Ofqual boss quizzed on resit ‘treadmill’, V Levels, AI anxiety and new rebuke powers

Poor progress in English and maths tracks “right back to primary school” and requires intervention at the earliest stage to break the “treadmill” of GCSE resits in post-16 education, Ofqual’s chief regulator has said.

Sir Ian Bauckham was quizzed by MPs on Parliament’s education committee today for the first time since his pre-appointment hearing in December 2024.

Here’s what we learned…

Tackle the ‘root cause’ of poor English and maths

The chief regulator said he “agreed” with the committee’s September 2025 report into further education that expressed “strong views about the treadmill of resits” in colleges.

Government mandates students who have not achieved a grade 4 pass in English and/or maths GCSE by age 16 study towards these qualifications as a condition of their post-16 places being funded. Most resit the exams.

Bauckham outlined his concern that a big contributing factor was “too many” students in primary education not reaching the expected standards in English and maths.

He told MPs that there is “no point” in a student who has spent 11 years studying English and maths and “only achieved a grade one or grade two repeatedly sitting an examination in the hope that by luck, one day they might scrape enough marks to pass”.

Bauckham urged the government to “look at the root causes of students making so little progress” and try to “address that much earlier on”. 

“It tracks right back through primary, through secondary, to try to ensure that we don’t have students who have got these gaps in their learning,” he said.

He added that Ofqual is working “intensively” with the Department for Education on promised new level 1 “stepping stone” qualifications for students struggling with English and maths but could not give a date for when they could arrive in schools and colleges.

V Levels should not be dictated by T Levels

Bauckham was also questioned on his response to last year’s curriculum and assessment review, of which he was an observer on the review panel.

“What I witnessed was a very rigorous, very thorough overview of the whole curriculum, assessment and qualifications landscape in England,” he said.

He told the committee that he found independent reviewer Becky Francis’ recommendations to be “broadly sensible” and did not think anything was left out of her final report.

Regarding the proposal to introduce V Levels as small vocational qualifications to sit between T Levels and A Levels, Bauckham warned that the development should prioritise “distinctiveness”.

“The policy intention is not to force V Levels into a mould dictated either by T Levels or A Levels, but to create and then maintain a distinctiveness for V Levels,” he said.

The government’s consultation on V Levels closed yesterday.

AI ‘not ready’ to solely mark work

Bauckham said he wasn’t convinced that AI was ready to be the only marker of student work and exams.

That was because it still makes mistakes and is hard to challenge.

He added that it can be used to quality assure and detect “unexpected” patterns in examiner marking but hallucinations meant it is not yet ready to undertake sole marking.

Bauckham also cast doubt on how contested exam grades would be reviewed if they were marked by a “complex series of algorithms inside an impenetrable black box”.

And he said he had “signalled my anxiety” to the DfE about the use of AI cheating in qualifications with extended writing coursework.

He said there is “relatively little” of this coursework, but highlighted history and English A Level, where 20 per cent of the qualification is extended writing.

The chief regulator has commissioned a “significant piece of work internally at Ofqual to ascertain the extent to which this risk is being realised at the moment and what the options might be in any reform of those qualifications for closing down that risk and assuring ourselves of the integrity of these qualifications”.

He added: “I would not be being transparent if I didn’t say I am concerned about that, I visited a number of providers up and down the country, spoken to teachers and a number have raised this with me.”

‘Justice delayed is justice denied’

MPs also asked the chief regulator to comment on the “significant” number of fines handed out last year to awarding bodies for regulation breaches.

Bauckham said Ofqual had used its legal enforcement powers on more than two dozen occasions last year, including handing out fines and imposing special conditions.

After “inheriting” a large backlog of cases when he became chief regulator, partly due to covid, Bauckham admitted that Ofqual did not always prioritise closing cases quickly and his ethos was to send strong messages to exam boards when there are breaches.

“Justice delayed is justice denied applies in this circumstance,” he said.

“It feels to me as if those powers were given to us by Parliament, not only to send clear, strong messages to exam boards and to the sector that where there are breaches that are potentially damaging for the integrity of the qualification or for students, they are sanctioned and clear, strong messages are sent,” he added.

“I’m particularly keen that that’s done in a timely way.”

