The government has declared that rising costs mean there needs to be a 20-25% reduction in the volume of Core Education delivered in prisons across England and Wales. This announcement came in their response to the Justice Select Committee’s November 2025 report on rehabilitation in prisons.
Responding to the latest announcement, the Justice Select Committee has described these reductions to the prison education provision as ‘alarming.’ Committee Chair, Andy Slaughter, said these cuts were ‘deeply concerning’ as ‘any reduction risks jeopardising rehabilitation efforts’ in prisons across England and Wales.
The Prison Reform Trust have suggested the government’s response to the Committee’s report is ‘inadequate’. Chief Executive, Pia Sinha, emphasised that education is as a ‘valuable rehabilitative tool’ which can have a ‘positive impact on reducing reoffending’ as well as positively increasing a prisoner’s employability and their ability to integrate back into society.
Cuts to education provision were decided upon despite the Ministry of Justice acknowledging that ‘education is central to rehabilitation and reducing reoffending’. The government has presented the reduction of prison education as ‘necessary’, as although funding has technically increased, rising costs have eroded its real value. Officials explained that the national prison education budget cannot keep up with the rising cost of delivering high-quality education, hence why some prisons are facing a reduction in education delivery hours. It is believed that some prisons will experience greater reductions, while others receive increases. This has raised concerns that existing inequalities could be exacerbated if access to education is dependent upon where you are held.
The Justice Committee emphasised that prison education should be of upmost importance given ‘80% of offending in England and Wales is reoffending’. This has resulted in Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, seriously questioning whether the prison service and government are failing in their duty to make prisoners less likely to reoffend. Taylor argues that reducing prison education provision enables officials to ‘shrug off responsibility for giving prisoners the crucial skills that will help them to get work and stay crime-free on release’.
In their response, the Prison Reform Trust has called for a ‘comprehensive plan of action’ from the government, which needs to address the ‘manifold’ problems within our prison system such as overcrowding, crumbling infrastructure, staffing issues and poor rehabilitative provision.
