Our customer
EduStaff is a specialist education recruitment consultancy providing long-term temporary and permanent roles in Primary, Secondary and SEN schools across the UK for teachers and teaching assistants.
Business challenge
When the business first launched in April 2010 its focus was on the placement of teachers and teaching assistants on a long-term temporary basis against signed time sheets.
Paying these candidates proved to be the biggest challenge for the EduStaff team. The staff they placed needed to be paid promptly each week, yet often the schools where these teachers and teaching assistants had been employed had payment terms of 30 days or longer.
Although there was a reliable source of income from the establishments they worked with, the wait for payments meant it was impossible for the business to grow.
With ambitious plans to expand, a cash flow solution for the company was required.
Solution
An invoice finance facility using IDeal™ proved to be the perfect solution for EduStaff. It enabled the business to bridge the gap between paying their placed staff and waiting for their own invoices to be settled.
As a small team without an in-house accountant, IDeal™ worked particularly well as there is an instantaneous transfer of funds into the business account as soon as the invoice is raised. IDeal™ self-reconciles and funds in real-time meaning there is no need for manual month end processes.
Result
Close Brothers first partnered with EduStaff in 2010 when it was a start-up business. It has swiftly grown to become an industry leader with a turnover of £6.8m.
The addition of an invoice finance facility has enabled EduStaff to continue it’s rapid expansion such that they now have a nationwide presence with offices in seven different locations and year on year growth of turnover and profit.
