Andy Burnham is under pressure to intervene in a privately run prison that is seeking to recruit custody officers on zero-hours contracts for the first time across England and Wales’ prison estate. Managers at HMP Millsike, a category C prison for 1,500 prisoners near York operated by the outsourcing company Mitie, have signed off online adverts for £25-an-hour prisoner escort roles “on a flexible, task-based basis”. Mitie has submitted a proposal to the Prison Service to employ people on a zero-hours contract which is “under consideration”, a government official confirmed on Monday night.
The £400m prison has about 350 empty cells because of a shortfall of staff, prison sources have confirmed. The POA, the prison officers’ union, has called on the prime minister to intervene in keeping with the government’s pledge to curb zero-hours contracts that undermine workers’ rights, security and stability. Burnham has faced mounting pressure over the government’s early prisoner release scheme aimed at freeing up capacity, after it was revealed that the killers of the police officer Andy Harper would be freed.
While the prime minister has pledged that Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers will remain in prison, he has been told he cannot exempt specific offenders from early release without also keeping about 500 other offenders who have also been convicted of manslaughter locked up. The deputy general secretary of the POA, Mick Pimblett, said: “At a time when the government is releasing prisoners because of a chronic lack of cell space, Mitie is unable to fulfil its contractual obligations because they cannot recruit enough officers to safely staff the jail. Now they are trying to introduce zero-hours contracts by another name.
Prison officers are committed professionals working in a highly pressured, often hostile environment. Treating them in the same way as zero-hours contractors is disgraceful.” HMP Millsike, a training prison with up-to-date facilities, started taking prisoners in March 2025. A recent report expressed “serious concerns” over the jail, where violence levels were so high that members of the watchdog the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) said they only felt safe if they walked around in pairs.
Adverts placed by the Sangfroid Group on behalf of Mitie say the new prison custody officers at Millsike will escort prisoners between prisons, courts and medical appointments – tasks currently performed by full-time prison officers. The advert reads: “Prison Custody Officer – Escort Duties, £25 per hour. Are you a former member of the UK Armed Forces, Blue Light Services, or Prison Service looking for flexible, meaningful work that fits around your existing commitments?” It continues: “Sangfroid Group is proud to be partnering with Mitie Care & Custody, the operator of HMP Millsike, to deliver an innovative and pioneering operational support model within the UK prison estate.” The role is to support “prisoner escort duties in locations near to the prison” and successful applicants will be given seven weeks of training, the advert says.
This would typically involve working up to 2-3 weeks each month on a rotation basis, with deployments of up to five consecutive days at a time. Alternatively, if you prefer greater flexibility, you can join our contingent workforce, supporting ad hoc operational requirements.” State-run prisons already recruit operation support-grade officers who staff gates and let visitors into reception. However, they are not supposed to escort, guard, handcuff or interact with prisoners, unlike Millsike’s new prison custody officers referred to in the advert.
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