Prison officer workforce
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1. Main facts and figures
- as at 31 March 2017, just over 94% of prison officers in England and Wales for whom ethnicity was known were White (including White ethnic minorities)
- just under 6% of prison officers came from the Asian, Black, Mixed ethnicity and Other (including Chinese) ethnic groups combined
- from 2015 to 2017, the percentage of prison officers from the Black ethnic group increased from 2.3% to 2.6%, and the percentage of White prison officers decreased from 94.6% to 94.2%
- as at the 2011 Census, 85.6% of working age people (aged 16 to 64 years) in England and Wales were White, 8.1% were Asian, 3.4% were Black, 1.8% had Mixed ethnicity, and 1.1% were from the Other ethnic group
Things you need to know
The numbers shown here are based on a headcount – the total number of prison officers, regardless of whether they work part-time or full-time.
Prison officers working in public sector prisons are asked to give details of their ethnicity when they join, but it is not a formal requirement.
The percentages shown here are calculated using the total number of prison officers who reported their ethnicity. In March 2017, 83% of prison officers (15,920 out of 19,174) gave their ethnicity. As 17% of prison officers didn’t state their ethnicity, this adds some uncertainty to the percentages shown here.
Prison officers are likely to live in, and be recruited from, areas close to prisons. This means that the percentages of prison officers from different ethnic backgrounds may be similar to the percentages of working age people who live in those areas. Many public sector prisons in England and Wales are located in areas with a high percentage of White people in the general population.
What the data measures
This data shows the number of prison officers in public sector prisons in England and Wales, and the percentage of the workforce from each ethnic group.
It is a ‘snapshot’ of the number of prison officers employed on 31 March 2017.
It includes prison officers in salary bands 3 to 5, which covers:
- frontline prison officers (including specialists)
- supervising officers
- custodial managers
The data does not include:
- staff employed in private prisons
- staff on salary bands 1 to 2 (which includes cleaners and administrative support workers) and bands 6 and above (which includes governors and deputy governors, site managers and heads of functions like human resources)
The ethnic categories used in this data
Prison officers were asked to place themselves within the following 5 broad ethnic categories:
- Asian/Asian British
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White
- Other ethnic backgrounds (including Chinese)
2. Prison officers by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % of prison officers | Number of prison officers |
|---|---|---|
| Asian | 1.3 | 204 |
| Black | 2.6 | 410 |
| Mixed | 1.3 | 214 |
| White | 94.2 | 14,992 |
| Other including Chinese | 0.6 | 100 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 3,254 |
Download table data for ‘Prison officers by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Prison officers by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Prison officer workforce Prison officers by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
-
as at 31 March 2017, there were 19,174 prison officers in England and Wales and ethnicity was known for 83% of them
-
94.2% of prison officers for whom ethnicity was known were White (including White ethnic minorities)
-
5.8% of prison officers were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups (including Chinese) combined
-
17.0% of prison officers didn’t state their ethnicity
-
as at the 2011 Census, 85.6% of working age people (aged 16 to 64 years) in England and Wales were White, 8.1% were Asian, 3.4% were Black, 1.8% had Mixed ethnicity, and 1.1% were from the Other ethnic group
3. Prison officers by ethnicity over time
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | 2015 % Prison officers | 2015 Number of prison officers | 2016 % Prison officers | 2016 Number of prison officers | 2017 % Prison officers | 2017 Number of prison officers |
| Asian | 1.2 | 206 | 1.3 | 206 | 1.3 | 204 |
| Black | 2.3 | 401 | 2.4 | 396 | 2.6 | 410 |
| Mixed | 1.2 | 199 | 1.3 | 213 | 1.3 | 214 |
| White | 94.6 | 16,180 | 94.4 | 15,525 | 94.2 | 14,992 |
| Other including Chinese | 0.7 | 121 | 0.7 | 108 | 0.6 | 100 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 1,851 | N/A* | 2,641 | N/A* | 3,254 |
Download table data for ‘Prison officers by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Prison officers by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Prison officer workforce Prison officers by ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
- between 2015 and 2017, the percentage of prison officers from each ethnic group remained fairly stable
- during the same period, the percentage of prison officers from the Black ethnic group increased from 2.3% to 2.6%, and the percentage from the White ethnic group decreased from 94.6% to 94.2%
- the percentage of prison officers who didn’t state their ethnicity increased from 9.8% in 2015 to 17.0% in 2017, largely because of low declaration rates among new recruits
4. Methodology
Data is derived from the staff administrative system used by the National Offender Management Service (now known as Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, or HMPPS).
The numbers represent the data held at the point when extracts were taken (31 March each year).
Rounding
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest decimal point.
Quality and methodology information
Further technical information
5. Data sources
Source
NOMS Annual Staff Equalities report: 2016 to 2017
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
This data is used to inform policy development, to monitor the impact of changes over time and to model future changes and their impact on the prison workforce.
The data forms the basis for workforce monitoring and decision making.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: year, ethnicity, value, denominator, numerator.