Hopefully some help for Tony.

Edited to give some background - Tony is a long-term unemployed poster on the site who requested support in site discussions.

Having spent hours in the middle of the night I might add reading all the posts to and from Tony and the New Deal provison I was hoping to try and offer an alternative route. So at the risk of not wanting to suggest things that have been tried and not be successful would like to start with some questions ?

Let me also say I am an employer, I have an very clear understanding of the programmes & Services because I run a Social Enterprise and our value base revolves around opportunities for people who are not economically active to gain real work experience and employability skills.
I will come back to what I think that should be about. Just for starters it is not about filling in application forms and writing letters that all look the same and do not represent the person presenting themselves to the employer.

Benefit
Are you on the right one ?
There are some advantages to being on another even if it is only for a short time to access alternative support.
In the post you were asked what you wnated to do and what rate of pay there was no answer to that.
From your comments I am assuming after 2 years of single person JSA any income that doubles that would be better ? may be not.

Lets say you were on Incap, ESA via sickness route, there is evidence in your posts to suggest a period away from provison would ease the stress.
From claim transfer you have access to NDDP advise, I can't comment on the quality in your area I can only tell you the help my staff have had. From National providers this should be the same.
Minimum back to work grant of £200 not much but covers the month they have to work until pay day. For some it has paid the cost of putting their car on the road.
£300 ADF is still available to you, so there is another pot for things you may need for work usually clothing but could cover training costs.

Incap gives you access to work preperation placements via your disability advisor.
These are supported by the provider, employer and client are visted weekly to talk about progress and problems, travel and meal expenses covered.
% of people whoo move to work from work prep is still averaging 50% r so the DWP consultation paper on disability provision how should we change it says.

This placement is available for up to 30 days, 6 full weeks, 12 part time weeks,
DEA support attracts a job introduction scheme grant to the employer of £300,
Lets start to think here about your charity and a pot of funding to employ you part time that could be building up.

Placement -
Why have you not considered placement as a classroom assistant. ND funding, NDDP funding can all cover CRB checks and they are not 100% necessary for placement as long as the employer knows you should be with antoher team member at all times.
My business is residential for kids.

We have 2 options here
Work based learning. ( Can do this straight from JSA and not change benefit)
Under Work based learnning for adults / skills build may be train to gain in England I am not sure, but there is a classromm assist 26 week training provision, works on 3 days placement and 2 study per week can be more placement with block release for theory side. Keep benefit, small incentive for attend & travel. It is real training for that particular job.
I have this provision for a wide range of our positions.

What are the jobs for classroom assist's in your area looking like ? Good / bad.

On Incap you quality for help from a work step provider, this was about covering the lack of productivity a long term illness or disability had on the persons ability to do the full role. Over the years building on ability and what you can do as changed this but there is an option here for subsidy for an employer to employ you.
This could be a benefit to a IT trainng provider or college who may be able to make a case for support if funds were there.

Back to your charity.
What could you do for them if say 3 mths of your wage was covered, then 50% of your wage was covered. I have 3 staff on a this option, it may not be available but some funding for the employer will be under work step provision.
Can I mention names here ? I can tell you who is supporting our staff the best and you can make enqueries to all of the Work Step providers to see what is on offer.
On behalf of a charity looking to employ may be the best way to gather information.
That is not to crticise one from the other they are following direction and can only do what they are allowed by the powers that be that particular month.
I use the best provider for that client at that time.
For our 24 staff we have support from 3 differnet Work step providers.

There are part time options to consider.
After 13 weeks on this benefit if you return to work the back to work bonus of £40 per week extra for you kicks in.
You also have ND 50+ credits not sure if one will cancel the other out. Either way of you take a part time job to start there is a financial top up.
Either your charity or classroom assist post may be easier to fund with the above support if it were part time.
This applies if it were self employment. £40 may not be a lot but it is a bit of a safety net if you didn't think you could earn a lot every week of Self employment.

50 + New deal support did include an inwork grant of 1500. Ask the advisor is that still there. From that £300 was for personal development. £300 could go towards driving lessons. Remember you have the other back to work incentives to cover the extra cost for intensive driving.
I am sure your charity could find some use for £1200 to train you.
Raising funds would be a big one to learn along woith bid writing now that would give you the option to freelance for other organisations.

I am looking at a qualification now run by working for a charity where run courses to help you transfer your skills to working for the third sector. for £75 you can complete an introductory programme 2 evenings a week. Or there is a foundation which involves a 20 day placement, there is your charity again and 7 days seminar.
There is no fee set but I would guess it has part funding so wouldn't cost your full 50+ training allowance.

When I first started to read your posts I thought the same as you train as an advisor and do it differently from the inside.
Advise and guidance quals at level 3 & 4 are available to you under work based learning you would need a placement to show evidence of competency.
Lets be fair the ND providers should practise what they preach to employers and offer that placement. Data protection and client confidentiality s not a good enough excuse for not doing it.
I teach level 4 advise and guidance and have within my work place in work job coaches and work place mentors who support those with higher support needs wanting to learn the job through systamatic learning.

That is another shortgae in the job market job coaches. Ask any DEA how long it would take to get a job coach under work prep.
This s a 5 day training event run by 2 specialist who have spent their lives campaigning for those with learning diffciulties to be given more than colouring books in school / college.
It is all about breaking tasks into sizes that individual can learn, then imprinting the learning so they have the process right.
£500 that is. All are achievable under ND programmes.
You really do ned that apptitude for dealing with slow learners to complete this training. It has been very popualr with learning assistants. So there are 2 angles self employed coach, coach for one of the providers or the classroom assistant you wanted.

You may not think part time, £40 week top up for 12 mths etc makes your employment sustainable it may not BUT as an employer I would say you look far more attractive to me after a year of doing something to improve your chances f work than you do now with that unfortunate gap in your work history and who knows with 6 mths before FND kicks in you could be one of the new advisors under the new contractor.
I know who I want it to be,

FND will only be as innovative and flexible as the managers of the providers allow it to be, not the staff on the ground in my experience they want to do the best they can do it's the tier above climbing up that slippery pole of personal success that stiffles the innovation and creativity.

One last thing that I belive in 100%
Do you know your personality type
Your preferences - Myers Briggs or Karl Jung Type indicator ?
We build this into the induction of all our staff for 2 reasons to understand each toher and the way they need to work, to make decisions, the way they take direction and to learn to understand the customers and see behaviours that can be diffused by the right approach.
it is a good way to see why jobs / positions don't work for you.
I could guess your type from what you have said but that would be a guess.
We have training web site whee you could if you were interested look for your preferences.

Anyway if you were looking for ideas on where to go next these were mine.
I hope you have found at least some of use if only to start you thinking.