Prisoners' Education Trust

Good to see the Justice Select Committee pushing the Ministry of Justice to provide more funding for prison education in the forthcoming spending review, following their inquiry on rehabilitation and resettlement. committees.parliament.uk/committee/10...

Today's @theguardian.com editorial is a good follow up to this, making the case for adult education (including in prison) to be prioritised. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Good to see the APPG on FE and Lifelong Learning's inquiry on adult education highlight that prison education has "suffered from underinvestment, fragmented responsibilities and reduced contract values, limiting its ability to deliver long-term impact". d4hfzltwt4wv7.cloudfront.net/uploads/file...

Are prisons now better able to recognise additional learning needs (ALNs) while simultaneously losing the capacity to meet them? Independent Monitoring Boards warn that people with ALNs are being disproportionately affected by cuts. Our long read looks at the state of support in prisons 👇

With two-thirds of people in prison struggling to read, last year over 11,000 learners took part in Shannon Trust’s reading and numeracy programmes. Their CEO has written about why we need a national lifelong learning strategy that reaches people who have had the worst experiences of education.

This is a really great initiative by the @readingagency.bsky.social to put nearly half a million books into prisons. And great to have Lee Child's support. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/o...

Come and join our Board! There's interesting conversations, great people and biscuits.

With prison education under severe pressure, our work has never been more important. We are recruiting new Trustees to help steer PET through our next phase. Applications close on 9 November. Find out more and apply: https://prisonerseducation.org.uk/2026/10/apply-to-join-pets-board-of-trustees/

This will increase the capacity of HMP Elmley by nearly 25%. But their education provision has just been cut by 32% and they are already understaffed (with only 90% of the officers they should have). How will they be able to deliver a meaningful regime? www.gov.uk/government/n...

This Sunday, our brilliant trustee Vicki Mulligan – who has served on our board for 7 years – is running the Royal Parks Half. She's just £173 away from her £1,000 target. Could you give her (and us!) a helping hand to hit the target? Donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/vicki-mulligan-1

Over the next five years, we plan to help thousands of people in prison gain the skills, qualifications and confidence they need to thrive on release. Read our Chair Paul Kelly's introduction to our new strategy 👇 www.linkedin.com/pulse/our-ne...

Today we're launching our new strategy, setting out how we will help more people in prison to discover the life-changing power of education. Hear from our Chief Executive @jonbcollins.bsky.social about our plans and read the strategy here: prisonerseducation.org.uk/2026/10/our-...

There are only 20 of us in the PET team, but we've helped nearly 1,500 people start courses in prison this year. That's only possible because we have the incredible support of prison staff who help learners get started with their studies every day. Thank you to them this #HiddenHeroesDay

The Ministry of Justice has announced an expansion of the Future Skills Programme to support people in prison to get jobs in construction. New investment is very welcome but the last set of academies never really got off the ground so they will need to learn from that. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Today's @hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social report on children in custody makes for very depressing reading. The government must fix this, focusing on getting young people out of their cells and into high-quality education. hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...

Really important stuff about the impact of education cuts on women in prison. Very glad to see @prisonersed.bsky.social and @workingchance.bsky.social putting this out there to highlight it.

Great to write this with @workingchance.bsky.social and a big thank you to @themarkages.bsky.social for his work on it. Education cuts are having a huge impact across the prison estate, but bigger cuts in the women's estate will inevitably have a bigger impact.

Women in prison are losing education when they need it most. Education hours in women's prisons have been cut by an average of 30%, compared with 25% across men’s prisons. Our CEO Jon Collins and Natasha Finlayson OBE, CEO at Working Chance, are calling on the government to reverse the cuts.

You just can't keep putting more and more people into already overstretched prisons and expect the regimes to cope. Any increase in capacity has to come with more staff, more education places, more jobs etc. Instead education has been cut, inexplicably. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Education provision was cut by 46% at HMP Lancaster Farms under the new contracts. Now the prison's capacity is being increased by 40%. How will it be possible to provide education and training to the expanded population? www.gov.uk/government/n...

A gift in your will can make a huge difference to learners like Joe, who’s studying our Understanding Mentoring and Coaching course. This #RememberACharityWeek, we have two offers for supporters if you would like to write or refresh your will. Find out more here: https://bit.ly/PET-legacy

Good to see this in today's @i-m-b.bsky.social report on Styal Prison (which also has a Marston's hospitality training academy). Partnerships with employers can help to ensure that people in prison get the training they need in prison and get a job on release. imb.org.uk/document/sty...

Ant has lived experience of the justice system and has seen first-hand the benefits education can bring to people in prison. Here's why he's running the Royal Parks Half for PET this October - for a second time! Help him hit his £500 target here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/runningpetant

We've got a letter in the Guardian today highlighting the need to invest in prison education and training, giving people in prison something positive to do with their time, rather than just cramming more and more people into already overcrowded prisons. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

We’re so grateful that Lucy is running the Oysho Royal Parks Half Marathon for PET, to help people in prison gain the skills and confidence to create a better future. You can help her reach her £1,000 target here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/lucyontherun

Thanks to a £35,000 grant from the Army Benevolent Fund, we funded 56 distance learning courses for veterans in prison last year. Our courses can help people in prison turn their lives around. A huge thanks to the Army Benevolent Fund for making it possible. Read some of their stories here.

