PeoplePlus Scotland

On World Art Day, we’re sharing Threads of Us - a creative exhibition shaped by learners at HMP Dumfries.

Over recent weeks, learners have been developing work across textiles, ceramics, poetry and visual art, bringing together different ideas and experiences into something shared.

We’ve taken a closer look at the exhibition and the thinking behind it here:
https://peopleplus.co.uk/newsitem/threads-of-us-a-creative-exhibition-at-hmp-dumfries

Here’s a glimpse of the work behind it.

To all our customers, clients, partners and colleagues - thank you for helping us change lives every single day. We wish you an enjoyable, restful and peaceful Christmas period - and we can't wait to work with you again in 2026!

Today we are reflecting on some highlights from our justice division. This has been the busiest year yet for our teams, with significant growth in scale, new contracts going live, and delivery expanding across England and Scotland.

We successfully mobilised the new Prisoner Education Service (PES) contract, onboarding 11 additional prisons, we also began delivery of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Personal Development and Learning contract, going live across all 14 SPS establishments and Community Custody Units and establishing consistent provision from the outset. We welcomed over 400 new colleagues to PeoplePlus.
We also started deliver of education and industries at HMP Millsike, supporting the launch of a new resettlement prison with integrated learning and skills provision from day one. Delivery at Millsike has included education, employability and industry-aligned activity, alongside high-profile literacy engagement, reflecting the prison’s focus on progression and preparation for release.

Alongside large-scale mobilisation and new delivery, a number of other highlights reflect the breadth of our justice work this year. These included a University of the West of England evaluation of our Way2Learn in-cell learning model, national literacy activity linked to World Book Day, employer and sport-led programmes at HMP Lincoln, our learners were winners in the Koestler awards, our tutor was a finalist at the Inspire Justice Awards, international author Lee Child visited HMP Millsike and we've published an employment pathways insights report through our Social Recruitment Advocacy Group - laying the foundations for a new Justice Recruitment Advocacy Group launched in Q4.

Performance outcomes remained strong throughout the year. 96.23% of learners completing vocational courses achieved an accredited qualification, while 84.26% achieved accredited outcomes in maths and 90.93% in English.
Taken together, this year reflects the scale of delivery now in place across the justice estate, the pace of growth across new contracts and sites, and the depth of activity being delivered on the ground.
More stories and updates from across our justice work are available here:
👉 https://peopleplus.co.uk/categories/justice

Today we’re celebrating Samll Business Saturday and championing the people who take control of their future through self-employment. At PeoplePlus, we support people from all walks of life to explore ideas, build confidence and create small businesses that make a difference in their communities.

People Like Danny. Self-employment was an idea he had toyed with, but never had the structure, confidence or support to explore properly. While serving his sentence in HMP Edinburgh, however, that changed not just for his business idea, but for his outlook on life after release. With the Self-Employment Skills Academy he built a full business plan, grew his confidence and shaped a clear route into starting his own car detailing business. Read his full story here: https://peopleplus.co.uk/news/grit-to-gloss-how-danny-turned-setbacks-into-shine

PeoplePlus has achieved ISO 20000 certification, the international standard for IT service management. This accreditation demonstrates that our systems and processes meet globally recognised standards for reliability, efficiency, and continuous improvement. For our customers and clients, it means confidence that PeoplePlus delivers services through robust, secure, and well-managed IT systems - ensuring quality, reducing risk, and supporting long-term partnership success. Well done to our team who made this happen!
https://peopleplus.co.uk/newsitem/iso20000-accreditation

🌟 Feedback like this says it all… "I can hand on heart say David's course was the most enjoyable interactive comfortable course I've been on.

I highly recommend anyone that gets the chance to go for it. He put all aspects of employability techniques, interview skills, and life skills dos and don'ts in a way that it built my confidence and knowledge to take forward to use personally and to pass on others as well. The guy's outstanding at what he teaches and I wish the course was longer. Every person in the room all left feeling confident and positive."

This is what our employability programmes for people in North Lanarkshire are all about.

Our Working for Families programme helps parents, and our Fresh Start programme supports people with justice system experience, giving them the tools and confidence to secure lasting work.

👏 Huge well done to David, Lead Trainer, PeoplePlus Scotland, for making such a positive impact.

If you want to find out more about how we could support you email [email protected]

Entering the fourth week … Inside and outside the prison gates, we’re creating brighter futures together.

It’s been an exciting start to our Scottish Prison Service Education & Learning contract. From the 1st August, 100% of our team officially joined PeoplePlus Scotland, ready to build on the fantastic work of the previous provider.

Together with SPS, we’re focused on delivering purposeful, high-quality learning that makes a real difference for people in custody. With a new IT solution supporting delivery, this contract is already helping us take important steps forward.

Aligned with the Learning for a Better Future strategy, we’re also growing our employability services in communities across Scotland. From self-employment training and construction academies to the Employability Pipeline (with onward referrals to partners like Routes to Work and Capital City Partnership), we’re proud to see strong results already.

To the 147,000 people across Scotland receiving their results today - well done!

Whether it’s a National 5, Higher, Advanced Higher, Skills for Work Award, National Progression Award, or National Certificate - your achievements matter. They’re part of your story, not the whole of it.

By now, many will have ripped opened their envelope, seen their text, checked online, read the headlines (or still be waiting - thanks Storm Floris!) Some will be relieved. Some disappointed. Some still unsure what comes next.

At PeoplePlus Scotland, we’ve supported tens of thousands of people taking the next step - through Fair Start Scotland, local employability programmes, support into self-employment, and, from this month, by delivering education across all Scottish prisons.

We help people recognise what they’re good at, what’s possible, and where their strengths could take them - whether they follow a straight path or take a few turns along the way.

So if your results have opened the door you hoped for - brilliant. If they haven’t, there are always routes, options, and support to help you move forward.

Scotland - and wherever the world of work may take you - needs your skills, your ideas, your ambition. And we’ll keep doing our bit to make sure your potential finds its place.