Boards didn’t like Bauckham’s new ‘rebuke’

Ofqual recently gave itself new powers to publicly “rebuke” rule-breaking awarding bodies where the case is not serious enough to warrant a financial penalty.

Bauckham told the committee that following a consultation with exam body chief executives, he concluded that public shaming was the right approach.

“We got very sharp feedback from awarding organisations who said they would find it a very difficult thing to receive indeed,” he said.

He added that it would lead CEOs to have difficult talks with their boards and even impact share prices of publicly listed awarding bodies.

“They didn’t like it very much, which gave me assurance that it might be effective.”

Care worker provider faces £1.2m clawback

A care worker apprenticeship training provider is being chased for £1.2 million by the Department for Education after investigators uncovered systemic contract breaches.

A financial investigation outcome report published today said the sum is “being recovered” from Park Education and Training Centre after officials found missing evidence to support many apprentice funding claims over four academic years.

Investigators flagged a range of issues including a lack of signed apprenticeship agreements, enrolment checks, unverifiable signatures and absent off-the-job training records.

They also found no evidence that the north west London-based company had taken steps to address conflicts of interest between the provider and temporary employment agencies apprentices were employed by.

There was also a lack of proof to show apprentices received wages at or above the national minimum wage.

But company owner Aiah Kanda told FE Week the DfE’s clawback demand “has not been done fairly” and argued that Park Education and Training Centre should only have to repay “about a quarter” of the £1,203,085 sum claimed.

Kanda, who also part-owned home care agency Own Care until October last year, blamed “very, very high” staff turnover in the care industry for the lack of funding claim evidence.

The company owner said the department is now asking for “all the money” it paid for apprenticeship training since the company’s registration in 2021.

He questioned why the company should have to repay funding claims for apprentices who have received their diplomas but not yet completed their end point assessment, arguing that many fail to complete because of high turnover in the care industry.

He added: “So that because this person didn’t achieve something at the end, therefore you have to pay everything back. That doesn’t make any logical sense to me.”

Kanda suggested that missing evidence of learning could be obtained by calling learners.

He claimed that “over 80 per cent” of learners achieved but was unable to estimate how many completed their end-point assessment.

The businessman told FE Week the future of his company is now uncertain in light of the clawback demand. 

He said: “With that huge amount of money, where is it going to come from? Because this money is not going to be lying down there, you’re paying teachers, you’re paying rent, you’re paying all those things.”

Park Education and Training Centre was set up in 2020 and received a ‘requires improvement’ overall effectiveness Ofsted grade following a full inspection in 2023.

Inspectors found a “varied experience” for the company’s 215 apprentices, with many making “slow progress” and receiving inconsistent training or reviews.

The DfE’s published data shows Park Education and Training Centre recorded a 62.2 per cent total apprenticeship achievement rate in 2023-24 for 50 leavers. It no longer appears on the apprenticeship provider and assessment register (APAR).

The department’s investigation report is the second the DfE has published on an ITP’s use of public funding since it updated its policy in December 2023.

First batch of new-style Ofsted report cards released

The first FE provider to receive Ofsted’s new highest mark has been revealed – as the watchdog published the first batch of new-style report cards.

System People Limited was deemed ‘exceptional’ for achievement in its adult learning programmes in its inspection outcome published this morning.

The Carlisle-based independent training provider (ITP) was the only provider out of a batch of 19 ITPs and adult learning providers to receive the rare grade, which is meant to showcase “truly among the very best nationally”.

Early inspections under the new revised framework began in November last year, and were led only by the most senior Ofsted inspectors.

Following a consultation last year, Ofsted abandoned overall headline grades in favour of a five-point scale in 16 individual areas – including inclusion for the first time.

Education providers will now be awarded grades from ‘exceptional’, ‘strong standard’ and ‘expected standard’ to ‘needs attention’ and ‘urgent improvement’.

Ofsted’s baseline expectation is for providers to achieve the ‘expected standard grade’. Anything below will be deemed ‘needs attention or ‘urgent improvement’ and above will get a ‘strong standard’ or ‘exemplary’ grade.

The new look report shows how many times the provider was graded across the five-point scale, with a breakdown of each inspection area further down.

Meeting safeguarding standards remains a tick box, with providers either meeting or not meeting their legal requirement.

