Manchester is a city that thrives on innovation, ambition, and transformation. It’s no surprise that businesses here demand recruitment partners who understand the pace, complexity, and potential of the region.

That’s where Sanderson, now strengthened by the acquisition of Outsource, comes in.

A Powerful Partnership for Manchester

In 2024, Outsource officially joined the Sanderson Group, bringing together two highly respected recruitment brands. The result? A seamless, full-service talent solution for clients across the North West.
From one-off hires to fully managed MSPs and RPOs, our Manchester team delivers with precision, speed, and care. We work across industries including Financial Services, Logistics, Retail, and more offering permanent, contract, and enterprise hiring solutions tailored to each client’s needs whether that’s financial services, logistics and supply chain, retail, engineering, media or technology.

Let’s Talk Talent

Whether you’re hiring for a single role or launching a large-scale recruitment programme, Sanderson Manchester is ready to help.

Find out more by downloading the Manchester Office Brochure via the form below.

It is with great sadness to share that Keith Dawe, founder of Sanderson, passed away on New Year’s Eve.

Keith was a visionary entrepreneur who helped to shape the recruitment industry. In the 1970s, he launched Tamar DP, one of the country’s first IT contract recruitment businesses, and in 1982, he founded Sanderson, taking it from a small Bristol based company to the global talent solutions business it is today with over 500 employees in locations across the UK, Ireland, India, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Keith was passionate about creating opportunities for talented individuals, and his values of fairness, compassion, and loyalty remain central to Sanderson’s culture today. Many careers were built thanks to his belief in developing people and sharing knowledge.

“Keith’s influence will continue to guide us,” said Jon Ball (Sanderson CEO) “His principles are embedded in everything we do. As we look to the future, we are committed to honouring his legacy by building on the success he created and continuing to grow Sanderson into the market-leading recruitment and talent solutions company he envisioned.”

Keith is also remembered for his time as Chairman of Bristol City Football Club from 2012 to 2019, overseeing a historic period that included winning the League One title and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in the 2014/15 season.

Sanderson extends its deepest condolences to Keith’s family, friends and colleagues.

Sanderson is delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Fast Payer Award for 2025 from Good Business Pays CIC.

We are thrilled to be awarded this prestigious award, and even more proud to have earned this for the 4^th year in a row.

The accreditation means that we are in the top 10% of large companies that have consistently paid their suppliers in 27 days or less, demonstrating our commitment to our business values and our communities.

Commenting on this achievement, our CEO Jon Ball said:

“Sanderson is proud to be leading the way as a large UK company helping to ensure our suppliers are paid on time. This not only demonstrates our commitment to our communities, but also to our financial stability in what has been a challenging few years in the market. To be recognised for doing this consistently and year after year is a fantastic achievement.”

On Wednesday 7^th January Sanderson will also be pleased to attend the Good Business Pays Awards Ceremony in London at the House of Lords to receive our award in person.

You can find out more about the awards here: https://goodbusinesspays.com/fast-payer-awards-2025/

Since its launch in 2020, the Strive Internship Programme has opened doors for over 130 young people from underrepresented backgrounds, connecting them with meaningful opportunities across 35+ organisations in the South West. Now under the leadership of Sanderson, Strive is more than just a summer internship — it’s a movement for equity, inclusion, and real-world impact.

Why Strive Matters

Strive isn’t just about work experience. It’s about belonging, mentorship, and representation. It’s about helping young people see their potential — and giving employers the chance to discover untapped talent that can transform their teams and culture.

This year, we’re celebrating the success of Strive 2025 and looking ahead to an even bigger 2026. And we want you to be part of it.

You’re Invited: Strive 2026 Launch Event

📍 Ashton Gate, Bristol
📅Wednesday 21st January 2026
🍸 Drinks, canapés, and inspiring conversations

Join us for an evening of connection and inspiration. Hear from past interns and employers, meet Bristol Bears special guest Gabriel Ibitoye and explore how your organisation can get involved.

Register your interest here

What You’ll Take Away

Our panel will explore powerful questions like:

• What does opportunity really mean?
• How does mentorship unlock potential?
• Why does representation matter in the workplace?
• What barriers still exist — and how can we break them down?

Expect some inspiring stories you can take back to your organisation.

Let’s Build a More Inclusive Future — Together

Strive is your chance to be part of something bigger; to invest in the next generation and to create a workplace where everyone feels they belong.

