College savings drive will hit jail education

Manchester College, which runs prison classrooms at more than 90 institutions, including most of the jails in Yorkshire, announced plans to cut 250 full and part-time posts earlier this year.

Staff in Hull have now received formal notice of the start of a redundancy consultation procedure, and some of the classes being taught at the prison have already stopped, according to one insider.

He said: "No one has lost their job yet although they have closed humanities classes."

In a statement Manchester College said its finances were "currently robust" but contracts had proved "financially challenging due to unforeseen hidden costs that could not have reasonably been anticipated".

It said additional "savings and efficiencies" needed to be made "which will unfortunately result in some staffing reductions."

It added: "There has been an excellent response to the opportunity to register an interest in the voluntary severance scheme, which will significantly contribute to reducing the number of compulsory redundancies and these are currently being assessed."

A letter to staff at Hull jail said savings of approximately 5m had to be made on yearly costs.

A spokesman for the University and College Union said: "However you look at this it's a kick in the teeth for staff who are already under a pay freeze and it's bad for learning."