Prison officers 'fury' over coronation medal snub

Thousands of private prison and court officers are ‘furious’ after they were snubbed for a King’s Coronation medal.

The Department for Culture, Media and Support has announced a special coronation medal will be given to 400,000 workers – including frontline members of the prison service.

But the small print makes it clear it will only be presented to ‘Prison services personnel who are publicly employed’ [1]

This means the thousands of prisons and courts workers now employed by private contractors thanks to outsourcing will not be eligible.

Eamon O’Hearn, GMB National Officer, said:

“Our members working for private contractors across the prison and courts service are rightly furious.

"The Government appears to be saying that some essential workers are more essential than others.

“Ministers are discriminating against workers in private industries they have themselves privatised.

"This is totally wrong and needs to be challenged.