News: Signs are that NatWest are taking Rotherham call centre building

NatWest, the major UK-based retail and commercial bank, appears to be taking on a vacant building in the Manvers area of Rotherham.

A planning application has recently been approved for new signage at Callflex Business Park showing that the company intends to use Unit 6, also known as Discovery House.

Recruitment for Customer Service Advisors based in the building began in February after refurbishment completed last year.

NatWest took on the large Cyan Building at Adwick Park in Manvers in 2007 when RBS Group plc, now known as NatWest Group plc, moved their Lombard business across Rotherham.

Lombard is one of the UK's leading asset finance providers and started out as the North Central Wagon and Finance Company in Rotherham in 1861.

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Unit 6 at Callflex is 33,822 sq ft and was previously used as a call centre by the The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Rothbiz reported in 2022 that at least 1,000 jobs were at risk over DWP's planned closure of 13 processing sites, including Rotherham.

Records indicate that Ashfield District Council operates the Callflex building as an investment property.

Also at Manvers, the Concentrix Call Centre at Adwick Park has been put up for sale as an investment.

At 62,652 sq ft over two floors on a 4.95 acre site, there is car parking either side of the building providing 440 car spaces.

The property is let on an FRI lease to Telecom Service Centres Ltd (TCS). The lease was re-geared last year on a ten year term from March 2024 at £430,000 per annum with a tenant option to break March 2029. TCS has been in occupation since 1999.

Concentrix Corporation is based in the United States with operations around the world, including the UK business entity, Telecom Service Centres Ltd. It has previously operated under the name, Webhelp. Concentrix set out plans in 2023 to buy Paris-based outsourcing and consultancy firm Webhelp in a $4.8 billion deal.

AP Investment and Andrew Dixon & Company are marketing the Manvers property for sale having been instructed to seek offers in excess of £4m.

Images: AP Investment / Knight Frank

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News: Another Rotherham contact centre in line for demolition

A call centre, purpose built less than 25 years ago in Rotherham, looks set to be demolished.

Capita has been a mainstay in the Manvers area, operating large contact centres with customers including O2, BMW, Transport for London, Thames Water, Southern Water, Halfords, William Hill, Npower and RSPCA.

The firm has operated at Capita Park and Capita House at Brookfields Park but now plans are being developed to flatten Capita House.

Legal & General purchased the contact centre, which was built in 1998, from Ventura House Limited Partnership for £23.165m in 2012, when there was still 18 and a half years left on the lease.

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The 135,938 sq ft building has been offered for lease since May but last month, property brochures showed that the site could potentially be redeveloped, with a large warehouse replacing the contact centre building.

"BP200" would be a 204,000 sq ft high grade warehouse / logistics unit. Indicative plans show a ground floor warehouse, reception and undercroft area extending to c194,000 sq ft, with a first floor office area of c10,000 sq ft.

The brochure from Commercial Property Partners (CPP) offering the new building for lease states: "A planning application for BP200 is due for submission to RMBC (Rotherham Council) imminently, and we expect to obtain detailed planning consent early in 2023. We would therefore anticipate being in a position to deliver the completed unit by late 2023."

The move echoes plans at nearby Callflex Business Park where planning permission was recently approved for Unit 1 to be demolished and replaced with a general industrial building of some 37,000 sq ft.

The 3-storey L-shaped offices were formerly occupied by Portal as managed call centre space and was previously home to companies such as E-On and other call centre operators. The space has been marketed since 2018 without success.

Agents at Knight Frank have previously explained the reason for the circumstances: "Historically these larger scale call centre buildings had been built during a period of the historic enterprise zone status and where there had been good demand from back office/call centre operations and substantial offers available – rates free periods and large incentive packages. A lot of the traditional call centre market moved off shore, and in more recent times due to the pandemic a lot of businesses have now adopted home working policies in the UK."

CPP website

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News: CC33 creating more than 150 jobs

An expanding call centre operation that has a site in Rotherham, has announced that it will be hiring more than 150 people after seeing "massive growth" during lockdown.

CC33 was established in 2015 as a more boutique and tech-enabled contact centre in Sheffield. Last year, it expanded into offices on Mansfield Road on the edge of Rotherham town centre.

New roles that need filling include operations managers, team managers, quality managers and telesales specialists.

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Since launching with just 70 staff, annual turnover has increased by a massive 336% over the past four years.The firm now employs more than 350 staff across three of South Yorkshire offices.

Paul Fletcher, founder and managing director, said: "I'm extremely proud of my team who have worked extremely hard in order to drive the growth of CC33 despite the unprecedented circumstances we have found ourselves in."

CC33 website

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News: MP challenges call centre bosses over coronavirus conditions

Wentworth and Dearne MP John Healey is continuing to challenge Capita having recieved a number of reports of failings in following public health advice and in the protecting of staff in the coronavirus pandemic.

