Back-to-work schemes in England previously funded by EU forced to close

Government’s post-Brexit funding U-turn comes too late for councils to allocate money to keep them running

Back-to-work schemes across England previously paid for by the EU are being forced to close and lay off staff, despite a last-minute rule change by the government aimed at allowing councils to fund them.

Michael Gove’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) wrote to local authorities last week giving them the green light to spend their shared prosperity fund (SPF) allocations on job schemes, from April.