Hampshire-based Serco has secured a contract worth approximately £500m to continue managing HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire, a facility it has operated since 2001. The agreement is set for 12 years, with options for three additional one-year extensions.
The contract includes service enhancements, such as new delivery models for education and the creation of additional job opportunities, expanding the prison’s workforce of more than 500 people.
HMP Dovegate, near Uttoxeter, is a category B adult male prison holding 1,160 convicted prisoners and those on remand. It functions as a training prison with a unique therapeutic community for individuals with emotional or behavioural issues.
Anthony Kirby, group chief executive of Serco, said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by the Ministry of Justice to continue to operate HMP Dovegate. We have managed the prison since 2001, and we are very proud of our track record there and our team that performs a challenging and difficult role with great professionalism and humanity.”
He added: “I am also pleased that the new contract will see more colleagues employed at the prison, which will create job opportunities locally. Serco has extensive experience of running prisons, both in the UK and internationally. HMP Dovegate is a well-run prison with highly respected therapeutic community provision and a range of offending behaviour programmes. We believe that our approach and ethos will bring about continued positive change to the prisoners who are there, helping to protect wider society.”
The new contract reflects Serco’s ongoing commitment to operational excellence in custodial services while expanding educational and rehabilitative provisions. By combining staff development and therapeutic programmes, the firm aims to support both prisoner outcomes and community safety.