The report card then details each grade for inclusion and leadership and governance and also the training programmes it delivers.

Ofsted have also provided a new facts and figures data breakdown for the inspected provider. Via a drop-down box, viewers can find the number of learners and achievement rates of the provider, which is accurate from the time of inspection.

No ‘urgent improvement’ judgments

FE Week analysis found no provider in today’s batch had ‘urgent improvement’ in any area. All but one ITP – AKR Growth Ventures – were given mostly ‘expected standard’ grades in most areas of inspection.

AKR Growth Ventures, an ITP which delivers early years, marketing and information technology apprenticeships was handed ‘needs attention’ across the board.

The watchdog found issues with “underdeveloped” understanding from leaders and governors and slow progress in English and maths achievements at the provider.

Meanwhile, six providers had at least one ‘needs attention’ grade and eight received at least one ‘strong standard’ rating.

New accountability rules set out by the Department for Education (DfE) will not rely on specific Ofsted grades to place poorly performing apprenticeship training providers in intervention for the next 12 months.

Under its previous apprenticeship accountability framework, training providers judged ‘inadequate’ for apprenticeships or overall effectiveness can lead to “contractual action”. Ofsted grades are one of several measures taken into consideration.

But the new rules will now mean that DfE will instead decide whether or not to take action on a case-by-case basis.

One ‘exceptional’ grade

Chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver previously said the ‘exceptional’ grade would demonstrate exemplary practice nationally.

“Strong standard marks out excellent practice. Anything graded ‘exceptional’ is exactly that – truly among the very best nationally,” he told college leaders last year.

System People got an ‘exceptional’ for the achievement category for its adult education programmes.

Inspectors found that learners consistently make “extensive” progress from their starting points and the training has a “transformational” impact on learners’ future careers.

The provider had the majority of learners on apprenticeships (345) and around 50 on skills bootcamps.

The report pointed out “exceptionally well” preparedness of large goods vehicle (LGV) apprentices and learners, adding that almost all progress into sustained employment.

System People reported a 74 per cent achievement rate in 2023-24, above the 61 per cent national average.

Guinea pig small providers

No colleges were part of this morning’s batch release as smaller providers were favoured for the early inspections.

The new report cards will award a grade to colleges on how well they are contributing to local skills demands, which will now lead to targeted support or being placed in intervention if they receive ‘urgent improvement’.

Ofsted began judging colleges on local skills needs contributions in 2022 through “enhanced inspections”.

Until now, colleges have been rated along a scale of either ‘strong’, ‘reasonable’ or ‘limited’ for this category, none of which have been used to trigger intervention.

Any ‘urgent improvement’ finding may also lead to a college receiving a letter to improve, and an FE Commissioner-led improvement review, both of which will not be made publicly available.

Most of the 19 providers – bar four – receiving a report card today had small learner cohorts of under 100 at the time of inspection.

The largest was from Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, which had 670 learners on adult education programmes at the time of inspection. 

It received ‘needs attention’ in leadership and governance and ‘expected standard’ for inclusion. For its adult learning programmes, ‘expected standard’ was found for achievement and curriculum and teaching, but participation and development ‘needs attention’.

Inspectors said council leaders have laid out a strategic plan to improve tutor training, but the report said ongoing external factors “beyond their control” have impeded leaders’ ability to improve quickly.

The council last received a ‘good’ at its last full in inspection in 2010.

Corbyn challenger appointed as ‘expert skills adviser’ at DWP

A Labour think tank director who tried to unseat Jeremy Corbyn has been appointed as an “expert adviser” on skills to work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden.

Praful Nargund will work alongside civil servants and special advisers to help “make the best use” of the transfer of adult skills policy from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The director and founder of think tank The Good Growth Foundation will work on the unpaid advisory role for at least two days per week until July, with an option to extend further.

Nargund was a prominent member of Labour’s council of skills advisers, working alongside former education secretary Lord David Blunkett. The council proposed reforming the apprenticeship levy into what is now known as the growth and skills levy in 2022.

Nargund also ran a failed bid to unseat former Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn in the 2024 general election and has a range of other roles, including as a college governor, a Labour councillor, and a shareholder in a venture capital firm.

According to an announcement this morning, Nargund will work with experts to ensure McFadden has “access to high-quality advice” on growth as the new adult skills policy area is embedded in the department.

