Advance Into Justice | HM Prison & Probation Service

Specialist Production Instructor

Specialist Production Instructors help prisoners to learn new practical skills within a specialist workshop setting, preparing them for employment upon release and contributing to the government’s objective of reducing reoffending.

Specialist Production Instructors (SPI) ensure that all services are provided to a high standard and that security and control is maintained at all times. The jobholder will be able to teach prisoners towards achieving nationally recognised qualifications and may be supported by external organisations such as local colleges.

There are a wide range of industries which are taught across our prisons and SPIs are responsible for specialising and delivering these workshops to prisoners.

Typical tasks include:

Inducting prisoners to the workshop/area of work and train them in aspects such as health and safety, Control of Substance Hazardous to health (COSHH), machinery and tools usage
Setting work schedules and managing targets/quality standards, maintaining delivery of contractual arrangements
Assessing and evaluating skills of prisoners up to national qualification standards
Supervising and maintaining discipline of prisoners within workshop/area of work, responsible for performance, motivation, discipline, appraisal and development of prisoners
Carrying out fabric and tool checks of workshops and maintain security of areas, logging any tool/equipment faults. Undertake planned maintenance programme on machinery
Contributing to Health and Safety risk assessments relating to the workshop/work of area and specialist areas
Conducting a metal detector scan or rub down search of prisoners attending and leaving their own workshops

Eligibility

For Band 3 Specialist Production Instructor roles there are no entry requirements other than a requirement to work towards requisite qualifications when in post. If you’re a service leaver this can be provided through the CTP ahead of starting your role.

For Band 4 Specialist Production Instructor roles you are required to have or work towards a level 3 Qualification in their specialism or have the equivalent experience and it is preferable that you are a qualified NVQ assessor.

For all instructor roles you must have the ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence through the medium of English or (where specified in Wales) Welsh.

Pay

Region	Prisons	Band 3 Salary	Band 4 Salary
Inner London	Brixton, Pentonville, Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs	£30,137	£35,987
Outer London	Belmarsh, Downview, Feltham, High Down, Isis	£28,636	£33,506
National	All other prisons	£25,572	£30,471

A small number of posts may require shift pattern working. In these cases, an additional 17% payment will be made. Please refer to the job adverts for further details.

Benefits

25 days annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service)
Civil service pension with employer contributions of over 27%
paid time off for public holidays and 1 extra privilege day*
generous maternity leave cover
cycle to work scheme and travel loans
property rental deposit loans
access to local keyworker housing schemes
employee assistance programmes
paid special leave for Reservists to participate in the continuous mandatory period of training.

*Operational grades within prisons operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and you will be expected to work on some public and bank holidays. Any that you do work will be added to your annual leave entitlement.

Application process

You will need to provide a CV and a number of short written statements in your application. You will be required to provide your CV in an anonymised format known as “name blind” which will help us recruit based on your knowledge and your skills rather than your background, gender or ethnicity. This is to ensure the process is fair.

Make sure your CV includes details of any relevant qualifications and experience.

You will need to answer questions which outline your past experience – tell us about any previous roles or experience, even if not directly linked to the industrial specialism.

If successful at sift, you will be invited to interview and interviewed through the Civil Service Success Profiles framework. The behaviours being tested will be outlined on the job advert.

Training and progression

HMPPS is committed to your development and offers a range of training and development opportunities, including areas such as Equality and Diversity, Dealing with Challenging Behaviour, Suicide Prevention and Anti Bullying Programmes
There are opportunities to access promotion programmes and HMPPS provide a variety of training appropriate to individual posts.
You will receive security and diversity training and a role specific induction programme.

PSO