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Adult learning threatened by funding changes

BBC Step and Stone training threatened by EU funding cutBBC
Step and Stone helps to teach adults with learning disabilities how to make artisanal bread

Adults with learning disabilities could miss out on vital job training when the European Social Fund (ESF) grant ends, a social enterprise director warned.

Step and Stone teaches adults with learning disabilities to bake artisanal bread and relies on a £20,000 ESF annual grant, founder Jane Kippax said.

The Government said grants might be available via its Levelling up Fund.

However the Bristol-based social enterprise said it would be unable to access replacement funding in time.

Step and Stone was founded in Knowle in 2016 and currently has 50 trainees, 10 of whom have managed to secure full-time employment , and five of whom are engaged in voluntary work.

Lavosh flatbread is one of many successful products its trainees produce that are purchased by restaurants and delicatessens.

Minister for Disabled, Health and Work, Tom Pursglove MP , with Step and Stone founders Jane Kippax and Jane Chong
Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Tom Pursglove MP has discussed the funding gap with Step and Stone co-founders Jane Kippax and Jane Chong

But there is a funding gap looming.

Ten of the training places are paid for by a grant from the European Social Fund which runs out in 2024.

So far there is no alternative British funding stream that can reliably plug the gap.

Mrs Kippax raised the prospect of the shortfall with the Minister responsible for Disabled People, Health and Work in December when Tom Pursglove MP visited the bakery.

She told the BBC the minister "has taken that on board and will try to find some answers for us. It would be good to get some clarity that something is going to replace that".

Mr Pursglove said: "There's a whole range of support that the government provides to help support disabled people into work.

"For example we have been very successful in achieving on our objective of getting a million more disabled people in work. We met that five years earlier than planned."

People working at large kitchen table
Unless replacement funding can be secured by autumn, Step and Stone says it will have to reduce the number of its trainees

"But we can't be complacent," he added.

"We've got to be ambitious and we will continue to look at support schemes that are in place across government, like this, but also more generally in getting people into work."

Since his visit, the BBC has asked the Department for Work and Pension for an answer as to where the funding might come from.

The DWP suggested a £2.6 bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund levelling-up fund (UKSPF) could help fund the training.

In a statement the DWP said: "Local authorities decide how UKSPF is spent and work with a range of local partners to develop and deliver the fund.

"It's down to organisations like Step and Stone to apply to local councils who are given a portion of the money."

"Additionally, through schemes such as Access to Work and Disability Confident, we are supporting more disabled people into the right type of employment for them."

Flatbreads on trays
Lavosh flatbread is among many of the successful products the social enterprise sells to restaurants and delis

But Step and Stone co-founder Jane Chong, said there was no clear mechanism to obtain the funding in time.

Her 27-year-old son Andrew has Down's syndrome and was the inspiration for the scheme.

Mrs Chong said: "When you have one child with some special needs and another or others that don't, I think you are very aware that the world presents quite differently to your different children.

"So we wanted a kinder world, and a world that offers opportunity."

Unless a funding replacement is found by autumn, the social enterprise will have to reduce the number of training places it offers for young adults.