His job description says he will seek to: “Drive and support innovative thinking in terms of how adult skills can help the government to increase opportunity and drive economic growth.”

The director was appointed directly by McFadden, FE Week understands.

Praful Nargund said: “I’m delighted to be appointed skills adviser to the secretary of state for DWP, Pat McFadden.

“Whether it’s supporting the nearly one million young people not in education, employment or training into work, or driving economic growth, skills reform is at the heart of making it happen.”

The Good Growth Foundation is a non-profit think tank that says it’s “on a mission to crack the politics of economic growth”.

A recent report by the foundation, ‘Take Back Control’, recommended that the immigration system requires skilled migrants to train British workers to improve public feelings about the issue.

He was previously chief executive of private IVF treatment providers Create Fertility and abc IVF, which were majority owned by his family until their sale for an undisclosed sum in 2021.

He is also a non-executive director at venture capital firm Social Impact Enterprises and a governor at Capital City College Group.

In 2024 he was a director at Executive Pipeline Limited, a leadership training company, alongside high-profile Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli.

Further pay deals made ahead of teacher strike next week

Multiple colleges have settled pay disputes with unionised lecturers ahead of next week’s England-wide strike action.

Pay awards of up to 4.5 per cent have been agreed by FE teachers at a further four colleges across the country following the University and College Union (UCU)’s ballot over pay and workloads.

Staff at Barnet & Southgate College, Brockenhurst College, Bradford College and East Sussex College will no longer walk out for three days next week.

The news follows three other colleges that agreed before Christmas to abandon strike action after winning pay awards of between 4 and 7 per cent.

It now means a total of 25 colleges will see teachers down their tools on January 14, 15 and 16, when several vocational and technical exams take place.

UCU told FE Week that its Bradford branch settled on a 4.5 per cent pay deal and is setting up a senior lecturer pay grade.

East Sussex College agreed to a 4 per cent pay deal across the board as well as an extra boost to the packages for teachers at the top of the lecturer pay scale, equal to 1.5 per cent.

UCU opened a nationwide ballot in October after the “disappointing” 4 per cent pay rise non-binding recommendation from the Association of Colleges.

Union members at 33 of the 54 balloted colleges passed the legally required 50 per cent turnout threshold and backed strike action, demanding pay parity with school teachers, a national workload agreement and binding national bargaining.

Twenty-one colleges failed to meet the threshold, and now 24 colleges have settled their disputes with deals worth up to 8.7 per cent.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Industrial action is a last resort for our members, but staff up and down England have been left with no choice. There is still time for colleges to make fair offers that help close the pay gap between school and college teachers.

“Our demands are reasonable, and management at colleges where staff are taking action need to look at those that worked to settle their disputes. Employers must now agree to meaningful sectoral bargaining so further education can avoid the cycle of strike ballots and disruption that we have seen over the past few years.”

List of striking colleges:

  1. Abingdon & Witney College 
  2. Bournemouth and Poole College of FE 
  3. Capital City College 
  4. Chesterfield College 
  5. City College Norwich 
  6. City of Bristol College 
  7. City of Liverpool College 
  8. City of Portsmouth College 
  9. City of Wolverhampton College 
  10. Hugh Baird College 
  11. Isle of Wight College 
  12. Kirklees College 
  13. Lancaster and Morecambe College 
  14. Loughborough College Group 
  15. Morley College 
  16. New College Swindon 
  17. SK College Group 
  18. South & City College 
  19. South Bank Colleges 
  20. Stanmore College 
  21. The Sheffield College 
  22. Truro & Penwith College 
  23. Windsor Forest Colleges Group 
  24. Wirral Met College 
  25. Working Men’s College 

Watchdog opens ‘statutory inquiry’ into City & Guilds sale

The Charity Commission has escalated its scrutiny of City & Guilds by opening a formal statutory inquiry into the controversial sale of its awarding body commercial arm.

The investigation will probe reported million-pound bonuses awarded to at least two executives who worked on the deal for the 150-year-old charity as well as trustees’ “decision making”.

The regulator said earlier this week it was seeking to “obtain more information” before deciding its next steps. In an announcement today, the Charity Commission said it opened a formal inquiry on January 7 in response to “new information” about the sale.

