Industries Workshop Instructor – Furniture Restoration & Upholstery

Location HMP Millsike

Salary From £30,000

Contract Permanent

The Role

Build skills. Make a difference. Change futures.

Industries Workshop Instructor – Furniture Restoration & Upholstery

Are you practical, hands-on and interested in textiles, upholstery or manufacturing?

We're looking for a Workshop Instructor – Textile Workshop to lead the day-to-day operation of a busy bed restoration workshop within a Category C resettlement prison. You'll train, mentor and supervise prisoners, helping them develop practical manufacturing skills and work-ready behaviours while producing quality products for Reborn Beds.

Previous prison or teaching experience isn't essential — full training and support will be provided. We're particularly interested in people with experience in upholstery, furniture manufacturing, carpentry, sewing, practical assembly or similar hands-on environments.

What you'll be doing

Train and mentor prisoners in practical bed restoration and manufacturing skills, including frame stripping, wood re-boarding, foam cutting, padding and fabric reupholstering.
Oversee daily workshop production, ensuring targets, schedules and quality standards are achieved.
Support prisoners to develop confidence, teamwork, accountability and work-ready behaviours.
Maintain high standards of health & safety, COSHH, tool control and risk assessment within a secure environment.
Operate and maintain workshop tools, machinery and industrial sewing equipment, where required.
Manage workshop materials and stock, including timber, fabrics, foam and upholstery supplies.
Monitor attendance, behaviour and skills progression and provide relevant feedback to support release preparation.
Work collaboratively with prison staff and wider education and employability teams.

Why this role matters

This isn't just a workshop role.

You'll be helping people develop real, practical skills that can lead to employment, while supporting rehabilitation and producing affordable, quality beds for families who need them.

You'll play a hands-on role in helping prisoners nearing release build confidence, discipline and practical skills they can take into employment and the community.

What we're looking for

We're looking for someone with a practical, hands-on background who can combine industry knowledge with the ability to motivate, support and develop others.

You'll ideally have:

Experience in upholstery, furniture manufacturing, carpentry, sewing, production, assembly or a similar practical environment.
Experience training, mentoring or supervising others is desirable but not essential.
Knowledge of workshop tools, machinery and safe working practices.
An understanding of health & safety and risk assessment.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
A calm, professional, patient and supportive approach.
A genuine interest in helping people develop and progress.

Experience working within a prison, custodial or education environment would be advantageous, but isn't essential. Full training and support will be provided.

Join us and make a difference

If you're looking for a role where your practical skills can genuinely change lives, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today and help build skills, confidence and brighter futures.

Who We Are

Here at People Plus, we make a positive difference to people’s lives – every single day.

We use our experience to support hundreds of thousands of people each year. Our committed teams work across Britain to deliver a range of public services, including employment support, skills training, prison education, starting a business, and support to help employers grow.

To put it simply, we:

Support people to find and keep jobs
Help people to set up their own businesses
Deliver skills training to further people’s careers
Work with employers to build a skilled and happy workforce
Rehabilitate people with convictions
Tackle the root causes of offending
Support carers

We are extremely proud to be a Gold accredited Investors in People organisation. This demonstrates our commitment to creating the very best environment and culture for our colleagues to succeed and thrive.

We are committed to transforming the lives of people with convictions through our work in prisons.

Our services have been designed to tackle the underlying causes of offending behaviour so people can make positive changes to their lives.
With more than 500 people working to support people with convictions in custody and in the community, we bring passion, experience and innovation to public sector rehabilitation services.

We also work with specialist partner organisations to help people move away from their past and look forward to a brighter future.

All of our services are designed in partnership with the people who we’re trying to help and away from our direct work with people serving their sentences, we’re working hard to change attitudes towards people who can often be tarnished unfairly following criminal convictions. Our Social Recruitment Framework brings together organisations to tackle any pre-conceived ideas about hiring people who have previously been involved in crime.

We also work with employers on the Ban the Box initiative to support fair and equal recruitment processes and have engaged industry to influence our employer-led curriculum delivered to our learners.

Our Benefits

A paid PeoplePlus Life Event Day each year

30 days annual leave for Teaching roles / 25 days for support roles

Cycle to Work scheme

Access to hundreds of discounts via the Additions portal

Employee Assistance Programme

Access to online wellbeing centre

Enhanced Wedding leave

Enhanced Maternity scheme

A paid volunteering day each year

Refer a Friend reward scheme

Holiday purchase scheme

Pension
scheme

Life
assurance

Testimonials

"What I love about working in a prison environment is that no 2 days are the same. You are a number of different roles such as counsellor, adviser and at times the person that makes a difference in that individual’s life.

There are also good career opportunities for an individual. I started as a supply tutor and I am now an assistant manager. At PeoplePlus you are given the opportunities to gain new skills and qualifications to enable you to be the best version of yourself."

"I have been lucky enough to work in a number of roles within PeoplePlus within the prison education sector, each of which has provided variety, challenge, and immense job satisfaction. The company recognises, values, and rewards the hard work of its employees, providing great professional development and career progression opportunities as well as a great range of perks and support for wellbeing."