Matrix helps company improve business prospects as well as sharpen its services

The Matrix Standard, the national quality mark for the provision of information, advice and guidance services (IAG) has been awarded to the Sheffield headquartered, nationally and internationally operating training provider, A4e.

And already, as a direct result of this accreditation, A4e believes that the Matrix Standard has helped it to secure valuable new Government funded training contracts, which has impacted positively on the business performance and turnover of the training and development provider.

This is excellent news for A4e clients, which include children of school age at risk of exclusion, unemployed people and voluntary community groups, as it shows that the services A4e provides are meeting the highest possible national standards.

The ënextstepí contract that A4e has won will see it delivering IAG services to clients over 20 years old to help them improve their career prospects by learning new skills, retraining and gaining new qualifications.

A4e has been delivering services to the public, private and voluntary sectors for 20 years. It works with individuals, organisations and businesses providing a broad range of advice and training on behalf of the government and is a leading expert in welfare to work provision and business support.

A4e Director, Steve Mason said:

ìI have already recommended the Matrix Standard to other organisations. We all enjoyed working towards the successful accreditation, and aside from the new contracts we won, other benefits included improved staff motivation and the ability to justifiably demonstrate how proud we are of our work we do, not just to new clients but existing ones as well.î

A4e employs 1600 people and operates from over 100 locations across the UK. It is recognised as one of the UKís premier organisations in the delivery of social change on behalf of the Government.

Since 1997 it has delivered over 230m of welfare to work programmes. 4,000 new participants start the adult welfare to work programmes every month, meaning that A4e assists 11,000 people into work annually. A4e was also the first UK based organisation to export its welfare to work expertise internationally and now delivers training and employment services to over 6,000 people in Jerusalem, Israel.