Workforce Statistics Guide

Published 17 August 2023

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-june-2023/workforce-statistics-guide

On 1 April 2017, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) replaced the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), an agency of the Ministry of Justice. The latest HMPPS workforce publication covers the reporting period up to 30 June 2023 and considers, in detail, staffing levels and staff inflows and outflows for both NOMS and HMPPS since 1st April 2017 (2017/18). For ease, the statistics in this publication will be referred to as those of the HMPPS workforce. The main areas covered in this publication are:

Staff in post full-time equivalent (FTE) by Public Sector Prison (PSP) region, Youth Custody Service (YCS) and Probation Service region of England and Wales; by function (category of prison for the Prison Service); by grade; by length of service; and by establishment or Probation Delivery Unit (PDU).

Staff in post headcount and leavers by protected characteristic as specified under the Equality Act 2010, where the declaration rate is above 60 per cent.

Joiners and leavers headcount by PSP region and Probation Service division of England and Wales; by function (category of prison); by grade; and by length of service for leavers.

Underlying leaving rates of staff on permanent contracts, by grade and structure, and underlying resignation rate of staff on permanent contracts by grade.

Headcount of existing HMPPS staff who have been re-graded to prison officer.

Headcount of leavers by reason for leaving.

Average working days lost to sickness absence; by grade; by sickness reason; by region & division

The Workforce Statistics bulletin is published alongside two inter-related annual reports:

HMPPS annual staff equalities report 2021 to 2022:

This provides key statistics on HMPPS staffing numbers and processes, with reference to protected characteristics. The next edition of this, HMPPS Annual Staff Equalities report, 2022 to 2023, will be published on 23 November 2023.

Ministry of Justice workforce monitoring report 2019 to 2020:

Annual publication providing information on MOJ staffing numbers and processes, with reference to protected characteristics.

HMPPS Annual Digest 2022 to 2023

This report looks at staffing (including ethnicity) figures in HMPPS HQ and Area Services, PSPs, YCS and Probation Service. Information is presented by establishment and region.

This section describes the timing and frequency of the publication and the revisions policy relating to the statistics published.

This publication is produced on a quarterly basis so as to reflect the dynamic nature of the data included within many of the tables. The next edition of this quarterly bulletin, scheduled for release on 17 August 2023, will provide statistics on the HMPPS workforce as at 30 June 2023.

In accordance with Principle 2 of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, the Ministry of Justice is required to publish transparent guidance on its policy for revisions. A copy of this statement can be found at:

Ministry of Justice policy statement on revisions

The reasons for statistics needing to be revised fall into three main categories. Each of these and their specific relevance to the HMPPS Workforce Statistics Bulletin are addressed below:

1) Changes in source of administrative systems or methodology:

The data within this publication have been extracted from the Single Operating Platform (SOP). SOP is an administrative IT system which holds HR information. This document will set out any caveats to consider when interpreting the statistics as a result of the transition to SOP as well as details of where there have been revisions to data as a result of any changes in methodology. Statistics affected within the main bulletin and accompanying tables will also be appropriately marked.

2) Receipt of subsequent information:

The nature of any administrative system is that there may be time lags with regards to when data are recorded. This means that any revisions or additions may not be captured in time to be included in the subsequent publication. For the workforce statistics bulletin, this predominantly relates to the data on joiners, leavers and sickness at the end of each quarter within the financial year. Unless it is deemed that these processes make significant changes to the statistics released, revisions will only be made as part of the subsequent publication within the time series. Data are fixed at the end of each financial year.

3) Errors in statistical systems and processes:

Occasionally errors can occur in statistical processes; procedures are constantly reviewed to minimise this risk. Should a significant error be found, the publication on the website will be updated and an errata slip published documenting the revision.

Revised figures are indicated with an ‘(r)’ superscript beside each figure affected.

