YEARS of real terms wage cuts imposed by Tory ministers on prison officers have been a “slap in the face,” their union’s 2022 conference heard today.

Durham delegate Jon Newton told Prison Officers’ Association (POA) members gathered in Eastbourne that the “unacceptable” situation had led to overstretched staff being forced to take on overtime just to make ends meet.

His colleague Jordan Coombs said that, despite the additional challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, ministers had preferred a “load of thank yous” to a rise in workers’ take-home pay.

The Hull member warned that skyrocketing inflation would hit the poorest harder and demanded action, saying: “Let’s get paid what we deserve.”

Jackie Marshall from the union’s national executive council (NEC) warned that POA members are now being forced to use foodbanks to survive.

She told delegates: “Prison Minister Victoria Atkins was here earlier in the week and said we’re the unsung heroes of the justice system and the government valued our work, but she didn’t make any promises on pay.

“And they wonder why they’re losing hundreds of front-line prison staff every month. Everything is going up accept our wages and staff numbers because their recruitment and retention isn’t working.

“Make them pay us what we’re worth.”

More than nine in 10 delegates backed a motion which urged the union to “re-engage” with the sector’s supposedly independent pay review body after the POA withdrew its co-operation before the pandemic, citing “massive interference” from ministers.

Mr Newton said the “less than independent body is a smokescreen” for Whitehall to slash pay, but, while strongly agreeing with many of the criticisms of the system, NEC member Dave Cook argued that a new approach was now needed.

“If you’re not in it, you can’t win it. You can’t have influence from the outside, and we did lose that influence.

“Please allow us to represent our members as best we can in what is a very poor process,” he said.

The union would still campaign to restore prison officers’ right to bargain collectively and to go on strike, Mr Cook highlighted.

On Wednesday, members voted overwhelmingly for a motion that demanded Tory ministers repeal section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which makes it unlawful for anyone to “induce a prison officer to take industrial action.”