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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
based
employment
Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...
and
recruitment agency 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
Soho Square
Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park leasehold estate, let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II of Engla ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.
Blue Arrow is now part of
RSS Global Ltd, an international staffing business with operations in the
UK,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
.
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, trading 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 becam ...
'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 stepped down as
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
.
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 #Process, the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for Job (role), jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the process involved in ...
groups,
Impellam.
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 (GLA)
* Association of Labour Providers (ALP)
* Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)
See also
*
UK agency worker law
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