Prison education cuts will punish those most failed by the system

Last week, the Ministry of Justice published some important new research that, by linking prison data with schools data, explored the backgrounds and past educational experiences of the people in England’s prisons.

The findings of this research won’t surprise anyone who has worked in a prison. It confirms that people in prison disproportionately come from disadvantaged backgrounds. For example, it found that 93 per cent of people in prison had lived in the most deprived 20 per cent of areas in the country as children, 59 per cent had been eligible for free school meals and 14 per cent had been in care.

It also found that nearly four in five (78 per cent) had special educational needs identified while attending school, and 18 per cent had had a statement of special educational needs or an education health and care plan (suggesting a higher level of need). In the general population the equivalent figures are 12-23 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.

The research also shows that people in prison frequently had very disrupted experiences of school. More than half (56 per cent) had been persistently absent from school (missing more than 10 per cent of sessions in at least one academic year), including 15 per cent who were severely absent (missing more than 50 per cent of sessions). Fourteen per cent had been permanently excluded from school.

Finally, they had far fewer academic qualifications than their peers. Nearly one in five (18 per cent) had not achieved any GCSE passes by end of key stage 4, compared to less than 5 per cent of the general population). Just 9 per cent had achieved five or more GCSEs or equivalent at grades A*-C by the end of key stage 4; for the general population it was 52-80 per cent.

All of this shows that people in prison have grown up in tough circumstances and have too often been failed by the school system. As a result, they have far lower levels of literacy and numeracy than the general population. As Ofsted and the prisons inspectorate have highlighted, many people in prison struggle with reading, filling out forms and the many other tasks that make day-to-day life, let alone a job, manageable.

Time spent in prison could be a chance to address this. But at the same time as this research was published, news emerged that some prisons are facing very substantial cuts in their education budgets. Although some of the upcoming changes are driven by money moving between prisons and between local and national provision, the Prison Governors’ Association has suggested education budgets will be cut by at least 5 per cent in real terms for most prisons.

This, with no fat left to cut in the system alongside rising costs and a growing prison population, will undoubtedly lead to prisons being forced to offer less than they have done even in recent years. This is a serious misstep. Prison education can be central to rehabilitation, with the Ministry of Justice’s own research showing how important it is. People who participate in education in prison are more likely to get a job on release and less likely to reoffend. At Prisoners’ Education Trust, our learners consistently tell us that education also helps their mental health and wellbeing.

But prison education is currently nowhere near good enough. Education in more than half of prisons was rated inadequate by Ofsted last year, and is already chronically underfunded. As a result, prison education departments are overstretched and under-resourced, particularly when you consider the high levels of need that they are working to address. Budget cuts will only further damage services that are already struggling, making it impossible to deliver the sort of personalised, supportive approach that is needed.

New contracts for prison education that begin next month are an opportunity for a fresh start. But without more money it’s difficult to see them leading to any real improvements, and budget cuts are surely unsustainable. The government should therefore look again at how they can not just reverse these cuts but actually increase funding for prison education, enabling more people to gain the skills and qualifications they need to turn their lives around.

Confirmed: Skills England moved to DWP from today

Skills England will become part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from today, the prime minister has confirmed.

In a written ministerial statement, Sir Keir Starmer said apprenticeships, adult further education, skills, training and careers, and the newly created agency Skills England will all now be controlled by DWP.

However, responsibility for higher education, and further education, skills, training and careers for those “aged 19 years and under” will remain at the Department for Education (DfE).

The prime minister’s statement on the machinery of government change is the first official confirmation of the Whitehall power shift since news first emerged during the reshuffle that followed deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s resignation 11 days ago.

It comes days after FE Week revealed apprenticeships would be controlled by DWP and ahead of a long-awaited post-16 skills education and skills white paper, due this term.

Skills England is a newly created executive agency which officially came into being in June this year, with the aim of understanding the country’s skills needs, simplifying access to skills to boost growth and mobilising employers and other partners to create solutions to skills needs.

