It would not be possible, without expending a disproportionate amount of staff time, to ascertain exactly the extra hours worked by the top earner of overtime in 1998. This is due to the fact that overtime is paid at ascending rates depending on the number of hours worked in a pay week. However, the level of overtime earned in this case would equate roughly to about 40 hours extra per week.
The average number of hours overtime worked weekly throughout the prison service in 1999 was about 31,900. This amounts to, on average, about ten hours per officer, per week.
The capacity to earn high sums in overtime arises from the preference of local prisons management and staff to operate a voluntary overtime system. Certain staff continuously make themselves available for unpopular and unsocial shifts and this is accepted as it reduces the need to compel other officers to work overtime.
That level of extra attendance is, however, not sustainable and is a matter of concern which is being addressed in a strategic way through the work of a dedicated staffing and operations review team, SORT. This team is examining the staffing requirements at each institution and has produced eight reports to date. A detailed strategy for the implementation of the findings of these reports is being developed at present. The ultimate aim is to have an attendance system for the prison service which does not rely on overtime to meet its operational needs.
