The Prisoners' Earnings Act 1996 (c. 33) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. The purpose of the Act was to allow the government to apply deductions and levies on the earnings of

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

ers in respect of work carried by the prisoner during his period of detention. The Act was not implemented until 2011.

Provisions

Thus when a prisoner carries out any task or duty within the prison, such as catering or cleaning, and receives payment for this, the government may subject the earnings to deductions for:

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

national insurance National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their famil ...

, court order payments, and child maintenance. The monies raised from the deductions and levies are to be used for: payments to voluntary organisations concerned with crime support and prevention; payments to the

Consolidated Fund In many states with political systems derived from the Westminster system, a consolidated fund or consolidated revenue fund is the main bank account of the government. General taxation is taxation paid into the consolidated fund (as opposed ...

to help pay for the cost of prisons; payments to any of the prisoner's dependants; or payments to an investment account on behalf of the prisoner for their benefit on release. The Act only applies in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and has no application in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

History

The Act was passed in 1996; it received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

in July of that year, and was expected to be implemented in spring 1997. However, it was not put into force before the 1997 general election. In 2000 the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

reported it was studying implementing the Act, whilst in 2008 the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

announced that the complicated nature of the Act suggested it would cost an unreasonable amount to administer. The Conservative Party stated their intention to implement the Act in their manifesto for the 2010 general election, and secured an agreement with the Liberal Democrats to make it part of their joint coalition agreement. A statutory instrument dated 5 July specified 26 September 2011 as the commencement date for the Act.The Prisoners’ Earnings Act 1996 (Commencement) (England and Wales) Order 2011
/ref> As implemented September 2011, the Act will result in a 40% pay cut for 500 prisoners, and is expected to raise up to £1m a year.

Notes

{{Authority control United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1996

Provisions

History

See also

Notes