Pivot Care and Educational Consultancy

It’s a business putting the needs of children centre stage.

Pivot Care and Educational Consultancy was formed as a residential children’s home for eight to 18-year olds

needing a safe, secure and loving environment for young people to flourish and return to their family home, foster care or adoption with the skills needed to succeed in life.

Lockwood-based Pivot supports young people from an academic, behavioural and psychological aspect and also supports the schools that the young people attend through training, staff deployment and support.

The company is unique in using innovative methods to bring social care and education together to meet the needs of young people and the organisations working with them.

Pivot’s educational consultancy now works with seven local authorities and more than 65 schools on alternative provision and educational programmes.

Pivot, The Stable, Brewery Drive, Lockwood.Left to right, Andrew Kitterick, Michael and Lucy Smith.

Managing director Michael Smith said: “The impact that has had on meeting the needs of young people, schools and local authorities has been significant and is reflected in our quick growth which is largely based on recommendations from organisations we have worked with.

“We have also had a massive impact on the lives of other people through employment and training by providing opportunities for people to gain meaningful employment and invest in their own careers.

“Our work also looks at bringing the public and private sectors together to reduce public spending costs as we look to build capacity within organisations and work collaboratively. This is reflected in the other areas of work we carry out across a range of different sectors.”

Among its aims over the next 12 months, Pivot aims to provide extra care beds in a range of settings to cater for the complexity of behaviours displayed by children in the care system.

Grrroomies UK

She achieved success competing in equestrian events.

Now Netherton-based Jane Laurie is attracting plaudits from pet owners with her mobile dog grooming service, Grrroomies UK.

She said: “A competitive pricing structure, high quality customer service combined with quality grooming products ensures the business has secured a customer base of clients which makes this a viable long-term and profitable business endeavour.

“My office is my van. This service is attractive to busy people and elderly dog owners and is an ideal dog grooming solution for nervous, senior or travel-sick pets.”

Jane’s fully-equipped mobile salon includes a heated hydro-bath, drying facilities and all the equipment she needs to turn out the perfectly groomed pooch.

She successfully applied for a New Enterprise Allowance to help get the business off the ground and secured the support of a start-up adviser to offer guidance.

She also completed intensive dog grooming and animal first aid courses.

Jane Laurie of dog grooming business, Grrroomies with cocker spaniel Maggie

Since establishing the business, Jane has carried out more than 1,140 groomings and has a client base of 275 customers with 883 pets. She now has a four or five-week wait for new bookings and has secured new clients through customer recommendation.

Jane set up the business after competing in horse shows before qualifying through the amateur route for the Horse of the Year Show in Birmingham in 2011

She said: “Against all the odds we were placed third in our class, which enabled me to recognise my potential to achieve success – following which I took the difficult decision to give up horse riding and redirect my efforts to my new business challenge.”

Jane said the dog grooming sector had grown significantly in recent years and was projected to grow by about 10% over the next four years.

Over the next 12 months, Jane hopes to offer work experience or apprenticeship opportunities to young people, buy a second dog-grooming van to expand the business and set up a salon for those who prefer it to the mobile service.

She also plans to develop the business by employing someone to offer dog walking, pet taxi services and house sitting services – a need identified by her existing customers.

POSable Ltd

A company set up to help its clients get to grips with iPad and cloud-based till systems has expanded its scope to provide advice on other related services.

POSable Ltd, previously branded as PWAR Systems Ltd, aims to connect its clients to their company through the use of great technology – to help them understand what’s happening in their business, help them to make purchasing, staffing and training decisions quickly and save them time and money.

Director Hannah Edyvean said: “Over the last two years, the team has worked tirelessly to build relationships with all the key software providers of iPad and cloud based EPOS systems in the UK.

“Our knowledge of the hardware and software for these systems has grown exponentially, gaining us the reputation of experts in this field.”

Over the past 12 months POSable Ltd has grown its client portfolio to cover more than 200 clients – ranging from small and medium-sized businesses in the Huddersfield area to ones as far afield as Aberdeen and Plymouth.

The firm now offers additional services and consultancy work as well as iPad EPOS system installation and support.

Its efforts were rewarded in April with investment from a private investor to enable the company to expand its team to four – comprising two directors and two part-time staff.

Peter Roberts and Hannah Edyvean of Posable, Titanic Mills, Linthwaite.

Said Hannah: “POSable has developed over the last year to be a truly one-stop shop for clients looking to set up or improve their business through cloudbased technology.”

The company, based at Titanic Mill, Linthwaite, has taken steps to boost sales further over the next 12 months through a newly-designed website and with plans to organised events to showcase the potential of new cloud-based technologies to businesses in the Huddersfield area.

Said Hannah: “We highly value our staff and the importance of having a highly-trained and highly-motivated team behind us.

“We hope to invest in more training and support for our existing staff over the next 12 months.”

She said the business would also need additional engineers to fulfil demand for consultations and installations.