A training provider which has helped 200 people in Birmingham qualify as carers in the last two years is axing jobs after saying the Government “wiped out funding overnight.”

Worcestershire-based Train2Succeed has been forced to lay off a quarter of its workforce in emergency cutbacks after the new coalition suddenly withdrew its funding for NVQ students, it was revealed today.

Sue Rickwood, director of the Droitwich-based firm, said only last year Train2Succeed had been awarded a Grade One rating following its first Government-appointed Ofsted inspection.

The company trains candidates to work as carers in nursing homes, home care and learning disability units throughout Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, and has helped 200 Birmingham trainees over the last two years.

“We have done everything that has been asked of us. We have Ofsted’s endorsement that we are the best at what we do, and now we have been told that certain large providers that have not necessarily attained the high standards of quality that we have will be getting funding.

“You hear such horror stories of elderly people falling prey to untrained, unprofessional, unfeeling and unscrupulous carers. The UK has an increasing, ageing population that need care, so the demand is indisputably there and escalating for well trained and well motivated carers who feel they are valued by society.”

Mrs Rickwood added: “We’ve been running since 2006 but the funding was wiped out overnight. We had jumped through hoops for this funding and we were set up for growth. We are a very small company but have had to make four redundancies.

“Surely funding should be given to those providers who have the best results. It seems to me another setback for smaller businesses that really are the backbone of our local economy.”