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Annual Highlights

2006/2007
2005/2006

2006/2007

We had a great first six months in the 2006/2007 financial year. Here are some of the best bits.

• We are chosen to deliver our seventh New Deal for Communities (NDC) contract by Heywood NDC in Greater Manchester.
• A second West Midlands region branch opens in city-centre Birmingham.
• We win Partnership job brokerage projects, funded through London Councils ESF and NRF and worth over £1.3million, in Newham (East London) and Haringey (North London).
• Two contract wins of over £500,000 in Haringey help plug the funding gap left at the end of our highly successful Ethnic Minority Outreach programme.
• We are contracted to deliver a job brokerage service for Lewisham Council in south-east London.
• We secure a bid to deliver an innovative employer engagement pilot for Camden Council.
• We add more high profile employers to our portfolio including ITV, Wagamama, Principal Hotels and House of Fraser.
• We add new at work branches in three regions: Birmingham (Birmingham City), Greater Manchester (Heywood) and London (Newham).
• We strengthen our presence in existing locations like Haringey and Hackney in London with contract successes of over £0.5 million.
• Our CEO, Jonathan Baldrey, is asked to join the newly formed Ethnic Minority Advisory Group (EMAG) which informs and supports the work of the Government's cross-departmental Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force (EMETF).
• We continue to support the LGBT Pride events in Birmingham and Leeds, and EuroPride in London.
• We once again attend the Newcastle Diversity and Ethnic Networking Event and continue to support the Newcastle Mela – the north-east’s largest free Asian event.

Although September marks the end of delivery for our highly successful Jobcentre Plus Ethnic Minority Outreach (EMO) programmes in Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield and north London, we’re eagerly awaiting their replacement and new opportunities through the Deprived Areas Fund and Cities Strategy pilots.

By strengthening our local partnerships and consolidating activities in London, we’re now perfectly placed to deliver services in four of the five Olympic boroughs. Currently we’re consulting with key stakeholders at both local and regional levels to explore how we can best tailor our brokerage services in the six-year run-up to the games. As part of this, we’re looking forward to joining the pan-London employment and training confederation.

2005/ 2006

• We open our first Birmingham branch.
• Our Jobcentre Plus EMO contracts in Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield and north London are extended for a further six months.
• We secure two new contracts in Camden for the council supported by the London Development Agency.
• We win and deliver two Ethnic Minority Flexible Fund Contracts in north and east London.
• We carry out successful job brokerage for Work Directions’ Southwark Employment Zone and Incapacity Benefit Outreach Project.
• We successfully complete a job brokerage contract for TNG funded through Jobcentre Plus ESF Co-financing, nine months ahead of schedule.
• We develop new employer relationships with a range of organisations that include Yorkshire Water, Shelter, WH Smith and MITIE Services.
• Along with the CESI (Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion) we co-host a hugely successful ‘Recruiting Diversity – What Works? Conference’ at the Novotel London West. The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge, Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform, is a keynote speaker alongside major employers, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Transport for London, who are at the forefront of promoting diversity in the workplace.
• In response to growth across the business, we expand our ‘top team’ to become the Senior Management Team (SMT). Each member takes responsibility for a specific region or strategic area of the business.