Newly appointed work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden has said he will be “expanding” access to skills training in a bid to lower the government’s benefit bill and bring down stubbornly high numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).

In an interview with FE Week last week, Smith said the move will mean a “bigger emphasis on skills” which will be “integrated” with the labour market.

Sector experts see the alignment of skills and employment support policies as long needed, but details of how exactly the government plans to do so in a way that increases growth, productivity and employment rates are yet to emerge.

Some have also voiced concerns that moving the skills brief to the DWP risks being another “upheaval” that distracts ministers and officials from their goals.

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said: “We are adding skills to the job description of the Department for Work and Pensions as we accelerate our drive to Get Britain Working.

“By equipping people with the skills they need, we will build a workforce that is fit for the future and support people off benefits and into jobs.

“Our renewed focus comes as we deliver the biggest overhaul of jobcentres in a generation and a £240 million investment to boost employment.”

Where’s the front door?

Skills England co-chief executive Sarah Maclean told MPs the move to DWP “really makes sense.”

Maclean was providing evidence to the business and trade select committee as this story went live (see clip below).

Eagle-eyed Liberal Democrat MP Joshua Reynolds asked: “FE Week have just reported Skills England will be moving into DWP … Why are we splitting skills between the DWP and the Department for Education? Is this not just going to confuse everyone 10 times more than we’re already confused?”

He continued: “Where’s the front door? In the last 40 minutes you’ve used words like colleges, training, learning and teaching. When I hear those words I think Department for Education, yet Skills England comes under the Department for Work and Pensions. Where do people go to? Is there anyone who’s actually responsible, or is this just another area where it’s going to get caught in the crossfire between ministers back and forth?”

Maclean pointed to Smith’s role as a joint-minister in both departments and insisted “the front door for skills is Skills England”.

She explained: “I think the division of responsibilities between education and work and pensions actually brings some real benefits, particularly bringing skills closer to work policy. For example, our Skills England vision is better skills for better jobs. I think if you’re seeing it through that lens, it really makes sense.”

Business and trade committee

T Level funding to be lagged from 2027

Funding allocations for T Levels will be lagged from 2027, the Department for Education has confirmed. 

Guidance published this week says allocations for colleges and schools will be based “solely on student numbers from the start of the previous year”. It means the use of estimated student numbers will end, but in-year reconciliation will continue. The current registration process for new T Level providers will also be scrapped.

The change will bring T Levels in line with other 16 to 19 study programmes, which are already funded through a lagged model. It means a college’s T Level funding allocation for academic year 2027-28 will be based on the number of students the college says it has in its individualised learner record (ILR) data return (R04) in November 2026.

T Level allocations are currently worked out using “carry-over” students from ILR and provider estimates of new starters submitted each autumn. Those estimates are then checked against actual enrolments later in the year. Funding is then adjusted through a reconciliation process. 

T Level recruitment has repeatedly fallen short of expectations. A National Audit Office report earlier this year found starts on the flagship qualifications were as much as 75 per cent below government targets. 

Funding colleges based on last year’s students rather than estimates gives colleges some certainty over how much funding they’ll get, but can also leave them exposed to financial risks if student numbers rise suddenly.

Lagged flaws

Colleges are currently grappling with surging numbers of 16 to 19 year olds, with DfE placing limits on how much growth can be funded in-year.

 Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said there was an  “administrative logic” to the T Level funding change, but “only if we’re at a point where enrolment levels are fairly predictable and manageable.” 

He told FE Week: “The main 16-18 funding system works well in some respects in that it gives colleges a year to adjust their staffing and costs to take account of changing enrolment numbers but it’s working badly in other respects because there is a rising population of young people, an increasing demand for technical subjects, DfE’s budgets are fixed on an April to March cycle and student choices aren’t confirmed until the second half of August.

“Meanwhile fixed budgets and rising demand leave thousands of young people without places each autumn.”

