HR, Shared Services, Prison Service

Shared services at HM Prison Service: how has HR coped with the change so far?

Last year, HM Prison Service announced a move to shared services it hopes will save £30m a year. How has HR coped with the change so far?

The business

HM Prison Service employs 48,000 officers and other staff, with the larger prisons employing as many as 600 officers and smaller ones as few as 50.

These staff have traditionally been serviced by a network of 130 personnel 'outstations' and a central HR department.

The challenge

The UK's full-to-bursting prison population hit 80,000 in October 2006, leading to calls for the re-introduction of prison ships and warnings that young offenders institutions were in meltdown.

The cost of HR had been three times higher than it should be - £1,000 per head compared with £330 against benchmarked organizations - with 85% of this relating to repetitive, transactional tasks.

"It has been a very process-driven organisation, with lots of people filling in forms," explains Cathy James, a former governor at Liverpool Prison and now business change manager.

The solution

Two years ago, the service began an HR change project that, it hopes, will save £30m a year. The three-pronged project is focused on the development of a transactional shared service center, based in Newport, Wales, supported by area-based teams of HR professionals, who will liaise with governors on case management issues and, finally, the recruitment of HR business partners in each prison.

The process has involved bringing in IT partner EDS, and recruiting former Royal Mail transformation director Steve Hodgson as head of shared services at the Newport center. It has meant close consultation with unions and prison governors. Roll-out began last September and is due to be completed in mid-2008.

Read the rest of the Personnel Today article here