Prison chiefs rapped after staff rack up £7.5m in overtime payments

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Prison chiefs have been rapped by Scotland’s spending tsar after staff racked up £7.5million in overtime payments.

Auditor General Stephen Boyle described the Scottish Prison Service’s (SPS) system not fit for purpose after the ex-gratia bill spiralled by £1.2million from £6.3million the previous year, with 2263 employees submitting 21,310 individual claims and receiving an average payout of £3321.

One worker even claimed £32,822 on top of their wages – equivalent to 72 per cent of their salary.

Ex-gratia is the overtime system which the SPS operates for prison officers who volunteer to work additional hours.

It means the service doesn’t pay an hourly overtime rate but instead awards extra payments to employees in return for working over their contracted hours.

HMP Edinburgh paid out the most at £1,097,204 closely followed by Glasgow’s crumbling Victorian Barlinnie jail at £1,085,535.

Voluntary ex-gratia payments – a substitute for paying overtime – were introduced by the SPS in 2004 in exchange for officers working over their contracted weekly hours to main service.

Against a background of staffing, recruitment and overcrowding issues, the report shows many officers have been working almost double the 48 hours per week legally permitted.

According to the report in his 2023-24 audit report, the highest hours worked by the top three ex-gratia earners in any one week were 71.35, 74.5 and 81.2 – more than double the standard 37-hour working week.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr MSP said the scale of the payments “laid bare the ever-growing staffing crisis in Scotland’s jails”.

He said: “There is, of course, a place for overtime for staff who are willing but it shouldn’t be depended on to the extent revealed here. As a result, hardworking officers are being forced to go above and beyond, which risks their wellbeing and could compromise safety within prisons.”

In his report, Boyle warned there were “several risks” associated with regularly working beyond permitted WTR hours, including the impact on staff health and wellbeing and the ability of staff to work effectively, as well as the “impact on prisoners in their care” and other staff members.

He added: “Overall, the ex-gratia process is not fit for purpose.” An SPS spokesman said: “We currently have an extremely high and increasingly complex population.

“This increases the demands placed on our staff, who work hard in challenging circumstances to support those in our care, including by working additional hours.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We value the work of prison officers who undertake a vital role, often in
challenging circumstances, and who work with some of the most complex and vulnerable people in society.”

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