About Us - Access to Industry

What We Do

Access to Industry works with individuals to support them into education and employment. Our work delivers real transformative change, assisting individuals to overcome personal difficulties that impede their progress.

We do this through programmes and courses that provide one-to-one support, group work, tutored classes and work experience. Our aim is to facilitate access to further and higher education, training and employment. We are an approved SQA (Scottish Qualification Authority) centre.

Our programmes and courses develop essential core skills such as communication, ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and problem solving. We take a holistic approach and offer individual support that aims to alleviate wider personal barriers.

Our Annual Report and Accounts can be found here:

2023/24 Annual Report and Accounts

2022/23 Annual Report and Accounts

2021/22 Annual Report and Accounts

Our Strategy for the period 2024-2027 can be found here:

Access to Industry Stategy 2024-2027

Governance

We are a registered charity governed by our Board of Directors. Our directors set the strategy and ensure we are properly run and meeting our purpose.

We have a board with diverse experience including education, finance, justice, HR and employability. Our board is led by our Chair.

Leadership: Access to Industry has a management structure that is led by two Co-Chief Executives: Adele Hill and Sally McGreevy.

History

Access to Industry was established as a charity in 2000. Initially the creative industry sector provided the focus for our programmes but through time we expanded the remit of our work as well as our geographical reach.

Our history and development inform the content of the programmes we offer today. We are pleased to offer a broad range of opportunities to anyone eligible, regardless of background or age. We have increased our professional skills and knowledge by supporting unemployed people with particular needs, whether they are in recovery from substance use, have an offending history, experience of homelessness, or require support for their mental health.

More About Us

Originally operating from the Wester Hailes area of Edinburgh we expanded across the East of Scotland as we developed further education ‘Access Courses’. These were designed to encourage people unlikely to access mainstream college courses – without a bit of additional support – to apply for and then retain a college place.

In 2003 we began to develop a specialism in supporting the specific needs of people in recovery from substance misuse. Part of this specialism was delivered in one-to-one support but also in ensuring our programme of activity enabled routine building and the opportunity to grow both in confidence and academic qualifications. Our in-house ‘community’ college was born at this point and our partnership to deliver this with (now) Edinburgh College. Our name changed to Access to Industry.

In 2006 we began development of another specialism, supporting people with an offending history. We offered an innovating employability ‘through-care’ support system initially to young men from HMP & YOI Polmont being liberated to areas in the central belt of Scotland, and subsequently to adults being liberated from HMP Edinburgh and to women offenders.

As an organisation we continue to develop opportunities for people who are unemployed and who face barriers to employment.

Other Services

Disclosure Training

Knowing how a history of offending can impact on someone’s employment choices and prospects can be tricky without knowledge of disclosure. We provide training that gives information and practical advice to agencies supporting clients with convictions.

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Training & Meeting Facilities

Our Cowgate premises is centrally based, easily accessible by bus and 5 minutes’ walk from Waverley Station. We have a range of meeting spaces that can accommodate 4-26 people. We have two computer suites.

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