Wales’ leading DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) screening service is marking its ten-year anniversary by announcing ambitious plans to accelerate profit growth and expand further into global markets.
Complete Background Screening – the third largest DBS screening provider in the UK – provides services including criminal and credit checks, drug screening, employment referencing and social media searching to customers across the UK.
The company is projecting a £4 million turnover and a 350% gross profit increase by 2016 – a five-fold increase since 2011. Securing ten council tenders – including Trafford, East Midlands and Bristol – in six months has boosted its turnover by £2million for the next three years.
The Fast Growth 50 winner has eight members of staff and a diverse portfolio of clients ranging from blue-chip brands such as Siemens, B&Q and British Heart Foundation to small local businesses.
Founded by Welsh entrepreneur Rachel Bedgood in 2005, the business was established in the South Wales mining town of Ynysbwl as a one-stop shop for background screening services. The 33 year old was driven by ambitions to help regenerate a town badly affected by unemployment.
Ms Bedgood handpicked and trained a selection of people from the local community, bringing together a team of staff who could provide a range of skills to support business growth and product development.
After gaining access to protected UK data, developing an efficient delivery process and profile raising via internet marketing, Complete Background Screening began to receive a large volume of business from both UK-based and global companies. It is now processing an average of 100,000 reference checks and 5,000 pre-employment screening applications per year, with over 80% of applications returned within 2-10 days.
In 2015, it plans to increase its market share within the DBS industry and expand into international markets with its eScreening service due to launch in summer 2015. The service aims to standardise and speed up the screening process for clients, allow them to create applications online and receive references and criminal checks within one day. The average criminal and reference check turnaround time is normally one month for similar companies.
By 2020, the multi-award winning business plans to triple its workforce to 24 people and has built new office space to allow for growth.
Founder, Rachel Bedgood said:
“We’re delighted to celebrate our ten year anniversary. Complete Background Screening was launched from humble beginnings with a vision to be one of the first companies to offer multiple vetting services. We are now considered one of the leading CRB service providers in the UK, which is significant for a business that started life in a converted retail shop in a small Welsh village.
“It hasn’t been an easy journey but my team has been integral to the company’s success. Providing employment to the local community was really important to me – there was a huge pool of skilled individuals in Ynysybwl, but not enough jobs, so I wanted to utilise the talent on my doorstep and build a passionate and committed workforce.
“Over the next decade, we will strive to keep enhancing and developing services by establishing new partnerships and introducing an advanced product range for both UK and global audiences. Our existing partnership with MapitAndGo has pioneered our product offering as we have developed software that allows us to return criminal record disclosures in one day, 30 times faster than our competitors.
“We’re really looking forward to the future and can’t wait to see what the next decade brings.”