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 506

Christian Thersby

Principal, West Lancashire College

Start date: July 2025

Previous job: Vice Principal, Carlisle College (NCG)

Interesting fact: As a keen mountain biker, Christian has competed in Megavalanche, one of the most dangerous mountain bike races in the world, held annually in the French Alps

Debbie Houghton

Group Principal, Apprenticeships, Partnerships and Innovation, Capital City College

Start date: August 2025

Previous job: Interim Director for Work Based Learning, Gower College Swansea

Interesting fact: Outside of work, Debbie is family person at heart with a passion for the arts, travel, and culinary experiences – interests that align perfectly with the creative remit of this role

Fadumo Mohammad

Assistant Principal, Lewisham College

Start date: August 2025

Previous job: Head of ESOL, Young and YEFE, Lewisham College

Interesting fact: Fadumo’s passion for teaching, coupled with a love of travel, led her to spend four weeks in rural Tanzania training teachers during a summer break – an experience that inspired her journey into quality and leadership

Jarvis Training collapse followed damning Ofsted verdict

An independent training provider was hit with Ofsted’s lowest possible grade weeks before announcing its closure.

Liverpool-based Jarvis Training Management (JTM) received ‘inadequate’ grades for overall effectiveness, quality of education, leadership and management, adult learning programmes and apprenticeships in a damning inspection report published today. 

It comes a week after JTM, and its owner Woodspeen Training, announced they had ceased trading, blaming the Department for Education’s (DfE) apprenticeships accountability framework.

Pair of Swiss-owned training providers suddenly close

Inspectors visited JTM in July and found the “large majority” of apprentices in training quit before completing, and “almost half” of those remaining were making slow progress and were unlikely to complete on time.

On its adult learning courses, just under two-thirds of learners “had fallen considerably behind” in their studies and had not achieved their qualifications. A “significant proportion” of learners had dropped out, and for those that stayed, “too few learners regularly attend”.

Governance at the provider was described as “weak”. Attempts by a new leadership team to improve standards had “not had the desired impact”. Leaders also did not identify learners falling behind or take action to help them catch up, with inspectors warning apprentices were “not challenged to achieve their full potential”.

The watchdog concluded the quality of education had “declined significantly” since the previous inspection in 2022. 

JTM was awarded a ‘requires improvement’ judgment for behaviour and attitudes and a ‘good’ for personal development. Safeguarding was ‘effective’.

At the time of the inspection, JTM had 422 adult learners on personal training, early years and beauty therapy courses. JTM’s 251 apprentices in learning at the time of the inspection were studying a range of early years, education and care standards from levels 2 to 5. Over half were aged under 19.

JTM was approached for comment.

Closure explained

Woodspeen Training and JTM, owned by the same Swiss investment firm, announced their closures last week ahead of the publication of today’s Ofsted report. Around 175 staff were employed by the providers, according to Companies House. 

A spokesperson at the time said their collapse followed “recent Department for Education decisions under the apprenticeships accountability framework”.

They added: “The outcome reflects historic performance challenges, particularly around timeliness measures that lag behind recent operational improvements. Our priority now is to work closely with the department [for education] to transfer learners smoothly to alternative providers and support staff through the transition.”

Under the DfE’s apprenticeship accountability framework, training providers judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted can face immediate contract termination. 

Team UK takes six medals at EuroSkills Herning

Team UK celebrated winning six medals at EuroSkills Herning after a long three-day competition in Denmark this week.

Earlier this evening, family, friends, experts and officials applauded Team UK’s duo Patrick Sheerin and Caolan McCartan for winning the bronze award in the industry 4.0 competition.

Patrick Sheerin and Caolan McCartan win bronze in industry 4.0

Overall, the UK ranked fifteenth in the medal table out of the 33 countries taking part in Europe’s largest skills competition.

WorldSkills UK officials said the experience has given competitors a taste of what’s to come at the global WorldSkills competition in Shanghai next year. 

McCartan and Sheerin both train at Southern Regional College in Northern Ireland and finished the competition yesterday with a casual handshake with each other and their training manager, Marcin Regulski.

McCartan, who works for A J Power, told FE Week he didn’t believe the results when they were announced as bronze awardwinners.

“We were sitting there all evening and the nerves started to kick in towards the last five minutes,” he said.

