Education and Training for Women With Convictions

Working Chance is the UK’s only employment charity dedicated to women with criminal convictions. In early 2024, we identified a critical gap: many women couldn’t access education or training opportunities essential for rebuilding their lives. In response, we expanded our service to support women into education or training.

Through our work supporting women into employment, and consultation with our lived experience advisory panel, we determined that involvement with the criminal justice system can disrupt education, either through interaction with the youth justice system, or needing to withdraw from study due to a conviction. Having a conviction can also exclude people from certain roles or sectors, meaning they must retrain to find work in a different sector. We also found that some women want to upskill and refresh qualifications after time in prison.

In response, we developed a dedicated education and training support service supporting women to pursue qualifications and skills development post-conviction. The aim was to improve long-term rehabilitation outcomes, enabling women to set out on new paths and ultimately flourish. Clients describe the support as transformative and unique. The success of the pilot led to the education and training service being adopted as a permanent part of our offer.