Author: Michael Harrison

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

HMPPS COVID-19 Gold routinely publish briefings to communicate key information to the frontline. The most recent of these briefings will be published here.

2022

• Cohorting and Population Management – Further to the Gold Briefing issued on 31/03, template isolation forms issued to support establishments in the isolation of PIU/RCU prisoners under R45. These are to assist colleagues but alternative local documentation can be used instead as long as there is a local process of documenting isolation in line with the guidance.

• Guidance to provide all HR teams with the core information and policy principles in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Mandatory Testing

2021

2020

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

For PPE guidance please visit: PPE and Hygiene Provision.

For HMPPS SOPs please visit Safe Operating Procedures.

Face Protection Review – February 2021

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

CPFSI have informed HMPPS that they intend to resume planned inspections of custodial premises. The attached letter outlines the reviewed approach CPFSI will take on these inspections.

In accordance with this agreed approach, inspections will only take place in sites where there are no confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. Establishments will be given as much notice as possible of any planned visits, which should not normally be less than 28 days.

Any queries, please contact Mark Simpson (mark.simpson01@justice.gov.uk)

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

Please see the attached guidance for the recommended process for conducting 1:1 interviews with prisoners.

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

Visit Testing Updates (22.04.22)

Refreshments in Social Visits

Visits Accrual

Identification Required for Visits (23.04.21)

The forms of ID that social and official visitors need to provide to enter a prison have been updated. 

If you are a social visitor (friends, family members or Official Prison Visitors (OPVs)), you must take with you a valid visiting order plus one form of photo ID from the following list (List A):

• Passports
• Identity cards from an EU or European Economic Area (EEA) country
• UK photocard driving licences
• EU or EEA driving licences
• NI Electoral identity cards
• US passport card
• Proof of age card recognised under PASS with a unique reference number (This includes the Citizen ID card)
• Armed forces identity card
• UK biometric residence permit (BRP)

If you don’t have any of the above ID documents from List A, you can bring one ID document from List B, supported by one document from List C:

List B:

• Home Office travel document (convention travel document, stateless person’s document, one-way document or certificate of travel)
• Older person’s bus pass
• Freedom Pass
• Proof of age card recognised under the Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) without a unique reference number (please refer to List A where a unique reference number is present)

List C:

• Birth or adoption certificate
• Education certificate from a regulated and recognised educational institution (such as an NVQ, SQA, GCSE, A level or degree certificate)
• Rental or purchase agreement for a residential property (signed and dated) Marriage or civil partnership certificate Bank, building society or credit union current account card (on which the claimed identity is shown)

If you are not able to take any of the above forms of ID with you to the prison but still need to visit, please contact the prison in advance to discuss the options and your request to visit will be considered by the governor. An eight-week transitional period before the ID requirement changes are fully enforced, beginning the day visits are restarted at individual establishments, should allow you enough time to acquire the necessary ID.

If a Governor uses their discretion to allow a visit in the absence of appropriate ID, it will only apply on that one occasion, and visitors should take suitable ID in future. The cheapest option is the Citizen ID Card which can be applied for at www.citizen.card.com. Prison visitors are eligible for a 50% discount, making the cards cost £7.50 instead of £15.

The full policy is on Gov.UK here.

Family Support Work

With sites re-starting social visits, establishments may look reintroduce family support work as an addition to their existing social visits model where the following caveats are met:

1) The establishment must have a Local Operating Procedure for social visits already approved by Gold and their PGD.
2) The establishment must have PGD support for reintroducing family support work
3) The establishment must be able to deliver family support work with existing resources
4) The establishment must have a pre-existing contract for family support work. New services should not be developed at this point

Provided these conditions can be satisfied, establishments are able to develop a model for reintroducing family case work or support workers. A model for operating this service must be developed collaboratively between the establishment and their contracted provider of family support services. Trades Unions must also be actively involved in this process.

The agreed model must be incorporated into the prison’s existing LOP for social visits. Any accompanying risk assessments and safe systems of work must be updated to incorporate the mitigation for any risks introduced by this activity. We have developed guidance on undertaking one-to-one interviews with prisoners and an associated SOP as this is an element of family support work at some sites and must be undertaken safely. Having amended their LOP and associated risk assessments/SSOW establishments need their respective PGD to sign off the addition. As this is an additional element bolted onto a pre-approved LOP, establishments do not need additional Gold sign off to reintroduce this service.

As we recognise the value of family support work in both stages 3 and 2, establishments remaining at stage 3 are able to follow this process for reintroducing family support before they progress to stage 2. Those prisons working towards stage 2 can follow the same process either now or wait until they have attained stage 2 status, at which point the same process for gaining PGD approval would be activated automatically

Support Materials

The following material has been produced to support communications. Additional material will be shared when available.

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

Discharge Grant (21.05.21)

The rate of the Discharge Grant is being increased from £46 to approximately £76. This increase will come into effect this summer and more details will be released nearer the time, including the actual date the change comes into effect. The Lord Chancellor announced the change at a meeting with NACRO on Thursday, May 20th.

The increase will mean that individuals leaving prison who receive the Discharge Grant will be better able to pay for the basic goods they need on release. Existing funds will be reprioritised to provide a one-off uplift to the Discharge Grant to reflect increases in the UK’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) since 1995 and going forward increase the Discharge Grant year on year until 2024/25 in line with the CPI.

The final amount of the revised Discharge Grant is subject to change as the CPI is calculated and published by the Office for National Statistics on a monthly basis.

This policy change supports the wider work being done to reduce reoffending and protect the public by improving the immediate financial assistance available to prison leavers to meet their basic needs on release and support prison leavers’ resettlement.

Court Production (November 2020)

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) resumed cases in selected courts on 18 May 2020 as a precursor to a wider re-instatement of courts nationally. Prisoner movements are expected to significantly increase in the near future and it is vital that Reception operates safely and effectively, carefully balancing COVID controls with the need for efficient, safe and secure reception processes. The purpose of this guidance is to outline how cohorting and social distancing can operate in Reception during COVID-19 restrictions.

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

All establishments should provide new receptions with information detailing the regime provision on offer at their establishment, and with information on staying safe during COVID-19 in prison.

The below leaflet contains information for stage 4. As prisons move into stages 3 and 2, they may wish to draw on some of the information within this document to provide an updated, localised version of the document.

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

Following consultation with both Psychology colleagues and training services, it has been agreed that we relax the timescales negotiator refresher training by 6 months as we have done for local C&R training so that negotiators remain ‘in date’ for 30 months. This has been agreed with the PGA and POA.

All contents within this guidance are to be treated as OFFICIAL and the link to the platform is not to be shared externally.

Library Services from Local Auhtority or PEF Provider

It has been decided that, to reduce the risk of transfer of the COVID-19 virus into prison locations, that all non-HMPPS staff be asked to refrain from entering establishments.

Governors of establishments who receive a library service provided by a Local Authority or PEF provider should make arrangements to ensure that, where possible, some access to library/reading materials (including the Mandatory Publications) is maintained whilst the new measures are in place. The ability for a location to maintain access to a library service whilst library staff are not available should be agreed at a local level. Access could include photocopies, CDs or other local arrangements not breaching the lockdown regime.

Mandatory Publications

The following publications that, where possible, should be made available upon request are:
• Archbold’s Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice
• The Civil Procedure Rules
• Extant Prison Service Instructions (PSIs) and Prison Service Orders (PSOs), Policy Frameworks (when published) excluding those that have restrictions placed on them.