The Government has admitted that core education provision in prisons will fall by between 20% and 25%. It gave the figure in its response to a recent Commons Justice Committee report on prison rehabilitation.
The response said the Government had not cut the amount of money available. Instead, rising costs had made the reductions necessary. It said ministers had taken difficult decisions to focus the curriculum and were working with providers to get the most value for money. “As a result, some reductions in the volume of Core Education delivered will be necessary from October 2025,” it said.
The cuts come as the Government phases in the Sentencing Act, including its new “earned progression” model.
Committee chair’s criticism
Andy Slaughter, who chairs the committee, called the cuts alarming. “The Government’s response to the Committee’s report on prison rehabilitation is both weak and disappointing,” he said.
He said the reduction was deeply concerning, given the Government’s own recognition that education helps to reduce reoffending. The committee had recommended better participation and quality in prison education. He warned that any cut in access to learning risked jeopardising rehabilitation.
Mr Slaughter said youth custody settings were deplorable, a point the Government has accepted. He called it shameful that children’s access to education had deteriorated as part of the wider decline. He also urged ministers to publish their long-awaited update to the Neurodiversity Action Plan without further delay. It should set out how they will identify the number of prisoners with neurodivergent needs and how they will support them.
He welcomed the Government’s acceptance of two recommendations. One covers training for governors on contracting and procurement, and the other the publication of healthcare access and outcomes data. But he said capacity problems were leaving prisoners in cells for 22 hours a day, amid a rising remand population and high reoffending. That could not be right, he said.
He also asked for details of how the Government will implement the Earned Progression Model. As he described it, the model will add more time for poor conduct than now. It will not cut time for those who engage in work, study or other rehabilitative activity. Without a clear place for purposeful activity, he said, ministers risk creating a model of earned regression.
Charities warn of reversal
Jon Collins, Chief Executive Officer of the Prison Education Trust, said the effects were already showing. “These cuts to prison education – which the Government now acknowledge – are really beginning to bite,” he said. He listed axed courses, redundancies and risks to support for people with additional needs. Prison education had been slowly improving, though it remained far from good enough, he said. The cuts would reverse that progress.
Pia Sinha, Chief Executive Officer of the Prison Reform Trust (PRT), said her organisation shared the committee’s concern about the Government’s inadequate response. She said the cuts were harming the availability and quality of education in both the adult and youth estates. That was despite the Ministry of Justice’s own evidence that education can lower the risk of reoffending.
In a separate report, the Ministry of Justice has published research showing that Open University courses reduce reoffending. Ms Sinha welcomed the findings as evidence of the wider social benefits of higher education for prisoners. She said PRT’s own research showed it gives people on very long sentences reason to hope and to engage positively with the regime.
She urged the Government to improve digital access in prisons and extend eligibility for student loans. That would let more prisoners take up higher education, and earlier in their sentences, she said.
