Prison officer workforce
Published
1. Main facts and figures
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in March 2023, 89.9% of prison officers were white, out of those whose ethnicity was known
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4.4% of prison officers were black, 2.6% had mixed ethnicity, 2.5% were Asian, and 0.6% were from the ‘other’ ethnic group
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at the time of the 2021 Census, 80.7% of working age people were white, 10.1% were Asian, 4.4% were black, 2.5% had mixed ethnicity, and 2.3% were from the ‘other’ ethnic group
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from 2017 to 2023, the percentage of prison officers went up for all ethnic groups except for people from white ethnic group (which went down from 94.2% to 89.9%) and for the ‘other’ ethnic group (which remained the same at 0.6%)
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in 2023, the percentage of prison officers whose ethnicity was unknown was 16.6%
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the number of prison officers in public sector prisons in England and Wales, by ethnicity. It is a headcount of all full-time and part-time prison officers employed on 31 March 2023.
Percentages have been rounded to 1 decimal place, so some totals may not add up to 100%.
The data for each year is provisional, so may differ slightly from the most recent publication which contains revised data for previous years.
Not included in the data
The data does not include prison officers:
- in private prisons
- on salary bands 1 to 2, including cleaners and administrative support workers
- on band 6 and above, including governors and deputy governors, site managers and heads of functions like human resources
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the following 5 ethnic groups:
- Asian
- black
- mixed
- white
- ‘other’
Prison officers report their own ethnicity. Data is based on officers whose ethnicity is known. Ethnicity was unknown for 16.6% of officers in 2023.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
Population data is from the 2021 Census. Read more about how we use Census data and some of the problems involved.
3. By ethnicity
| Prison officer workforce | Working age population | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Prison officer workforce % | Prison officer workforce Number | Working age population % | Working age population Number |
| All | 100.0 | 23,273 | 100.0 | 37,502,985 |
| Asian | 2.5 | 478 | 10.1 | 3,787,330 |
| Black | 4.4 | 852 | 4.4 | 1,657,235 |
| Mixed | 2.6 | 503 | 2.5 | 920,415 |
| White | 89.9 | 17,458 | 80.7 | 30,258,110 |
| Other | 0.6 | 121 | 2.3 | 879,895 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 3,861 | N/A* | N/A* |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Prison officer workforce By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that:
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in March 2023, there were 23,273 prison officers in England and Wales, and ethnicity was known for 19,412 (83.4%) of them
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89.9% of prison officers were white, 4.4% were black, 2.6% had mixed ethnicity, 2.5% were Asian, and 0.6% were from the ‘other’ ethnic group
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at the time of the 2021 Census, 80.7% of working age people were white, 10.1% were Asian, 4.4% were black, 2.5% had mixed ethnicity, and 2.3% were from the ‘other’ ethnic group
4. By ethnicity over time
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | 2017 % of prison officers | 2017 Number of prison officers | 2018 % of prison officers | 2018 Number of prison officers | 2019 % of prison officers | 2019 Number of prison officers | 2020 % of prison officers | 2020 Number of prison officers | 2021 % of prison officers | 2021 Number of prison officers | 2022 % of prison officers | 2022 Number of prison officers | 2023 % of prison officers | 2023 Number of prison officers |
| All | 100.0 | 19,174 | 100.0 | 21,821 | 100.0 | 23,461 | 100.0 | 22,803 | 100.0 | 22,877 | 100.0 | 22,973 | 100.0 | 23,273 |
| Asian | 1.3 | 204 | 1.3 | 182 | 1.6 | 262 | 1.8 | 338 | 1.9 | 371 | 2.1 | 412 | 2.5 | 478 |
| Black | 2.6 | 410 | 2.7 | 387 | 3.1 | 505 | 3.4 | 628 | 3.7 | 697 | 3.9 | 748 | 4.4 | 852 |
| Mixed | 1.3 | 214 | 1.3 | 190 | 1.7 | 276 | 2.0 | 363 | 2.2 | 416 | 2.5 | 478 | 2.6 | 503 |
| White | 94.2 | 14,992 | 94.2 | 13,661 | 93.1 | 15,269 | 92.3 | 17,061 | 91.7 | 17,501 | 90.9 | 17,521 | 89.9 | 17,458 |
| Other | 0.6 | 100 | 0.6 | 83 | 0.6 | 96 | 0.6 | 102 | 0.5 | 94 | 0.6 | 120 | 0.6 | 121 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 3,254 | N/A* | 7,318 | N/A* | 7,053 | N/A* | 4,311 | N/A* | 3,798 | N/A* | 3,694 | N/A* | 3,861 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Prison officer workforce By ethnicity over time Summary
The percentage of prison officers with unknown ethnicity changes every year. For example, it was 33.5% in 2018, and 16.6% in 2023. This makes it difficult to make reliable generalisations about changes over time.
The data shows that, between 2017 and 2023:
- the percentage of prison officers who were black went up from 2.6% to 4.4%
- the percentage who were white went down from 94.2% to 89.9%
5. Data sources
Source
HMPPS annual staff equalities report
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
- monitor the impact of changes over time
- 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: measure, ethnicity, time, geography, value, denominator, numerator