Prison case workers are pushing for pay upgrades after being asked to do more work under Government's plan to improve assessment of prisoners.

And Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister expressed his frustration about the dispute which The Royal Gazette understands has dragged on for around a year.

Mr. Lister said: "This is a matter I personally find very disappointing. The prison case workers are being asked to do full assessments on every prisoner who comes in.

"Historically what has happened is a thorough assessment was made of drugs and alcohol in a prisoner's system because if you have a prisoner who starts to react in a bad way because he has a drug in his system and he isn't able to feed it you want to know what that is."

He said case workers were now being asked to go beyond this.

"Does this person need treatment in a sexual offenders programme or anger management?

"Does he need an upgrade on his basic vocational skills? Does he need technical skills? What is it that person needs?"

Mr. Lister said all that needed to be assessed so new prisoners can quickly be put in suitably planned rehabilitation.

Mr. Lister said: "At this point there is a little bit of a dispute as to how that fits into the case workers' job description."

He indicated case workers felt their job was being expanded and so needed more compensation

He said he hoped for quick resolution so assessments could be carried out in full.

Bermuda Public Services Union General Secretary Ed Ball declined to comment in detail about the dispute. He said: "The Commissioner is actively trying to get the matter resolved. It is in the hands of Management Services who work to review jobs."