A charity which trains people to become prison officers has failed to extend a government contract which provides the main source of its income, due to a branding issue.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it awarded Unlocked Graduates an extension to its current contract, which provided 96% of its £4.21m income in the year to March 2023, but the charity then withdrew after trying to change the terms of the deal.
Civil Society understands the disagreement concerns the branding of the prison officer recruitment scheme, with the charity wishing to provide the services under its own banner instead of that of the government department.
The MoJ said its tender included a requirement that the brand of the scheme, which Unlocked Graduates has run for eight years, must be owned by the department rather than any third party and that changing these terms would risk a legal challenge.
Unlocked Graduates, which employs more than 50 people, would not comment on the branding issue but said it was “deeply saddened” that it had been unable to agree terms with the MoJ and that it does not have a contract to recruit any further cohorts to its programme.
“We hope in the coming weeks that the new government can work with Unlocked to find a way forward so we are able to recruit a 2025 cohort,” it said in a statement.
“Not doing so ultimately deprives the prison service of the talent it so desperately needs and deserves.”
MoJ: ‘Disappointing’ to see charity withdraw
Consultant Jonathan Simons, who claims to have come up with the charity’s name, wrote on social media that “massively conservative legal and procurement advice” may have contributed to the disagreement.
“The answer of the last government seems to be to have offered Unlocked a new contract in which they have to surrender their brand, their training materials, and decisions on who stays on the programme and how they’re supported,” he wrote.
“Essentially, a totally controlled government outsourced model. Unlocked can’t agree to that. And nor should they.”
An MoJ spokesperson said: “Unlocked Graduates is contracted to provide its valuable service recruiting talented new prison officers until 2026 and we thank them for their work.
“The terms of the tender process for the prison officer graduate scheme were clear throughout the procurement process and accepted by all bidders, including Unlocked Graduates.
“We offered Unlocked Graduates the contract on those terms and it is disappointing to see them withdraw from the process at this late stage.
“However, changing the terms after the tender process would have risked a legal challenge and a resultant waste of taxpayers’ money.”
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