Hundreds of prison officers may have to leave UK after visa rules change

 Hundreds of prison officers from overseas will lose their jobs and may be forced to return to their homelands at short notice after the Government changed visa rules.

The new rules, introduced in July, say that only people who are paid above a threshold of £41,700 annually can have their skilled work visas renewed. This is part of the Government’s campaign to reduce net migration to the UK “significantly”.

Earlier this year, Inside Time reported that more than 700 Nigerians were recruited to work in UK prisons last year. Government figures showed that Nigerians accounted for 29 per cent of job applicants in the Prison Service, and 12 per cent of staff hired. It comes after the Prison Service began sponsoring skilled worker visas for overseas applicants, in order to plug staff shortages.

Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors Association, said the changes to visa rules were “a worrying surprise. This really matters as there are over 1,000 prison officers who only have a limited right to work in the UK and are reliant on a skilled worker visa to continue.”

He added: “Governors would have to sack people when their visas come to an end, and people from overseas, particularly from African nations, have accounted for around 80 per cent of applications for officer jobs. It costs £10,000 to recruit and train every prison officer, and now governors are having to get rid of people when their visa ends. We are losing some good people.”

The Prison Officers’ Association wrote to the Justice Secretary asking Ministers to give special dispensation for those on prison officer grades. Mark Fairhurst, national president of the trade union, said the change was “scandalous and pandering to Reform. As a result prisons will be harder to manage, staff morale will plummet, and hard working colleagues will be forced to leave the country.”

Mr Fairhurst had, earlier in the year, told a House of Lords committee of his union’s concerns that new applicants were arriving from overseas expecting accommodation to be provided and not being prepared for the work they would face, but his union is now supporting their members who have become a vital part of prison operations.

Prisons Minister Lord Timpson said ministers could not give immigration advice but added: “I recognise this may be a difficult situation for individuals who have been seeking sponsorship.”