Ofsted is set to remove overall effectiveness grades for prisons in favour of a new five-point rating system. The renewed framework, which takes effect from September 21, will evaluate prison educators and leaders on inclusion for the first time and involve a stronger focus on the reading abilities of prisoners. The move introduces five evaluation areas: inclusion; leadership and governance; curriculum, teaching and training; achievement; and participation and development. Each area will be graded as either ‘exceptional’, ‘strong standard’, ‘expected standard’, ‘needs attention’ or ‘urgent improvement’. The system mirrors the five-point scale system rolled out to further education and skills providers in November 2025. That framework also abolished overall effectiveness grades. Under the current and outgoing prison inspection framework, Ofsted awards an overall effectiveness grade alongside four judgments covering quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Guidance published today revealed the new inclusion evaluation will assess how prison and education leaders overcome barriers that prevent prisoners from engaging with education, training and work, such as being a care leaver, having mental health difficulties or having SEND. Inspectors will also pay attention to how provision helps prisoners who are at risk because of the nature of their offence and younger prisoners who have moved into the adult estate. The guidance also promises a “strengthened focus” on teaching reading and improving literacy among prisoners who need it. Inspectors will assess whether prison leaders have an “ambitious” strategy to improve literacy and implement effective reading interventions. Use of space The new framework will also evaluate prison leaders on how well they engage with local employers and authorities to support prisoners’ education and whether they are equipping prisoners with skills that match labour market demands. Under leadership and governance, inspectors will check that prisons have “sufficient and substantial activity spaces” for every sentenced, working-age prisoner and that available spaces are filled. Leaders can be graded ‘urgent improvement’ where they make poor decisions with a negative impact on prisoners, which the toolkit says may include “inappropriate use of contracting or poor use of available resources”. Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said high-quality education helps prisoners become “productive and engaged members of society” on release. “Improving literacy for prisoners will allow them to access a much wider curriculum and help them prepare for life after prison,” he said. “Our renewed framework for inspections of prison education will drive a stronger focus on ensuring all prisoners, no matter what barriers to learning they face, benefit from excellent education, skills and work.” Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor warned in his annual report last month that education and training was poor in too many prisons, with prisoners spending up to 22 hours a day locked in their cells with nothing to do. “The number of education, work and training places was often far too low, and even when they were available, attendance, punctuality and the quality of teaching were frequently poor,” the report said. Quality of contracted provision Inspectors will also evaluate the leadership of contracted provision under the prison education service (PES) as well as the quality of education provided by suppliers. The PES contract, worth up to £1.5 billion, began last October and is divided among three education providers: Milton Keynes College, PeoplePlus and Novus, which is part of Manchester-based college group LTE Group. Since then, regulators and MPs have sounded the alarm over real-terms cuts to the new contracts and redundancies of prison teachers. The Ministry of Justice has consistently maintained there have been no cuts to the total budget in cash terms, but earlier this year admitted that the volume of core education has been slashed by up to 25 per cent. Taylor warned in his report that substantial real-term cuts to education provision and a loss of specialist teaching staff threaten to undermine efforts to improve literacy, skills and employability. “Without adequate resourcing, these changes are likely to leave prisoners without the essential skills needed for successful resettlement and will do little to affect their likelihood of reoffending on release,” he said in his report.