📰 Adult Literacy News Summary
ESOL cuts are legal, lawyers tell Reform mayor
07-Dec-2025 - UK
A mayor’s plan to cut off funding for ESOL classes has received the all-clear from her combined authority’s legal team. Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Dame Andrea Jenkyns plans to withdraw funding for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses when control of £17-19 million in adult skills funding is devolved next September.
Read moreDame Maggie Smith's son says he's inherited this 1 passion from her
06-Dec-2025 - UK
As he backs a Christmas appeal to send books into prisons, Toby Stephens on the moving public response to his mother Dame Maggie Smith's passing. Give A Book, the inspirational charity, promotes the pleasure of reading in hard-to-reach places like prisons, mother and baby units and among disadvantaged children.
Read moreCall for Proposals: Collaboration and Innovation Fund
06-Dec-2025 - Ireland
Ireland’s Adult Literacy for Life (ALL) programme has opened its 2026 Collaboration and Innovation Fund (CIF), offering €1 million to support new, collaborative projects that improve adult literacy, numeracy, digital skills and financial literacy. Funding is available to public, community and voluntary organisations working in partnership, with separate strands for general literacy, financial literacy and family literacy.
Read moreAudiobooks Emerge as a Key Wellbeing Tool for Busy Adults
06-Dec-2025 - UK
Harvey Publishing has announced that its full range of nonfiction titles is now available in audiobook format. According to a 2021 survey by the National Literacy Trust, 44.3 per cent of adults now listen to audiobooks in their spare time. Between 2023 and 2024, UK audiobook revenue surged by 31 per cent to reach £268 million — strong evidence that audio has moved from niche to mainstream.
Read moreZaZa’s Storybox honoured at Downing Street reception
05-Dec-2025 - UK
The owner of this small parent-run business, which brings the joy of reading to young families, has spent this week rubbing shoulders with the great and good of British Politics at The House of Lords and 11 Downing Street. Danni Perkins, who runs Romsey based children's book subscription box ZaZa’s Storybox, was invited to the Small Business Saturday celebrations in London after having her company named one of the UK's 100 most inspiring small businesses.
Read morePilot gives away 4,500 books to island students
05-Dec-2025 - UK
An airline pilot and author is giving away three books to every Year 2 school child on the Isle of Wight. Rob Johnson, from Sussex, said he hoped his stories, which follow the adventures of pilots Ollie and Polly, would enthuse the pupils with a love of books. His outreach programme addresses the low age-related reading levels on the island - a previous BBC report showed one in three children were below their reading age by the time they started secondary school.
Read moreCountries of the World Mapped by Literacy Rate
05-Dec-2025 - Global
Why can almost every adult read in Finland or Andorra, while in Chad and Mali, fewer than one in three can? This countries by literacy rate list lines up every UN member from highest to lowest adult literacy, showing a world split between near-universal readers and places where reading is still a rare skill.
Read moreNational Literacy Trust’s research reveals ‘worrying skills gap’ in young workforce
04-Dec-2025 - UK
A new paper published today by the National Literacy Trust suggests that the literacy skills young people need to thrive in work are rapidly changing while education and policy systems are not keeping pace, creating a “worrying skills gap that could undermine young people’s prospects”.
Read moreWest Lancashire College hosts annual Literacy Week celebrations
01-Dec-2025 - UK
West Lancashire College celebrated Literacy Week from 24th to 28th November to highlight the importance of reading, writing and effective communication in future job roles. The annual event featured an array of fantastic activities organised by the College’s curriculum team to inspire their students and included interactive workshops, creative writing sessions and staff also hosted a ‘book pick-up’ session during lunch time.
Read moreLake District: Grasmere trust launches child literacy appeal
28-Nov-2025 - UK
A Grasmere-based trust is taking part in a national fundraising campaign designed to support child literacy. The Wordsworth Trust, which is based in Grasmere and manages Dove Cottage, is launching its Wordsworth in Schools appeal as part of The Big Give, a UK-wide charitable initiative. The trust claims that one in five primary school children may never have heard or read a poem. They are seeking donations between Tuesday, December 2, and Monday, December 8, through The Big Give platform.
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