A social enterprise which helps young people to get jobs is under threat.
Warnings have been issued that Argyll Training Limited, which helped 160 people aged between 16 and 24 to gain work and qualifications last year, could cease to exist by September.
Argyll Training arranges work placements with local companies allowing people to gain experience and qualifications. It also provides modern apprenticeships.
But funding cuts are making it increasingly difficult to operate.
Oban councillors are bringing an motion to next week’s Argyll and Bute Council meeting calling on the Scottish Government to help save the service.
A number of Argyll Training staff have already taken voluntary redundancy.
The remaining 16 have taken salary reductions and are subject to 90 days notice of redundancy. The company’s offices in Campbeltown and Rothesay have been closed, with only the bases at Oban, Dunoon and Greenock remaining.
Fraser McCowan, managing director of Argyll Training, said: “We are a social enterprise set up to relieve poverty through access to training and employment opportunities.
“We bid for national training contracts mainly here in Argyll and in Inverclyde.
“We now find ourselves in a position where beyond September we may no longer be able to continue in the same shape or form.”
There has been a 42% reduction (70 places) in the Employability Fund for 2016/17 for Argyll and Bute. DWP programmes (mandatory work activity and community work placement contracts) have stopped with no extension of provision until Welfare to Work activity is devolved to Scotland from April 1 2017.
In a motion proposed by Councillor Roddy McCuish, the Lead Councillor for Oban Lorn and the Isles said: “It is of key concern that if Argyll Training ceases to trade, then Argyll and Bute will in effect be left with little or no Employability Fund provision. This will have a significant impact on the support that can be offered to our vulnerable young people in terms of providing them with the necessary skills and qualifications to aide them into employment, including the opportunity to become a modern apprentice.
“The loss of quality training jobs, and the key role they play in rural employability will have a huge impact on Argyll and Bute’s economy.”
The motion from the Oban Lorn and the Isles area committee to go before council on Thursday asks the council to call on the Scottish Government to work with the council to develop options for the continuation of the Argyll Training service.
