Back on Track Manchester

Name

Back on Track Manchester

Legal name

Back on Track

Website

https://backontrackmanchester.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charitable social and community learning services

NAICS

Other Community Housing Services (624229)

SIC

Services-Help Supply Services (7363)

akta.pro primary industry

Reentry & Justice-Involved Support Services (BPAGAEAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Workforce Support Services & Case Management (Coaching, Wraparound) (EDAAAOAK), Reentry, Rehabilitation & Reintegration Programs (Education, Vocational, Case Management) (BPAKANAH)

Keywords

• Community learning services
• Multiple disadvantage support
• Charity rehabilitation services
• Adult employability programmes
• Holistic wellbeing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Manchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable funding and donations: Back on Track is funded through charitable grants, donations, and commissioned services from government and foundation funders. Revenue comes from multiple funders including National Lottery Community Fund, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Manchester City Council, and various charitable foundations.
2. Donations and voluntary contributions: The organization accepts donations from individuals and organizations to support its charitable mission.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Back on Track Manchester is a community charity that provides free, in-person community learning courses and one-to-one casework support to adults in Greater Manchester experiencing multiple disadvantage, including drug or alcohol issues, offending behaviour, homelessness and mental health challenges. Its core offering combines a varied timetable of essential-skills, life-skills, pre-employment, psycho-education and creative courses with tailored caseworker support and wraparound interventions delivered at its central Manchester learning centre. Specialist programmes such as Trailblazer (employment), GM Multiply (numeracy), Early Help for Adults (with Shelter and Big Life Group), Manchester Wellbeing Service (via GMIRS), Voices for Change, and the Swan Kitchens cafe extend the offering around employability, wellbeing, advocacy and community connection.

Product overview

Back on Track Manchester is a single-site community charity (not a platform product) offering an integrated ecosystem of support services centred around its central Manchester learning centre. The core offering combines a Community Learning Programme of courses and activities with One-to-One Support from caseworkers, augmented by specialised employment programmes (Trailblazer, GM Multiply), wellbeing services (Manchester Wellbeing Service, Early Help for Adults), and member-led initiatives (Voices for Change). Physical facilities include Swan Kitchens cafe, and community projects like the Parks Heritage Project extend learning beyond traditional classroom settings. All services operate within a coproduction framework where members influence service design and delivery.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Swan Kitchens cafe: The cafe located at the learning centre, open every day, which serves as a community space.

Products and services

• Community Learning Programme A quality, exciting and varied timetable of courses and activities designed around subjects members want to learn about, including essential skills, life skills, pre-employment skills, psycho-education and creative activities, for adults in Greater Manchester experiencing multiple disadvantage.
• One-to-One Support Tailored support from a caseworker to people who benefit from guidance in areas such as wellbeing, employability, or moving on from convictions, including wraparound support for those experiencing severe forms of disadvantage.
• Trailblazer Employment Programme An employment programme helping 75 people remove additional barriers they face to get into work, providing person-centred support with dedicated navigators.
• GM Multiply A numeracy skills scheme led by Greater Manchester Combined Authority that supports people to gain essential life skills for budgeting, health and cooking, with opportunities for qualifications.
• Early Help for Adults Service A service delivered in partnership with Shelter and Big Life Group providing support for adults facing multiple disadvantages, underpinned by early intervention, person-centred approaches and developing resilience.
• Manchester Wellbeing Service Part of GMIRS (Greater Manchester Integrated Rehabilitative Services), providing support to enable people to improve their physical, emotional and mental health.
• Swan Kitchens Cafe A cafe facility at the learning centre that serves as the heart of the community, with partnerships including food donations from local Aldi to fight food poverty and reduce waste.
• Parks Heritage Project A creative project involving members researching and producing artwork, poems and personal stories about the history of local parks (Phillips Park, Queens Park and Sandhills), with a dedicated website.
• Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) Matrix-approved one-to-one person-centred information, advice and guidance services including weekly drop-in sessions, initial interviews, regular progress meetings, and referrals to specialist support.

Quantifiable outcome

• 523 people took part in learning activities in 2025/26
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Shelter and Big Life GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership delivering the Early Help for Adults Service in Manchester, providing support for adults facing multiple disadvantages with early intervention and prevention approaches.
• Greater Manchester Integrated Rehabilitative Services (GMIRS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of a partnership of charities working across Greater Manchester delivering the Manchester Wellbeing Service. Back on Track provides support to enable people to improve physical, emotional and mental health.
• Greater Manchester Combined AuthoritycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGM Multiply programme provider - a numeracy skills scheme led by Greater Manchester Combined Authority supporting people to gain essential life skills.
• Greater Manchester Good Employment ChartercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounder member helping to bring about better employment practice in the region. Promotes Ban the Box campaign for fairer recruitment.
• AldiminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partnership where Aldi makes twice weekly donations of food to the cafe, fighting food poverty and reducing waste.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Catch22: National UK social justice charity delivering employability, education, and offender rehabilitation services. Overlaps directly with Back on Track's Trailblazer Employment Programme and convictions-support work, with similar casework and one-to-one delivery models.
• Shelter: National UK housing and homelessness charity. Direct delivery partner with Back on Track on the Early Help for Adults Service, serving overlapping populations of adults facing housing instability and multiple disadvantage across Greater Manchester.
• Centrepoint: Major UK youth homelessness charity providing learning, employability and one-to-one support to disadvantaged young adults. Operates a comparable wraparound case-management-plus-learning model, although serving a younger age group than Back on Track.
• Revolving Doors Agency: UK charity focused on reforming the response to people with complex needs in the criminal justice system. Highly comparable reentry, rehabilitation and system-influencing remit to Back on Track's criminal-justice and convictions-support work.
• Big Life Group: Manchester-based social enterprise delivering multiple-disadvantage support including homelessness, substance use, mental health and offending. Joint partner with Back on Track on Early Help for Adults, with highly overlapping service model and beneficiary profile.
• The Growth Company: Greater Manchester employment and skills provider and an active funder/partner of Back on Track's employability programmes. Directly comparable employment-services model serving similar adult-learner populations across the same region.
• Crisis UK: National UK charity working to end homelessness, with a strong learning, employability and one-to-one support offer similar to Back on Track's Community Learning and casework programmes, serving adults experiencing multiple disadvantage.

Emerging players

• User Voice: UK charity amplifying the voice of people with lived experience of the criminal justice system. Comparable service-user-led influencing and coproduction ethos to Back on Track's Voices for Change programme, focused on the same justice-involved population.

Regional players

• Coffee4Craig: Manchester-based homelessness charity operating in the same city as Back on Track, with overlapping beneficiary group (rough sleepers and adults in crisis) and one shared trustee connection. Smaller and more focused than Back on Track but with adjacent support services.

Broad incumbents

• Groundwork UK: National federation of community-environment charities delivering learning, employability and community programmes. A larger, broader incumbent operating overlapping community-learning and disadvantaged-adult support work across the UK.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/back-on-track-manchester

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Back on Track Manchester