On Wednesday 15th October 2025 Sanderson’s Recruitment Services Managing Director Will Boney and Head of Operations & Organisational Change Anna Kramer sat down with PayStream CEO Tony Hodkinson to deliver a webinar discussing the upcoming tax legislation changes that are set to have an impact on many umbrella companies and across the whole recruitment industry.

Will, Karen and Tony chatted about what these changes mean and when they are due to come into force, how it affects you, and what we are doing here at Sanderson to ensure we’re compliant across the supply chain.

If you missed this webinar, you can still listen to the full recording where we cover the discussion points below, along with practical tips for businesses to navigate this period of change.

Watch the full recording of the Umbrella Reform Webinar here

The webinar covered key discussion points like:

• A clear overview of the tax legislation changes, including joint and several liability due in April 2026
• The impact of the Employment Rights Bill due in April 2027
• How this new legislation impacts you and how you can prepare for the change
• How you can protect yourself from liability and carry out appropriate due diligence, including insight into PaySteam’s own 6-Point Compliance Plan
• Exactly what we at Sanderson are doing to ensure compliance across the supply chain and to keep a smooth process for our clients and contractors
• An informative Q&A session with live and burning questions from attendees

You may have heard about the upcoming 2026 tax legislation changes that are set to have an impact on many umbrella companies and across the whole recruitment industry.

Please join us on a webinar where Sanderson and Paystream will share more about what these changes mean, how it affects you, and what we are doing here at Sanderson to ensure we’re compliant across the supply chain.

The webinar will provide:

• A clear overview of the tax legislation changes, including joint and several liability
• How this new legislation impacts you and how you can prepare for the change
• What we at Sanderson are doing to ensure compliance across the supply chain
• A dedicated Q&A session to answer your questions.

You’ll be hearing from Presenters: Tony Hodkinson (COO at Paystream), Will Boney (Recruitment Services Managing Director at Sanderson) and Anna Kramer (Head of Operations & Organisational Change at Sanderson)

The Details

• Date: Wednesday 15th October 2025
• Time: 12pm -12:45pm
• Location: Webinar via Microsoft Teams

Please click here to register your place.

Sanderson is pleased to announce that our CEO Jon Ball has been listed in the Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) 2025 Staffing 100 Europe List.

This industry leading publication is now in its 12th year and recognises recruitment organisation leaders across Europe who are building the staffing and workforce solutions of the future.

This is an incredible effort for Jon and for Sanderson as the past year has seen the European staffing market face numerous challenges as leaders navigate rapid digital transformation, increased globalisation, changing legislation, and a greater focus on social responsibility.

The leaders named in this year’s SIA Staffing 100 Europe List, including Sanderson, have been called out for their accelerated digital innovation in their organisations, advancing business growth with operational excellence, leading strategic expansion, and fostering inclusive work cultures. Ranking is a true testament to Sanderson’s ‘One Team’ mentality, and we’re delighted to see that our work such as successfully positioning Sanderson as a premier provider of first-generation MSP solutions for the financial services sector and introducing initiatives that strengthen control, visibility and compliance across contingent workforces is recognised across our industry.

If you’d like to find out more about the SIA 2025 Staffing 100 Europe List as well as seeing a full list of honourees, please click here.

Yesterday afternoon, over 50 guests arrived at Sanderson’s Bristol HQ to celebrate the launch of this year’s Strive Internship Programme, including the 29 students who have worked extremely hard to be part of Strive this summer.

Sanderson’s Strive journey started back at the beginning of 2024, when we got in touch with our friends at Hargreaves Lansdown to ask if we could invite an intern to spend the summer in our Bristol office. We were duly joined by an intern who so impressed the whole team that we knew we wanted to keep being part of Strive for as long as it kept running.

Fast forward a few weeks, and we were in touch with Hargreaves Lansdown again – this time to hear that they were looking to pass Strive on to ensure it could keep running, and that they wanted us to do it.

It didn’t take a lot of discussion before we agreed. We believed wholeheartedly in the good work that Strive is doing.

The data shows again and again that students from underrepresented backgrounds face more difficulty getting into sustained employment after leaving university. This cohort can often face discrimination, and are more likely to lack a support system that can make connections with potential employers; arrange work experience; and advise on CV writing, interview technique, and everything else that helps you start a career post-university.

