HEREFORDSHIRE Housing will not be delivering adult training courses from the Learning Box in Hereford from next month.

The training centre at Brierly Court on Turner Street had been providing courses on behalf of Herefordshire Council for the last three years.

The Learning Box provided a variety of free and paid training, CV writing assistance, computer, tablet and phone guidance along with document printing services.

It was setup to help residents of all abilities to get online, gain qualifications and get back into work.

But the housing association revealed last week that it will not be applying for funding from the council to run these courses from September 1.

A Herefordshire Housing spokesperson said the decision was taken based on a number of factors including recourses available to meet specification.

Adult skills and community learning courses in the county are funded by the local authority.

These courses are then delivered by course providers such as the Learning Box but it is now expected that another provider will take over these particular courses.

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said: “In 2016, Herefordshire Council identified 11 preferred providers for the delivery of adult and community learning provision in Herefordshire as part of a framework to run from 2016-2019.

“The successful providers were identified following a thorough procurement process.

“Once accepted onto the framework, each provider was then invited to bid for adult and community learning funding based on what they are offering.

“Contracts are renewed on an annual basis and any of the provider organisations may choose not to bid for the following year.

“They will, however, remain as a preferred provider for the duration of the framework period (in this case, until July 2019).

“If a particular provider withdraws, the council’s adult and community learning team will seek to work with other providers to fill any gap that this leaves.”

Herefordshire Housing will continue to provide free computer and internet access from the Job Club at Hinton Community Centre. The Job Club provides free public access to recourses such as word processing software and a tutor to assist with things such as job applications. Job Club runs each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9-4pm.