HiddenHeroes Day 2025 – 24.09.25
Launched in 2020 by HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne), HiddenHeroesDay is a national day – held on the last Wednesday of September each year – paying tribute to the #HiddenHeroes working in UK prisons, IRCs, probation and youth justice services. This year’s HiddenHeroes Day is on Wednesday 24 September.
HiddenHeroes Day is an opportunity to show everyone working in custodial and community justice settings that they are not forgotten, even if they are largely hidden from view, and to thank them for the critical, and often challenging, work they do on behalf of the people in the care and the public they serve.
The Princess Royal launched the inaugural HiddenHeroes Day in 2020, at a special event at HMP Bullingdon, where she delivered her own personal messages of thanks to staff throughout the UK, saying:
“It’s a real pleasure to be here today, to share in your celebrations of the first national Hidden Heroes Day, in recognition of all that you and your colleagues do, on behalf of both the people in your care, and the public you serve so admirably.”
You can find a write-up of #HiddenHeroes Day 2020 here.
The day has been widely observed every year since its launch, with events paying tribute to staff held right across the country, and messages of thanks and support from across the sector and beyond. You can follow pictures and messages from the day via the dedicated @HiddenHeroesDay feed on ‘X’ (Twitter), and add messages of your own using the hashtag #HiddenHeroes.
As one Prison Officer put it, summing up what HiddenHeroes Day means to her and her colleagues:
“To have a day where people have gone, ‘we see you, you are not forgotten, this is for you’, it’s wonderful.”