Full time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number, while percentages and working days lost are rounded to one decimal place. Due to this rounding, reported differences may appear not to match the apparent difference between the reported figures. For example, if a previous percentage was reported as 46.7% (rounded from 46.74%) and the new percentage 46.9% (rounded from 46.86%), then the difference reported would be 0.1 percentage points (rounded from 0.12).

The following symbols are used within the tables in this bulletin:

On 1 April 2017, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) replaced the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). HMPPS is focussed on supporting operational delivery and the effective running of prison and probation services across the public and private sectors. HMPPS works with a number of partners to carry out the sentences given by the courts, either in custody or the community.

The agency is made up of HM Prison Service (HMPS), the Probation Service and a headquarters. In addition, the Youth Custody Service (YCS) was launched in April 2017 and forms another distinct arm of HMPPS. Further information on the introduction of the YCS and its remit, and how it may affect the presentation of HMPPS workforce statistics in the future is set out later in this document.

These statistics have many intended uses by a diverse range of users and are designed to meet as many of the needs of these users as possible in the most useful and meaningful format.

HMPPS delivers services directly through public sector prisons and the Probation Service across England and Wales and commissions services through private sector prisons. HMPPS also work with a number of partners (including charities, local councils, youth offending teams and the police) in order to provide services and to support the justice system.

The information presented in this bulletin relates to staff who are employed by HMPPS, who are all civil servants. Other workers within HMPPS who are employed by third parties, either within contracted areas of delivery such as private sector prisons or as contractors and other contingent workers, including other non-civil service public sector employees, within HMPPS are not included. Also excluded are voluntary workers, staff on loan within HMPPS, and those on secondment within HMPPS or on a career break.

HMPPS operates from a number of offices across the country, with its principal office in Westminster and from 2018, Canary Wharf. There are staff, organised regionally or nationally providing services directly to establishments and Local Delivery Units (e.g. HR business partners).

In April 2019 there were some changes to the organisational structures in HQ and these have been reflected in the tables.

A functional group structure has been adopted for the management of some Prison Service establishments; for example, a ‘young people’ category within the now distinct YCS and a ‘long-term/high security’ prisons category. Figure 1 outlines the functional group structure in place as of April 2018. As specified previously, the information in this bulletin does not include staff working in privately managed prisons.

Probation Service

In November 2019, over 1,200 FTE Probation Service staff were moved into the Community and Interventions directorate (part of HMPPS HQ and Area Services). These changes are included in this bulletin as of the September to December 2019 quarter.

During December 2019, 274 FTE Probation Service staff were transferred from the privately-run CRC in Wales to HMPPS, as the new establishment NPS Wales UM Transition. Their figures are included in this bulletin as of the September to December 2019 quarter.

In late June 2021, more than 7,000 staff from private sector Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) came together with probation staff already in the public sector in the new Probation Service.

From April 2021, the Probation Service has been undergoing a reorganisation, with staff moving into new Probation Delivery Units (PDUs).

In June 2022, around 1,000 Approved Premises staff were moved out of HQ directorates and back into Probation Service. This reverses a move from November and December 2019, when over 1,200 Probation Service staff moved to the Community and Interventions directorate, part of HMPPS HQ and Areas Services. As part of these changes two additional teams were moved in March 2023; AP Professionalisation Project and AP Counter Terrorism and Drug Strategy were moved out of the HQ directorate of Reducing Reoffending & Accommodation and into Probation directorate of National Approved Premises. Figures for all historical periods have been revised to reflect this change.

Public Sector Prisons

The Prison region of Immigration Removal Centre and Foreign National Centre (IRCs and FNCs) group was officially disbanded at the end of March 2021 and the prisons within it were moved to be managed by their respective geographical regions:

Morton Hall – East Midlands

Huntercombe – South Central

Maidstone – Kent, Surrey and Sussex

Avon & South Dorset Group has been renamed to Avon, South Dorset & Wiltshire. HMP Erlestoke moved from South Central to Avon, South Dorset & Wiltshire

HMP Aylesbury was part of the Long Term & High Security Estate but moved to South Central Region in October 2022.

