WorkNest grows operations with complementary acquisition

Chester-based employment law, HR and health and safety specialist, WorkNest, has announced the acquisition of Wirehouse Employer Services.

Worknest is a division of The GRC Group, an Inflexion backed leader in governance, risk and compliance software and tech-enabled services.

Wirehouse provides retained HR, employment law and health & safety consulting and advice services to SMEs and will extend WorkNest’s national client base and deepen its team of specialists and qualified consultants.

Founded in 2010, Wirehouse offers services closely matched to WorkNest’s HR and health & safety solutions. Its retained HR services for SMEs include advice line access, assistance with HR policy drafting, employee handbooks and contracts, and specialist advice for resolving HR issues. Health & Safety services span customer site audits, handbooks, policies and procedures, risk assessments and training.

Aligned with WorkNest’s model, Wirehouse assists businesses across a wide range of sectors throughout the UK, providing expert advice and support on sector-specific legislation.

The deal marks the third acquisition for The GRC Group this year and the first acquisition in the employment law, HR and health & safety space this year. It follows the group’s acquisitions of cyber security businesses Bulletproof Cyber, in May, and Pentest People, last month.

Ifti Ahmed, CEO at WorkNest, said: “We pride ourselves on working closely with employers nationwide to provide high-quality, pragmatic, and professional advice and support.

“This acquisition enhances WorkNest’s scale in our core SME market and plays to our strength of integrating complementary businesses in our field.”

Sue Malley, Managing Director at Wirehouse, said: “We’re extremely excited to join up with the WorkNest team. Given the compatibility of the businesses, we can see the opportunity to enhance our offer and deliver significant benefits to our valued clients. With the expanded scale and range of services provided by the wider group, we look forward to an exciting period of strategic development and growth for our business.”

Advisers on the deal were: Fieldfisher (David Bowcock, Adam Jones and Chris Galley) for Worknest and Primas Law (Anton Stirrett and Catherine Lo) for the sellers.