Tyneside recruiter Central Employment gives staff £500 payment to help in cost-of-living crisis

A growing recruitment firm has given a one-off payment of £500 to its employees to help with the cost-of-living crisis, after reporting strong full-year results.

Newcastle-based Central Employment provides recruitment services for some of the North East’s largest businesses and brands from its offices in St Mary’s Place, supplying more than 1,000 employees to the temporary employment sector. The company, which has 40 permanent staff, has posted results for the year ending September 30, 2021, with turnover rising to £25.6m, up from £20.1m, alongside an increase in gross profit of 32% to £3.7m and a 27% jump in net profit to £1.4m.

Predominantly supplying workers to the manufacturing, industrial and pharmaceutical sectors, the business has also seen a rise in demand for permanent recruitment services. Following the strong results, bosses said they made the one-off payment to all full and part-time employees to help with rising costs.

Finance director Will Palmer said: “These financial results reflect an exceptional year for us, demonstrating the strong foundations and structure of our business post-pandemic, with a very pleasing performance across all our business interests. We have experienced a marked year on year increase in demand for our specialist recruitment services from businesses in both permanent and temporary positions across the region.

“We have placed over 5,000 temporary and permanent workers into employment sector over the reporting period, and we are also looking to recruit permanent members of staff to join the growing Central Employment team here in Newcastle, whether that be at graduate level, sales, admin or recruitment level.

“We have a broad and growing client base looking to recruit quickly and efficiently with the right balance of skill set and profile, and we are very focussed on our business strategy and development going forward. As a responsible employer, and as a thank you for all their hard work, we are making a one-off payment of £500 to all our employees, full and part-time, to help with the present cost of living crisis, which we hope will go some way to help our staff during these uncertain economic times.

“Since our MBO of Central Employment in 2015 we have grown the business incrementally year on year and we are now looking to expand on our services and build on our successes to date, as demand for specialist recruitment services continues to prosper throughout the region and UK.”