BUSINESS BIO

Where is the enterprise based? Croydon

Key business markets: Care services, education

Turnover: £1.3m

% income from trading (as opposed to grants): 100%

Number of employees: 20

www.pjsgroup.co.uk

 

ambassadors

Claudine Reid

Claudine Reid
  • PJs Community Services

  • 35

  • Director of Operations

  • Croydon

PJ’s is dedicated to meeting community needs – helping the local authority to meet a lot of its own targets at the same time

PJ’s Community Services, based in Croydon, describes its overall mission as “adding value” to the community.

The organisation, known as PJ’s, was founded in 1992 with a Prince’s Trust grant, initially offering a home-shopping service for elderly, housebound people. Gradually, says director of operations and Social Enterprise Ambassador Claudine Reid, PJ’s has grown into a community hub, working not just in care services but also youth, education, business and the arts.

After steady growth in the 1990s, during which it became a trusted partner for the delivery of Croydon’s social services, PJ’s reached a turning point in 2001. It had the opportunity to buy a large, derelict building, with the idea of renovating it into a usable space.

“Once we’d bought this building, we thought, ‘what are we doing to do with it?’” says Claudine. “It was a big job to renovate it, but it meant we could create new facilities and move into new areas of work.”

Today, PJ’s has achieved just that. Care services are still a major part of its work, but it does much more, particularly in education. The refurbished building houses meeting rooms, recording studios, and a 36-place, Ofsted approved day nursery for children aged three months to five years.

Through its delivery of services to the local authority, hiring out facilities such as the meeting rooms and the recording studios, and the provision of business support services, PJ’s generates income which it puts back into community projects.

The idea behind PJ’s was always to find ways to enhance the community. We identify what’s lacking, and then we try to fill those gaps.

One of the most important of these is the ACE Academy, which works with young people who are having trouble settling into statutory education. It tries to get to the bottom of whatever problems they might be having, and works to get them back into school.

Separately, PJ’s also offers a whole range of specialised, tailored programmes for schools: these include one programme to help students make the transition to senior school, and another to give young people practical financial skills.

“We’re really helping the local authority meet a lot of its own targets,” says Claudine. “We work with marginalised sections of the community, helping unemployed people back into work. We provide training, and the work we do with young people is especially valuable.

"We help get a lot of them back into the education system, which cuts down on those who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs).”

To date, PJ’s has created around 80 jobs in the local area. In 2008, Claudine was awarded an MBE in recognition of her services to the community – and she plans to continue finding ways to meet people’s needs.

“The idea behind PJ’s was always to find ways to enhance the community,” she says. “We identify what’s lacking, and then we try to fill those gaps.”

Quick Facts

  • PJ’s provides around 900 hours of care services per week.
  • Employees speak more than 8 languages between them. This makes it easier to communicate with their clients, build trust and provide tangible and beneficial outcomes.
  • The enterprise’s contract to provide care services in Croydon is worth £500,000 per year.
  • PJ’s has created 80 jobs in the local area.

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