Unions and MPs have slammed the Treasury’s delay in confirming whether prison educators’ pension schemes will be protected under the Ministry of Justice’s new £1.5 billion prison education contract.
Sector leaders have flagged that prison educators, who now work in the public sector after last November’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reclassification of colleges, could lose access to the teachers’ pension scheme if the new contract is awarded to a private provider under TUPE terms.
They also warned that private providers could “undercut” colleges currently providing the provision for over 80 prisons by paying “considerably less” in pension contributions.
The concerns come after the Ministry of Justice released a tender for the procurement of new prison education contracts last week, which determines that providers bid for the new core education services across 11 regional lots. The four-year contract for the new service will launch on April 1, 2025.
