The Frangipane Bakery

The Frangipane Bakery A Gluten-Free bakery for Berwickshire and the Scottish Borders 🍰 Drop us a message to order!

🎙 Today was a big day for our Founder and CEO Rachel, being recorded for the local (Scottish Borders and surrounding are...
08/08/2025

🎙 Today was a big day for our Founder and CEO Rachel, being recorded for the local (Scottish Borders and surrounding areas) news updates on BBC Radio Scotland about her story with Access to Work and the challenges so many disabled people are currently facing trying to get the right support.

It’s due to air on Monday 📻
Let us know if you hear it and we'll be sharing clips once it’s out, so keep an eye on our stories.

It’s not always easy to share such a personal journey so publicly, but it’s also so important that disabled voices are heard so that we can be involved in codesigning a better solution, one that meets the true intent of Access to Work in removing barriers to disabled people gaining and remaining in work.

Check out the Access to Work Collective and the campaign on Instagram and LinkedIn for a campaign pack which includes an open letter to be delivered to Westminster next month and example templates to help you write to your MP about the crisis currently affecting Access to Work.

Whilst I was taking a break last week The Big Issue published this piece. It shares my story and the impact of Access to...
30/07/2025

Whilst I was taking a break last week The Big Issue published this piece. It shares my story and the impact of Access to Work's failings alongside Blind Girl Adventures and Shani Dhanda.

"87% of disabled people said it [AtW] had a major impact on their ability to stay in work or run a business"

"While AtW has always been difficult to get and keep, cost-cutting measures since 2024 have worsened this dramatically"

I'll share a link in the comments to read the full article.

This isn't just about The Frangipane Bakery - it's about the thousands of disabled people like myself who also want to contribute, run businesses, and support our communities, but we are being forced out of work by endless delays, cuts, and a system that just doesn't work.

The Government can't keep ignoring this!

Head over to the Access to Work Collective on Instagram or Linked in to learn more about the campaign and share your support.

🙌 Please join us and share the campaign
✍️ Sign the open letter
✍️ Write to your MP
(The Access to Work Collective have produced a campaign pack with an open letter for you to sign and templates to help you write to your MP which I'll also link in the comments.)

We deserve better! We deserve to work!





I shared my story with The i paper alongside Amy Kavanagh and Shani Dhanda for their piece on Access to Work."We are dis...
15/07/2025

I shared my story with The i paper alongside Amy Kavanagh and Shani Dhanda for their piece on Access to Work.

"We are disabled and want to work, but government support scheme is blocking us"

I’ll share a link in the comments to read the article in full.

This isn’t just about The Frangipane Bakery — it’s about the thousands of disabled people like myself who also want to contribute, run businesses, and support our communities, but we are being forced out of work by endless delays, cuts, and a system that just doesn’t work.

The Government can’t keep ignoring this.

Head over to the Access to Work Collective on Instagram or Linked in to learn more about the campaign and share your support

👉🏼 Please join us and share the campaign

👉🏼 Sign the open letter

👉🏼 Write to your MP

The Access to Work Collective have produced a campaign pack with an open letter for you to sign and templates to help you write to your MP which I'll also link in the comments.

We deserve better! We deserve to work!

We need EVERYONE who believes disabled people deserve to be able to work to join this campaign. is a campaign led by d...
09/07/2025

We need EVERYONE who believes disabled people deserve to be able to work to join this campaign. is a campaign led by disabled people demanding urgent reform to Access to Work.

Access to Work is meant to support disabled people in employment. Instead, it’s failing us.

If you’ve seen my recent posts or the recent footage on Channel 4 News, you’ll already be aware of the significant and detrimental impact this has had on me and the bakery.

This isn’t just about numbers; this is about real people’s lives and livelihoods.

I went from running a successful wholesale production bakery as a social enterprise supporting fellow disabled people into employment, to:
- having to let go of my support workers
- being unable to continue working
- experiencing a significant deterioration to both my mental and physical health
- being the subject of a police search for me as a high-risk vulnerable missing person
- requiring crisis intervention from both my medical team and social work
- having to cancel our community-based employability projects
- returning hard-won grant funding to funders
- having to close down our bakery production premises
- negotiating with one of our funders to facilitate a minimal amount of support
- trying to save what we can of the business and explore a new future

Sadly, I am not alone in this.

Stories like mine of disabled people losing their jobs and businesses along with their independence, confidence, sense of purpose and financial security are being repeated up and down the country.

As of today, 62,000 people are stuck in a backlog waiting for decisions.

