Chief Inspector's report a 'savage indictment' of MoJ's failure over prison education

Paul Bridge, UCU head of further education, said 'The Chief Inspector's latest report into the parlous state of prison education is another savage indictment of the failure of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) stewardship of prison education. UCU welcomes the positive comments made about the essential role carried out by our members working in delivering front line prison education. The Chief Inspector also highlights the conditions in which UCU members must operate. However, it's not the full picture. The latest Prison Education Service (PES) contract will further compound the failings highlighted rather than address them. The cuts in the value of the contract imposed by the MOJ will have a direct impact on purposeful activity and take prison education even further away from the direction of travel set out in the Coates and Gauke reports.  

'The PES contract is a disaster for prison education, and the report skims the surface of how fundamental its flaws are by concentrating on the presenting issues rather than the structural and funding methodology that creates the chaos in the first place.

'The MoJ is focused on extracting money from prison education rather than providing the necessary funding to deliver a meaningful learning experience. Charley Taylor's latest report is dated October 2025, but it's likely to have been compiled in the months before the roll out of the PES education contract, which took effect on 1 October. It also makes no mention of the recent MoJ cuts to the Annual Delivery Plans imposed on prison governors, which has led to hundreds of redundancies of prison educators in recent weeks. Courses covering functional English and maths have been cut. IT and digital, hospitality and catering courses slashed.

'The Chief Inspector should now focus his attention on the impact of these unprecedented job losses in education linked to the ADPs and compile an impact report as soon as possible.'