Young Enterprise Scotland, the national charity that has delivered enterprise education to schools and colleges for over 30 years, has confirmed it has made 17 members of staff redundant after failing to secure Scottish Government funding in October.
The national charity will now operate on a significantly reduced staff team of no more than a dozen people after being denied funding from the Scottish Government’s new Entrepreneurial Education Fund.
YE Scotland’s funding has historically come from a combination of a core continuity grant from the Scottish Government, an ongoing pipeline of support from Trusts and Foundations and, to a lesser extent, support from the private sector.
In July this year, YE Scotland was advised the grant process would now cease with immediate effect, replaced with a competitive process which subsequently opened in August. The new fund awarded seven organisations with a share of £829,346, with YE Scotland being unsuccessful in this round of funding.
The charity was granted emergency funding of £285,000 which covered its existing costs for this financial year, allowing YE Scotland to avoid closure.
Young Enterprise Scotland CEO Emma Soanes said: “It is a huge relief that we have been able to avoid a complete closure of Young Enterprise Scotland and we are grateful to the Scottish Government for providing us with emergency funding which prevented our worst case scenario becoming reality.
“Sadly however, this will provide little consolation to the 17 valued members of our team who have lost their jobs just weeks before Christmas.
“Losing our major income source has been an enormously unsettling and upsetting time for everyone involved, and while we try to remain positive there is no doubt there will be challenging times ahead as we refocus and prioritise what programmes we deliver within schools and colleges on such a reduced staff model.”
Last year, YE Scotland supported over 18,000 school and college students through its enterprise programmes, including its flagship Company Programme, which many entrepreneurs credit with setting them on a successful business career. In the past three years, more than 1,000 students have gained a YE Scotland enterprise qualification (SCQF Level 6) to prepare them for further education, work and life.
Emma Soanes added: “We will definitely be engaging our own entrepreneurial mindsets in the coming weeks and months as we reposition ourselves within the education ecosystem and continue with our commitment to deliver financial and enterprise education from primary one and early years, right through to S6”.