Medway Secure Training Centre closed on 31 March 2020.

HMP Birmingham is a local adult male prison and was operated privately from 2011. From 20 August 2018, HMPPS exercised its right to step in and take over the running of HMP Birmingham for an initial period of six months, while the existing G4S management remained in place. This ‘step in’ action meant that HMPPS could provide additional resources and support to the prison in order to directly address the areas of failure identified in the inspection report. This period was further extended in February 2019, to 1 July 2019. From that point HMP Birmingham transferred back to HMPPS, and so any relevant figures from 1 July 2019 onwards within this publication will include HMP Birmingham.

Other establishments, however, are based on prison management regions (which do not always represent geographic areas) as outlined in Figure 2. It is for this reason that tables presenting breakdown by a regionally named group cannot necessarily be interpreted as a breakdown by geographical area.

Given the reporting period of this publication includes statistics covering the period after 1 April 2018, this HMPPS workforce statistics publication reflects this new group structure arrangement of PSPs, including the YCS.

Youth Custody Service

The Youth Custody Service (YCS) was launched in April 2017 to oversee day-to-day management of the under 18s young people’s estate. It now forms a distinct arm of HMPPS and aims to create stronger, clearer governance for the youth justice system. The YCS now has responsibility for all aspects of work with young people under the age of 18 both in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) across England and Wales and in Medway Secure Training Centre (STC). It also has oversight of eight Secure Children’s Homes (SCH).

This change has meant that key functions including the transfer of identified staff from the Youth Justice Board (YJB) have now moved over to the YCS. These staff, along with those in Public Sector managed YOIs (currently located at Cookham Wood, Feltham (split site), Wetherby and Werrington) and Medway STC come under the newly formed YCS category.

Probation Service

On 1 June 2014, the way that probation services were delivered changed. Prior to that date probation services were delivered by 35 Probation Trusts across England and Wales, which were responsible for their own staffing. On 1 June 2014, the National Probation Service, which is responsible for high-risk offenders in the community, was created and staff in the Probation Trusts joined HMPPS as civil servants. The remainder of offenders were managed by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), which were contracted out to the private and voluntary sectors. The CRCs remained privately managed until late June 2021, whereby more than 7,000 staff from these private sector CRCs came together with the existing probation staff in the public sector to form the new Probation Service.

From April 2021, the Probation Service has been undergoing a reorganisation, with staff moving into new Probation Delivery Units (PDUs).

Table 1: Probation Service divisional structure

Wales

Specifically, in Wales, prison and probation services are delivered together under a single directorate called HMPPS in Wales. There is a public sector youth custody estate providing custodial services for under 18-year olds.

Separate grading systems exist for staff in the Probation Service and the other parts of HMPPS. Probation Service staff transferred into HMPPS on the terms and conditions they had within Probation Trusts and those structures are still used. Probation Service staff work in band 1 for the most junior to band 6 then further bands from A to D for the most senior staff. Qualified Probation Officers typically work at band 4.

In Public Sector Prisons and HMPPS HQ, staff work in bands ranging from band 1 for the most junior staff to band 12 for the most senior prison Governors and managers as well as senior civil servants. Both operational and non-operational staff work within these banding structures.

Operational staff within Public Sector Prisons specifically work in bands 2 to 11. The majority of these individuals are in the following grades:

Band 2/ Operational Support: Staff in this grade perform a wide variety of duties, including checking in and supervising visitors, patrolling perimeter and grounds, escorting contractors and vehicles, searching buildings and searching prisoners’ property. A two-week Operations Assistant entry level training course is undertaken prior to commencement of duties.