Sheerin, who works for Pronto Engineering Group, added: “We’ve done our college pride. We’ve Sean [Mac Diarmada] proud, Marcin proud, and we like to think we’ve done Team UK proud too. We gave it our all.”

Sheerin and McCartan celebrate their bronze medal

Both will continue their training for WorldSkills Shanghai after some downtime and say their main competition is the Danish competitors after the Hungarian winners will not be eligible next year.

“I don’t think we were too far behind them so we have to up our game and get the heads down for next year,” McCartan added.

At the last EuroSkills event in Gdańsk, Poland, the UK placed thirteenth in the medal table, bringing home one gold and two bronze medals.

Ben Blackledge, chief executive of WorldSkills UK: “We selected a young, driven team that shows huge potential to develop into world-class skilled professionals, to compete against more experienced competitors from across Europe.” 

He said this has allowed the team to “accelerate their development” in preparation for the global competition in China next year.

“We are firmly on track to showcase the very best of UK skills on the global stage next year,” he added.

Restaurant services competitor Yuliia Batrak wins Medallion for Excellence

Restaurant services competitor Yuliia Batrak was one of five champions from Team UK that were awarded Medallions for Excellence, which demonstrates meeting the international standard.

Batrak was joined by her mother and younger sister in Herning as well as training manager Shyam Patiar, who was seen wiping tears of pride on the final day of competition yesterday.

Batrak’s family fled the war in Ukraine in 2022, and she began studying catering and hospitality at Grwp Llandrillo Menai when her family moved to Wales.

EuroSkills also awards a best in nation award to the competitor from each competing country that achieves the highest individual score in their competition. Alongside her medallion of excellence, Katie Sime was named the UK’s best in nation.

She told FE Week she was excited to celebrate with Team UK at the farewell ceremony for the competitors after the medal ceremony and plans to celebrate with her family when she returns to the UK.

“I’ve got annual leave for a few days and I’m so excited to see my family,” she said.

Countdown to Shanghai

Tonight’s ceremony ended the ninth biennial EuroSkills competition hosted by Herning, Denmark. Next year, countries from around the world will compete at WorldSkills Shanghai, and then, in 2027, the next EuroSkills will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Blackledge, in his role as chair of WorldSkills Europe, officially closed the competition and passed the baton to Düsseldorf.

“From digitalisation and artificial intelligence to tackling climate change. Your skills are the key to building a brighter future. 

“And I also want to take a moment to recognise again, the incredible work of the experts, of the trainers, of the mentors who have supported our competitors. You are the guiding hands behind every competitor’s journey, and your dedication is what makes excellence possible. Thank you for your passion and for investing so much in the next generation.”

Look out for a full analysis of Team UK’s performance in next week’s edition of FE Week. 

UK medal winners

Euroskills 2025: Competition comes to a roaring close

The final day of EuroSkills 2025 came to an emotional close with floods of tears from Team UK, families, supporters, and even reporters.

The 19 students and apprentices had expertly navigated months of training in their 17 disciplines.

After three days of intense competing, Team UK were cheered on by swathes of supporters at the MCH Messecenter Herning as they completed the final moments of the competition.

Some finished with embraces with their family members and training managers who had patiently supported them during their uncompromising training schedule.

Painting and decorating competitor Shelby Fitzakerly with her training manager Mike Swan

Others were more stoic; competitors such as Patrick Sheerin and Caolan McCartan in industry 4.0 shook hands with each other and their training manager Marcin Regulski after the 10-second countdown.

And level-headed health and social care contestant Grace Longden finished earlier than anticipated and returned to her workshop so Team UK officials and friends could celebrate her achievements.

Meanwhile, training manager for mechanical engineering CAD, Ryan Sheridan, reportedly had “tears streaming” on a videocall when Team UK champion Stuart Lyons finished earlier in the day.

Sheridan had to drop out of the competition for personal reasons, and additive manufacturing expert Bryn Jones stepped in for pastoral care at the last minute.

