The HR Dept Newcastle to create jobs with five-figure investment

A business support company in South Tyneside is opening a new office and creating jobs with a five-figure investment.

The HR Dept Newcastle will use £25k from the North East Small Loan Fund to expand with an additional base in North Tyneside.

The firm worked with NEL Fund Managers to secure the loan, which will also enable it to hire six new staff over the next two years.

Set up in 2014 by HR professional Jayne Hart, The HR Dept Newcastle is based at the Quadrus Centre in Boldon where it employs a team of six.

The company works to help expanding businesses in South Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead that lack their own senior in-house personnel resources to ensure they meet regulatory requirements.

Jayne said: “I worked in senior HR positions for a number of large organisations, but had reached a level where I felt I wasn’t always having the sort of direct impact on their operations that I wanted.”

The HR Dept is a franchisee business with around 100 UK offices.

Jayne continued: “Having always thought about running my own business, running The HR Dept Newcastle franchise seemed like a perfect move and we’ve been able to successfully grow the business over the last few years by meeting an important operational need within smaller firms that are themselves expanding.

“We’re following the lead of our ambitious clients and proactively looking to grow our own business, and expect to see our workforce double over the next couple of years as a result of setting up in North Tyneside.”

The £9m North East Small Loan Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund. It is part of the £120m North East Fund and aimed predominantly at smaller SMEs.

Over its full run, the Small Loan Fund could help create more than 1,200 regional jobs at over 320 SMEs.

NEL Fund Managers investment executive Mike Guellard commented: “Jayne presented a clear vision for how she wanted to extend a successful business formula, and we’re very happy to be helping her realise these ambitions.”

Dawn Dunn, of the North East Fund, said of the deal: “It’s good to see this South Tyneside business benefit from the very first investment from the Small Loans Fund.

“We hope this will encourage more people from the area, and across the whole NELEP region, to find out how the different elements of the North East Fund can help them to start or grow a business.”

South Tyneside Council Leader Cllr Iain Malcolm commented: “It’s fantastic to see a South Tyneside business achieving growth by accessing the North East Fund.

“I hope it will be the first of many businesses in the borough to take advantage of this great opportunity to raise finance. Congratulations to Jayne and The HR Dept Newcastle. They are a well-established tenant at the Quadrus Centre and I wish them every success with their expansion plans.”