Band 3-4 (including specialists): this grade includes staff for whom this is their first prison officer level role in a Public Sector Prison. Once an individual has been offered a post as a prison officer, they will spend one week located in an establishment, undergo a 10-week Prison Officer Entry Level Training (POELT) course and then spend a further week in the establishment. Once this is completed and following their probationary year, they are considered fully trained; upon successful completion of prison officer training, a level 3 diploma in the management and care of individuals in the custodial environment will be awarded and the individual will then begin their career as a prison officer.

Band 4 / supervising officer: staff in this grade will usually lead a team of prison officers.

Band 5 / custodial manager: staff in this grade are first line managers with responsibility for band 2 – 4 operational staff.

Band 3 to 5 operational staff are collectively known as prison officers and are often grouped together.

Probation staff work in band 1 for the most junior to band 6 then further bands from A to D for the most senior staff. Probation officer level roles can be distinguished as follows:

Band 3 / probation services officer: manages caseloads of medium and lower risk offenders during and after they are sentenced. Once a probation services officer undertakes and obtains the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP), they are eligible to apply for a probation officer role.

Band 4 / probation officer: an individual working in this band represents a qualified probation officer and will manage caseloads of offenders during and after they are sentenced.

Band 5 / senior probation officer: manages teams of probation officers.

In order to provide further clarity on figures related to probation officer roles, the grades outlined above have been separated out within the relevant publication tables.

Staff who are training to be a probation officer work as a probation services officer during their training, so a proportion of the probation services officers in post will be working towards the professional probation officer qualification. For the first time as of the 30 June 2019 bulletin, (published on 15 August 2019), a new annex has been produced which provides figures on Probation Officer staffing, vacancies and trainee numbers.

Nurses and other healthcare staff are no longer directly employed by HMPPS. These services are now commissioned through Clinical Commissioning Groups. Although the publication tables continue to show historical trends over time for these grades, they are no longer being presented in the snapshot of HMPPS staff in post by grade table.

Governors now have the freedom to plan the workforce at their establishments by determining the number of staff in each role within their budget. This means that figures on staffing requirements are therefore continuously evolving. As a result, we are currently not in a position to present staff operating model figures in this publication.

Prisons are categorised relating to the function of the establishment, dependent on the type or types of prisoner held. Prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom are assigned to every adult prisoner for the purposes of assigning them to a prison. The categories are based upon the severity of the crime and the risk posed should the person escape. Further details of the categories can be found in the Glossary of Terms.

In July 2018, The Verne was re-categorised from an Immigration Removal Centre to a Category C male training prison.

The statistics in this bulletin relate to civil servants employed by HMPPS. The data presented in this publication have been extracted from the Single Operating Platform (SOP), an administrative IT system which holds HR information. SOP is a live dynamic system, not designed for use in presenting consistent statistical figures. Although both can generate what appear to be historical figures, subsequent updates to details of records on the system will only show the latest position, and not the position as it stood at the time in question.

Information relating to staff in post, joiners, leavers and sickness is closely scrutinised, and the data presented in this bulletin are considered to be fit for purpose. Extensive quality assurance of the data is undertaken, and care is taken when processing and analysing the data. While the figures shown have been validated and independently checked, the information collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. More specifically though, this publication includes statistics produced using cuts of data taken from SOP. As a result, additional validation of this data has been necessary, including the use of alternative approaches to support production of the statistics.

For statistical and archive purposes, monthly extracts have been taken from the data systems, which allow consistent figures to be obtained for historical time points. It is not uncommon for a small number of updates to have been implemented slightly in arrears. To account for this, the data extracts used for statistical purposes have been taken at a pre-determined point in time shortly after the situation date. This process accommodates the majority of such late updates whilst maintaining the timeliness of the data. While this has been a standard, and indeed a suitable approach to obtain accurate and timely data from HR systems, there is the inevitable potential for a small number of late updates to be missed, occurring after the monthly extracts are captured. As the time series expands, future workforce statistics publications will rely more on SOP for figures on historical points in time. However, the possibility of data updates being missed will still remain since monthly extracts will continue to be generated through SOP in such a way that there is balance between capturing the bulk of late updates and ensuring the timeliness of the data.