Under powers in the Charities Act 2011, a statutory inquiry allows the regulator to dig deeper into serious concerns about a charity’s conduct – and, if necessary, use “protective powers” to safeguard the charity’s assets, reputation or beneficiaries.

A Charity Commission statement said: “The inquiry will examine:  

  • “Information provided by the charity to the Commission regarding the sale of the awarding, assessment, and training businesses of the charity in October 2025 to PeopleCert (under the company known as City & Guilds Vocational Education and Apprenticeships) following concerns raised in public reporting relating to the sale and bonuses awarded to its executives
  • “The trustees’ decision-making regarding the sale and entering into a ‘coexistence agreement’ with the new company, including the information that they were provided with and considered when making this decision.”

Investigators are seeking details of what information trustees knew when selling the City & Guilds’ awarding and training business to Greek-owned global certification company PeopleCert in October 2025.

According to a report in The Guardian, the awarding body’s chief executive Kirstie Donnelly was awarded a £1.7 million bonus alongside a £100,000 salary increase to £430,000.

Finance director Amid Ismail also reportedly received a £1.2 million bonus and 30 per cent salary increase to £300,000 per year.

City & Guilds Foundation has claimed that its trustees were “not involved in any pre or post-deal conversations regarding remuneration matters for City & Guilds Limited executives that would apply after the sale”.

The commission said it “will now examine” new information and “may extend the scope” if additional issues emerge.

In a statement today, trustees of the City & Guilds Foundation, formally known as The City & Guilds of London Institute, said: “We acknowledge the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry and are cooperating fully with their investigation.

“We remain confident that all actions taken by the trustees have been proper, transparent, and in line with our charitable purpose.

“We are committed to maintaining public trust and will continue to act in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries.

“We acknowledge the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry and are cooperating fully with their investigation. We remain confident that all actions taken by the Trustees have been proper, transparent, and in line with our charitable purpose. We are committed to maintaining public trust and will continue to act in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries.”

According to the Charity Commission’s policy, it will publish a report detailing the issues, action taken and inquiry outcome.

What is a statutory inquiry?

The Charity Commission, the official regulator for the sector, opens statutory inquiries in “serious cases of abuse and regulatory concern” in the administration of charities.

According to its published guidance on statutory inquiries, the decision to open one is “not taken lightly” and depends on a “careful assessment of factors”.

The regulator says that it investigates to establish the facts, decide what action to take, and that inquiries should not be seen as a determination of “wrong-doing”.

The policy adds: “If the allegations made or causes for concern are not substantiated, the inquiry will say so.”

Powers the Charity Commission has if it finds misconduct by trustees can include removing them from office or appointing new trustees, disqualifying individuals from acting as trustees or senior charity staff in future, or directing the charity to take specific actions.

Recent high-profile inquiries include The Captain Tom Foundation, in which the regulator found that the family of a pandemic fundraiser damaged public trust by refusing to donate proceeds of his book deal.

The findings were published two years after the inquiry was opened and resulted in the disqualification of two trustees for periods of 8 to 10 years.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 518

Rachel Kay

Director, Skills, Deloitte

Start date: January 2026

Previous Job: Director of Education, Learning People Global

Interesting fact: Rachel began her education career at a UK tour operator training holiday reps overseas

Sue Saunders

Interim principal & CEO, Northern College for Adults

Start date: December 2025

Previous Job: Deputy Principal and Chief Finance Officer, Northern College for Adults

Interesting fact: Sue’s original career aspiration was to become a pilot and took flying lessons at the age of 16

Mayors walk away from skills bootcamps

Two regional authorities are ditching the skills bootcamp training model after gaining greater freedom over adult skills plans in new devolution deals.

Under a gradual roll-out, the government is lifting ring-fencing rules for mayors around funding for courses and training programmes such as bootcamps.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has confirmed it will phase out the courses, worth around £2.5 million of its £65 million total skills budget, once it is handed a single “integrated” funding settlement in April.

The mayoral authority is following Greater Manchester, which decided to cease all funding for skills bootcamps when it gained integrated settlement freedoms last April.

WYCA, led by Labour mayor Tracy Brabin, said it would evolve the employment focused training it funds into locally tailored programmes that avoid some of the strict rules imposed by national government.

