Shaping the future of Halifax businesses that employs and trains vulnerable people

ISCAL (Industrial Services Calderdale) is a printed, disposable manufacturing company producing dripmats, coasters, napkins, and other associated tissue products for the tourism and hospitality sector.

The Gibbet Street company’s main customers are hotels, bars, airlines, restaurants and cafes worldwide, and offers supported employment to people, many of whom have disabilities or mental health issues.

In November 2020, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet – the authority operates ISCAL – considered a range of options regarding its future, including closing it down and selling its order book.

Councillors were told budget savings of £300,000 were needed in the service.

But it also offers value, training people – up to 200 each year – to help them move on to other jobs, and after leaving ISCAL 75 per cent of people who have attended there are still in employment 18 months after leaving the service.

Work completed by Leeds Beckett University has shown that for every £1 the council invests in ISCAL it gets a £6 return in the wider economy, with a total benefit of £1.3 million per financial year.

ISCAL closed because of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic but re-opened on July 19, 2021.

In November 2020 Cabinet councillors wanted more detailed work done on each of the options and when they meet on Monday, March 28, they are recommended to devote from April to July this year,to dedicated business planning.

This will identify ways in which the services at ISCAL can be adapted to address a growing and changing demand, including development of internships and traineeships, work experience and placements, and possibly developing a wider range of products.

In the interim, ISCAL has secured the British Airways contract to supply its products for another two years, councillors are told.

Councillors are told a wider range of provision could help bridge the gap for people who have barriers to unemployment and who really want to become contributing members of Calderdale’s community.

The briefing paper to councillors says: “This has the potential to showcase how services can be agile, deliver value for money through the roll out of best practice, pilot new approaches and embed effectively into a wider system to ensure people centred pathways.

“It can…prove social value models can help reduce inequalities, and evidence that the world of work is open to us all.”

A final decision on the November 2020 options, including whether to keep going or close, can then be taken by Cabinet in September 2022, members are told.

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