Trade body for welfare-to-work sector elects charity director as chair

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 12 Jul 2011

The Employment Related Services Association, the trade body for the welfare-to-work sector, has appointed Matthew Lester, operations director of the Papworth Trust, as its new chair.

Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) represents 85 per cent of the organisations that have been awarded prime contracts under the Work Programme and many of the sub-contractors.

Lester will be presiding over a freshly-elected ERSA board, consisting of a mixture of prime and sub-contractors who deliver a range of employment programmes. There are a total of 12 board members, with six coming from the private sector and six from the voluntary/public sector.

Lester said he was delighted to be elected as ERSA’s new chair: “My vision is for ERSA to represent all provider types across the UK as credibility comes from diversity of membership. In 2011/12 we will continue to lobby to shape the future legislative landscape of the welfare to work industry, drive up standards to improve quality of delivery and establish our role as a trusted thought leader in the welfare to work space.”

Lester was ERSA’s vice chair from 2009 to 2011. He has been at Papworth Trust since 2003 having previously worked in the private sector. Papworth Trust is a disability charity and sub-contractor for the Work Programme.

Stuart Vere, chairman of Work Programme prime contractor Avanta, has been elected as ERSA’s vice chair.

The full ERSA board is as follows:

• Matthew Lester, operations director, Papworth Trust (ERSA chair)
• Stuart Vere, chairman, Avanta (ERSA vice chair)
• Chris Blackwell, chief operating officer, Ingeus
• Sally Burton, chief executive, Shaw Trust
• Bob Leach, managing director, Maximus Employment and Training
• Rob Murdoch, executive director, A4E
• Dan Murphy, director of communications, Remploy
• Helen Robinson, deputy director and development manager, Salvation Army
• Ian Smith, national delivery director, Working Links
• Kate Still, director of development, Wise Group
• Steve Swan, director of welfare-to-work, Tomorrow’s People
• Sean Williams, managing director, G4S Welfare to Work

Who's Who: Sally Burton

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