The goal of Strive is to become that support system – to create connections, offer paid work experience, and teach students some of the crucial skills they’ll need to find a long-term position post-university.

Yesterday afternoon let us see that in action.

After a brief introduction from our CEO Jon Ball, Business Enablement Director Steve Phillips and the Strive Programme Lead (me!), we stepped back and encouraged everyone to get talking.

Interns were given the chance to chat to each other, to all the employers and colleagues who came along, and to representatives from Strive’s partners DeepLearn HS and our friends at Not Impossible. In turn, employers and partners got to know each other and the interns, and pick up useful tips and tricks for improving inclusion and supporting their Strive interns to get the most from their work experience.

It demonstrated one of the other things we love so much about Strive: it’s not all about what the interns can take away. As employers, we get to invite more diversity into the heart of our organisations, improving our perspectives and exposing ourselves to new viewpoints and ways of working. Plus, we get the enviable opportunity of talking to a cohort of talented, highly motivated, and enthusiastic students who keep proving that the future of the workforce is in very good hands.

We had representatives from nearly all the employers taking part this year:

• ARAG
• Ashton Gate
• Bishop Fleming
• Bristol City Council
• BOM IT Solutions
• Carter Jonas
• Hargreaves Lansdown
• IntellectBooks
• Nucleus Financial
• Plimsoll Productions
• QinetiQ
• Squarcle
• University of West of England
• Willmott Dixon

In addition, we were pleased to welcome key Strive partners from UWE. UWE helped Hargreaves Lansdown set up Strive in the first place, and have been tireless champions of the scheme ever since. At least 80% of Strive candidates this year came from UWE, and they have taken on three interns themselves this year in their web and molecular biology teams.

It was great to see interns throwing themselves into the networking, talking to employers about potential career paths and opportunities within their industries. We overheard conversations about graduate schemes, special interests, experiences so far, and much more. Plus all the interns got the chance to talk to one another and start making connections that we hope will stay long after Strive is over.

Now that the event is over and Strive is officially launched, we’re focusing on running our weekly Life Skills sessions (supported by our fantastic employers and partners), prepping surveys to send out, and getting our ducks in a row for Strive 2026.

Speaking of which: if this article has piqued your interest, send an email to [email protected] to chat about whether Strive might be right for your business. There’s no obligation and no hard selling from us. Just a gentle hope that you can see its positives, and that you’d like to be part of it in the future.

Today Sanderson is excited to share that Highams is going to be officially taking on the Sanderson brand, merging with Sanderson to create a specialist Financial Services division.

We’ve been collaborating with Highams since 2021 having acquired them to work together on delivering permanent and contract recruitment solutions to the Financial Services and Insurance sectors.

We’ve worked together on everything from delivering MSPs to the largest UK insurance companies to global RPO solutions, and this move will only continue to strengthen our capability in the Insurance, Pensions & Wealth Management sectors thanks to the Highams team bringing 35 years of industry experience and unrivalled personal networks with them.

Commenting on this news, our CEO Jon Ball said:

“With our combined strength and experiences, we can accelerate our ability to develop offerings in the financial sector both in the UK and globally. Together we can help organisations across the world meet their most complex talent challenges.”

Click here to find out more about this exciting news.

Sanderson have recently been featured in the Financial Times following new research suggesting that half of UK businesses plan to prioritise investment in artificial intelligence (AI) over hiring staff due to the decision of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ to increase employers’ tax bills.

Commentators have suggested that many companies are beginning to see more of the potential that AI can offer them in terms of productivity, and a recent poll from BCG has even revealed that 44% of responders from the 251 UK businesses surveyed are investing in AI as a priority this year.

Staff with AI skills

This rise in the use of AI has led companies to look for staff with skills related to this technology.

Our data has suggested that demand for AI engineers in the UK jumped in the first half of 2024, despite lay-offs in the wider tech sector over the preceding 18 months.

James Corcoran, head of recruitment in our Government and Defence practice went on to say “AI will replace some jobs, support some jobs and generate some jobs, it will balance itself out.”

To read the full article in the Financial Times, please click here.

If you would like to access more data around the emergence of AI related skillsets, you can download our Tech & Digital Insights Report here.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss the use of AI in your business, or are interested in hiring staff with skills in this area of technology.