The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) has accused the government of imposing “swingeing cuts in prison education”.
In a letter addressed to Prisons Minister Lord Timpson, Elisabeth Davies, outgoing National Chair of the IMB, laid out findings from 60 local Boards from jails across England and Wales.
Among Boards that were able to obtain a percentage figure from the establishment they monitor, 12% reported cuts of 56 to 65%; 15% reported cuts of 46 to 55%; 34% reported cuts of 36 to 45%; 20% reported cuts of 26 to 35%; and the remaining 19% reported cuts of 5 to 25%.
Ms Davies’ letter stated:
“The majority of Boards expect the impact of these budget cuts to be seismic. The cuts affect prisons in all regions and across all functions and performance levels – for example, swingeing cuts have been made at both Leicester, a reception prison which received a ‘poor’ Ofsted rating in November 2025, and at Standford Hill, which received an ‘excellent’ Ofsted rating in February 2025.”
As a result of the budget cuts, prisoners face more time in their cells, reduced opportunities to progress according to their sentence plan, and a lack of pathways suitable for their skills and ambitions. In addition, Boards have raised concerns over prisoners with specific needs being disproportionately affected.
Ms Davies said the cuts had been imposed despite the MoJ telling IMB policy leads and board chairs that there had been no funding cut, and that the appearance of a cut was solely down to “inflationary pressures increasing the cost of education delivery”.
At the time of writing, the Ministry of Justice stated that it would reply to the IMBs’ letter “in due course” and insisted again that the overall budget for prison education had not been cut.
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