GOV.UK has published the Prison Service Pay Review Body’s response to the Northern Ireland activation letter for the 2026 to 2027 pay round. The publication concerns operational staff in the Northern Ireland Prison Service, but it does not announce a pay award. It confirms only that the review process is under way and that the next formal step is the submission of the Body’s report to ministers. (gov.uk) That distinction matters. For staff, unions and managers, this is a procedural update rather than a settlement notice. The GOV.UK page is explicit that the Northern Ireland Government will decide when it responds to the report and when that report is published, so the timetable for a final outcome remains partly in ministerial hands. (gov.uk)
In the published letter, PSPRB chair Tijs Broeke told Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA that oral evidence sessions had now concluded and that the Body would aim to submit its 2026 Northern Ireland report in late July. He also thanked the minister for her 5 March letter and for attending the oral evidence session on 18 May, alongside Beverley Wall and officials from the Northern Ireland Prison Service who had provided written and oral evidence. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) The response itself is brief, running to a single page, but it gives the clearest public marker so far on timing. The GOV.UK page was published on 27 May 2026, while the chair’s letter is dated 19 May 2026, placing the pay review squarely in the evidence and reporting phase rather than the decision phase. (gov.uk)
The earlier activation letter, published on GOV.UK on 5 March 2026, set the remit for the pay round covering 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. In that letter, Naomi Long asked the Review Body to make recommendations within its terms of reference, to take account of Northern Ireland public sector pay guidance and to keep consistency with wider public sector pay policy. (gov.uk) The strongest policy signal in the minister’s remit was on affordability. The Department of Justice asked the PSPRB to ensure that any increases to pay and allowances stayed within the budget set for operational prison grades, citing affordability pressures facing departments across Northern Ireland this year. That frames the review as both a workforce exercise and a spending control exercise. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
The minister’s letter also set this year’s timetable against a slower recent record. It stated that the 2024 pay award was implemented in January 2025 and that the 2025 pay award was implemented in August 2025, before expressing hope that the 2026 evidence timetable would allow an earlier settlement. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) That reference to timing is significant because the most recent completed round was unusually structured. GOV.UK records that the 2025 to 2026 Northern Ireland Prison Service pay proposals, which had been agreed between management and recognised trade unions, were accepted in full by the Northern Ireland Government. In the activation letter, the minister said that PSPRB endorsement had helped secure approval of substantial pay structure changes and timely payment in that round. (gov.uk)
For readers following the process closely, the late July target should be read as the expected delivery date for recommendations, not the point at which new pay rates automatically take effect. The GOV.UK publication states that the Northern Ireland Government determines when it will respond to and publish the report, so there may still be a gap between the Review Body finishing its work and any public confirmation of the award. (gov.uk) In practical terms, that leaves three issues still unresolved: the size of any award, the treatment of allowances, and the implementation date. The activation letter makes clear that the Department of Justice wants the review to stay within budget, so the final recommendations will need to balance workforce pressures against a tight public spending position. That reading is an inference from the remit set by the minister. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
The immediate value of this publication is therefore procedural clarity. According to the correspondence released on GOV.UK, the review body has received written evidence, completed oral hearings and given ministers an expected reporting window. For a pay process that affects operational prison staff, that is the main confirmed change as of 27 May 2026. (gov.uk) The next document to watch will be the 2026 Northern Ireland report itself, which the PSPRB says it intends to submit in late July. After that, attention will shift to the Northern Ireland Government’s response and publication decision, because that is the point at which the process moves from review-body advice to an actionable pay settlement. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)