Prisons across England and Wales are facing steep cuts to education funding, with frontline spending on prison education set to fall by up to 50%. The move comes despite Labour leader Keir Starmer’s 2024 election pledge to expand prisoners’ “access to learning” as part of efforts to reduce reoffending.
At HMP Leicester, the budget for classroom courses is being reduced by 46.5%, while other facilities are facing similar reductions: a men’s prison is cutting 25% of its funding, and a women’s prison will see a 26% drop. Sources say the cuts will directly impact basic English and maths classes, including hours allocated to a specialist teacher who supports illiterate inmates.
The Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) confirmed that all prisons will face at least a 5% real-terms cut. PGA president Tom Wheatley warned these changes would “immediately and directly impact” governors’ ability to provide purposeful activity, undermining rehabilitation goals.
Impact on rehabilitation and reform plans
The cuts come as the government promotes a new “earned progression model” based on a Texas-style good behaviour credit system. Under the scheme, prisoners could reduce sentences by completing courses. However, Wheatley cautioned that with fewer educational opportunities available, the scheme risks failing before it begins.
Dame Sally Coates, who led a landmark 2016 review of prison education, called the reductions a “disaster,” stressing that underfunding prison learning increases reoffending rates.
Labour’s promises under pressure
Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged to work with prisons to expand access to purposeful activity, recognising that “prison leavers are more likely to reoffend if they do not have the tools to move away from crime.” These cuts appear to undermine that commitment.
Lord Timpson, the prisons minister, has repeatedly highlighted the value of training, saying it plays a “transformative” role in lowering reoffending rates. An MoJ spokesperson insisted the “national budget for education services has not been reduced” but admitted rising contract costs have forced prisons to cut frontline delivery.
A system under strain
England and Wales already face chronic overcrowding and staffing shortages, with reoffending rates remaining among the highest in Europe. Experts have long argued that investment in education and vocational training is vital for rehabilitation.
In 2016, the Coates Review urged the government to treat prison education as a core part of the justice system. Since then, successive governments have promised reform, but governors warn that today’s budget pressures risk undoing years of progress.
