The Advonet Group, the charity that CHANGE has been part of since 2019, has made the difficult decision to close CHANGE at the end of March.
As a charity, Advonet faces big challenges in trying to secure funding and keep its work going. After careful consideration by our Board of Trustees, it became clear that operating CHANGE is no longer financially sustainable for the charity. The board’s responsibility is to safeguard the long‑term financial health of The Advonet Group, and this difficult decision reflects that duty.
Although the CHANGE service will no longer produce Easy Read materials commercially for clients, Advonet are still committed to empowering people with learning disabilities, delivering projects that improve their lives, and ensuring information is accessible to them.
This will continue through the great work of our Asking You team, for whom the CHANGE team are currently completing work on Easy Read for the LIFE and Travel with Confidence projects.
Next steps
Over the last week, CHANGE has been contacting clients who have commissioned Easy Read materials, subscribers to our Image Bank, customers of our web shop, partner organisations and suppliers, and our former colleagues and volunteers, to give them the sad news. If we’ve missed you in this process, please accept our apologies.
We are making every effort to minimize the impact of the cessation of Easy Read services for all our clients. For example, for those who have an ongoing requirement to update materials created by CHANGE, or to produce new materials in a similar style, we will make available for download the design files and images so that this can continue after the cessation of CHANGE services. (Please contact us to request this service)
Update 3rd March 2026
We have now published a set of FAQs that answers most of the questions you may have about this news, including those sent to us since the closure was first announced.
If you have any further questions to add or comments to make, please contact us via the enquiry form or by emailing CHANGE@advonet.org.uk. We will be happy to discuss with clients and address any concerns that may not be covered by the FAQs, and will do all we can to help you to continue to access and provide high-quality Easy Read resources in the remaining four weeks.
Our legacy
Over almost three decades, CHANGE has worked with a huge range of organisations, from large national and international bodies and NHS services to small charities and individuals to make complex topics easier to understand.
CHANGE was first set up in 1997 and became part of The Advonet Group in 2019, where it continued to create a huge range of high-quality Easy Read images and resources and worked on many projects to promote the human rights of adults with learning disabilities.
CHANGE was originally founded to seek improvements to the criminal justice system, campaigning for MPs to sign the ‘Fair Hearing’ motion, and our work to protect the rights of people with learning disabilities as part of Advonet has included commissions and partnerships with The Prisoners’ Advice Service, Liberty, the Ministry of Justice, the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority, and the CLARiTY Project with the University of Birmingham.
CHANGE played a leading role in developing the Accessible Information Standard, embodied in our very widely-used guides to creating accessible information. These standards informed the creation of genuinely accessible information to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities in many other areas, including parenting, sexual health and relationships, housing and transport.
CHANGE first produced Cancer books in 2008, going on to win the 2012 BMA Award for Accessible Information, and working up to the present day with Macmillan, Breast Cancer Now, the Teenage Cancer Trust and others to create Easy Read materials to support people with learning disabilities affected by cancer, which disproportionately affects the community.
We were involved in much of Advonet’s project work, working in partnerships with other charities, universities and healthcare providers. Important projects included work on the history of people with learning disabilities in Leeds, the Outspoken LGBTQIA+ inclusion project, and the ReSPECT project with Warwick University.
CHANGE have employed many colleagues with lived experience in our staff team, and all our commissioned work for clients was reviewed by our Words to Pictures group of volunteers with learning disabilities to ensure our output was genuinely accessible. The principles of co-delivery and of respecting experts by experience have been central to all CHANGE’s work.
Between now and the end of March we will be celebrating the great work CHANGE has done over so many years through this website and our social media channels. We’d love to hear about what CHANGE has meant to you.
All the best!
The team at CHANGE
