consolidation

Press release:

National employment charity Shaw Trust today 22 September 2009 merged with Interwork, an Australian employment charity.

Shaw Trust already has charitable interests in Romania and Poland and this merger is seen as an opportunity to share and develop experience and best practice in supporting disabled and disadvantaged people in employment internationally.

Interwork, which is based in South Australia, will operate as part of the Shaw Trust and will retain its name. It is the largest specialist disability employment agency in South Australia.

A merger has been confirmed between Shaw Trust and EOpps. Press release follows:

National employment charities, Shaw Trust and Employment Opportunities are to merge it was announced today. The merger will take effect from 1 May 2009.

The merger brings together almost 60 years of proven expertise in helping disabled and disadvantaged people find and keep a job. Both charities deliver employment programmes on behalf of the Government and see the merger as strengthening that capacity.

Tim Papé, Director General of Shaw Trust said:

Edit 3/4 - So this story is from last August, and Sovereign are still major shareholders in ESG. One of the dangers of doing newsletters at 4am is the occasional slip-up. Sorry!

From the Independent:

"Buyout group Sovereign Capital looks set to sell to management its majority stake in the Employability and Skills Group (ESG), which trains employees at 5,000 companies.

Northampton-based provider Cee-Mac have gone into administration today and made all staff redundant. Cee-Mac hold a number of LSC contracts, but their main DWP contract is the Norfolk ESF prime contract from last year's bid round.

There are some complexities to the story, though. It appears that the DWP contract has been transferred by the DWP from the company in administration, CeeMac Projects (UK) Ltd, to its still-solvent parent company, CeeMac Ltd. This means that the contract is theoretically still live.

This just in, unedited and from the horse's mouth

Shortlisted FND-bidder Calder Holding of the Netherlands has acquired the majority share in Talent Recruitment. Talent will continue to trade as it is and its job brokerage services should bolster Calder's bids for Central London and LSW district, Coventry, Warwickshire and The Marches.

Midlands-based PPDG has been bought by an Australian company.

http://www.ncl-coll.ac.uk/about_us/news....

ERSA has also been circulating an e-mail to the same effect, highlighting that the entire Employability division has been bought out and is therefore secure. It appears that Newcastle College has national ambitions. Who knew colleges could even do that?

LSC statement on the sale - http://www.lsc.gov.uk/news/latestnews/ne...

Relatedly, rumour has it that A4e has definitely secured the Surrey & Sussex Pathways contract previously held by Instant Muscle.

Update 26/3 - Sold!

Carter & Carter, who have been in trouble for the past year or so, have gone into administration. The restructuring announced here didn't work out. Unlike Instant Muscle, they are apparently committed to meeting their financial obligations, including on staff pay.

Guardian report - http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/...

Instant Muscle has gone bankrupt, resulting in the closure of their delivery sites across the country. The entire workforce of over 200 was made redundant on February 28th without notice or pay, and many are interviewing for positions with competitor companies.

According to rumour their Pathways to Work contract in Surrey and Sussex is being transferred, with the new deliverer being announced within the next couple of days. However, no official announcements have been made by the DWP concerning Instant Muscle or the fate of its contracts at the time of writing.