Capita's Dearne Valley call centre in Manvers employs more than 1,000 people.

The MP has written to the chief executive of Capita, Jonathan Lewis, after being contacted by a number of worried workers. A reply states that only key workers on are on site in Manvers and the outsourcing giant is increasing capacity to support more staff in remote working.

Mr Healey wrote: "With so many employees in one workplace, if Capita does not take all actions necessary in line with the Government's public health instructions then your call centre risks becoming the centre for a wide spread of this Coronavirus infection.

"This Coronavirus emergency is a grave national crisis, which is why the Government is taking such unprecedented action and requiring similar from all of us to get through this.

"It is very disappointing and concerning that Capita, as a blue-chip British employer, appears to be so falling short in the actions it is taking to safeguard its staff, as well as its business."

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Jonathan Lewis, chief executive of Capita plc, responded by saying: "The only people working from Capita offices are key workers providing essential services - and in this case, only if they absolutely can't work from home. For example at our Dearne Valley site, our key workers in telecoms provide essential services for those customers who need to keep connected during this period of isolation, especially those who are vulnerable groups. Our key workers in utilities are helping customers with water supply issues and supporting vulnerable people with pre-payment meters who face additional challenges around topping up at the current time.

"We have made arrangements for as many of our employees to work from home as possible, and are increasing our capacity to support remote working every day. Where home working is not currently possible, we are committed to providing a safe working environment, including maintaining social distancing and handwashing, and altering our canteen provision so that colleagues have the recommended space between them."

Healey said that he would continue to challenge the chief executive and press for proper action to protect staff, adding that "what he is saying is flatly contradicted by reports I'm continuing to receive from staff at Capita's Dearne Valley call centre."

Capita website

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News: Parseq sells contact centre division

Business process and technology specialist, Parseq has completed the sale of its contact centre division to focus on its Rotherham-based finance and administration division.

Headquartered at Hellaby, Parseq specialises in mobile and online banking software and technology-led outsourcing services. Every year, it digitises 25 million customer correspondence documents and processes £15 billion of electronic payments.

The company's Finance and Administration arm provides bespoke, technology driven back office solutions to clients operating in the private and public sectors.

Following a successful turnaround of the business, Parseq's contact centre division has been sold to Scotland-based customer services outsourcer, Kura Group for an undisclosed sum.

Parseq was created via a successful £33m reverse takeover by Rami Cassis and Rotherham-based BPO provider, Documetric in 2010. Mr Cassis took the business private in 2012 as a significant shareholder by setting up his own Private Equity fund, Parabellum Capita. Having overseen significant growth Mr Cassis then stepped back from the day-to-day operation of the business and appointed a sub advisory team from another PE firm to manage business operations.

After a period of poor trading, he terminated the sub-advisory team and the Parseq board and returned to an executive role as Chairman and CEO in October 2016. He has since led a successful turnaround of the company from loss-making to £3m profit, with a growing order book of blue-chip clients and an international footprint with partnerships in six continents. Sales have grown consistently over the last two years to £44m in its latest financial year, whilst headcount has grown to around 1,700.

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Parseq said that the sale will allow it to focus on the continued growth of its finance and administration division which will continue to offer a range of solutions to manage and streamline back office processes. It supports a range of clients including FTSE 100 financial services companies, local authorities and energy and utility providers.

Kura said that it has acquired three additional contact centres in Sunderland, Hellaby and Glasgow, making it the UK's largest independent Outsourcer employing around 3,000 people and with sales of £75m.

Rami Cassis, executive chairman and CEO of Parseq and managing partner of Parabellum Capital, said: "The turnaround and sale of Parseq's contact centre division demonstrates the value of investors who can deliver operational knowledge as well as capital. Too many private equity firms lack meaningful management experience, and as a result are failing to maximise the potential of the businesses in which they invest.

"The last five years have helped to shape and focus my strategy on current investments and future acquisitions. Deep domain expertise remains crucial but so does the company you keep in these ventures. My focus remains the acquisition of mid-market firms and corporate disposals in fintech, business services, oilfield services and defence.

"I now look forward to supporting the leadership team to continue Parseq's stellar growth through its finance and administration division, which has secured nine new client wins this year and has a strong sales pipeline up to 2021, whilst remaining focused on developing Parabellum Capital's investment portfolio."

Parseq website
Kura website

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News: Capita loses DWP contact centre contract

A £40m Government contract will no longer be delivered by Capita in Rotherham but one of the new contract holders is keeping jobs in the Dearne Valley.

Capita's customer management business had been managing ten enquiry lines on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) at its large call centre in Manvers - help lines for: the state pension; pension credits; Jobseekers Allowance; Jobseeker Direct; National Insurance number allocation, national benefit fraud reporting and the winter fuel allowance.

