The Growth Company and NSL support more than 120 people into sustainable employment

The Growth Company and NSL – the UK’s leading provider of civil parking enforcement services – have been in partnership for more than a decade, providing employment support to residents across Greater Manchester.  

NSL plays a key part in jobs fairs organised by the Growth Company (GC), which are regularly attended by more than 300 unemployed jobseekers. The company provides fantastic opportunities for people from all walks of life, sharing GC’s vision to help individuals from priority groups, including those who have complex barriers that are preventing them from finding work.  

Supporting Diversity and Inclusion 

As a diversity-led employer, NSL is always keen to engage with a variety of individuals, particularly those aged 50+. Our partnership recently helped two people in this age bracket to gain employment with NSL – one of whom had learning difficulties and the other had a health condition. Reasonable adjustments were made throughout the recruitment process to give them the best possible chance of succeeding and securing the roles.  

GC has helped NSL to diversify its workforce by recruiting women into roles that are commonly dominated by their male counterparts. NSL once attended an International Women’s Day event organised by GC, which aimed to empower unemployed females, presenting them with opportunities to get into sustainable work. At the event, NSL discussed some of their vacancies – including Civil Enforcement Officer and Customer Service Representative roles – with candidates who met the essential criteria being guaranteed an interview.  

We also worked with NSL to help them attract more women into their business, helping them to introduce flexible working patterns and part-time positions to better support childcare responsibilities and general wellbeing. Currently, the female-to-male ratio at NSL is 1:2.  
NSL is championing diversity by joining the Disability Confident Scheme, which challenges attitudes towards disability in the workplace, ensuring that disabled people have many opportunities to fulfil their potential. GC are a Disability Confident leader, so we will continue to work with NSL to help them implement strategies to make their recruitment practices more inclusive.  

The organisation also took advantage of the government’s Kickstart scheme, creating new jobs for out-of-work young people across Greater Manchester who were claiming Universal Credit or were at risk of long-term unemployment.  

Impact and outcomes 

We are enormously proud that our partnership has helped over 120 unemployed people to secure long-term, sustainable employment. Many of our candidates have gone on to be promoted into more senior roles within NSL or have been successful in securing higher-level roles at other organisations.  

Suzanne Grange, Regional Account Manager at the Growth Company, said:

“NSL has been and continues to be incredibly supportive towards our candidates, giving everyone a chance and making any reasonable adjustments that might be necessary. The company is extremely supportive and always goes beyond the call of duty to provide our applicants with the best experience. Communication is a key factor that makes our partnership with NSL so effective. The past ten years have proved that working together has been a big success. We are delighted that so many of our candidates have been able to progress and secure lifelong careers. We anticipate that our partnership will continue to make a difference to unemployed individuals across Greater Manchester.” 

Find out more about GC Employment’s work here.