Keir Starmer has handed prisoners a 6.6% pay rise at a cost of £4.4 million despite depriving 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel allowance because money is so tight. The Telegraph has the story.
Some 85,000 prisoners in England and Wales will get £1 extra a week in their basic pay, which averages about £15, equivalent to a one-off, above-inflation increase of about 6.6%.
The Prison Service said the pay rise recognised that prisoners’ wages had fallen behind inflation during the eight-year freeze since their last wage increase in 2016.
Governors of all public sector prisons in England and Wales were sent a memo in September, just two months after Labour came to power, telling them to raise the wage rates, according to Inside Time, the prisoner newspaper that revealed the increase.
They could choose between an across-the-board rise or bigger targeted increases for the lowest paid. The extra money appeared on prisoners’ wage slips and canteen sheets from October.
However, no announcement was made as Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, prepared to unveil her Budget, with its record-breaking £40 billion tax raid.
It followed July’s announcement stripping more than 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel allowance.
Explaining the decision to raise pay, a Prison Service spokesman said: “Earning money for honest work is vital in helping offenders stay on the straight and narrow, which ultimately protects the public.”
They said prisoner pay had remained unchanged since 2016 and the “modest” rise came at no additional cost to the taxpayer, as it was being funded from existing Prison Service budgets.
A Ministry of Justice source added that pay motivated prisoners to attend work and education, helping to reduce their risk of reoffending, while higher pay may reduce the risk of prison debt, which can spiral into violence.
Offenders can work in jail workshops, where they produce goods such as clothes and furniture, and in prison support roles such as washing dishes, preparing meals and cleaning laundry.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.