Now the DWP has concluded another tender exercise with the contracts for the helplines split into two separate packages.

Starting this month, Contact Centre Services Package A, worth £20.9m and initially running until 2021, has been award to G4S Outsourcing. Contact Centre Services Package B, worth £16m and also running until 2021 initially, has been awarded to Serco Ltd.

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Serco said it would deliver the work from its Knowsley contact centre on Merseyside but G4S has said it would deliver its work from Rotherham - the firm has a contact centre at the Callflex Business Park in Manvers.

Although TUPE regulations apply, Serco said during the tender exercise that "we do not anticipate that many individuals will transfer from Rotherham to Merseyside."

G4S said that it expects "80% of eligible staff will transfer to G4S" and added: "that we will recruit the additional staff from within the local Wath-upon-Dearne area."

Package A includes dealing with claimants wishing to use the telephony channel to make a new claim to Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), supporting online JSA claims, pension credit claims and enquiries, state pension enquiries and the Winter Fuel enquiry line.

Job numbers were redacted in the tender documents so it is not clear what affect the change in provider will have in Rotherham.

G4S also revealed that it had 100 applicants for 15 FTE posts during a recent recruitment drive. It followed the closure of the EON site on the same business park.

Capita purchased Ventura and the Rotherham site in 2011 as part of a £65m deal. It currently operates contracts for the likes of O2, British Gas and William Hill in the Dearne Valley.

The Government's Crown Commercial Service established a contact centre framework last year, naming 14 preferred suppliers for public sector contracts. It included Serco and G4S but not Capita.

Capita website
G4S website
Serco website

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News: E.ON announce proposal to leave Dearne Valley site

E.ON, one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers, has announced proposals to leave its contact centre site at Manvers in Rotherham, a move that affects around 250 full-time jobs.

Powergen opened a new telemarketing centre in the Dearne Valley in 2000. It has operated from 32,500 sq ft of space at facilities management firm, Portal's building on the Callflex Business Park.

Having been taken over by German firm, E.ON, in 2001, the sales site calls on prospective customers with deals on their energy.

Customer service advisors at the site heard from the firm this week as it "broke the difficult news to colleagues at our office in Wath-upon-Dearne that we are proposing to leave the site."

E.ON operates similar centres in Nottingham and Bolton.

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In a statement, E.ON, said: "We constantly review all aspects of our business to make sure we continue to give customers a high quality and cost-effective service and to ensure we are set up in the right way to succeed in the future energy market. As part of this process we are proposing to leave our office location at Wath-upon-Dearne in South Yorkshire.

"This proposal is not a reflection of the performance of this site and we value the contribution our colleagues make to our business. We absolutely understand the effect this will have and we will now consult with our trade unions and colleagues on the proposal."

At the end of 2017, three buildings at Callflex Business Park, including Portal's building, were bought by property company, CEG, for an undisclosed sum.

Just last week, Origin Broadband announced that it was moving from its site in Doncaster to take 53,665 sq ft at Callflex Business Park, with the firm believing that it offers an even bigger opportunity for growth.

E.ON website

Images: Portal

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News: Rotherham call centre sold

Europa Capital and partner Addington Capital have sold a 62,652 sq ft call centre in Rotherham to a privately owned Isle of Man property company for £6.875m.

Home to Webhelp, and around 900 staff, the Dearne Valley site includes the freehold of the modern two-story building, with 440 car park spaces. It is let until March 2024 at a rent of £675,000 per annum (£10.75 psf). The deal represents a net initial yield of 9.25%.

The joint venture partners acquired the property as part of Prospect Portfolio in January 2016. The portfolio of 28 assets was bought from receiver on behalf of creditor PIMCO.

The assets were previously owned by individual borrowers. The loans secured against the properties were originally issued by Northern Rock. They were subsequently sold to Lehman Brothers which used them as collateral in the midst of the financial crisis to pay debts owed to German Bundesbank. This debt was subsequently sold as part of a wider loan portfolio to PIMCO.

In the recent deal, Allsop and Cushman & Wakefield acted jointly for the seller and Andrew Dixon & Company of Telford advised the purchaser.

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Matthew Allen, principal of Addington Capital, said: "This deal follows on from our flurry of investment sales announced in February and is a further testament to the strength in demand for sub £10m properties. Breaking up portfolios acquired over the past two / three years remains further underpinned by the strong auctions market."

The Webhelp Group, a French based call centre specialist with turnover of €750m, acquired the Rotherham operation when it bought HEROtsc in 2013. The Indian-based HERO Group had bought TSC in 2007 for £40m.

