West Ealing Based Accession Closes

Social enterprise was not making enough money to cover costs

The West Ealing based Social Enterprise, Accession, which helped find training and work for people with learning difficulties, is to close tomorrow.

The main shop and picture framing business on Uxbridge Road has already closed its doors, the Hanwell charity store will serve its last customer tomorrow.

The board has just released this statement:

It is with much sadness that the board of directors of Accession Social Enterprise has had to make the difficult decision to close the company on Friday 5 February.

Accession was set up to provide work experience opportunities and training to people who may find it difficult to find a job without support.

However, it also needed to be financially sustainable; that means to generate enough money to cover the costs of providing this training and work experience as well as the costs incurred by running the different businesses.

Since the initial grant funding ended the company has struggled to generate enough money to cover all the costs. Despite increases in sales and applications for grants to other sources, we no longer have the income necessary to pay for the work experience opportunities and training we provide together with the costs of running the businesses.

The West Ealing Community Shop and Picture Framing Studio closed on Saturday 30 January. The Hanwell Community Shop, the Distribution/Upcycling Centre in Greenford and the Design and Print shop in West Ealing will close on Friday 5 February. 

Staff, volunteers, and especially trainees are currently being supported during this difficult period, with the London Borough of Ealing and the West London Mental Health Trust providing particular support for our trainees and their long term needs.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers and supporters for their longstanding support. It has been much appreciated by us all. We would also like to thank everyone who has taken the trouble to phone our offices, drop into our shops or leave supportive messages on the local social media groups over the past fortnight.

Managing Director, Penny Newman said: '' At Accession, we are all very saddened as we know that we were making a difference to our trainees' lives as well as our employees, volunteers and the local community.''

A council spokesperson said: ''We are saddened to hear the news about Accession and will be meeting with trainees funded by Ealing Council to offer support and discuss possible alternatives. Accession has informed us that it is in discussion with other organisations to take over running of its activities.''

February 4th 2016