Prison officer injury claims: assaults, accidents and your options

Official statistics show the scale of the risk. In the 12 months to March 2026 there were 9,833 assaults on staff in prisons in England and Wales, a rate of 113 per 1,000 prisoners, and 871 were serious assaults. HM Prison and Probation Service's own staff assault plan says being assaulted or abused in any way is not part of the job.

This guide explains who is responsible when a prison officer is hurt, how criminal injuries compensation works after an assault by a prisoner, the injury benefits that may apply, reporting duties and time limits. It is general information, not legal advice. We are an independent information service, not a law firm.

Who is responsible when a prison officer is injured

Public sector prisons are run by government agencies. HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is an executive agency sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. The Scottish Prison Service is an executive agency of the Scottish Government and directly operates sixteen of Scotland's seventeen prisons, with one run by a private operator under contract. The Northern Ireland Prison Service is an agency within the Department of Justice. In England and Wales the Secretary of State can also contract with another person, such as a private company, to run a prison (section 84 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991), in which case that company is usually your employer.

Whoever employs you has duties to protect you. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says your employer has specific duties to protect you from work-related violence and aggression, which it defines as any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. GOV.UK says employers must get employers' liability insurance as soon as they become an employer, and that it helps pay compensation if an employee is injured or becomes ill because of their work.

A claim against the employer generally means showing negligence: that it failed to take reasonable care and that this caused your injury. For breaches from 1 October 2013, section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 provides that breaches of health and safety regulations are not actionable except to the extent that regulations provide for it.

Assaults by prisoners

In England and Wales a prison officer is an emergency worker under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018, as is anyone employed to carry out corresponding functions in a custodial institution. Under the Crime in Prison Referral Agreement between HMPPS, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, all assaults and sexual offences on staff are referred to the police, apart from less serious assaults with little or no injury, which may be dealt with by adjudication. If you ask for a crime to be referred to the police, the prison must do so, and HMPPS confirms that the Victims' Code applies to prison officers who are assaulted.

That matters for compensation. CICA can make an award to a direct victim of a crime of violence, such as a physical attack (paragraph 4 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012), but it will withhold an award unless the incident was reported to the police as soon as reasonably practicable (paragraph 22). Injuries from taking an exceptional and justified risk, for example to apprehend an offender or prevent a crime, are treated differently: a risk taken in the course of your work is not considered exceptional if it would normally be expected of you in that work (paragraph 5(2)).

A civil claim against the employer is separate from CICA. It turns on whether reasonable precautions were taken, for example over staffing, training, equipment or warnings about a prisoner known to be violent. See also our guide to workplace assault claims.

Accidents, restraint and illness

Not every injury comes from an assault. Slips and trips, injuries during control and restraint or other training, and work-related illness can also lead to a claim if the employer was negligent (see accidents at work). Psychological injury counts too: the HSE says work-related violence can cause stress and mental health conditions, and in the Limitation Act 1980 personal injuries include any impairment of a person's mental condition. Our guides to PTSD and trauma claims and work stress claims explain those claims.

Employers must report certain incidents to the HSE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). An act of non-consensual physical violence done to a person at work counts as an accident. If an injury keeps a worker away from work, or unable to do their normal duties, for more than 7 consecutive days, the employer must report it within 15 days of the accident, and accidents causing more than 3 consecutive days of absence must be recorded, for example in the accident book.

Injury benefits and support

The Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme is for Civil Service employees who suffer an injury or illness at work that prevents them from working, including people who have since left. You start by speaking to your employer, complete Part 1 of the CSIBS1 form and send it to your employer, which completes Part 2. HMPPS describes its prison officer package as including a range of civil service benefits; if you work for a private operator, ask your employer what injury and sick pay arrangements apply. For injuries after 31 March 2003 there is a twelve-month deadline for appealing the level of impairment or apportionment on a permanent award.

You may also be able to get Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit if you became ill or are disabled because of an accident or disease at work. After an assault, HMPPS says staff have access to the Employee Assistance Programme and the prison's Care Team, and that the Prison Officers Association can also provide support.

Time limits and the deadline checker

A civil claim against the employer usually has to be started within three years of the injury, or of the date you knew it was significant and linked to work, if later (sections 11 and 14 of the Limitation Act 1980; section 17 of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973; article 7 of the Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989). Courts can allow some late claims, but you should not rely on that. A CICA application should be made within two years of the incident (paragraph 87), with later applications only in exceptional circumstances (paragraph 89), and Northern Ireland's own scheme also asks for applications within 2 years.

Evidence to keep

• the reference for the incident on the prison's Incident Reporting System, and any use of force paperwork;
• the police crime reference number;
• CCTV and body-worn video camera footage, which HMPPS says can be instrumental in these cases;
• medical and occupational health records, and photographs of your injuries;
• the names of colleagues who saw what happened;
• training records and any risk information you were given about the prisoner;
• a record of time off work and lost earnings.

Our guide to evidence for a personal injury claim has more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides: workplace assault claims, accidents at work, criminal injury compensation, PTSD and trauma claims and claims against the prison service.

Official sources used for this guide: Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012; Crime in Prison Referral Agreement, Annex C; HSE: violence at work; Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme; Safety in custody statistics to March 2026. This guide is general information about the law in the UK, not legal advice; the law can change, so check your own position with a regulated solicitor.