Our prison officer assessment centre is designed to assess if you have the skills and fitness levels
needed to become a prison officer. To support you to fast track to employment, on the day we'll:
let you know if you've been successful
confirm which prison you'll be assigned to and your start date
start your pre-employment checks.*
*Please come prepared with your Armed Forces disclosure form, your Armed forces
reference number and your address and work history for the past 5 years. Please also bring your
pension information, and if you have ever been subject to an IVA, bankruptcy or insolvency bring any
information relating to this. As part of the checks, you will also need to identify someone who will
act as a Countersignatory for you, therefore please provide their contact details.
What happens at the Assessment Centre
The assessment starts with an introductory briefing session where you'll be told what to expect and
will have the opportunity to ask questions. You will
complete role plays, an interview, a written test, a numeracy test and a
medical/fitness test. After your debrief you will be given a provisional offer on
the day if your results meet the required criteria.
We will then start your pre-employment checks. Please see the ID
Documents page for details of the
documents you will need to bring with you.
Written Test
The Written Test checks your written ability and assesses whether you are able to use
written sources
of information to make effective decisions.
You will be given 40 minutes to answer two exercises, so it will be important to keep
track of the
time to ensure that you complete the test.
You will type your answers to the two exercises.
We will assess your written responses against the following behaviours:
Ability to write in sentences that show a reasonable understanding of grammar
Ability to take information from various sources and summarise it in written
format
How to prepare:
Practice timing yourself to read and type text. Practice reviewing written sources of
information and typing a summary of the information presented. You could identify a
couple of news articles on the same topic, and within a short timeframe (e.g. 30
minutes) write a summary of the key issues that were presented across the articles,
and any recommendations or decisions you could make from the information you have
gathered. Practice explaining what you would do next to help with the situation, and
why you would take that course of action.
Check that family or friends can read and understand your responses, to ensure that
your write up
shows a reasonable understanding of grammar. There are also useful resources on the
BBC Skillswise
English website which you may find helpful.
Numerical Test
This short test will confirm you have the basic numerical skills needed to perform
your duties as a
prison officer. You will be given 10 minutes to answer 10 questions.
Questions will involve basic functions such as: counting, adding, subtracting,
multiplying and
dividing. You will need to be able to work with ratios and fractions.
Questions also require
you to
extract relevant numerical information from tables and read the time in the 24-hour
format. You'll
be able to use a calculator during the test and within the role as a prison officer,
to help you
with your daily tasks.
How to prepare
Take the practice
tests to get you started. Practice using your numerical skills,
especially involving each basic function outlined above. There are also some useful
resources on the
BBC Skillswise Maths website that you may find helpful.
Role-plays
During two 10-minute role plays, you will take on the role of a prison officer who is
interacting
with a prisoner in different scenarios.
The role plays are based upon challenging scenarios that you could be faced with as a
prison officer.
We're looking for natural responses based on the information provided to you prior to
and during the
role plays. You do not require any prior knowledge of the prison officer job role;
what's important
is how you interact and communicate with others.
We will assess your responses against the following behaviours:
During the assessment, treat the role plays exactly as you would a real-life
situation. Be yourself;
we want to measure your natural responses and not what you think we're looking for.
Interview
The interview is strengths-based and will last for 30 minutes. This means that
questions will focus
on what motivates and energises you.
Although no specific preparation is required, you may find it helpful to consider why
you would like
to become a prison officer and reflect upon your strengths prior to your online
assessment centre.
We're interested in what motivates and energies you. Some people may find it more
difficult to
identify their own strengths, so consider talking to family or friends about what
strengths they
feel you have.
As spoken English is assessed in this Interview, please make sure that other people
can understand
what you are saying to them. If spoken English is something you struggle with, you
could try having
a conversation with others and asking for feedback.
You will be required to attend a medical assessment with an Occupational Health
professional. The
purpose of the medical is to assess the general level of health, including weight,
blood pressure,
eyesight in both eyes and hearing so that an informed opinion can be made on whether
you are fit for
a role as a Prison Officer and can undergo a fitness test such as the bleep test.