Brabin told FE Week: “Devolution is working for West Yorkshire. It’s enabling us to do things differently and empowers us to build a region of learning and creativity, where our communities and businesses can flourish.

“By co-designing targeted employment programmes with local firms, we’ll drive up employment, fill vital gaps in the local labour market, and ensure more of our young people are either earning or learning.”

Greater Manchester quietly scrapped the courses last March. Its website now states the authority has transitioned to a more “integrated, place-based funding approach”.

It is unclear how the authority has chosen to spend its share of the skills bootcamp budget allocated via the integrated settlement, which was £6 million in 2025-26, and will be £4.6 million per year between 2026 and 2029.

Integrated settlements

Under plans started under the previous government and continued by Labour, mayoral authorities with a “strong track record of delivery” can ask for a “deeper level of devolution” in the form of an integrated settlement.

The settlement means each mayor is handed a single sum of money for each year of the spending review period, which now runs to 2029.

This replaces the system of giving mayors a collection of ring-fenced funding lines for training such as skills bootcamps, adult education and free courses for jobs, a budget aimed at increasing level 3 qualification levels.

Under integrated settlement rules, the authorities have the “discretion” to move up to 10 per cent of funding between seven “themes” of policy delivery, which include adult skills. They also have “full flexibility” on how funding is spent between years.

From April this year, five more mayoral authorities are set to be handed integrated settlements running up to 2030: West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, the Greater London Authority, and North East.

However, in exchange for this flexibility, mayors will also be asked to agree “outcome targets” with central government.

For the first two authorities to go through this process, Greater Manchester and West Midlands, targets include reducing the number of residents with no qualifications and increasing working-age residents qualified to level 3 or above.

Liverpool City Region told FE Week it had no plans to axe bootcamps.

Other authorities had not responded at the time of going to press.

Well-trodden path

Skills bootcamps were introduced by the Conservatives in 2020. They offer learners intensive, industry-focused training for 12 to 16 weeks, followed by a “guaranteed” job interview.

National funding for the courses, which aim to help adults into work, a new job or a better paid role, increased to a peak of £350 million this financial year.

While the courses have proved popular with some learners, data for 2023-24 shows 43,000 of the 60,000 starters completed their course, and less than half had a positive job outcome.

Training providers are paid for bootcamps in three “milestone” instalments based on learners’ performance.

The final payment is conditional on whether positive outcomes, such as a new job, have been achieved.

Evaluations have also suggested some training providers treat the “guaranteed” job interview aspect of the course as a “tickbox” exercise.

In April, Labour announced changes to skills bootcamp commissioning, which included restricting funding through its national contract to construction-focused courses, and increasing the funding granted to councils and mayors from £170 million to £248 million.

But the government appears to have shrunk its skills bootcamp budget for the next financial year, with West Yorkshire suffering a 68 per cent budget cut to about £2.6 million per year for the next three years.

West Yorkshire’s approach

WYCA plans to review and eventually phase out skills bootcamps in favour of targeted employment programmes (TEPs), which are modelled on the Department for Work and Pensions’ sector-based work academy programme (SWAPs).

The authority says its TEPs model shares several features of both SWAPs and skills bootcamps such as intensive training, a focus on local job demands and a guaranteed job interview.

However, TEPs – which it launched in 2023-24 – have more flexibility on course length, do not strictly require a work placement, and may not include a qualification.

This means the training can be tailored to the needs of the sector it is focused on.

Stephen Evans, chief executive at Learning and Work Institute, said: “This seems like a sensible approach to test, the combined authority have identified changes to existing models like bootcamps that they think will get better results.

“As with all provision, a proper independent evaluation will be needed to show whether this does, in fact, work better so I hope they’ve planned for that.

“And with the adult skills fund [being] a fixed pot from government, they will need to be clear which provision will be reduced to pay for this.”

Cuts to prison education being hidden, says watchdog

Ministers stand accused of downplaying the scale of cuts to prison education budgets after an arms-length body found evidence of “seismic” reductions.

In a letter to prisons minister Lord Timpson, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) claimed the Prison Service provided misleading information on “swingeing” cuts to education across the prison estate, which could reach up to 65 per cent in some jails.