When HEROtsc took over the former T-Mobile site at Manvers in 2004, staff numbers had dwindled to less than 300. Today the thriving Dearne Valley centre has employees working for leading trade names such as Vodafone, E.ON and Office Depot – with an ongoing recruitment and training programme to bring new jobs to the area.

Webhelp has seen exponential growth, becoming a global market leader in its sector. The TSC subsidiary has seen turnover increase by approximately 32% and profits increase by 26% since the 2013 takeover.

Plans to recruit 170 people at its Rotherham site were announced at the end of 2016.

Webhelp website

Images: Allsop

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News: Webhelp to recruit 170 people in Rotherham

Leading global customer experience and business process outsourcing company, Webhelp, has announced plans to recruit 170 people at its Manvers site in Rotherham.

Webhelp acquired the Dearne Valley site in 2013 when it bought leading contact centre operator, HEROtsc.

The full time roles are set to be recruited by the end of the year and will be a combination of customer service and sales advisors and will focus on voice communication. The demand is for staff to support existing clients.

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David Turner, CEO of Webhelp UK, said: "This is a fantastic time to become part of a growing business in an exciting industry that is focussing on new technology and the future of customer experience. We have 35,000 people at 90 sites in 26 countries and our business growth shows no signs of slowing down.

"This has been a terrific period for Webhelp. We have just added the ninth company to the Webhelp family in a 24 month period, with the acquisition of social media moderation business, Netino, and we have signed a number of high profile new clients, including Unilever and Shop Direct."

When HEROtsc took over the former T-Mobile site at Manvers in 2004, staff numbers had dwindled to less than 300. At the time of the takeover the centre had over 830 employees working for leading trade names such as Vodafone, E.ON and Office Depot.

At the end of 2013, the Paris-headquartered Webhelp Group announced plans to recruit over 600 new people throughout its UK network with 150 new permanent positions at its Dearne Valley site. 50 new jobs were created in 2014 when Webhelp UK secures a contract with creative IT solutions provider, Jigsaw24.

Through evolution and acquisition, today Webhelp is a 35,000 people-strong global leader in business process outsourcing (BPO).

Webhelp UK website

Images: Webhelp UK

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News: General Dynamics sets sights on new Rotherham premises

General Dynamics, a multinational company operating in the defence and security industry, is planning to take on new office space in Rotherham for its UK-based IT business.

General Dynamics IT provides clients in central government, local government, healthcare and the private sector with business process services, system and application development, data and information management, cyber security, human resources and enterprise IT solutions.

Part of the global aerospace and defence company based in Virginia, USA that employs approximately 95,000 people worldwide, the company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies.

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General Dynamics UK has 11 world-class facilities across the UK and internationally with over 1,600 highly skilled members of the team.

With its UK head office at Canary Wharf in London, the IT business has been using premises at Hellaby in Rotherham for its Northern office. Now a planning application has been submitted that would see the leading name take space at the Phoenix Riverside development across the borough at Templeborough.

Regeneration specialist St Paul's Developments identified the six acre site as prime for commercial development some years ago due to its prominent frontage on to Sheffield Road and proximity to both Rotherham town centre and Junction 34 of the M1. The local developer created 26,000 sq ft of offices which are now let to In-Tend Ltd, the Royal Mencap Society and Niche Care Ltd.

St Paul's themselves have been using the 8,500 sq ft two-storey Unit 2 where new plans for general Dynamics show prominent external signage and indicative layouts for a call centre operation with space for over 50 staff.

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Niche Care Ltd took space at the completed development, which also includes a Hungry Horse pub, earlier this year. The provider of care to those that choose to live in their own homes took over Unit 1 from BT.

With offices on the ground floor, planning permission was approved for a change of use of the first floor to be converted into a day hub for the elderly and disabled. The new premises enables the company to increase FTE staff numbers from 50 to 78.

General Dynamics IT wesbite
St Paul's Development's website

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News: Housing plan for empty call centre

A Rotherham building designed especially for a call centre operation could finally get tenants after being vacant for ten years.

At the centre of the Dearne Valley Enterprise Zone, Callflex Business Park includes a 35,000 sq ft office and four smaller buildings developed by development and finance company, Cannock Developments in 2002. It is now home to the Department for Work and Pensions, Keepmoat Regeneration, a G4S contact centre and South Yorkshire Police's Training Centre, but one unit, unit 7, has never been occupied.

Building 7 is a modern purpose built office / call centre building comprising 53,665 sq ft of Grade A offices, arranged over three floors. With little prospect of securing a contact centre operation, a planning application has now been submitted to assess if it would be permitted to convert the use from employment to residential use.

Applicants Castan Ltd are proposing that the building be subdivided into 62 separate dwellings.

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The plans state: "The unit was constructed to be a 53,000 sq ft call centre but was never occupied due to lack of demand.

"Callflex Business Park sits in the heart of a regenerated area. The location benefits from good transport links and integrated bus and rail networks. The local area provides significant amenities to the workforce with pubs, restaurants and nearby Cortonwood Retail Park.

"Unit 7 has been vacant for ten years and is ideal for subdivision into residential units in an attractive landscape setting. The unit is in the far corner of the site and noise and traffic is minimal in this location."

In 1995 the area was designated a ten year Enterprise Zone, offering employers and investors significant financial incentives to help rejuvenate the area. Since then, more than £200m of private funding has been invested in offices, light industrial and distribution schemes. It is estimated that around 10,000 jobs had been created in the area by 2002.

Images: Knight Frank / Jones Lang LaSalle

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News: Rotherham RBS call centre a "key site"

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is preparing to cut 400 staff in its business division according to reports in a national newspaper - but a Rotherham call centre is set to be saved.

The Mail on Sunday reported that around 400 staff in its business division have been warned that the state-owned bank is cutting staff at local branches and is also replacing dozens of call centres with just four sites.

The RBS group moved their Lombard business across Rotherham to the state-of-the-art Cyan Building at Adwick Park in Manvers in 2007, relocating around 600 staff.

In 2010 RBS announced 3,500 job losses in the UK with the closure or withdrawal from 12 UK centres with a further three centres under review. It was also announced that the centre in Rotherham would be retained.

Now an RBS spokesperson told the press: "We are making changes within business banking to provide a simpler, more efficient and more customer-focused service based around the changing way our customers want to interact with us.

"As part of this programme we will be improving our telephone service by aligning our teams and bringing staff together at four key sites across the UK; creating a new team of business growth enablers to help support local businesses; and increasing the number of services available to customers online.

"Unfortunately, these changes will result in a number of job losses. We realise how difficult this news is for our staff and we will do everything we can to support those affected, including the retraining and redeployment of staff into new roles."

It was reported that "key sites" dedicated to improving the telephone service to customers will be based in Croydon, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Rotherham.

RBS website

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News: Parseq appoints new CEO

Rotherham-headquartered business process and technology specialist, Parseq has appointed Tony Strong to lead its management team.

Based at Hellaby, Parseq specialises in mobile and online banking software and technology-led outsourcing services. It handles over 70 million calls, digitises 25 million customer correspondence documents and processes £15 billion of electronic payments every year.

Following a number of acquisitions, the combined turnover of the group now exceeds £65m and its client footprint covers the top ten international banks, a third of the UK's utility sector, the charity sector and a significant presence in the UK insurance sector.

Stong joins the recently re-branded Parseq from Communisis where he doubled turnover over the last five years in his role as group operations managing director responsible for 2,000 staff and 14 locations across the UK.

Parseq recently announced a £1m investment to develop and expand its UK workforce following the firm's launch of its new identity and plans for market growth. Earlier this year, the firm announced a pilot partnership with the skills provider, the National Sales Academy, which will enable its 1,500 employees in Rotherham and Sunderland to gain access to £3,000 worth of educational funding each.

David Carman, chairman at Parseq, said: "Tony is used to working in multi-disciplined, highly regulated environments, he understands our clients' businesses and has a great affinity with the people on the shop floor because that is where he started his career.

"We are delighted to welcome Tony to the Board of Parseq and look forward to working with him as he supports our divisional managing directors to build our client relationships. His total focus will be to put us in a different and differentiated league to our competitors."

Tony Strong, chief executive officer at Parseq (pictured), said: "I plan to focus on three key areas to achieve our ambitions: attracting and retaining the best talent, profitable growth and operational excellence.

"Parseq has already invested a significant sum in the last six months improving the support we provide to our people through development opportunities, including Lean and Six Sigma qualifications. We have unveiled a new brand which categorises and measures all of our employees performance by linking their job roles to the service they provide for our clients which are to: acquire new customers for our clients, retain existing customers for our clients or improve internal client processes."

Parseq was created via a successful reverse takeover by Rami Cassis and Rotherham-based BPO provider, Documetric in 2010. The £33m management buy out was led by Cassis, together with Nova Capital and funds managed by HarbourVest Partners, LLC. Parseq is aiming to be a business with a £100m turnover in three years.

Parseq website

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News: Parseq rebrands as part of growth strategy

Rotherham-headquartered business process and technology specialist, Parseq is simplifying the way outsourced services are bought and managed.

Based at Hellaby, Parseq specialises in mobile and online banking software and technology-led outsourcing services. It processes 25 million documents a year and the Hellaby facility provides BACS electronic fund transfers, remittance processing and voucher processing services.

Following a number of acquisitions, the combined turnover of the group now exceeds £65m and its client footprint covers the top ten international banks, a third of the UK's utility sector, the charity sector and a significant presence in the UK insurance sector.

Parseq has over 2,500 employees working across seven UK sites and has now rebranded, placing staff from across the enlarged group into three distinct activities - acquire, retain and improve.

Acquire covers services designed to increase the market share and sales for clients and includes outbound sales, mail processing and e-enquiry handling. Retain focuses on customer loyalty and increasing satisfaction and includes services such as inbound customer service, mail management and online mobile payments. Improve services are designed to reduce costs and improve focus such as document management, payment processing and data hosting.

Lian Chambers, marketing director at Parseq, said: "It's an incredibly exciting time for Parseq. We have ambitious plans for market growth and a new direction that challenges the outsourcing sector.

"The new brand identity runs much deeper than just how we look. Our new marketing proposition reflects every aspect of how we do business and our strategy for growth.

"We acquire new customers for our clients, we retain their market share and we improve their operation to make them more efficient and profitable. It's a simple proposition and one which will really shake up the business process outsourcing sector.

"We're all aware that outsourcing can be perceived in a negative way, when in fact it achieves great things for many companies. Our brand celebrates this."

Parseq website

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News: Parseq's employee education partnership

Business process and technology specialist, Parseq, has announced a partnership with the skills provider, the National Sales Academy, which will enable its 1,500 employees in Rotherham and Sunderland to gain access to £3,000 worth of educational funding each.

Based at Hellaby, Parseq specialises in mobile and online banking software and technology-led outsourcing services and operates contact centres and finance and administration processing. It processes over 100,000 items of correspondence a day, £2 billion of electronic payments a month and make and receive over 70 million calls a year on the behalf of its clients.

Parseq will trial the educational scheme with the National Sales Academy first in South Yorkshire and the North East, before it is rolled out across its London and Brighton sites making it available to more than 2,100 employees.

Designed to encourage more employees to gain nationally recognised qualifications in subjects such as business administration, customer services, sales and management, the initiative is being made available to all of Parseq's employees who have been with the firm for at least six months and who currently don't hold any higher or further education qualifications.

Louise Cope, group HR hirector at Parseq, said: "Our employees are our most valuable asset. We pride ourselves on not only attracting the best talent in the industry but also supporting their professional development from the very moment they join Parseq and throughout their career with us.

"Our partnership with the National Sales Academy will further enhance our existing staff development programmes by providing all our employees with the chance to gain nationally recognised qualifications while they work.

Recommended reading: The Processes Every Business in Rotherham Should Review

"We've always maintained the view that our business growth and success is the result of a dedicated, motivated and skilled workforce and this investment is testament to our continued commitment to all of our employees."

The firm, which works on behalf of a third of UK's utility sector, the top ten international banks and a sizable proportion of the charity sector, has announced a commitment to grow its business from turnover of £65m to £100m in just three years.

Parseq website

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News: Concerns for Rotherham jobs as O2 takeover talks confirmed

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is seeking assurances over job security for UK employees as talks begin over the potential takeover of O2 UK, a move that affects hundreds of contact centre staff in Rotherham.

Hutchison Whampoa Limited, an investment holding company based in Hong Kong and parent company of UK telecom operator Three UK, announced last week that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with Spain's Telefónica for the potential acquisition of UK subsidiary, O2 UK. The deal could be worth up to £10.25 billion.

The CWU is the biggest union for the communications industry in the UK, with 201,900 members, and represents over 3,400 staff working in call centres, support and engineering roles across O2 and the associated Capita workforce. It has worked closely with O2, especially when Telefónica UK (O2) announced that Capita was their preferred bidder to form a ten year, £1.2 billion strategic partnership for customer management services in 2013. As well as Manvers, O2's UK call centres can be found in Leeds, Bury, Preston Brook and Glasgow.

O2 has had an operation in Rotherham for over 20 years. In 1992, Ventura signed a customer service contract to support the launch of BTCellnet into the consumer mobile phone market. The contact centre operation in Manvers went live with 40 staff and has grown to a capacity for 2,000 staff. Capita, the UK's leading outsourcing company, purchased Ventura and the Rotherham site in 2011 as part of a £65m deal. It currently operates contracts for British Gas, BMW, William Hill and The Department for Work and Pensions in the Dearne Valley.

Press reports in 2013 speculated that O2 was planning to outsource thousands of call centre jobs and make hundreds redundant. The union has criticised recent plans to axe over 100 roles providing back-office support and offshore much of the work to India and South Africa. A move it described as "ill-considered, over-hurried and could be viewed as a violation of previous agreements."

Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary of the CWU, said: "We hope that any takeover of Telefonica UK will protect UK jobs and maintain service standards for customers. O2 has been through a great deal of operational change in the last two years with the biggest outsourcing deal in the UK when staff and services were outsourced to Capita.

"Staff working for both O2 and Capita will be concerned about what these latest ownership talks mean for their jobs and the future of the company.

