Prison Education | PeoplePlus

The UK’s largest provider, with the sector’s highest vocational success rate

PeoplePlus delivers education in 51 prisons across England and Scotland, including as sole provider for all 16 Scottish Prison Service establishments. In 2025 we delivered more than 31,000 courses to 15,692 learners, over two million hours of face-to-face learning, with a 96% success rate on vocational courses, the highest of any provider in the sector.

Why this work matters

Around 50,000 people will leave prison this year. What they carry out of the gate decides a great deal of what happens next, and education inside changes what they carry: a qualification an employer recognises, the reading skills to complete an application, a plan for the first weeks outside, and often the first evidence in years that they can finish something and pass. Our approach is built on two interlinked factors: the psychological, changing how people see learning and themselves, and the practical, skills that lead to work and stable lives. Reduced reoffending is the outcome commissioners measure. For the person, it is a different life.

Innovation: learning that reaches the cell

Classroom hours in prison are limited by regime, staffing and space. Our in-cell digital learning means education does not stop when the classroom door does.

Way2Learn delivers structured in-cell study across 50+ establishments. In the last two years, more than 15,000 student workbooks have been marked, with an 86% pass rate.
WayOut TV brings learning and preparation-for-release content directly to in-cell televisions across the secure estate.

An independent impact evaluation of in-cell learning, published with the University of the West of England in July 2025, is available to download.

Scale and specialism

Education delivered across London, the East and North Midlands, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and the North East.
Sole provider of education for the Scottish Prison Service, across all 16 establishments
Education and industries at HMP Millsike, the UK’s first all-electric prison
Specialist contracts including reading support, employment support, self-employment programmes and prison libraries
More than 600 accredited courses, from English and maths through to employer-recognised vocational qualifications, co-designed with industry
800+ colleagues working with people in custody and in the community

From custody to employment

Education is one half of the journey; a fair chance at a job is the other. Through the Social Recruitment Framework we connect employers with people leaving custody who are trained and ready to work, and we support employers on Ban the Box and fair recruitment practice. Our insights reports, including Unlocking Potential: Employment Pathways for Prison Leavers in the UK and Achieving Positive Resettlement from Education to Employment, set out what works.