A4e history exposed

Surprise surprise, prior to getting down to business… I will take this opportunity to expose the lying scum A4e really is. Rewind to Flexible New Deal… lets hear a statement from A4e Emma Harrison CBE herself.

It is out of the Flexible New Deal booklet titled “Welcome Aboard – your journey starts here!” with reference code CLNT001. Here it goes…

Welcome!
Hello… we’re delighted to have you with us.

Whatever your employment history has been like up to now, we’ll be able to improve your prospects for finding work. All it takes is for you to be as determined as we are that you’ll succeed.

Not everyone starts life with great opportunities and encouragement. But now we’re here, every step of the way, to help you reach your full potential.

That may involve you acquiring new skills. It may also mean getting help with things not directly linked with employment, such as debt management. Because we know that what holds people back is often nothing to do with their ability to work.

Our system of training, confidence-boosting and mentoring really works. We’ve been so successful at helping people to find employment, we now employ 3,500 ourselves. Across four continents.

A4e (or Action for Employment, as we were then) was originally set up in the ‘80s to help redundant steelworkers in Sheffield retrain for other careers.  We’ve lost count of the number of people we’ve help back into employment since then. And that’s mainly because it happens every 10 minutes of every working day. Right across the world. From Sheffield – where out headquarters remain to this day – all the way to Sydney.

The figures are so impressive because we never treat our customers themselves like statistics. We work with you to achieve your own individual goals.

Glad to have you’re here. And good luck!

Emma

Chairman, A4e

Okay, we really do not need to explain how patronising lies the above nonsense is. I am sure they lost count of the actual number of “people” (that is physical human beings). I hope there isn’t a fraud every 10 minutes!

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING AGENCY LIMITED

More to the point – A4e didn’t exist in the 80’s. A4e wasn’t setup until 1991 – almost 10 years after its predecessor “INDUSTRIAL TRAINING AGENCY LIMITED”.  You will not find any reference to this on A4e’s website. It is more about painting a nice glossy picture. I suspect that A4e itself never even helped steel workers.

Industrial Training Agency Ltd (£1,000,000 authorised share capital – majority not issued – £222 of issued share capital) had 3 officers:-

1. Roy Cridland

Roy Cridland
(Director)
Date of Birth: 27/05/21
Nationality: British

Occupation: Training Manager

61 Belgrave Road
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S10 3LL

(Also the original Registered Office? Before Bessemer Road)

Held 152 ordinary shares (with voting rights) and 10 ordinary non-voting shares.

This seems to link up with the “real story of A4e” of Roy being Emma’s Dad.

2. Emma Louise Cridland

Emma Louise Cridland
(Director, Company Secretary)

Date of Birth: 13/08/63

Nationality: British

Occupation: Professional Engineer

Moorfield Farm
Fulward Lane
Ringinglow
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S10 4QN

Held 50 ordinary shares (with voting rights) and 10 ordinary non-voting shares.

We assume Emma Louise Cridland is Emma Harrison’s maiden name.

3. Neil Watson

Yes, the once A4e Finance Director and Director of A4e Ltd (and other companies in the A4e Group), once demoted after previous fraud investigations and now Interim Group Finance Director of A4e. Neil Watson’s involvement pre-dates A4e back to the Industrial Training Agency Ltd business. At one point he was Company Secretary.

Neil Martin Watson
Thickwood Lodge
Baslow Road
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S17 3BQ

Register of Members was kept at 18/24 Campo Lane, Sheffield, S1 2EF.

Jump ship?

Towards the end of this company, A4e was set up and started sharing some services.

Their last accounts at least showed that all Industrial Training Agency Ltd directors were also directors of Action for Employment Ltd. Industrial Training Agency Ltd owed Action for Employment Ltd £70,000 whilst Action for Employment Ltd owed Industrial Training Agency Ltd £18,843.

Their initial attempt to Strike Off the company was suspended after an objection was received. Could this be due to Industrial Training Agency Ltd owing money, yet deciding to dissolve the business to prevent being liable for such?

Perhaps someone can come forward and give more information on this? Sounds rather dodgy nevertheless.

(It was an active company so its officers and shares will vary over time)

Fraud and Government

It is not just the common literature that claims the business as more established than it actually is. Perhaps the Government should check their OWN registry to find out that it was the early 90’s that A4e was set up and that it wasn’t in the 80’s.

Whether this history lesson was merely an A4e insight…. (not to be confused with the company of the same name) or whether Emma Harrison’s claims was false representation which lead to securing contracts they would have never got is in dispute.

Claiming to have helped steel workers in this picture perfect front that was created, gave credibility of having past success and merit. It was actually her fathers company which helped steel workers in Sheffield.  (That is assumed we have no evidence to suggest that company was any good at all)

There was never any mention of Industrial Training Agency Ltd and after numerous pages online of the real story behind A4e this company name has never been mentioned before.

But Emma was involved in this earlier company… are we being petty about merely a name?

Lets check today A4e website…

In the UK, over 20 years ago, large numbers of Sheffield steelworkers began losing their jobs as their once proud industry started to decline. It was a social disaster.

We started A4e in order to provide the redundant workers with the training they needed to find work in other industries. And – the flip side of the coin – we were able to supply companies with newly trained and enthusiastic workers.

And now?

From our South Yorkshire beginnings, we’ve expanded quite a bit. And we don’t just mean to North Yorkshire. Our growth has been on a global scale. We’re now improving lives all over the world. As far away as Australia, in fact. “Doing well by doing good,” as our Chairman, Emma Harrison puts it.

No faceless multi-national

We’re much bigger than we once were, but our concerns are the same as ever. We still want to bring about social change. To help the disadvantaged. And to put equal opportunities into practice in a way that others only pay lip service to.

It is almost 20 years ago since 1991 – but not over 20 years.

Rewind a few years back…

A4e has been providing services across a range of sectors since 1991. To download a snapshot of the work that we’ve been doing on behalf of individuals, organisations and government over the past 12 months please click here.

Some honesty!

Fast forward a year…

A message from A4e’s Chairman, Emma Harrison

A very warm welcome to A4e.

I founded A4e in 1986 because I wanted to provide training and opportunity for the people made unemployed by the decline of the steel industry in Sheffield. I wanted to be a part of a company that made a difference to people’s lives and from these humble origins we have built a company that now helps thousands of people across the world.

Our passion, commitment and drive to improve people’s lives over the past two decades, in everything that we do, is what has turned A4e into the successful international organisation it is today. We pride ourselves in helping people and organisations access high quality training, employment and advice, doing whatever we can to drive social change and provide opportunity. We do things the right way, not the easy way. Doing well by doing good.

I’m proud to lead an organisation that helps so many people in so many ways and really does improve people’s lives.

Best wishes,

Emma

1986? The records say 1991 and even when the company was founded the Industrial Training Agency Ltd was still going. As we can see above and by visiting the A4e website today… the 1986 figure disappeared. 1991 isn’t mentioned either.

Investigate the fraud

Just to recap… Neil Watson, the Finance Director at time of frauds needs to be investigated. So does this previous business to find out why it closed considering the officers are the same in both. Plus the company switch needs to be investigated a dormant company that has filed a full set of accounts once. Something fishy there.

Feel free to print this out or copy and paste it, sending it to your MP, Serious Fraud Office or the police.