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, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

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

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister