CSA Kickstart case study: Lackfords Debt Specialists

Lackfords Debt Specialists is a UK-wide debt collection and high court enforcement agency, based in Newton Abbot in South West England. In 2019, six months after launching the business, the firm joined Credit Services Association (CSA), the UK trade body for the collections and debt purchase sector. As a well-established and successful approved apprenticeships training provider, CSA became a ‘gateway organisation’ for the Government’s new Kickstart Scheme in February 2021. The scheme provides funding to employers to create job placements for 16-24 year olds who are at risk of long term unemployment, supported by a subsidy equivalent to 100% of National Insurance Contributions and National Minimum Wage/Living Wage for 25 hours per week over six months. CSA was able to support members in implementing the programme in their organisations.

Jon Spinks, Managing Director at Lackfords, said:

“As a relatively new business based in an area where we are one of the only firms in our sector and there are few full time job opportunities for young people in professional services, our strategy from the outset has been to build a team from the ground up, bringing in local people at entry level and offering them a rewarding career path in a growing business. We’re not in a big city so we don’t have a pool of existing expertise to draw on but there are people with transferable skills who can bring a fresh perspective and many of them have found themselves either out of work or looking for a career change as a result of the pandemic. When I heard about Kickstart on the news, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for us as a business to not only aid our growth but to enable us to give something back to our local community along with the other local projects we do.

“Recruitment is a big challenge in debt collection as it is not an attractive career to many and even those who we do manage to attract may find it is not for them. The Kickstart Scheme has given us a risk-free way of allowing ourselves and new recruits to ‘try out’ the job and identify those who are most well suited to it. I go to the local job centre every week and we have had stands at local attractions and events where our existing ‘Kickstarters’ have helped to attract new people. As a result, we have received well over 100 applications for each position and have so far taken on five people, two of whom have gone on to be core members of the team.

“We are unique in the sector in that we offer pre-legal debt recovery through to high court enforcement, so there’s various areas and services we offer which people can work their way around. People aren’t pigeon-holed; they have to be adaptable and develop with us as the company adapts and grows. We want to give people as many skills and as much experience in as many areas of the business as possible. This benefits them and their career and benefits us as a company as it means we have a talent pool that will stay with us for the long term. Our most recent Kickstart recruit, Tyler, is really interested in learning about all of these areas. He used to work in groundwork and wanted a new challenge and his enthusiasm and ambition makes him invaluable to us.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible for us to take advantage of the Kickstart Scheme without the CSA. They took care of all the liaison with the Department for Work & Pensions and a lot of the administrative side of things which we wouldn’t have had the capacity to do. They also supported us in understanding our responsibilities as a firm and the recruitment process. Our new recruits really enjoy the coaching and mentoring sessions with CSA and feel motivated that they’re being invested in and developed not just by the business but also by the industry trade body. CSA also offers wider learning & development services including the Collector Accreditation Initiative (CAI), which we use to benchmark and keep up to date the skills of our collections staff. We are now considering running apprenticeships with the CSA in specialist areas like collections and compliance as a next step on from the Kickstart Scheme.”

Reah Mahony, Kickstart recruit now Enforcement Administrator at Lackfords, added:

“Before I joined Lackfords via the Kickstart Scheme, I was unemployed and really struggling for work. I applied for so many jobs with no success. When I heard about the role and scheme, I thought it was an amazing opportunity to gain some experience and potentially grow in a new, interesting sector. It was so easy to get on to the programme, from applying all the way through the process, everything ran smoothly. I felt and continued to feel so supported by everyone from my work coach to my new colleagues at Lackfords and the CSA team, who have offered my monthly check-in appointments and been there if I’ve had any issues. I would recommend Kickstart to anyone with access to the programme. There’s so much room for growth and experience in sectors you would never normally consider. It really is a fantastic way to secure your future.”

CSA Kickstart Scheme

Find out more about CSA Apprenticeships

Find out more about CSA's CAI

Back to news