Blue Arrow Limited is a
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
based
employment
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
and
recruitment agency
An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly-funded employment agency.
Public employment agencies
One ...
that places individual jobseekers in temporary and/or permanent catering, driving industrial and office roles across the hospitality, manufacturing, public service, retail, support services and transport sectors.
The head office is in
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
.
Blue Arrow is now part of
RSS Global Ltd, an international staffing business with operations in the
UK,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
History
On 10 November 1959, Blue Arrow (then named 'The Barnet Agency Ltd' and founded by Sheila Birch) was incorporated. On 12 October 1982, the company name was changed to 'Blue Arrow Personnel Services Ltd' and then finally to 'Blue Arrow Ltd' on 28 June 2000.
The company became listed on the
Unlisted Securities Market
The Unlisted Securities Market (USM), which ran from 1980 to 1996, was a stock exchange set up by the London Stock Exchange to cater for companies too small to qualify for a full listing.
The USM allowed companies to be traded which did not have ...
in 1984. In June 1987, Blue Arrow acquired Manpower Inc., which was then the world's largest temporary
employment agency
An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly-funded employment agency.
Public employment agencies
One ...
, for $1.3bn.
In 1987, Blue Arrow was at the centre of a financial scandal when employees of
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...
's investment arm, County NatWest, covered up a failed issue of £873m of new stock (intended to finance the takeover of Manpower Inc.). Blue Arrow was cleared of any wrongdoing. In 1989,
Tony Berry
Anthony Berry (22 October 1940 – 26 August 2022) was a British businessman who was the founder of Blue Arrow recruitment agency.
Life and career
Brought up in Tottenham and educated at The Latymer School in Edmonton, Berry played cricket for ' ...
stepped down as
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
.
On 17 April 1996, the company was acquired by The Corporate Services Group plc. On 7 May 2008, the Corporate Services Group plc merged with Carlisle Group Limited to form one of the
UK's largest
recruitment
Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individual ...
groups,
Impellam
Impellam Group plc traded on the AIM ("IPEL") is a provider of Managed Services and Specialist Staffing and operates across the UK, North America, Australasia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Impellam Group plc provides jobs at all levels, inc ...
.
On 30 January 2023 Impellam Group plc announced that it would sell its Regional Specialist Staffing and Healthcare Staffing
businesses (Medacs Global Group, Blue Arrow Group, Tate, Chadwick Nott and Career Teachers) to Twenty 20 Capital. On 3 March 2023, the disposal of the businesses to Twenty 20 Capital was completed, and RSS Global Ltd was formed.
[https://files.q4europe.com/news-pdf/1141279/ImpellamGroupPLC_15709980.pdf Impellam Group plc Completion of the disposal of Regional Specialist Staffing and Healthcare Staffing businesses]
Trade memberships
* Institute of Hospitality
*
Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CiLT)
*
Gangmasters Licensing Authority
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) is the foremost intelligence and investigative agency for labour exploitation in the UK. Its role is to work in partnership with police and other law enforcement agencies such as the National Crime ...
(GLA)
* Association of Labour Providers (ALP)
* Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)
See also
*
UK agency worker law
United Kingdom agency worker law refers to the law which regulates people's work through employment agencies in the United Kingdom. Though statistics are disputed, there are currently between half a million and one and a half million agency worke ...
Footnotes
External links
Blue ArrowRSS Global
{{Authority control
Companies based in Luton
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Temporary employment agencies
Employment agencies of the United Kingdom
1959 establishments in England
Business services companies established in 1959