Group Services banner

Group Services

Partnering with different teams around the world, Group Services underpins all of our operations. Bringing together expertise from a variety of professions, we provide the advice, guidance and best practice our Group needs to grow and succeed.

Operating at the very heart of the Group, we share learning, drive improvements and make sure everything runs smoothly. We gain a good understanding of our different businesses, strategies, customers and markets so we can provide responsive and flexible services to meet changing needs. Passionate about what we do, our teams range from Facilities Management, IT, Legal, Finance and HR & Development to Corporate Relations and Business Strategy.

People at the City & Guilds Group work in the following areas:

 

Group Functions

Group Functions comprises the Group Strategy and Corporate Relations teams. They support at a Group level as well as providing services, advice and best practice to our businesses.

Corporate Relations

Everything our team does is about protecting and promoting the City & Guilds Group’s reputation. We focus on making sure that what we say and do externally and internally is compelling, insightful and consistent across all channels​. Our team has responsibility for the City & Guilds Group brand and website, the Group press office, Institute relationships – including our Royal President, Fellows, Council and the City of London – and our charitable initiatives, such as community investments (which include our bursary programmes and the Skills Development Fund), youth engagement and memberships and networks. We also oversee the Group’s Awards programme for outstanding contributions to skills development – such as the annual Prince Philip Medal and Princess Royal Training Awards – and we work to build communities of excellence, bringing together people who share our mindset as to the importance of work-related learning. These range from our Fellows, Trustees and members through livery companies and other skills-related organisations, as well as both nominees and recipients for our awards. 

Group strategy

We’re a small team dedicated to helping increase the impact and growth of the City & Guilds Group in the world of training and education, both organically and by partnership and acquisition We are also committed to improving the quality of strategic thinking and execution across our businesses, through ongoing strategy reviews and by supporting and challenging new business development proposals.

 

Support Services

Facilities

As well as looking after the day-to-day running and maintenance of our UK offices, we support our colleagues by providing a variety of essential business services. We’re the people to talk to about travel, video-conferencing and company cars. We ensure our working environments are safe and well equipped. We also provide catering and hospitality services at our London office and a friendly welcome at Reception and Security.

Group finance

Our specialist teams partner with all areas of our business and support finance colleagues within our different business teams. We deliver high quality services in such areas as:

  • Accounts payable – recording and paying our suppliers accurately and promptly.
  • Credit Control – achieving a good cash flow by ensuring our customers make payments to agreed terms.
  • Finance Business Partners – helping the business to make critical decisions based on sound financial advice. We analyse performance, highlight key issues and provide insightful recommendations.
  • Financial Procurement – making sure all of our teams follow best practice and agreed procurement procedures.
  • Group PMO – providing support and guidance to sponsors, project managers and their teams across the project lifecycle from initial business case to service introduction.
  • Pensions & Payroll – looking after the day-to-day administration of pension and pay arrangements.

Legal

Supporting teams across our Group, we provide high quality legal advice. We support a variety of projects including contracts for goods and services, acquisitions, collaboration agreements, brand licensing and privacy issues.

HR & Development

Our people are at the heart of our success. So, we make sure we attract, retain, reward and develop the very best talent. We support the Group in a number of ways, including:

  • Business Partners – working closely with our businesses, we help them to achieve their strategic goals.
  • Data & Systems – responsible for the HRIS, we ensure the accuracy of our data and provide insightful reports and information.
  • Wellbeing & Safety – we believe that the wellbeing of our employees is the key to business success. So, we maintain and encourage a positive wellbeing culture.
  • Learning & Development – as you’d expect from a Group that’s passionate about skill development, we provide a wide range of opportunities to help our people grow and fulfil their potential.
  • Recruitment – we develop and deliver innovative attraction and recruitment strategies to attract talented people like you. We’ll look after you throughout the recruitment process.

IT

We provide core ICT services and wide-ranging support to make sure our IT systems meet the needs of our business – today and tomorrow. We are responsible for the following:

  • IT Architecture – overseeing the design, governance and ongoing maintenance of our Group IT architecture; we select and implement the right solutions.
  • Application Development and Support – as well as applications support and development, we’re responsible for the technical design of projects and providing a variety of web-based tools to support our business
  • Data & Integration – as the name suggests, we are responsible for integrating various IT systems together!
  • IT Infrastructure and Service Delivery – we manage the systems and technologies that keep everything running smoothly. These include networks, customer-facing websites, background systems, virtual desktops and messaging services.

See current Group vacancies and find out more about us on our website.

 

Go back to Our businesses >