National business that provides skills and services to local councils becomes majority employee owned to ‘empower the people who helped make it successful’
The Employee Ownership Association (EOA) congratulates LGRC Associates Ltd after it announced it has become majority employee owned.
The Bristol-based business, which was founded in 2014 by a small group of three directors, is the leading provider of temporary skills, resources and expertise to the local council sector.
LGRC has been operating with a highly successful shadow arrangement in place for the last 12 months to ensure a smooth transition to employee ownership.
Over the same period, the company has grown significantly, consolidating its position as the leading provider of locum and consultancy services to councils in England.
Founding company director Nick Randle OBE has been elected chairman for the current year before handing over the role to a partner in due course.
Wendy Randle, also a founding company director, is company secretary, while Steve Milton becomes Vice-Chairman, Louise Steele the Finance Director, Karen Crowhurst becomes board Director, and David McKnight the Chief Executive.
As the company enters this new phase of its development, directors Nick and Wendy Randle have begun to pass control of the company to the LGRC Associates Partners’ Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) – chaired by Janet Eustace – which now holds the shares on behalf of the employees, appoints Trust directors and helps the main board manage the company on behalf of the group of employee partners who work for LGRC. It will also oversee the employee partners’ bonus arrangements.
Vision for the future
The transition to an EOT will lay the foundations for the future development of LGRC, which has an ambitious business plan to provide more high-quality skills and services to councils who are facing times of change.
As part of the transition process, the founders, Nick and Wendy, addressed a non-binding, but well received advisory letter of wishes to future boards of the company and its EOT. The letter set out the founders’ vision for the business and wishes for the future, as a reference for future generations of partners who will manage the business going forward.
Nick Randle OBE, chairman of LGRC, pictured, said: “As our retirement approaches, it was incredibly important to Wendy and I that LGRC continues to thrive and to deliver the vision that brought it into being.
“What better way to achieve that, than by a transition to employee ownership, empowering the people who helped make this highly successful business what it is today, to manage its future.”
James de le Vingne, Chief Executive of the EOA, said: “We congratulate our member, LGRC Associates Ltd, on its transition to employee ownership; securing the ethos, values and culture of the business.
“Businesses that give employees a stake and a say build trust and shared responsibility, uniting leaders and employees behind a common purpose, and leaving businesses in a better position to flex and adapt.”
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