Prisoner Education Services
MOJ · MOJ_0064_2122-Q3
Department page: Ministry of Justice
| Data as at | Rating | End date | Whole-life cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2024 | Amber (the department's own assessment) | 30 June 2025 | £1,581m (price basis not stated) |
| March 2025 | Amber (the department's own assessment) | 31 December 2025 | £1,870.8m (price basis not stated) |
| March 2026 | Amber (the department's own assessment) | 31 January 2027 | £1,755.13m (in 2024/25 prices) |
Each year’s cost is shown with its price basis. Costs are not compared between years: the March 2024 and March 2025 reports state no price basis, and from March 2026 costs are in 2024/25 prices.
The department’s commentary
This is the department’s own commentary. It may use different prices from the table above, so its figures may not match.
March 2026
Rating: Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the Delivery Confidence Assessment has remained Amber. This is primarily due to uncertainty regarding limited contingency for the project’s final procurement activity.
Schedule: Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the project’s end date at 25/26-Q4 has changed from 31/12/25 to 31/01/27. This is primarily due to delays in the procurement of one element of the core education contract.
Cost: Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the Whole Life Costs at 25/26-Q4 have decreased from £1,870.80m to £1755.13m. The budget remains aligned to the current baseline business case. All costs have been reported in 2024/25 base prices in line with NISTA requirements. This is a change from previous years where costs were reported in nominal prices. All costs reflect this accounting reduction regardless of any actual changes.
March 2025
Rating: Compared to financial year 23/24-Q4, the Infrastructure Project Authority's Delivery Confidence Assessment rating at 24/25-Q4 remained at AMBER. This is primarily due to the following factors‚ Tranche 1 delivery is complete, and Tranche 2 has inherent risks to its timeline.
Schedule: Compared to financial year 23/24-Q4, the project's end-date at 24/25-Q4 increased from 30/06/2025 to 31/12/2025. This is primarily due to the following factors‚ The schedule was re-baselined to allow for finalisation of the new Core Education contracts and to increase the mobilisation duration.
Cost: Compared to financial year 23/24-Q4, the project's departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 24/25-Q4 (measured in £m) increased from 1581 to 1870. This is primarily due to the following factors‚ The increase reflects the updated Full Business Case costs and include the cost of extending the existing Prisoner Education Framework contracts as per the Strategic Outline Business Case.
Source: NISTA Annual Report 2024-25 (data)
March 2024
Rating: Compared to financial year 22/23-Q4, the Delivery Confidence Assessment rating at 23/24-Q4 remained at Amber(SRO rating). This is primarily due to the following factors. Inflation risks contributing to increasing estimated cost of delivery, offset by a reduction in delivery.
Schedule: Compared to financial year 22/23-Q4, the project's end-date at 23/24-Q4 remained schedule to finish on 2025-06-30. This is primarily due to the following factors. The project is on track to deliver against the baseline schedule.
Cost: Compared to financial year 22/23-Q4, the project's departmental-agree Whole Life Cost at 23/24-Q4 decreased from 1884m. to 1581m. This is primarily due to the following factors. The decrease reflects the updated Outline Business Case costs.
Source: IPA Annual Report 2023-24 (data)
Names, figures, dates, ratings and commentary are as the department reported them. Where a rating, cost or date is withheld, the file’s wording is shown. Every major project →