Restaurant services champion Yuliia Batrak was also emotional at the finish line with her mother, younger sister and Batrak’s training manager Shyam Patiar was also seen wiping tears of joy.

Joinery competitor Jamie Mathews at the opening ceremony

Batrak told FE Week she was so proud of herself on her final task of the competition: cocktail serving duty, where she was asked to make a manhattan, a tequila sunrise and two daiquiris.

Leaky ducts have been an issue elsewhere in the competition. At the beginning of the hairdressing contest, competitors were reportedly given extra time following a leakage in the roof above the competition floor, impacting some of the hair models.

Meanwhile, joinery champ Jamie Mathews said he kept the “constant pressure” on himself in the final day.

“Then towards the last half hour of day three, I really had to go very hard to get it completed,” he said, adding that he had to sacrifice the tidiness of his work that he would normally uphold outside of a competition.

“It wasn’t too bad. A couple of errors, but I was happy enough,” he said.

Minister makes it

Skills minister Jacqui Smith cheered on Team UK for two days this week.

Yesterday she arrived at the exhibition hall and spoke with Team UK competitors, families and officials.

(left to right) WorldSkills UK chair Marion Plant, minister for skills Jacqui Smith, WorldSkills UK CEO Ben Blackledge

Smith is the first skills minister to travel to a WorldSkills event on foreign soil since 2017, when then minister Anne Milton visited Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for the global competition.

She was due to come to WorldSkills Lyon in France last year, but was called last minute to vote in the House of Lords.

“I wanted to come to support our team and our competitors who are demonstrating the highest levels of excellence in the skills that they are competing in,” she told FE Week.

The UK last hosted a WorldSkills event in London in 2011, and Smith said she would have to think “quite carefully” about considering it again.

She added: “This competition isn’t just about the five days that it’s been happening here in Denmark.

“It’s important for us to be able to support them, and how that then impacts back into the skills system in the UK and through the Centre of Excellence.”

Regarding the 15 per cent cut in grant funding the Department for Education made to WorldSkills UK in 2025-26, Smith told FE Week it wasn’t the only organisation that had experienced a DfE funding chop.

“To govern is to choose in a time of real financial and fiscal challenge for the government,” she said.

“We had to make that cut, but we have also of course boosted the support for WorldSkills through the links that we made into the tech programme for WorldSkills, through the presence of ministers, and through the continued work that we will do with them, including in the forthcoming white paper.”

‘Outstanding’ university bootcamps praised by Ofsted

A university-run skills bootcamp programme has been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for its “highly effective” courses that are popular with learners leaving military service.

During an inspection in July this year, the education inspectorate found Bath Spa University’s adult learning offer, which includes four-week skills bootcamps and tailored learning courses, was “exceptional” and “expertly” designed.

Taught from a grade 1 listed manor house in Corsham, Wiltshire, the university’s level 3 skills bootcamps train learners who are transitioning from military to civilian life in project management skills combined with artificial intelligence.

Inspectors said the course includes an “exceptional” curriculum that is co-designed by industry experts, taught by “exceptionally helpful” staff, and leaves learners with industry-recognised qualifications.

This includes British Computer Society certificates in ‘agile’ project management and artificial intelligence.

Vice-chancellor Georgina Andrews said the university is “incredibly proud” of its work and the ‘outstanding’ Ofsted judgement.

She added: “It’s wonderful to see the ‘highly supportive and welcoming environment’ recognised, alongside the ‘exceptional’ and ‘highly impactful’ provisions provided with it.

“This recognition is a testament to the short course unit and inclusive communities teams within [Bath Spa University’s] Centre for Innovation and Knowledge Exchange who have worked tirelessly to ensure our provision is of the highest possible standard.

“This standard runs across all of our short courses and adult skills work and we pride ourselves in delivering an outstanding service across all of our work.”

The university also runs publicly funded tailored learning courses in creative arts from centres in Radstock, Somerset, and Twerton, Bath, which are aimed at learners who are not in education, training or employment.

Ofsted found the courses, which served fewer than five people when they visited, help “almost all” learners into employment or pathways to higher education.

