D & A Recruitment

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by D & A Recruitment's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from D & A Recruitment is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.da-rec.co.uk

49D & A RECRUITMENT |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Dan Davis, founder

Driver shortage

Dan Davis founded D&A Recruitment in 2012; after buying

a business partner’s half of the company a couple of

years later, he became its sole owner and director. Their

head office is located in Cambridge, where they employ ten

operational staff, but they are active nationwide. The majority

of work they recruit for is in the industrial, logistics, production

and manufacturing sectors, but a high percentage of their

candidates within that majority are placed as drivers. Across

the country, over 100 people work through D&A every day

on temporary contracts, often driving vans or heavy goods

vehicles (HGVs). Their recruitment and registration processes are

vigorous and thorough but, above all else, D&A seek to place

their candidates in ideal job opportunities with their end-user

clients, and ensure that everyone involved is satisfied.

What really sets us apart from the market leaders in recruitment is that we are a

smaller, more personal company. Being independently owned and independently

run means that we can remain customer-focused while still covering a comparatively

large geographical area, and dealing with massive household names such as

Jewson’s and Hotel Chocolat. This customer service is and has been integral to our

progress and success; if any of our clients should call, we have a 24-hour phone

line available, which goes straight through to a direct representative. Our specialist

operation allows us to offer competitive rates while ensuring profitable margins.

When it comes to candidates, however, our service is not lacking. We don’t register

thousands and try and pour them all into one vacancy – every deal we make is

FACTS ABOUT

D & A RECRUITMENT

»Founder: Dan Davis

»Established in 2012

»Based in the southeast with

their head office in Cambridge

»Services: Recruitment agency

»No. of employees: Over 100

»Multiple offices across the

country

»www.da-rec.co.uk

D & A Recruitment

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

50 | D & A RECRUITMENT

unique, and tailored to the experience

they want. We provide an option for

traditional, face-to-face meetings, or

we allow them to deal with things

online, making the entire process

efficient if that’s what they want.

As such, for our candidates, many

of whom stay with us for years, the

feeling of the company is versatile,

and down to them; whether their

D&A experience is streamlined or

personalised, we will still find the right

placement for them.

Growing and expanding

Since 2012, our workforce has

increased massively, and our turnover

has increased from £400,000 six

years ago, to £3.5 million. We work

on margins of somewhere between

20 and 22 per cent. Thanks to this

success, however, we have been able

to establish other companies under

the D&A umbrella, namely D&A

Training. This provides candidates with

appropriate courses and education for

HGV and driving certifications.

Margins were originally higher, up to

almost 30 per cent. Our operational

cost, however, has increased, and

as such, we have seen the margins

naturally decrease. Additionally, when

it comes to agreeing contracts with

larger companies, your rate naturally

sees a reduction through a long-

winded discussion process. Beyond

it all, however, we have seen D&A

steadily become a more lucrative

business with every year that passes.

One of the highlights of this growth

has been the Hotel Chocolat contract

we won in 2016. Originally split

between two agencies, over a period

of time, we fought hard to win it in

full, and eventually did. As of last

year, it has been renewed, and we

have fashioned the relationship into

a mutually beneficial and lucrative

partnership. As we have aided

them not just with their recruitment

needs, but also with certain logistical

requirements, we have enjoyed the

benefits of our partnership with them.

Crystal-clear, high-quality

service

Part of what has helped us enjoy our

success over the past six years has been

the provision of customer service calls.

Every week, we call a few random

candidates working on the contract

and ask them for feedback – we check

they have been paid appropriately and

treated fairly, for example. A number

of our consultants review the situation,

and if there have been more than

The D&A Cambridge team

Whether a

candidate’s

D&A

experience is

streamlined or

personalised,

we will still

find the right

placement for

them

“

51D & A RECRUITMENT |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

three issues, we address them with the

client. We listen to our candidates at

D&A, whether they have complaints or

praise to offer, and as a result, we can

see our end-user clients benefit, too.

We ensure that we offer competitive

rates to customers, and also that

we secure above-average wages for

candidates. Although this does cause

margins to suffer, we retain candidates,

often for years. Clients appreciate this

focused, personal relationship, and

also the similar services we offer for

them – they enjoy regular contact,

visits and reports on satisfaction

with regards to individuals we have

placed with them. Tying together

everything we do to offer the highest

quality of service possible, there is one

thing that underpins everything else:

our communication. With modern

technology, sending an email, even

off-site, can take a matter of seconds,

and we have found this helps no end

with our end-user clients’ satisfaction.

The national driver deficit and

other obstacles

Our journey to this success has not

been an easy one. Obtaining the

appropriate funding for the buyout

was difficult, and we have seen some

other periods of company debt. Clients

have, in the past, endured a financial

collapse in the form of a voluntary

agreement, for example. We have

learnt from these mistakes and now

have credit insurance.

The biggest struggle, however, is

the massive driver deficit the nation

presently endures. As a driving

recruitment agency first and foremost,

obviously, part of the challenge is

trying to fill these some 150,000

vacancies across the country, one

driver at a time. With Brexit on the

horizon and a great many drivers

returning to Europe as a result, we

may see this figure increase.

The most frustrating element of this is

an embedded, nationwide attitude for

a great many companies who require

drivers: they are often unwilling to

employ younger drivers. Recently, the

legal age for HGV driving was lowered

from 21 to 18, and, as a result, there

are a significant number of qualified

and certified young drivers who simply

cannot find work. These companies

will not provide work until these

drivers amass a body of experience –

but with this approach, they often find

themselves unable to even get their

foot in the door.

Looking ahead, we want to expand

our national presence further with

the opening of more D&A sites across

the country. Our year-on-year growth

has been a steady, upward climb –

and as someone who is personally

meticulous about figures, I want to

see this trend continue. We continually

monitor and compare results, week

on week, month on month. We spot

trends, keep growing and identify why

certain things are happening. There is

a five-year plan to hopefully see D&A

become a national supplier across the

country while retaining our celebrated

non-corporate company atmosphere,

and this is something all of my staff,

and I, personally, really do want to see.

Tying together

everything we

do to offer the

highest quality

of service

possible, there is

one thing that

underpins

everything else:

our

communication

“

A new recruit

www.da-rec.co.uk

This article was sponsored by D & A Recruitment. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy