HM Inspectorate of Prisons - Inspector; Healthcare

The national salary range is £58,511 - £65,329, London salary range is £63,343 - £70,725. Your salary will be dependent on your base location

Full Time, Part Time

External

London, National

London, National

15-Sep-2026

Loan, Permanent, Secondment

Grade 7

1

12 Months

21253

We are an independent inspectorate led by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. We scrutinise the conditions and treatment of prisoners and other detainees and report on our findings.

We help to make sure that detention is humane, safe, respectful and helps to prepare people for release ahead of their return to the community. We do that by carrying out independent inspections of prisons, young offender institutions, secure training centres and courts in England and Wales and places of immigration detention across the UK.

We publish reports to let people know about our findings and hold the government, and those running places of detention, to account. We also identify and share examples of good practice to support leaders in learning from other, comparable institutions.

Our role is to shine a light on what needs to change, but we cannot enforce it. It is up to prison leaders to consider the best way to respond to our concerns and use their resources and expertise to find solutions. HM Prison and Probation Service or the Home Office should work with the establishment to support this progress.

If you are applying on a part-time basis you will be required to complete a minimum of 22.2 hours (0.6 days - 3 working days).

HM Inspectorate of Prisons are looking for Inspectors to inspect prison and other forms of custody. The inspector is the pivotal role within our organisation, inspecting the conditions and treatment prisoners and detainees experience whilst they are held in custody. They do these using criteria we call Expectations, which describe the standards establishments should achieve.

Inspectors must be confident and be able to interact in the field with detainees, staff and leaders during an inspection. They must be able to analyse complex information from a range of sources and determine accurate and objective judgements under time pressure. They also need the ability to write up key findings in a clear, concise and evidence-based way. These roles require excellent team players who can support colleagues when working as part of an inspection team but are also able to spend long periods inspecting and working alone.

Most inspections take place over two weeks, so the role of an inspector requires a considerable amount of time working away from home. This will sometimes include leaving on Sunday afternoon to start work early on a Monday. If you are attending the full inspection week.

It is essential that inspectors are very flexible, but the Inspectorate will offer a balanced workload that provides time at home between inspections. Across the year, you are likely to complete on average 18 or 20 weeks away on inspection. When not inspecting, time will be used for report writing, project work and other tasks as required.

Frequent travel within the UK (and possibly abroad) will be required, and you will spend at least one week in three away on inspection, as well as travelling for meetings and other events. You will also need to be available to come to London for internal and external meetings on a regular basis. A preparedness to travel and work away from home is a key requirement of the role.

• Inspect the conditions and treatment of prisoners and detainees, using HMIP’s own Expectations inspection criteria.
• Interact with detainees and staff throughout inspections, seeking their…