
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
22 | UNITAS
from six to three per cent, resulting
in a £500,000 saving is agency and
subcontractor back filling costs, which
is testament to the motivational
leadership that we are truly proud of.
We’ve ensured that our employees
have good terms and conditions of
employment and feel listened to.
Examples of this include opting to
permit all existing and new employees
to join the LGPS pension scheme to less
significant actions such as allowing trade
staff to wear shorts in hot weather.
Fire safety legislation
We have tower blocks ourselves in
Stoke, and we know the government
had to take a hard line on how these
types of buildings are regulated after
the Grenfell tragedy in 2017.
There does, however, need to be
more clarity. When it comes to old
buildings, fire safety regulations aren’t
retrospective. They only apply at the
time, up and down the country, when
the building is first constructed.
To avoid disasters like this, we need
more guidance. More effective
legislation that comes into effect on a
retrospective basis, although requiring
a Herculean effort, would mean safer
buildings – safer homes – all across
theUK.
Future endeavours –
expansion a priority
We’ve seen parent company growth
and we want to expand the business.
The £4.5 million we gave back to the
council last year is just an example.
With a one-team approach, we are
uniquely positioned to generate
more revenue and support all council
services, consequently improving the
lives of everyone in the community.
After £1.5 million in organic growth
after our first year, we have the
capacity to now renovate civic
offices and neighbourhood centres
– effectively serving as the “front of
house” for the council.
Beyond that, we also want to start
delivering third-party maintenance
contracts across Stoke. Staffordshire
University serves 15,000 students –
why aren’t our teams servicing their
facilities and undertaking construction
or refurbishment work?
Alongside that, we’re seeing a real
opportunity in the private rental
sector. House prices in Stoke are
comparatively low, and we have a high
saturation of private landlords. If we
can start taking on building works, gas
safety inspections and repairs, just for
example, in that sector, there’s a real
opportunity to generate more revenue
for the council.
Finally, we want to expand our service
and look at tendering for other social
housing providers along the city
boundary in the same vein.
The work we’ve been doing thus far
has been nothing short of outstanding.
We provide a value-adding service to
Stoke-on-Trent City Council and in our
first year alone have proven ourselves
as a real benefit, both out in the field
and on the balance sheet. I only hope
this trend can continue with so many
opportunities ahead of us.
We are
uniquely
positioned to
generate more
revenue and
support all
council
services
“
“
We are constantly looking
to improve our service
23CHARISMA RECRUITMENT |
CIVIL SOCIETY
Managing Director,
Jenny Warner
Selecting inspired
professionals
Managing Director Jenny Warner founded Charisma
Recruitment in 2002 after selling her former
recruitment consultancy. Having previously been
involved with a number of charities as a volunteer, Jenny
witnessed a widespread issue across the sector – many of these
organisations were struggling with staffing. Over the past 17
years, Charisma have worked to alleviate that problem, and
now serve as a highly specialist consultancy for the charity and
not-for-profit sector. They focus predominantly on middle to
senior management alongside also placing new trustees and
chief executives. Jenny tells
The Parliamentary Review
more
about Charisma’s work in the third sector, and how they absorb
and understand each client’s culture to find the best candidate
for every role.
We’re an independent, specialist recruitment consultancy. Around 80 per cent of
what we do is repeat business or comes about as the result of recommendations or
referrals from satisfied clients and candidates.
Since 2002, we have worked in – and grown to know – a broad variety of different
charity sectors. These include arts and culture, healthcare, disability, youth support,
housing, faith, care for older people, animal welfare and also military organisations.
Alongside this, the size of clients we partner with ranges considerably – whether
it’s a local charity or national organisation in question, we are always able to offer
our expert services.
FACTS ABOUT
CHARISMA RECRUITMENT
»Founder and Managing
Director: Jenny Warner
»Established in 2002
»Based in Winchester and
London
»Services: Executive search and
selection for charities and not-
for-profit organisations
»No. of employees: 7
»Extensive geographical reach
throughout the UK on all
executive assignments
»charismarecruitment.co.uk
Charisma Recruitment