"We will be meeting with the CEO where we will be seeking assurances over the long-term job security of our members in Telefonica UK. We will also be seeking a meeting with Capita to discuss job security for those workers who have recently been outsourced."

Capita website

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News: From contact centre to contact sport

A project manager at Webhelp UK has pushed herself to the limits by competing in a world-famous boxing event at Barnsley Metrodome, raising over £3,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Christy Winfield, 35 from Barnsley, who works at the Manvers site of leading customer experience provider, Webhelp UK, undertook a gruelling eight week professional boxing training schedule in preparation for the Ultra White Collar Boxing event.

On the night, 600 spectators watched Christy hold her own in the ring against an opponent who was a stone heavier and 6 inches taller. What's more, Christy won with the judges announcing a unanimous win to the red corner.

Christy said: "This was such a fantastic event to be part of. Reaching the £3,000 mark in donations and tickets sold for the event, is unbelievable – everyone has been so generous, especially my colleagues at Webhelp. People that know me know I like to push myself to the limits, but this time I really wanted to do something that would benefit such a worthy cause."

Fellow Webhelp Project Manager; Dan Wiernicki added: "We were all very impressed with Christy's performance on the night. She was 100% committed to the cause and trained very hard for it. It’s great to see that everyone has been so supportive and generous with donations."

White Collar Boxing originated in the legendary Gleason’s gym in New York in 1988. The first contest was held between Dr Richard Novak, a lawyer, and Dr David Lawrence, who held a PhD in English Literature. Since then, white collar boxing has been the fastest growing corporate contact sport in the world.

Webhelp acquired the Dearne Valley site in 2013 when it bought leading contact centre operator, HEROtsc. When HEROtsc took over the former T-Mobile site at Manvers in 2004, staff numbers had dwindled to less than 300. Today the thriving Dearne Valley centre has over 830 employees working for leading trade names such as Vodafone, E.ON and Office Depot – with an ongoing recruitment and training programme to bring new jobs to the area.

At the end of 2013, the Paris-headquartered Webhelp Group announced plans to recruit over 600 new people throughout its UK network with 150 new permanent positions at its Dearne Valley site.

Webhelp UK website
Ultra White Collar Boxing website

Images: UWCB / Facebook

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News: New directors for Parseq

Rotherham-headquartered business process and technology specialist, Parseq, has made two key appointments as it continues with its strategy to create a business with a £100m turnover in three years.

Based at Hellaby, Parseq specialises in mobile and online banking software and technology-led outsourcing services. It processes 25 million documents a year and the Hellaby facility provides BACS electronic fund transfers, remittance processing and voucher processing services to a number of high street banks.

Current head of marketing, Lian Chambers, has been appointed as marketing director and Louise Cope has joined as group human resources director.

Playing a vital role in the company's rebrand, Chambers' ten years of experience in the BPO sector was also critical for the integration of Parseq's newly acquired businesses, including 2Touch and Pure.

Lian Chambers, marketing director at Parseq (pictured, left), said: "This year Parseq has undergone a complete transformation. It's rebranded, acquired a raft of new businesses, grown our UK network to seven key locations and expanded our business streams and produce offerings. As a result our workforce has doubled in size and our investment in jobs creation continues well into 2015 and beyond. This rapid growth has seen my team work closer than ever before with our HR function to develop a comprehensive internal communications strategy which can be taken across the whole business.

"2015 is an exciting year for HR and marketing as we aim to transform our 3000 strong workforce into a passionate group of brand ambassadors."

New recruit, Louise, brings with her vast experience having acted as group HR director for FTSE 100, FMCG, retail, manufacturing, engineering and Contact Centres brands and organisations. In her senior role at Parseq, Cope will manage the corporate HR function across Parseq's sites in Rotherham, York, Leeds Sunderland, Glasgow, Brighton and London.

Louise Cope, group human resources director at Parseq (pictured, right), said: "I am attracted to Parseq because of its innovative approach towards its employees. I am excited to be part of growing the organisation with such passionate and dedicated staff. It's something to be relished.

"I bring with me proven expertise across many sectors in developing robust corporate HR functions and a desire to deliver a strategy that will support Parseq's growth."

Recommended reading: Improving Document Accessibility and Management: An Overview for Business Owners

Parseq was created via a successful reverse takeover by Rami Cassis and Rotherham-based BPO provider, Documetric in 2010. The £33m management buy out was led by Cassis, together with Nova Capital and funds managed by HarbourVest Partners, LLC.

Following a number of acquisitions, the combined turnover of the group now exceeds £65m and its client footprint covers the top ten international banks, a third of the UK's utility sector, the charity sector and a significant presence in the UK insurance sector.

