A meeting on 29th January will hear Labour’s plans to hive off the Yorkcraft facility on Tadcaster Road.

It seems likely that it will become (another) “social enterprise” organisation in 2015.

The details of the plan are being kept confidential in line with the current Councils fixation with secrecy.

However it seems clear that the core Yorkcraft organisation will be retained with a hybrid system of specialist services such as gardening being developed.

The Yorkcraft Factory (on Tadcaster Road, opposite Tesco’s) is a service arm of City of York Council which provides supported employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Yorkcraft was established in 1963 as a supported business for people with visual impairment. The premises occupied by Yorkcraft belong to CYC but the land is leased, at a peppercorn rent, from Wilberforce Trust on condition that it is used primarily to support employment for disabled people and has 40 years remaining on the lease.

The commercial on-site factory services include: Direct mail, Contract packing, Sub assembly, confidential archiving, Confidential Waste Collection and Destruction, and Recycling.

Its off site work includes: Gardening, Decorating, Office Removals, Handy Person Service, and General Labour.

Yorkcraft provides 30 full-time (16+ hours) Supported Employments for adults with a disability and/or mental health under Department for Work and Pensions (DWP’s) Work Choice Programme. Much of the work that it does is directly for the York Council (e.g. direct mailings)