Learning through life, for any reason and none, improves work, health, wellbeing and active citizenship. We’ve known the benefits of adult education for a long time – at L&W we’ve been promoting them and making the case for widening access to learning for the past 100 years.

Social prescribing to adult education could be a key tool to address the mental health crisis and support NHS services following the coronavirus pandemic. The Centre for Mental Health predicts that up to 10 million people in England (almost 20% of the population) will need new or additional mental health support as a direct result of the pandemic.

L&W was commissioned by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to undertake a mapping exercise of social prescribing to adult education to improve Londoners’ mental health. This report focuses on how social prescribing to adult education works, the challenges faced and ways to improve it.

The report presents an overview of social prescribing to adult education in London and discusses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic; explores how services are designed and delivered, including the role of partnerships; examines how services are monitored and evaluated; and discusses how the GLA, social prescribers and adult education providers can work together in developing more sustainable and accessible services across London.