2025, and we state no official one-to-one mapping to the new bands.

• On closed grades, 31 July 2025145.7 FTEAround 0.5% of the remit group
• Closed grade Prison Officer£32,9152026 pay table, 39-hour week
• Closed grade Senior Officer£35,4292026 pay table, 39-hour week

Before Fair and Sustainable, prison staff were on older grades, and a few people remain on them. The PSPRB reports the closed-grade headcount above.

The older grades included principal officers; the pay award history in the PSPRB report lists payments to officers and support grades, senior officers and principal officers in 2016/17. We have not found an official table mapping the old grades one-to-one to the new bands, so we do not state one.

Closed-grade staff who opt in to Fair and Sustainable move to the maximum of their new range or scale, under the 2026 recommendations.

• 115.1 FTE officer and support grades
• 3.8 FTE operational manager grades
• 26.8 FTE TUPE transfer grades

In shortWe found no official HMPPS description of grade insignia, so we do not describe any.

Readers often ask what the stripes or epaulettes mean. If you are preparing for an interview and want to understand grades, learn the band titles and responsibilities in this guide and on the HMPPS careers site.

Our interview toolkit includes role knowledge practice.

In shortStart from the band in the advert, then check the pay point, hours, zone and supplement, and compare offers like for like.

A Band 3 officer on a 39-hour contract in Outer London is paid very differently from a Band 3 officer on 37 hours elsewhere, yet the title is identical.

Our prison officer promotion guide lays out the routes and the promotion calculator shows pay at each step. The job offer comparator lets you set one post against another including hours, location and allowances.

1. Start from the band in the advert.
2. Check the pay point or range, the contract hours and unsocial hours allowance, the location zone, and any supplement.
3. Check the progression route: Band 3 to Band 4 requires probation and specialist training; Band 5 requires custodial manager accreditation; senior posts are open competition.
4. Compare offers like for like.