If your blood pressure is too high (i.e. more than 160/100 mmHg) you won't be allowed
to take the
fitness test due to health and safety reasons. You will be invited back to re-sit
your medical
assessment. 90/60 to 140/90 - is deemed within healthy range and remains fit to
proceed to the
fitness test.
If you use an inhaler you must bring an in date one with you for the fitness test.
Eye test: You MUST have a minimum uncorrected (without glasses or
lenses) distance
visual acuity of 6/36 with both eyes open and have a corrected visual acuity
with a minimum of
6/12 with both eyes open. If correction required to achieve this, at least 6/36
uncorrected with
both eyes open.
Hearing test: You should be able to hear normal conversation at a
distance of 10 feet
(3m) without the use of hearing aids. Hearing will be tested by formal
assessment on the day.
How to prepare
Bring your glasses or contact lenses with you, as well as contact lens solution if
you will need to
put your lenses back in after the eye test. Avoid caffeinated drinks which may
affect your blood
pressure.
Fitness Tests
Prison Officers need to be capable of performing to a certain standard to ensure
their safety, as
well as the safety of everyone else, including prisoners and work colleagues.
Maintaining a certain
level of fitness promotes general health and well-being and helps prevent injury.
The fitness test
includes the 15-metre shuttle run - the 'bleep' test. The bleep test, which involves
running/jogging, is not a specific test to assess your ability to run, but a simple
test to assess
the efficiency of your working muscle's capacity to use oxygen during physical
stress/activity using
the large muscle groups of the body. Once in post you will be subject to an annual
fitness test, so
will be expected to maintain your level of fitness during your employment.
To ensure that you are prepared to pass the fitness tests at your assessment centre
practice them
first using our mobile web application.
Our web application lets you practice both the bleep test and agility test and lets
you know how far
ahead or behind the required pass mark you are.
We will ask you within your application form if you would like to request reasonable
adjustments. If
you feel you require any kind of support and/or would like to discuss this with
someone, please
indicate 'yes' to requesting reasonable adjustments within the application form. Our
Reasonable
Adjustments Scheme Team will then contact you following your application to discuss
and confirm your
reasonable adjustments based on your individual needs.
If you have already applied and have not indicated that you require reasonable
adjustments to support
you during the Assessment Centre and would now like to make a request, please
contact SSCL as soon
as possible on 0345 241 5358 prior to attending your Assessment Centre. If you have
any queries
about your adjustments on the day of your Assessment Centre, please make the Centre
Manager aware in
the first instance. Reasonable adjustments must be requested and confirmed prior to
your Assessment
Centre, to ensure these adjustments can be implemented.
Please note that we will hold Assessment Centres for any candidates requiring
reasonable adjustments
on Friday 11th March in Croydon and Thursday 17th March in Wakefield.
Behaviours
Communicating and Influencing - Which means you have excellent interpersonal
skills,
communicating clearly challenging and influencing others with confidence. You
collaborate with others, showing good listening skills and easily developing
mutual
respect and understanding.
Managing a Quality Service - You take pride in yourself and your work and
demonstrate a
strong work ethic. You manage your own time, quickly adapting to changing
circumstances,
whilst adhering to processes and rules. You lead others by taking charge and
providing
direction, and take personal responsibility for your actions.
Making Effective Decisions - You have good judgement and problem-solving
ability, using
a wide range of information and evidence to build a full picture of a situation
to guide
your decisions.
Caring - You are open-minded, and non-judgemental, treating others with
decency
and
respect. You develop meaningful relationships, empowering and supporting others,
whilst
maintaining clear boundaries You manage other’s expectations and deliver on your
promises and commitments.
To hear more about the Advance into Justice scheme and the prison officer role, as well as to learn some top tips to help you prepare for your assessment centre watch one of our past webinars below: