Atheni wins £231,000 Barnsley award to train 140 workers at six firms to use AI

Atheni Strategy Limited has won £231,000, the largest of four awards from Barnsley's AI Upskilling Challenge Fund, to train 140 workers at six firms in the town to use artificial intelligence for quotes, tenders and safety paperwork.

The government announced the awards on Tuesday 3 November 2026. Four training projects will share more than £800,000 from the fund, which forms part of the Barnsley Tech Town programme.

According to the GOV.UK release, Atheni will help 140 people, most aged 40 or over, across six manufacturing, engineering and construction firms. The AI will be shaped around each company's documents and shared trade context.

Louise Ballard, co-founder of Atheni, said: "Nobody goes to work to copy and paste." She said the combination of AI and people who know the job is formidable.

The programme

Atheni's own Barnsley page gives more detail than the release. It describes a fully funded 90-day programme delivered to staff during working hours, with workshops in Barnsley built around each firm's own documents and tasks. Writing quotes and method statements are given as examples of the work the AI will support.

Atheni names Apollo Access Holdings as its first Barnsley firm and says five places remain. Its page lists the target sectors as construction, engineering, access, fabrication, plant hire, maintenance, transport and allied trades, and does not mention manufacturing as the government release does.

Atheni's page says the programme is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. The earlier Tech Town releases on the fund were issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

The GOV.UK release said Atheni was founded in 2023 by Mackenzie Howe and Louise Ballard, and that its own AI-powered platform tailors training to each person, their role and their organisation.

The four awards

Recipient	Award
Atheni Strategy Limited	£231,000
Optimise Cyber Solutions Limited	£200,000
Fossu Limited	£195,188
Barnsley College	£184,403

Optimise Cyber Solutions, working with Abbeydale Training, will support 20 small businesses across Barnsley to adopt AI, the release said. Fossu (Ignite AI), with Barnsley YMCA, Postnatal Minds and Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, will run challenge-led programmes and buildathons for 100 residents. Barnsley College will take mobile AI training units to hospital and social care staff and the wider community.

Kate Dearden, Minister for the Future of Work, said: "AI is already changing the way we work, and successful adoption depends on workers having the skills and confidence to be part of that change."

Councillor Luke Wheat, Barnsley Council's Cabinet spokesperson for Regeneration and Assets, said the funding would take practical AI support directly into workplaces and communities across the borough.

Timetable

The fund took longer to reach the award stage than first planned. The government announced the £800,000 fund on 25 March 2026 and said at the time that it would open to applicants in May 2026.

A later release said it opened on 15 July 2026, with applications accepted until 12 August 2026 and successful applicants to be identified in September 2026. The awards were announced on 3 November.

Any organisation based in the country was eligible to apply, according to the July release. Barnsley Council said funded projects had to show they could scale across the UK, and that the strongest ideas could inform how similar programmes are delivered nationally.

Background

Barnsley was designated the UK's first government-backed Tech Town on 3 February 2026, with the government committing to work with local partners over 18 months. The designation release said Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe and Google backed the plans, that The Seam digital campus is home to 33 digital businesses, and that the £15m Barnsley campus of the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology is already operating.

The government's AI Skills Boost initiative aims to equip 10 million UK workers with AI skills by 2030, a target the Prime Minister announced at London Tech Week in June 2025. The government's explainer estimates AI-driven productivity growth could add between £55bn and £140bn to UK gross value added in 2030.

The Budget announced £30m for three Yorkshire regional mayors to roll out AI in their communities, and a further £23m over three years for the AI Economics Institute, the 3 November release said.

Atheni says five of the six places on its Barnsley programme remain open to firms.