Custody and Detention Officer

This Advanced custody and detention officer apprenticeship standard will provide you with a level 3, qualification. This apprenticeship standard was approved on the 08/05/2018 and typically takes 12 months to complete. However, it is important to note that the duration of the apprenticeship standard stated does not include the End-Point Assessment period.

The priority of a custody and detention officer is to ensure all individuals are held in a secure, safe, decent and fair environment. You will work as a part of a team of people to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people in custody and detention. The people in your care will have a variety of different needs. It is your role to work with all individuals equally, ensuring they are treated with dignity and respect.

Custody and detention officers play a crucial role in supporting the rehabilitation of people in their care, ultimately helping to reduce their chance of reoffending, partly through coaching people in skills such as problem-solving and management of emotions. You will make a positive impact of the lives of those in your care through offering support on a daily basis, including maintaining relationships with their families, addressing offending behaviours and learning how to seek positive resolutions during difficult circumstances.

You will work in a secure environment such as a prison, detention centre, custodial establishment or custodial service. The environment can vary from a women’s unit or treatment prison to a male resettlement prison. These places are often volatile environments to work in, so it’s essential to be agile enough to rapidly respond to an incident whilst maintaining professionalism.

• Prison worker
• prison guard
• rehabilitation officer 

Visit the custody and detention officer apprenticeship standard, on the Institute for Apprenticeships site, to find further information on skills and knowledge learnt, assessment methods and more.