LifeSkills shut after ‘dispute’ with Govt

EIGHTY staff were made redundant as a training provider went into administration — blaming an “ongoing dispute” with the government.

LifeSkills has its headquarters on Bridge Street in Rotherham (above) and other post-16 education sites in Lowestoft and Basildon.

The social enterprise was working with more than 470 students — having supported 22,000 over its two decades.

It was named as number 16 in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For just four months ago.

But LifeSkills said there had been an ongoing row with the Education and Skills Funding Agency and Department for Education.

This had affected funding and made the operation unviable, leading to the sudden closure on Friday.

A spokesperson for LifeSkills said: “Over the last 20 years, LifeSkills has done some wonderful work and we are proud to have supported the learning of over 22,000 young people.

“While we have tried everything to save the company. This has not been possible and we are incredibly sad to be in this situation.

“We would like to thank our brilliant team for all of their hard work and for creating a truly wonderful company.”

Kris Wigfield, managing partner at Begbies Traynor, said the immediate priority was to assist students and employees as much as possible.

Sister business Eddisons would still listen to organisations with a genuine interest in purchasing the company, he added.

The Department for Education said: “We can confirm that LifeSkills Solutions Ltd have notified us that they have gone into administration following a funding audit that identified data irregularities. We are working with LifeSkills to find alternative high quality training providers for the learners affected so that they can complete their training.”