Burnham urged to intervene over ‘zero-hours’ custody officers in private prison

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.

“The POA rejects this attempt to bring casualised labour into the prison system. 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.

“If you’re looking for more routine, predictable hours, we can offer regular rotational work. 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.

Mitie, which is paid about £33m a year to run the prison, has faced intense criticism over its management since it opened 17 months ago.

In January, IMB said that during staff visits they noticed “inconsistent gate security”, with “doors and gates being left open”. A month later, Mitie replaced the director, who moved to a strategic role.

There were more than 1,600 vacancies for prison officers in England and Wales in June, compared with 22,000 or so currently working, according to data. While 248 prison officers joined that month, another 256 left.

According to Acas, the definition of a zero-hours contract is one where the employer does not give minimum working hours and the employee does not have to take any work offered.

Mitie said it did not offer “zero-hours” contracts to Millsike employees, pointing out that Sangfroid Group provided “contingent workers” and was responsible for the terms and conditions of staff recruited through the advert.

A Mitie spokesperson said: “HMP Millsike continues to operate in line with the ramp-up plans agreed with the Ministry of Justice, with staffing and recruitment aligned to the prison’s phased population buildup. We remain focused on maintaining a safe, secure and supportive environment for prisoners and colleagues.”

A government spokesperson said: “Our dedicated prison officers work around the clock to keep our prisons running and the public safe, and prison officer contracts will always be compliant with employment law.

“We inherited a prison capacity crisis after places increased by just 500 in 14 years, and are pulling every lever possible to fix this – building 14,000 new places with 3,200 already delivered.”

Sangfroid Group has been approached for comment.