A Leeds charity has tackled burglary and crime at its 125 acre site by outsourcing its site security to a Yorkshire company that specialises in delivering facilities management support to charities.
Core Facility Services in Huddersfield works with charitable organisations across the region including Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, Overgate Hospice and Christians Against Poverty.
Its latest project with Caring For Life was prompted by a series of major burglaries at the charity’s headquarters in Cookridge, where it runs therapeutic daytime activities for the homeless and vulnerable people who are supported through its housing projects.
Tim Parkinson of Caring For Life said: “As a charity we don’t want to have the responsibility of keeping our site secure and making sure everyone on the premises is kept safe – we just want to come in each day ready to deliver care.
“By outsourcing that responsibility to Core our HR staff no longer have the headache of managing rotas to make sure the site is supervised out of hours and covering for absence. If we have a problem we ring Core and they sort it out for us.
“Core also advises us on best practice in relation to lockdown procedures and CCTV. This means we have been able to demonstrate to our insurers that we are taking a proactive approach to security and continually investigating ways to improve standards right across the site.”
Tim said a decision by Core to change security supplier at the last minute had demonstrated outstanding customer care.
“We had agreed on a supplier with Core but before contracts were signed their team flagged up the fact that they had concerns about the honesty and transparency of the company concerned,” Tim explained.
“Core were clearly looking after our best interests and we eventually settled on a supplier that we were all satisfied would provide us with a robust and ethical service.”
Core is an SIA Approved Contractor, putting it amongst the best providers of private security in the UK, guaranteeing clients the highest possible standards of customer service and safety.
Core’s site security services include providing trained and vetted security personnel on site to protect our customers’ premises, goods and staff and offering round the clock security and cover for specific high risk periods such as overnight.
Gareth Henderson of Core said: “Caring For Life differs from many commercial sites in that it extends across more than 100 acres, made up of farmland and workshops as well as restaurant, retail and office premises.
“By looking after things on a day to day basis we can relieve the staff of the burdens associated with managing their own security personnel and dealing with burglaries. We can provide peace of mind that their security is rigorous and advise them on additional measures that may be needed for insurance purposes or additional reassurance.”