Teachers “skilfully” inspire adults, including those facing “barriers to learning” in disciplines such as printmaking and painting through interesting and “stimulating” courses.

Managers at the university ensure a “highly effective culture of continuous improvement” and governors provide a “high level of challenge” to support leaders, Ofsted noted.

University bootcamps

Skills bootcamps are a relatively new format of DfE-funded learning that involve training, work experience, and a guaranteed job interview over a period of up to 16 weeks.

Several universities including Bath Spa University, Nottingham Trent, and Northeastern University London have launched skills bootcamps programmes since their launch in 2020 as part of then-chancellor Rishi Sunak’s attempt to train more adults in areas of national skills shortages such as digital skills, manufacturing and construction.

The skills bootcamp programme is ultimately funded by the Department for Education, with a total of £350 million allocated through a national contract or shared out between mayoral combined authorities and local authorities this financial year.

With its £12.8 million allocation for the 2025-26 academic year, West of England Combined Authority is funding 98 skills bootcamps, including £58,000 for Bath Spa University’s project management course.

Other skills bootcamps offer training for sectors include retrofitting, leadership and management, digital animation, HGV driving, and festival workforce.

The most up-to-date national statistics for the courses, for 2022-23, show that about one third of the 42,340 adults who started courses progressed in their current jobs, or secured new business opportunities if they were self-employed.

DWP will take over apprenticeships, minister confirms

Control over apprenticeships policy will shift to the Department for Work and Pensions following last week’s reshuffle, the skills minister has confirmed. 

Adult skills will also move while Skills England will “continue to work across government,” Jacqui Smith told FE Week today. 

It comes after a shock reshuffle last week, where Pat McFadden took the “skills” brief from Bridget Phillipson’s Department for Education and Smith was appointed skills minister across both departments. 

The skills sector was left to ponder over the last week precisely which policy areas would be moved to DWP under plans for growth-boosting “super ministry” under McFadden. 

In an interview with FE Week at the EuroSkills competition in Herning, Denmark today, Smith said policy responsibility for apprenticeships, apprenticeship policy and adult skills will move to DWP.

The minister said: “Apprenticeship policy and the apprenticeship levy and policy around that will sit in DWP.”

Alongside apprenticeships, “certainly the adult skills fund and all that work in adult skills … Skills England has already been working across government so that won’t make such a difference. But those things are essentially now the responsibility of DWP, except they’re my responsibility and I work across both departments,” Smith added.

“Further education” and higher education will remain with DfE. A ministerial statement on the changes will be published “in the very near future”.

Bigger emphasis on skills

Smith described moving skills policy to DWP as a “logical next step” because she is “really determined that we bring skills work out of the DfE across the whole of government.”

She told FE Week: “What it means is a bigger emphasis on skills in a larger part of government.

“It means Pat McFadden, who alongside Bridget [Phillipson], is a leading cabinet minister within the government taking on that responsibility with respect to adult skills both to continue the work that’s happened in the last year, but also to make sure that work is integrated into all of the labour market work on the ground, the work that Job Centres and job services are going nationally.”

The minister pointed to a range of skills policy initiatives which are already involving other government departments, such as the defence technical excellence colleges with the Ministry of Defence, and digital skills work with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. 

“It’s always difficult in government to break down silos, but we have put skills much more centrally at the heart of what the government is trying to achieve than has ever, and I’ve been around a bit including two previous stints at the DfE, that I have ever seen before in government.”

A NEET solution

McFadden has already identified tackling rising numbers of young people not in education, employment and training (NEET) as a priority for his new department. An estimated 948,000 young people aged 16 to 24 are NEET. 

Smith said McFadden’s vow was a “bringing together” of the work in schools and colleges to prevent young people from becoming NEET and the post-19 initiatives already led by DWP.

“We’ve invested in youth guarantee pathfinders, and where we’ll be able to bring all of that work together, along with the benefit system, along with the work that’s happening in Jobcentres to make sure that we really do make a difference to the wholly unacceptable numbers.”