Staffline, which provides recruitment and outsourcing to industry nationwide, has acquired Midlands-based Fourstar Employment & Skills in a purchase worth £3 million.

Staffline, which provides recruitment and outsourcing to industry nationwide, has acquired Midlands-based Fourstar Employment & Skills in a purchase worth £3 million.

Welfare-to-work provider Fourstar was last month charged, by the Department for Work and Pensions, with providing the West Midlands Work Programme contract for Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country.

The programme aims to help people who have been claiming unemployment benefits for 12 months or more to find new jobs.

Andy Hogarth, chairman and chief executive of Staffline, comments: ‘[the acquisition] marks an evolution in the Staffline business model and provides good visibility in earnings for the Group.

‘Fourstar will sit well alongside our existing core services of outsourcing and training and will provide further diversification to Staffline’s business.’

According to Staffline, Fourstar will act as a springboard for participation in other similar Government initiatives.

The deal achieves an exit for Dutch company Fourstar Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lern Holding B.V. The purchase has been completed using Staffline’s existing cash resources.