Managing homes for asylum seekers earns firm £400 million

Helping the UK fulfil its responsibilities around housing asylum seekers has helped a Gloucestershire business increase its turnover 14 per cent to in excess of £1 billion in 2023.

🔒 You’re reading a members’ only edition of The Raikes Journal. We let you have a look at the top of the edition, and maybe give you a taste of the big story that is today’s focus – but that’s all, unless you upgrade to paid. As well as being able to read the second and third editions of the week in full, you will be able to see beyond the paywall that locks all our archive after two weeks, view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, sposnored by Randall & Payne, and comment on our stories. And you will be helping make sustainable this community interest company dedicated to supporting your community – Gloucestershire. All for just £2.30 per week!

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Dear Readers, 

Welcome to another members’ only edition of The Raikes Journal. We let everyone read the top of the edition, but paywall the main story.

That means everyone will be introduced to another charity, Home-Start Stroud & Gloucester - and hear about how you can join Clear Future Financial Planners and help support it in its 25th year.

And you get to see the latest addition to our Expert Insight channel, the latest blog from leadership development experts QuoLux, which also happens to be one of our Founding Partners. The subject - ‘innovation’.

And then there are our news shorts - the stories or social media posts we’re spotted which we think are worth pooling here for you.

Tomorrow is looking to be an interesting day for Raikes, as we head to meet our latest Founding Partner, who we hope to announce to you next week!

Please do continue to bear us in mind for your stories and ideas. The best email currently is andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk. Or telephone 07956 926061. 

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* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (we’ve let you know about QuoLux, Willans LLP and Gloucestershire College, and more partners will be revealed over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support from all of you is invaluable! For commercial opportunities visit our About us page or email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Why today’s main story? 

We don’t want to reveal too much about our lead here, as thes story is for our members, but by keeping our eyes on the county’s biggest firms as we follow their financial fortunes for our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, we rarely cease to be amazed by what they are up to.

This particular firm is one of the very biggest in the county, indeed in the country in its sector, and it achieved all that from right here in Gloucestershire.

And it’s just revealed another rise in revenue to a figure enough to make anyone’s eyes water - down in no small part to Government contracts to look after asylum seekers.

It was also just featured in the top 10 of the Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For survey.

If you are not a member, becoming one will be about more than just gaining access to stories like this - you will be supporting a community interest company dedicated to supporting Gloucestershire and helping preserve independent journalism in the county.

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Our chosen charity: Home-Start Stroud & Gloucester 

Home-Start Stroud & Gloucester, which has supported over 600 families in the past year alone, has launched a new membership scheme in the hope 25 local businesses will come forward in what is its 25th anniversary year to help keep its vital work going. County-based Clear Future Financial Planners, is the first business to become one of its new Business Friends. Home-Start Stroud & Gloucester aims is to help every parent living in Stroud and Gloucester get the support they need to give their children the best possible start in life. During 2022-23 its projects included weekly home visiting, ante-natal groups, post-natal groups, perinatal mental health programmes, stay and play group for families as well as support groups to help dads build positive relationships with their families. Read the full story in our PR Wire channel here.

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Your Raikes’ briefing

🍽️ Customers have not been backward in coming forward to lament the closure of a popular Tetbury restaurant business. Philippa and David Herbert have run Quayles Cornerhouse on Long Street in the Gloucestershire town for the last 18 years, but closed its doors for the last time, citing personal matters as the reason. Read more here. 

⛲🛠️ 📚 If you are familiar with the concept of the ‘internet of things’ and still can’t fathom what on earth it’s about, here’s something you will be able to get your head around instead. This is the ingenious idea running at Charlton Kings Library which allows residents to borrow all manner of items - anything from a pressure washer to a carpet cleaner, tools or even a chocolate fountain. The Library of Things was launched by CK Futures - a division of the parish council - Vision 21 project Planet Cheltenham, and Gloucestershire Libraries. Read more here.

☕ If you like the idea of every pound you spend going to a good cause, and you have a particular respect for those who have served in our armed forces, then this could be for you. The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum has today (April 11) opened a cafe at its Dockside base. Alongside the venture will be an advice service for serving Armed Forces personnel, veterans and their families, supported by Gloucestershire County Council. Read more here. 

💷 In March we ran a big read based on an interview with Florence Nyasamo-Thomas, chief executive officer of Lives of Colour, the Cheltenham headquartered charity that works to promote racial equality and inclusion. Its work supports businesses and organisations county-wide seeking. As well as appearing on Raikes, it now has something else to celebrate - a £150,000 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to continue its work. Read more here.

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Expert Insight: How important is innovation to your strategy?

What are the key points of focus for your business? According to this latest expert insight article from the brilliant QuoLux, you should definitely have ‘innovation’ on that list. The article takes some of the thoughts of one of the keynote speakers, Professor Keith Goffin, who helps make the Gloucester-based business’s Leading Innovation and Competitive Advantage program such a success, in an article that creates some healthy food for thought.

“In surveys of thousands of CEOs in larger companies, they state that innovation is of greater importance for growth than a strategy of merger and acquisition,” says Goffin. “But many consider it extremely challenging, so why is that? And do the same challenges apply in small and medium-sized businesses which, after all, comprise most of the UK economy?”

You can read the full article here in our Expert Insight channel.