History

Phoenix Enterprises (Rotherham) Ltd (PE) is a company limited by guarantee and was established in 1998.  It was set up following consultation between Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, The Employment Service today better known as Jobcentre Plus, Rotherham Chamber of Commerce Training Enterprise Council, now part of the Learning and Skills Council, and local agencies to pilot the delivery of New Deal in Rotherham.  The parties agreed that the district New Deal activity should be co-ordinated through one company which could then effectively maximise additional funds from the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB). Phoenix Enterprises was established as a Not for Profit organisation in Rotherham and included the following organisations; Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Lifetime Careers now Nord Anglia Development, Employment Service and community representatives such as All Saints Parish Church, Rotherham.  A number of voluntary Directors from these organisations were influential in driving the additional funding policy and the company forward, Canon Richard Atkinson MBE, Peter Little MBE, Chris Mallender MBE, Councillor Roger Stone, and Trevor Mason to eventually secure £28 Million of additional funds for the Rotherham area around employability issues.

Phoenix Enterprises started operating from a small room donated by Rotherham MBC in the All Saints Building in central Rotherham with just a handful of staff and very quickly expanded to operate from the majority of the building within a year and doubling the staffing levels to meet the local economic demands. A number of staff who joined in 1999 are still employed at Phoenix along with several others who joined in 2000. In 2001 the company expanded to other parts of the country, to offer its expertise in helping people back to work, and in 2005 the company moved into newly refurbished premises in the centre of Rotherham, which now house a variety of support agencies to help the unemployed.

In the areas that we work, communities have gone through far reaching social, economic and environmental changes.  The primary driver for this is economic with restructuring of the local economies in these areas.  This is resulting in major changes to the types of jobs on offer and local businesses are starting to become more creative about how they employ and fill their opportunities in the future.

The problem of the economies in the areas is reflected in the fact that South Yorkshire was designated as an area entitled to the highest level of European (Objective One) help and assistance.  Derbyshire from 2001 and Bristol (we operated in Bristol from 2004 – 2008) mirrored similar problems in pockets, with ESF Objective 2 and 3 being available, both of which we have accessed via co-finance.

An important driver for our Company is the changes in the trends of the workless groups that we are working with today.  A major reduction in unemployment had resulted in the remaining cohort being some distance away from employment along with a general move by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to working with Incapacity Benefit clients. Only a minority have been job ready and able to take new opportunities that are available.  The percentage with other issues or barriers to employment continues to grow as a percentage of the total cohort and Phoenix Enterprises remain at the sharp end of the associated activities.
The products that we have designed over recent years are more relevant to today than they have ever been.  However, we continue to be innovative to marry those furthest away from employment to the opportunities of tomorrow. This is increasingly important in the current economic downturn.