Certain aspects of the data held on SOP relating to the Probation Service are not currently of the quality necessary to be included in a publication of official statistics. The breakdown of Probation Service data into figures for separate work areas has not yet been possible using SOP.

Between January and March 2017, during migration of data to the SOP, there was also an under-recording of sickness absence spells. There is therefore likely to be an undercount of working days lost for the 12 months to 31 March 2017 and subsequent under-estimate of average working days lost. Furthermore, figures for the 12 months to 31 March 2018 and 12 months to 30 June 2018 should be treated with caution as they may also be affected.

It is MoJ disclosure policy to assess the risk of disclosure of sensitive information about identifiable individuals and the consequent harm that disclosure could cause. This risk is then balanced against the loss of utility of statistics that have been supressed.

Sensitive information includes protected characteristics such as race, disability, sexuality or religion of the individuals, or incidents that happen to staff that could cause distress to the individual or their family if they were disclosed. Examples would be conduct and discipline cases, grievances, sickness absence, or dismissals.

In this bulletin it has been assessed that the risk of identification of individuals is minimal and that the majority of the information presented is not sensitive in that it relates to attributes of grade and location. In most cases it has been concluded that the utility to users of unsuppressed statistics outweighs the small risk to individuals involved. Where suppression has been used, this generally applies to:

• small populations of staff with particular protected characteristics;

• the reasons for leaving where numbers by category may be/are low; or

• cells containing two or fewer cases together with secondary suppression of cells that could be used in combination with totals to deduce the original figures.

Statistics presenting the changes to numbers of staff in post over time are of key importance to monitoring the effects of policy changes, financial accounting and transparency. The time series shows quarterly data, with annual figures taken at the end of each financial year back to 2016/17. This presents both the long-term and more recent trends.

When interpreting trends in the data, caution must be taken due to organisational changes which have occurred at various points during the time series presented in the workforce statistics bulletins and tables. More recently, as of 1 April 2017, when HMPPS was created, some teams and functions previously part of NOMS moved into the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as implementation of a functional leadership model. The model was introduced with the aim of joining up corporate and professional services across MoJ and its agencies so as to improve outcomes, frontline delivery, organisational resilience and personal career paths. Staff in these roles transferred on the HR system between 1 April and 30 June 2017 and statistics presenting staff in post, as well as joiners and leavers, in this publication reflect these changes. Changes predominantly apply to those individuals working in corporate roles within HMPPS HQ and area services. Like-for-like comparisons cannot be consistently made from the data presented in the tables.

Furthermore, as set out earlier in this document, the creation of the YCS in April 2017 has meant another distinct category of HMPPS has been introduced. Four public sector managed YOIs and Medway STC have moved under the YCS umbrella along with staff in certain roles who were previously in the YJB. These individuals have now been included within these set of HMPPS workforce statistics. In terms of how these particular staffing figures appear in the statistics, central YCS units are categorised within HQ and Area Services whilst the Youth Custody Estate element of this new YCS category are now included separately in the publication tables. This covers staffing figures relating to Cookham Wood, Feltham, Werrington, and Wetherby Youth Offending Institutions (YOIs) as well as Medway Secure Training Centre (STC). Historically these figures would have been included within the wider Public Sector Prisons (PSP) category. However, in this edition, we have separated out the historical and latest figures for the Youth Custody Estate to allow comparisons to be made and to establish the trends over time for these YOIs and Medway STC.

Staff in post figures have been derived from snapshots taken on a monthly basis from the SOP databases. These have both captured all civil servants employed by HMPPS on the final working day of each month. The snapshots are usually taken two working days into the following month, allowing for some late updating to occur and thus improving the quality of the data, while remaining as timely as possible.

Statistics reported for the workforce bulletin relate to all staff who have a contract of employment with HMPPS. Staff are included irrespective of whether they are absent from work (paid or unpaid) on the day of the snapshot. The only staff excluded are those on career breaks and those on secondment or loan outside of HMPPS.

The constituent parts of HMPPS presented in this set of workforce statistics; HM Prison Service, the YCS, HMPPS HQ and Probation Service are defined in terms of organisational hierarchies and not grading structures. While staff in Probation Service grades make up the great majority of the Probation Service, there are a few staff working elsewhere in HMPPS who have Probation Service grades. Where staff are presented by grade in the bulletin, this information should not be used to identify the number of staff in that particular part of HMPPS.

Where definitions have changed over the time series (for example changes to grade names), it is possible to retain comparability across the time series through presenting both the old and new names. In other cases, such as the change to the definition of HQ, current definitions are used and carried back, as consistency across the period is enabled through the HQ and Area Services total, which aligns to the former HQ definition. Should definitions not be appropriate to be carried back due to non-alignment with previous definitions, a break in the time series would be presented with explanatory footnotes in the relevant sections of the bulletin/accompanying tables.

In the relevant tables, establishments have been presented in the region they were classified in from 1 April 2018. This may result in revisions to information presented in previously published time periods. Any reclassification of establishments into different regions from 1 April 2018 has been reflected in this publication. As outlined previously, prison regional structure is not always based on where the establishment is situated geographically so tables by region cannot be interpreted as a breakdown by geographical area.

When the statistics are broken down by region, category of establishment and grade, staff in post figures are presented as full-time equivalent (FTE). FTE figures are used as they take into account the different working patterns amongst staff. Considering variations in the number of hours worked by staff therefore provides a more accurate measure of the true/actual available resource compared to staff headcount. Where a member of staff works the standard hours for their grade they are counted as full time (1 FTE). Staff who work less than standard hours are allocated an FTE in proportion to their contracted hours and the standard hours for the grade. Work undertaken in addition to standard hours, such as overtime is not taken into account in calculating FTE.

Data are not routinely available on working patterns other than full time/part time status since decisions on flexible working, working from home, and other aspects of working patterns are often handled at a local level. Full time/part time is also a status which may fluctuate across an individual’s career. Part time as a grouping covers a wide range of working patterns and working hours.

Where data are readily available, figures are also presented by protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Protected characteristics information is recorded for HMPPS staff on gender, age, race, disability, sexual orientation and religion / belief. Currently, there remains certain fields, defined as protective characteristics, which are not sufficiently populated to be able to present as statistics; however, it is intended that that coverage will increase over time.

When considering the protected characteristics, it is the actual number of individuals which is important, and not the resource those individuals contribute. For this reason, the only appropriate measure is the headcount, and not FTE. Caution should be exercised in attempting to make comparisons between the composition of the HMPPS workforce and the wider population of England and Wales on the basis of protected characteristics. There is substantial regional variation of these distributions in the general population, and HMPPS staff are not distributed across England and Wales in the same proportions as the general population, rendering such comparisons invalid.

Data on the protected characteristics are collected from self-declared, non-compulsory fields on the SOP database. With lower declaration rates, the risk of bias increases greatly, and the accuracy of a representation rate based on known declarations falls rapidly. Consequently, when a declaration rate falls below 60%, no representation rate is provided.

The publication also presents the number of joiners (newly recruited) who have started work in HMPPS and leavers from HMPPS during the preceding 12-month period for each date point. Figures are taken over a 12 month period for a number of reasons, primarily as the numbers involved would not be sufficient to permit breakdowns over a shorter period of time, and seasonal influences may impair fair comparison of trends over time should less than 12 months be presented.