Things you can do to show your support:

1. Sign the open letter calling on the government to fix this broken system https://lnkd.in/gvN_xVqp

2. Write to your MP (here’s an easy-to-use template) https://lnkd.in/g7cegcwt

3. Check out the Access to Work Collective's campaign pack to help us fight back against the cuts to awards and have the process reviewed and co-designed with disabled people to make it fit for purpose. https://lnkd.in/eQfk7VNt

4. Share this campaign with everyone who believes disabled people deserve to be able to work.

The government can not be allowed to continue to ignore this crisis!

02/07/2025

At last, the media are starting to pay attention to the far-reaching and life-limiting impacts of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)'s Access to Work not working for disabled people.

This week Channel 4 (Channel 4 News) gave a brief insight into the devastating real-life impacts being felt by disabled entrepreneurs right now. You can watch the full piece via the link in the comments.

Earlier in the programme, Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, sought to assure us that "The system will provide support for those not able to work. We're opening up opportunities for those who can work, many of whom want to work and we're going to make it possible for them."

How can these assurances be believed, whilst Access to Work is not working for everyone who needs it? The system itself is inaccessible and seems to work in opposition to the intended outcomes of the awards. Businesses like The Frangipane Bakery, Jessica Thom, Touretteshero and Isaac Harvey MBE, who all featured in last night's programme all aim to support disabled people like ourselves into work. We are facing irreparable harm to our businesses and subsequently our lives due to the continued failings of the Access to Work system.

Thank you to Shani Dhanda, Cat McShane, Kendal Kempsey and Jacqueline Winstanley for their support while filming for this piece.

I will be sharing more on my Instagram page and my new website www.rachelparker.info as I continue to reflect on my experiences throughout this harrowing process.

The Access to Work Collective will soon be launching a new campaign - Join us to make Access to Work work for everyone who needs it.

Where have we been, you say?You may have noticed that the Bakery has not resumed its regular activities after our annual...
27/04/2025

Where have we been, you say?

You may have noticed that the Bakery has not resumed its regular activities after our annual January closure.

The Frangipane Bakery is a business dedicated to closing the disability employment gap.

As the Founder and CEO, I have shared my journey as an entrepreneur and highlighted the crucial role my Access to Work funded support workers have played in helping me achieve my business goals and social mission.

Unfortunately, the renewal of my Access to Work support has been significantly delayed by the DWP, resulting in my support coming to an end in January.

In the meantime, I have been unable to fully meet the demands of the Bakery without this vital support and unable to restart production.

I am continuing to work with our local elected representatives, , and .winstanley from Universal Inclusion to seek progress with the renewal of my Access to Work award.

I am also using this time to explore exciting new directions for myself and the Bakery, continuing our mission to close the disability employment gap with a focus on supporting fellow neurodivergent people.

#

Round up of 2024 pt1. It's been a great year and we've got a lot done!⁠⁠Earlier in the year we hosted our Multiply cours...
28/12/2024

Round up of 2024 pt1. It's been a great year and we've got a lot done!⁠
⁠
Earlier in the year we hosted our Multiply course. Rachel was a guest lecturer at St Andrews School of Business. Rachel also went to London and had the best doughnuts at . And we had new product photos taken by Dominic Clemence.⁠
⁠
⁠
#2024

Merry Christmas from all of us at The Frangipane Bakery & Nico!🎄🎉🎁✨ We'll be closed for our winter break in January, but...
25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from all of us at The Frangipane Bakery & Nico!🎄🎉🎁✨

We'll be closed for our winter break in January, but look forward to providing more delicious bakes for you all in February

🎉 Shipping Day Success! 🎉A MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who placed an order during our pilot *baking delivery service* ...
20/12/2024

🎉 Shipping Day Success! 🎉

A MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who placed an order during our pilot *baking delivery service* over the last week (and all our helpful bakery support elves too 🤶 🎄 🦌).

We were thrilled to post OVER 15KG of handmade delicious treats right across the UK.

This pilot is a fantastic step towards making our baking more accessible to everyone. Your support helps us to grow and realise our ambitions to support more neurodivergent people with employability opportunities in the future.

We will be taking a look at how it went in January and hope to have the online deliveries live again at the beginning of February so STAY TUNED and wishing everyone a restful break!

p.s. when yours arrives today remember to TAG US 🎁

Address

Coldstream

Opening Hours

Thursday 3pm - 6pm
Friday 3pm - 6pm
Saturday 1pm - 6pm

Telephone

+447756811422

Website

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