Prison Officer | HMP Bullingdon | Bicester | Visa Sponsorship Available

HMP Bullingdon in Bicester is seeking dedicated and resilient Prison Officers to join its team. This full-time role offers Skilled Worker visa sponsorship for eligible candidates and provides a rewarding opportunity to contribute to the safety, care, and rehabilitation of individuals in custody. Successful applicants will demonstrate a strong commitment to quality, effective decision-making under pressure, and the ability to provide respectful and consistent care. This position is ideal for individuals who are confident, responsible, and motivated to make a positive difference in a structured environment.

With full training provided and excellent development pathways, this is a career with purpose—supporting rehabilitation while upholding security and integrity within the prison service.

Prison officers protect the public and help make an impact on prisoners’ lives. If you have the integrity, skills and strength of character we’re looking for, this fast-paced role could be the start of a successful career.

There’s no such thing as a typical prison officer. Our officers come from different walks of life, just like the offenders they work with. Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, have worked in retail, the armed forces, or just feel like you’re a natural people person, you’ll have the empathy, self-confidence, great communication skills and resilience we want. No matter the challenge, you’ll take the time to build constructive, positive and professional relationships with prisoners who could be at the lowest point in their lives.

Teamwork plays a vital role in this environment, so you’ll need to be fully committed to supporting your colleagues and understand the importance of acting as one team to keep the prison, and everyone who works here safe. You will be required to work various shifts and some weekends.

In this unique career, you’ll have the opportunity to carry out many different roles in any one day. One minute you’re a peacekeeper, the next you’re a counsellor or a teacher. You’ll work directly with prisoners in a unique environment, helping to protect the public and make a positive impact.

To become a prison officer, you will need to:

• Be at least 18 years old at the point you commence employment
• Meet the Civil Service Nationality requirements
• Pass a medical and fitness assessment as part of the application process
• Meet the required eyesight standard in both eyes (both with and without corrective lenses)
• Have a suitable standard of hearing (without the use of hearing aids)
• Tattoos must not be deemed as offensive, discriminatory, violent, or intimidating in any way
• For high security prisons, you must have been a resident in the UK for the last 3 years

Some prison establishments are situated in rural locations with limited public transport options; therefore, a driving licence and own transport is beneficial but is not an essential requirement of the role. Please note that shift start, and finish times are fixed, and it is your responsibility to get to and from your place of work on time for the start of your shift.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

Essential skills include:

• Communication and influencing skills
• Commitment to quality
• Care and understanding

The initial training is 37 hours a week. After training, you can choose to work 37, 39 or 41 hours a week. Your annual salary will reflect your weekly hours:

• 37 hours a week = £35,948 a year
• 39 hours a week = £37,994 a year
• 41 hours a week = £40,041 a year

All salary figures quoted include any additional allowances that are applicable to the role/location. Prisons operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means you will have to cover various shift patterns that will include evenings, some nights, weekends and public holidays. Most prisons work with a changing shift pattern of 39 hours a week.

You may also have opportunities to work additional paid hours. Benefits include:

• 25 days’ annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service)
• Paid time off for public holidays and 1 extra privilege day
• Civil Service pension with employer contributions of 28.97%
• Cycle to work scheme, travel loans and other benefits

During the recruitment process you will be assessed on the behaviours, strengths and abilities you need to become an effective prison officer. These include:

• Communicating and influencing
• Managing a quality service
• Caring

Your natural strengths are assessed to find out what motivates and energises you. We will also assess your numerical, written English and spoken English abilities.

Once you have completed your initial application form, you will be invited to complete stage 1 of the online test, to see if you have the basic judgement and numerical skills expected of a prison officer. If you are successful, we will invite you to the stage 2 online test (task-based assessment) to see if you have the natural behaviours and qualities needed to be an effective prison officer.

On successful completion of the online tests, we will invite you to an online assessment centre where we test to see if you have the abilities, behaviours and strengths to be a prison officer.