PCC aims to provide helping hand for charities

Leeds-based conference, meetings and training organiser PCC Events operates as a social enterprise, meaning any profits are re-invested to benefit the NHS. Last year it ran more than 400 events, up from 55 in 2005, and turnover is expected to hit £750,000 for the year to April 2012, compared to £500,000 the previous year, said Ria Corey, event and operations manager.

To cope with the growth, PCC Events, which employs nine people, has recently moved to accommodation at Manor Mills, which, at over 4,600 sq ft, is three times larger than its previous premises.

Mrs Corey said: “Our main focus as a social enterprise is to support healthcare delivery and our mission as a social enterprise is to reinvest any surplus we make to benefit the NHS and ultimately the patients.”

Mrs Corey said: “In terms of our monies from last year and the year before, we have invested in NHS Networks, which is an online networks website. It enables the NHS to network for free, saving them money.” Groups, from teams of cancer nurses to regional commissioning groups, can share best practice via this service, she added. NHS Networks has over 500 networks and just over 40,000 live members.

PCC Events’ client base includes the NHS and the Department of Health.

Mrs Corey said: “We’ve grown quite considerably and we are looking to further increase for the next year. We have done that mainly through word of mouth through our existing client base.

“We have picked up further work from the Department for Health and also have done the annual conference for the Dispensing Doctors’ Association. That is what’s raised the turnover this year.”

PCC Events is also starting to expand its customer base to include charities and associations across all sectors. It has already worked with the British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK.

Mrs Corey said: “In terms of PCC Events, we expect to still maintain our public sector client base, however we want to build on that now. We are particularly looking at charities and the associations sector, so large membership organisations.”

She said: “With the NHS restructure, now is the perfect opportunity for PCC Events to develop income from wider sectors.”

Mrs Corey added: “If we can diversify, that is going to provide stability should other areas be facing the possibility of reducing their events programmes.”

Meanwhile, as PCC Events now has new facilities, which offer more space, it can provide Yorkshire-based meetings and events to clients at its premises. PCC Events recently received silver accreditation in sensory awareness training from CoHearentVision in Leeds, which supports deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind and partially sighted people.

It was the first event organiser to receive this accreditation, which means both the team and the meeting rooms at Manor Mills are equipped appropriately.

Mrs Corey said: “This training is particularly relevant to charities working with hearing and visual impairment and organisations who want to ensure their staff requirements are fully catered for.”

The company also runs training and bespoke courses in-house. These courses include healthcare courses, but also organisational development and personnel development courses.

Subject to continuing to grow the business, recruitment could be on the agenda, said Mrs Corey.

The new premises can accommodate extra events staff, and Mrs Corey said she would hope to increase the headcount in the future.

She added that she is happy to offer a free hour of advice for those running events such as conferences and exhibitions, on topics including how to get the best value out of a venue and how to manage delegate registra- tion.

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