This is a good edition of @theguardian.com's Today in Focus podcast with @helenpidd.bsky.social looking at the prisons crisis. And good to hear PET trustee Judith Feline contributing! www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

Find out about HMP Birmingham’s Royal Historical Society programme and the men learning to grow vegetables for local food banks. We're helping people gain the skills to work in horticulture too: 38 learners are studying the RHS Certificate in Principles of Plant Growth and Development we offer.

Best of luck to everyone getting their A-level results today, whether in prison or out. At PET, we offer 13 different A-levels to people in prison - from Business to History and Maths to Psychology. We've helped 62 people start the qualification this year. Find out what studying means to them 👇

This is really interesting and encouraging, particularly given that people are assigned to the wing randomly and the running costs aren't higher. Would be interesting to see what would happen if staff were assigned randomly (but still given the training, support etc).

Thank you so much to everyone who supported our Summer Appeal. We raised £14,333 – £10,000 of which has been matched by a generous trust. That's a total of £24,333! Your kindness will help us to meet the rise in demand for distance learning and impact the lives of so many people in prison.

One last spot has become available for the Oysho Royal Parks Half Marathon in London this October! Help give people in prison access to life-changing education. Email our Fundraising team today to secure your spot and run for PET: events@prisonerseducation.org.uk

Half of people in prison are estimated to have dyslexia - five times the rate of the general population. Tailored support is essential to making education in prison accessible and transformative. The recent cuts are putting that at risk. Read more here 👇

Congratulations to @cmckinnellmp.bsky.social, who has been appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice and seems likely to take on the prisons and probation brief formerly held by Lord Timpson. It's a huge, important job with a lot of potential to make a real difference.

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. We're very grateful for your support. And if you haven't donated yet, and you'd like to, the appeal is still running and any donations will enable people in prison to access education.

We've raised £11,308 so far in our Summer Appeal! The first £10,000 of donations has been doubled thanks to matched funding - but we still need your support. Help more people in prison bridge the gap between their past and their future through learning. Give today: https://bit.ly/BTGBluesky5

Congratulations to @alexjjnorris.bsky.social, the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice!

Excellent letter in the Guardian from @profianpickup.bsky.social from the Open University on the value of prison education. Amber Rudd's review is an opportunity to look at how education can be improved to enable more people in prison to access its benefits. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

With prison education cut by a quarter and an increased demand for PET’s distance learning courses, we need your support to ensure that people in prison can continue to study. Have your donation doubled today in our Summer Appeal – Bridging the Gap: https://bit.ly/BTGBluesky4

For learners like Lucy, studying with PET helps bridge the gap between their past and their future. You can ensure that more people in prison have the opportunity to work towards their goals - double your impact today by donating to our Summer Appeal: https://bit.ly/BTGBluesky3

Brilliant to be at the @unlockedgrads.bsky.social ChangeMakers event last week. Suzan and Ant met custodial managers from prisons across England and Wales to talk about the courses PET offers, plus our CEO @jonbcollins.bsky.social spoke about how to support people in prison to achieve their goals.

We have seen an 18% increase in the number of course applications so far this year. Richard is studying A-level Maths, focusing on his long-term goal of attending university. Help make sure learners don’t miss out – have your donation doubled today: https://bit.ly/BTGBluesky2

This is a depressing report but the current slight dip in the population is an opportunity to address the failures it highlights. Reversing cuts to prison education, and ensuring education is a priority, should be at the heart of work to ensure prisons help people to turn their lives around.

We welcome today's call from the Chief Inspector of Prisons for the prison service to increase purposeful activity to help tackle widespread drug use and violence. Education should be the cornerstone of a safer, more hopeful prison system. The government must reverse the recent cuts.

Everyone in prison should have the opportunity to learn. That’s why today we are launching our Summer Appeal: Bridging the Gap. Help us to meet rising demands in an overstretched and underfunded system. Every donation will be doubled while match funding lasts – give today and double your impact.

Strengthening distance learning in prisons - @prisonersed.bsky.social blogs on the importance of distance learning in prisons www.russellwebster.com/strengthenin...

At present, people with more than six years left to serve on their sentence cannot access student finance for degree programmes. In our new report, we're calling on the government to abolish the six-year rule, so that every learner has the opportunity to transform their life through learning.

Cutting education hours by a quarter has placed prison education under severe strain - staff made redundant, courses cut, and people with specific needs left without support. Our new report sets out how the government can work together with prison leaders to protect distance learning.

"I started to see the connections between creativity, poetry and activism in pursuit of transgender rights and prison reform. I began to feel a passion for social change." This is a brilliant read this Pride month. We're proud to have played a part in Dalton's journey.

When it comes to opening up opportunities for higher-level study and vocational qualifications in prisons, distance learning is often the only route. Our new report – Beyond the classroom – sets out ten things prison leaders can do to protect and strengthen it in their establishments.