Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The POA, Cronin House, 245 Church Street, London.
The POA is the largest union in the United Kingdom representing Uniformed Prison Grades and staff working within the field of Secure Forensic Psychiatric Care, with over 35 thousand members in the public and private sectors.
01/09/2026
Prison Governors can clean out broom cupboards and laundries all they like in an attempt to turn them into cells but without the staff to manage the additional prisoners they will sit empty and the prison accommodation crisis will continue.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8x543ddzjo
POA National Chair Mark Fairhurst on BBC News - Prisoner early releases and capacity
Listen now to episode 89 of the POA Podcast - Steve Gillan - TUC President
General Secretary Steve Gillan looks back over his year as the TUC President, and reflects on what it means for the POA to have one of our own in this role for the very first time. More information at poauk.org.uk.
27/08/2026
Hope in Hell S03E12 Part 3
Lessons Learnt, Real Change, Safer Prisons
https://youtu.be/kqPW5jYeFC4
In the final part of our Hope in Hell conversation, POA NEC members Phil and Dave join Gary and Rodney to look at the growing pressures facing prisons — and what needs to change.
From violence, organised crime and mental health to officer wellbeing, rehabilitation and lived experience, the discussion asks how prisons can become safer, more effective places for everyone inside them.
Despite the scale of the challenges, the episode also looks at what works, the people already making a difference, and where meaningful progress is still possible.
Listen now to episode 88 of the POA Podcast - POA and the Durham Miners Gala
The Durham Miner’s Gala is a fixed part of the POA’s calendar. Every July for the last 140 years, trade unions have gathered, with brass bands and banners, in a demonstration of trade union solidarity that is widely loved and admired. In this episode, General Secretary Steve Gillan, NEC members Jackie Marshall and Roger Moran, David from HMP Low Newton and Patience from HMP Nottingham share their experiences of the Gala. If you’re thinking of coming along but are not quite sure, they all have some advice to offer. More information from the POA and the Gala organisers.
20/08/2026
A worker's right to withdraw their labour is a fundamental human right recognised by the International Labour Organisation, an agency of the United Nations. This MP does not support the
call to reinstate the Right to Strike for all the UK's Prison Officers.
20/08/2026
Understaffed, Unsupported, Underfunded
Hope in Hell S03E12 pt 2
https://youtube.com/watch?v=UuPTdwEzzUU
In part two of our Hope in Hell conversation, POA NEC members Phil and Dave continue the discussion alongside Gary and Rodney, looking at the pressures facing Prison Officers and the wider prison system.
The episode explores staff support, rehabilitation, resettlement and the investment needed to make prisons safer, more effective places to work and to rehabilitate.
POA General Secretary and TUC President, Steve Gillan, addresses the 2026 Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival
18/08/2026
Another private prison fiasco - across the prison estate prisoners are being released early due to a lack of capacity meawhile cells lie empty at this private prison because they can't recruit staff.
National Chair Mark Fairhurst discusses the early release scheme.