Parseq website

Images: Parseq

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News: Parseq picks up Pure in pre-pack deal

Rotherham-headquartered business process and technology specialist, Parseq, has acquired Brighton-based charity contact centre, Pure, out of administration.

Based at Hellaby, Parseq specialises in mobile and online banking software and technology-led outsourcing services.

Pure's client list includes Save the Children, Unicef and Sue Ryder and Parseq believes that it is "a strategic addition to existing charity operation, which increases the company's sector penetration and global reach." In 2013, Parseq made its first acquisition - The Panther Group (TPG), a UK-based contact centre services company which included telephone fundraising company, Pell & Bales.

Parseq's fundraising operations now combine knowledge and experience across two continents, expanding capacity, capabilities and time-zone coverage, through strategic partnerships in North America.

Pure was founded in 2002 and employed over 100 fund raising staff who focused on "donor development" of existing contacts for major charities and not-for-profit organisations in the UK, including political parties and pressure groups. Experts at Duff & Phelps were called in July after Pure encountered financial difficulties due to the loss of a large customer to a competitor, a squeezed fundraising market, costly regulatory requirements and staffing costs.

With debts to RBS and NatWest, a pre-pack administration deal was secured which saw Parseq buy certain assets for £120,000 following extended negotiations over unpaid wages.

Growing firm Parseq had previously tried to acquire Pure when it was solvent as part of plans to create a business with a £100m turnover in three years.

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Derwyn Jones, CEO of Parseq, said: "Pure is a strategic and cultural fit for our existing charity fundraising operation.

"Existing clients of Pure will experience the benefits of being part of a fast growing innovative business that is bringing exciting new services to the sector.

"And it increases our experience and capabilities in the not for profit space as we move closer to our goal of building an outsourcing company that focuses only on business processes with a turnover of £100m."

Parseq was created via a successful reverse takeover by Rami Cassis and Rotherham-based BPO provider, Documetric in 2010. The £33m management buy out was led by Cassis, together with Nova Capital and funds managed by HarbourVest Partners, LLC.

The firm processes over 75,000 items of correspondence a day and the Hellaby facility provides BACS electronic fund transfers, remittance processing and voucher processing services and is also home to a 12,000 sq ft data centre that opened in 2011.

Following the latest acquisition, the combined turnover of the group will now exceed £65m and its client footprint covers the top ten international banks, a third of the UK’s utility sector, the charity sector and a significant presence in the UK insurance sector.

The move comes just two months after its acquisition of Sunderland-based 2Touch, a major contact centre and fulfilment business, which added a complementary 1,000 seat call centre and back office fulfilment operation to Parseq's existing back office, call centre and fundraising operations.

Parseq website

Images: Pell & Bales

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News: Parseq targets £100m turnover

Rotherham-headquartered business process and technology specialist, Parseq, has acquired Sunderland-based 2Touch, a major contact centre and fulfilment business, as part of its strategy to create a business with a £100m turnover in three years.

Based at Hellaby, Parseq specialises in mobile and online banking software and technology-led outsourcing services. It has bought 2Touch from US-based Acxiom for an undisclosed sum and adds a complementary 1,000 seat call centre and back office fulfilment operation to Parseq's existing back office, call centre and fundraising services.

2Touch manage over 15 million calls and 5 million emails each year for some of the UK's biggest brands. It also operates back office processing services and warehousing, storage and fulfilment space.

Derwyn Jones, chief executive at Parseq, said: "2Touch is a cultural and operational fit for Parseq which gives us the scale and geographical coverage to attract new clients and deepen our relationship with existing clients.

"2Touch's established client service ethos and great reputation links closely to the Parseq business model and together provides us with a strong sector footprint particularly in utilities, financial services and insurance providers.

"We are delighted to be bringing together two industry leading businesses with the people, processes and operational capabilities to enhance our proposition as the only mid-sized corporate providing end to end outsourcing services combining front office, back office and IT."

The combined organisation will employ around 2,700 people working from five key sites in Sunderland, Glasgow, Rotherham, London and Brighton and have a turnover of around £65m. Parseq beleives that the additional operational site will enhance its business continuity proposition.

Derwyn Jones has previously stated that the target for Parseq in 2015 is 45 per cent growth in profit.

Parseq was created via a successful reverse takeover by Rami Cassis and Rotherham-based BPO provider, Documetric in 2010. The £33m management buy out was led by Cassis, together with Nova Capital and funds managed by HarbourVest Partners, LLC.

The firm processes over 75,000 items of correspondence a day and the Hellaby facility provides BACS electronic fund transfers, remittance processing and voucher processing services to a number of high street banks and is also home to a 12,000 sq ft data centre that opened in 2011.

In 2013, Parseq made its first acquisition - The Panther Group (TPG), a UK-based contact centre services company.

Parseq website

Images: 2Touch

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