Scottish digital skills academy Codeclan has been plunged into liquidation after a cashflow crisis. 

Established in 2015 with Scottish Government seed funding, Codeclan focussed on bridging the critical digital skills gap in Scotland and supporting a new generation of digital talent.

However on Friday Quantuma were appointed  as joint provisional liquidators with the loss of  57 jobs.

The company was significantly impacted by Covid as, in addition to providing training to individuals, it derived significant income from placing people into employment. 

In 2021 the Inverness office was closed and the business looked to have returned to some stability.

Unfortunately, current market conditions have hit the turnover, with the business placement side of the business once again suffering.

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Attempts to replace this income have failed and ultimately, a lack of cashflow has resulted in the company being placed in liquidation and immediately ceasing to trade.

Quantuma managing director and joint provisional liquidator Craig Morrison said: “It is deeply regrettable that Codeclan has been forced to cease trading, due to challenging market conditions.

“A combination of unsettled trading conditions, particularly impacting the business placements side of the business, has seen Codeclan unable to continue.

“As joint provisional liquidators, our immediate priorities have been to provide appropriate support to those whose jobs have been affected. The Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) has been engaged to work with employees.”

The sudden closure prompted one of the impacted students – Stuart Ure – to launch a £50,000 campaign on JustGiving to allow students to complete their bootcamps. As of Monday the campaign had received pledges of £14,145.

Mr Ure has asked potential fundraisers to ‘please help’ seven cohorts of students to complete their courses.

He added: “We took a risk, we put everything into our learning with the promise of a better life in the future.

“I do believe that opportunity is still there, but we do need to be able to finish the course. Please help us do this.”

As well as students no longer being able to complete their courses, CodeClan instructors have also been left without jobs.

Ure said that any funds raised would go towards paying them to help students complete studies.

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He said: “When CodeClan went into liquidation, the brilliant and dedicated instructors lost their jobs. We’re asking some of them to come back and help us finish our bootcamp, but we can’t ask them to do this for free.

“They have rent to pay and families to support. Help us to pay them for their time while they help to get us over the finishing line.”