Staffline Regulatory News (STAF)

For Immediate Release 3 October 2014

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

('Staffline' or 'the Group')

Contract Win

Staffline, the national recruitment, outsourcing, training and Welfare to Work organisation providing people and operational expertise to industry, is pleased to announce that its EOS subsidiary has secured a two year contract with Suffolk County Council to provide employment information, advice and guidance services to all 16 - 24 year old job seekers in Ipswich and the surrounding areas.

This innovative contract, worth up to £7m over two years, will see EOS work in partnership with registered charity 'Tomorrows People' and alongside Department for Work and Pensions staff in the newly created 'MyGo' centre based in Ipswich city centre.

Co-location will promote collaboration between caseworkers, Jobcentre Plus advisors and other partner organisations ensuring the young people of Suffolk can access the services they require through a single entry point. Outreach services across the county will also be provided for those in outlying areas and will include the use of EOS's new tablet based technology solution allowing Suffolk's youth to access services without the need to travel.

A team of 50 EOS staff will be employed in Suffolk helping young people prepare for and enter into the world of work. The MyGo centre will be complemented by an Employment & Training Centre providing work activity areas for young people to gain experience across multiple different sectors through hands-on training.

Andy Hogarth, Chief Executive of Staffline, commented:

"We are delighted to be extending our services to young people looking for work. We believe our ability to provide a modern, innovative solution as well as hands on support and training to those who need it the most was central to us winning this award against strong competition.

We look forward to working with Suffolk County Council and believe further significant opportunities exist within the Welfare to Work arena for the Group."

Paul Winter, chair of the City Deal Board of Suffolk County Council, said:

"I am delighted to see this important step in our plans to improve the skills and employability of young people in Suffolk take shape. Having a dedicated centre where young people can go to receive expert advice to help them make important decisions about their future is crucially important. Ipswich and Suffolk are leading the way nationally with this ground breaking initiative. The Greater Ipswich City Deal aimed to improve the economy of the area by improving the skills of our young people. The opening of Mygo can only be good news for everyone and I look forward to watching its progress. We are fortunate to have an organisation with the experience of EOS managing this work."

About Staffline

Staffline Group plc was historically a recruitment organisation specialising in food processing, manufacturing, e-retail, driving and logistics. We provide and manage industrial workforces and use training and business improvement techniques to ensure increased levels of efficiency to give our clients a significant commercial advantage. Our recruitment business now operates from well over 200 locations in the UK, Ireland and Poland, supplying up to 33,000 temporary workers each day. 

Our recruitment brands now include Select Appointments, providing white collar office staff and Staffline Express, providing blue collar staff, both High Street branch operations. Staffline OnSite is based on clients' premises and also provides both blue collar and white collar temporary staff, Driving+ provides HGV drivers, Staffline Agriculture provides workers to the UK farming and growing sectors, while Resourcing Plus offers cost effective permanent recruitment solutions.

Our other areas of operation include Elpis, a national training and consultancy organisation, OSP, a specialist volume recruitment call centre and Avanta (which includes Staffline's original EOS), a provider of Welfare to Work and skills training services across the UK helping the long term unemployed back in to work. We expanded our training capabilities in 2013 with Learning Plus, a technologically advanced e-learning platform designed to deliver extremely cost effective work-based skills training.