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Service provisions for police

Service provisions (Back to top)

The PECS contract supports prisoner movements within the following scope, with all movement request booked on the Book a Secure Move platform by the police at the earliest opportunity:

  • The escorted transfer of prisoners from police stations to courts
  • The escorted transfer of re-detained escapees, absconders, temporary release failures, home leave failures, licence recalls and home detention curfew failures from police premises to prisons
  • The escorted transfer of prisoners from police stations to prisons, e.g. following a prison lock-out or under Operation Safeguard
  • The escorted transfer of prisoners following completion of a virtual court hearing
  • Custody at the court of those prisoners brought to a court by police
  • The escorted transfer of prisoners under extradition warrants to Westminster Magistrates’ Court (or sitting elsewhere as that court) where, currently, all extradition cases are heard
  • The escorted transfer of prisoners held on extradition warrants from prison or other designated locations for delivery to police premises serving a port/airport

Services not in scope (Back to top)

  • The escort or responsibility for the custody of detainees or prisoners between one police force area and another
  • The escort of or responsibility for the custody of security Category A prisoners
  • The escorted transfer of prisoners other than within England and Wales
  • The escort of or responsibility for the custody of prison service prisoners or other persons for immigration tribunals, even if the tribunal is being held in a courtroom
  • The escort of or responsibility for the custody of UKBA prisoners, unless the movement and custody is related to charges for a criminal offence
  • The transfer of case papers to court

Cross border moves (Back to top)

The PECS contract enables prisoners to be moved from England and Wales to Scotland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Where a cross-border move is required, Population Management Unit (PMU) should be contacted in the first instance.

PMU will then notify the relevant PECS supplier(s) to ensure the prisoner is moved to the appropriate prison, to the port or border crossing.

Generally for moves to Scotland prisoners will be moved to HMP Durham, HMP Low Newton or HM YOI Wetherby. The Scottish Prison Service’s escort provider will then complete the move over the border into Scotland. For prisoners returning from Scotland, the process will be reversed.

For prisoners transferring to Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, PMU will allocate a prison close to the airport to lodge the prisoner.

The PECS supplier will collect the prisoner, transfer them to the appropriate airport, and escort them to the destination airport.

They will then hand over the prisoner to the local prison personnel. Again, the reverse of this process will apply for prisoners transferring back to England and Wales.

Further details for cross-border movements may be accessed within Schedule 2a, Section 2, subsection 8 of the PECS Contract North or PECS Contract South, depending on your location.

Police request for support from PECS suppliers (Back to top)

There could be occasions where intelligence suggests that levels of public disorder may be high and the police approach PECS for the use of supplier resource and vehicles to transport custodies to police stations.

All requests must be directed to the PECS (HMPPS) Senior Contract Delivery Manager who will refer police colleagues to complete a contract change request form.

Should the request meet acceptable contractual parameters, and can be accommodated without impacting normal PECS operational delivery, PECS will implement arrangements with the police on a case by case basis.

Resolving issues with PECS suppliers (Back to top)

If police staff have an issue which cannot be resolved with the supplier, the matter should be referred to the relevant (local/regional) PECS Contract Delivery Manager (CDM) whose contact details should be available to the police.

Out of hours, at weekends or on bank holidays, PECS operates an on-call CDM system which should be used for matters which cannot wait for the relevant CDM to return to work. Should this be required the on-call CDM contact details may be obtained through the relevant PECS supplier control room.

Emergency hospital treatment and discharge from hospital (Back to top)

If a prisoner requires hospital treatment during an escort between police premises and court, or where a prisoner is delivered to court by the police prior to a warrant for remand in custody being issued, the supplier will contact the police custody unit to inform them of the hospital escort.

If a prisoner is admitted to hospital after assessment, or where a hospital escort is being conducted after court closure, it is the responsibility of the police to then plan to relieve the supplier’s staff within four hours.

Where a warrant for remand in custody has been issued then responsibility for covering any treatment or bed watch will be the responsibility of the calendar prison to which the prisoner was due to be delivered.

When a prisoner is discharged from hospital and a warrant for remand has not been issued, the police will normally escort the person back to police custody and re-notify the supplier of a requirement to move a prisoner from a police station within the contractual requirements for booking moves to court.

Where the police plan to escort a prisoner to court on discharge from hospital, it is the responsibility of the police to confirm that the court will deal with the case and will still be sitting at the time they plan to arrive.