IMB national chair Elisabeth Davies said the Prison Service told IMB policy leads and board chairs that there had been no funding cut, it had “in fact” increased the monetary budget, and the appearance of a reduction was “inflationary pressures increasing the cost of education delivery”.

But Davies said a survey of 60 independent monitoring boards found budget cuts extended “far beyond” inflation which “appears to contradict” the statements given by the Prison Service, sparking calls for a “clear and public” ministerial explanation on how allocation decisions have resulted in “such severe and uneven” impact nationwide.

Five IMBs reported cuts in individual prisons they oversee of between 56 and 65 per cent, while six reported cuts of 46 to 55 per cent, 14 reported cuts of 36 to 45 per cent, and eight reported cuts of 26 to 35 per cent. The remainder of surveyed IMBs reported more modest reductions of between five and 25 per cent.

The IMB has over 100 boards nationally and utilises 1,000 volunteer members to monitor the treatment and conditions of detainees in the prison estate.

IMBs warn that teaching posts have been cut and class sizes expanded, leaving prisoners demotivated.

In the scathing letter sent to Timpson last week, Davies, who has since “unexpectedly” stepped down from her role, expressed overwhelming concern over the lack of transparency around the MOJ’s new £1.5 billion Prison Education Service.

“This situation is rapidly evolving, and some boards have reported that the prisons they monitor were not yet clear, at local level, on what cuts would be made,” Davies said.

“Still more have noted that the effects of the cuts will not be fully realised for many months. The majority of boards expect the impact to be seismic.”

Prisons were informed of their budgets for October 2025 to March 2027 last April.

Nearly £148 million was earmarked for core prison education across 94 jails, according to budget figures obtained by FE Week.

The value of the previous Prisoner Education Framework contract, from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 was £138 million.

But comparisons between budgets were “not straightforward” due to changes in contract structure and delivery arrangements, parliament under-secretary Jake Richards said in answer to a parliamentary question in October.

The MOJ has insisted inflationary pressures mean core education provision delivery has changed but it committed to publishing a prison-level breakdown of changes in “early 2026”.

“We know the vital role education plays in turning offenders away from crime,” An MOJ spokesperson said.

“That is why we are increasing the opportunities for prisoners to access the training and education they need, including extending daily regimes in a number of jails so prisoners can work for longer, and launching sector-specific training with guaranteed job offers on release.”

MOJ ‘in chaos’

The IMB also detailed “dramatic” cuts to Dynamic Purchasing System budgets, said prisoners with learning difficulties were disproportionately affected by the cuts, and revealed a construction tutor was asked to deliver a motor mechanics course.

“The letter sets out that the impact to prisoners is substantial, goes well beyond inflationary pressures, and is affecting prisoners’ ability to engage in education, progress through sentence plans, and spend time out of their cells,” an IMB spokesperson added.

Paul Bridge, head of further education at University and College Union, estimated around 300 teaching staff had been made redundant and warned of “more to follow” as a result of cuts.

He also told FE Week that he was “picking up on” temporary teachers being employed to backfill the redundancies.

“It’s chaos and the MOJ are hiding,” he said.

Bridge demanded an independent review to shed light on prison-level budgets under the new Prison Education Service contract, which after a two-year procurement handed contracts to three existing providers – Milton Keynes College, PeoplePlus, and Novus, part of Manchester-based LTE group.

While IMBs do not directly monitor contracts, Davies said some boards had raised concerns about the “quality” of contractual arrangements under the Prison Education Service contract.

Prisons are subject to incentive payments from the MOJ if they achieve quarterly KPIs such as ‘teaching and quality’ and ‘supporting additional learning needs’, outlined in the Prison Education Service contract documents.

The contract also confirms a 9-month “shadow period” where prisons will still receive incentive payments even if they miss targets.

But Davies claimed the ‘teaching and quality’ KPI had been omitted from the national contract, implying that problems were “anticipated”.

Prison chief inspector Charlie Taylor declined to comment on whether he would launch a review but previously warned that “devastating” real-terms cuts to education in prisons were likely to worsen “appallingly high” reoffending rates.

Andy Slaughter, chair of the House of Commons justice committee, reiterated his November call for clarification on the scale and rationale for any planned cuts.

“Prison education is already underfunded when compared to provision in the community, and such cuts risk undermining efforts to reduce reoffending,” he said.