Joiners and leavers figures record the inflow and outflow staffing transactions taking place between the first and last working day of the month. With the exception of existing HMPPS staff who have re-graded to prison officer, the other staff movements relate to movements into or out of HMPPS rather than internal movements between sites and grades. The information has been taken from the SOP database. Data on joiners and leavers are continuously updated. The data covered in this publication has been extracted eight working days into the next month to accommodate as many late entries as possible while minimising the impact on timeliness. Nevertheless, given the nature of the data, time lags will still remain which is why the reported data points for joiners and leavers within the current financial year are marked as provisional pending the final running of the March data in April each year.

Staff leaving on the final working day of a given month will appear both in the staff in post record for that month (having been employed by HMPPS on the last day of the month) and in the leavers record for that month (having left employment on the last day of the month). For this reason, staff in post, joiners and leavers figures do not fully reconcile.

Joiners and leavers are presented on a headcount basis for a number of reasons – those joining the department who work part-time often arrange to do so after starting, and not at the moment of joining. Similarly, the FTE recorded on leaving is often not representative of working patterns throughout the entire period of employment. For these reasons FTE on joining or leaving is a poor measure of the actual FTE resource the individual will represent or will have represented during their career in HMPPS. FTE figures for joiners and leavers will not reflect the changes to FTE of staff in post as continuing staff may change their FTE at any time. These are not data quality issues but are inherent in the nature of staff data. Headcount figures are therefore used for all joiners and leavers tables. For joiners and leavers, the same breakdowns of region, function of establishment (category) and grade are provided. Reasons for leaving is also presented for leavers. However, since January 2017, information regarding dismissals has made no distinction between those as a result of medical inefficiencies and those which are due to unsatisfactory attendances. These two categories of dismissals have therefore been combined.

The bulletin also includes information on the leaving rate amongst HMPPS staff. These are presented to enable easier comparisons of staff retention over time. To prevent the rates being distorted by factors such as the number of staff on fixed-term contracts, they relate to staff on permanent contracts only. Furthermore, exit schemes instigated by the Department involving voluntary early departure and redundancies are excluded so that only the behaviour of individuals is measured. For these reasons the number of leavers and staff in post used in the calculations are not the same as those presented in other parts of the bulletin. The underlying leaving rate of staff is therefore calculated by taking the number of permanent staff who left HMPPS (excluding leavers due to Voluntary Early Departure Scheme (VEDS), voluntary redundancy or compulsory redundancy) in the last 12 months and dividing by the average number of permanent staff in post in the last 12 months; this average is calculated as the mean of the start and ends of the year and the three quarter ends within the year.

A new table has been included as from September 2018 which looks at the underlying resignation rate by grade. The underlying resignation rate of staff is the number of permanent staff who resigned from HMPPS employment in the last 12 months divided by the average number of permanent staff in post in the last 12 months; this average is calculated as the mean of the start and ends of the year and the three quarter ends within the year.

Changes to the available resource is measured by the net change of staff in post full time equivalent (FTE). These are presented in the staff in post FTE tables.

Where tables present information on length of service, this is defined as the number of completed years from the latest date of entry to HMPPS to the reference date of the table, or in the case of leavers, the date the employee left. However, it must be noted that the Probation Service was created on 1 June 2014 and the service of Probation Service staff in Probation Trusts prior to the creation of the Probation Service is not included. Therefore, the figures relating to the length of service of Probation Service staff, and which are included in the HMPPS overall figures, do not necessarily represent their full experience, but rather the length of service from entry to HMPPS.

Two further tables showing the snapshot of the staff in post FTE by grade and then individual establishment for Public Sector Prisons and by PDU cluster for Probation Service are included to give the current structural picture. These tables do not include time series, due in part to the size of the tables, but more importantly as a result of the dynamic nature of establishments and PDU clusters, which change frequently, rendering a time series of less value.

Tables presenting average working day lost due to sickness absence by grade and by breakdown of HMPPS structure as well as working days lost by category of sickness are also included. Average working days lost are calculated by taking the number of working days lost in the last 12 months and dividing by the average number of staff in post in the last 12 months; this average is calculated as the mean of the last 12 quarter ends of the year.