InStaffs

• Staffordshire boasts a prime central UK location with excellent transport links. Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire is central to the UK's motorway network. The main north-south motorway arteries of the UK are the M6 and M1. The M6 passes through Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to the west, and the M1 runs to the east of the area. The M42 is also in close proximity, and forms the east and southern part of the Birmingham orbital, linking to the M5 and South West of England, and the M40 to Oxford and London.
• Staffordshire benefits from an abundant skilled workforce. Staffordshire has a labour supply of 422,200 aged 16+ who are economically active. The Staffordshire County workforce consists of 402,900 economically active working age population. The working age economically active population is made up of 55% males and 45% females.
• Staffordshire has a competitive cost base, with property costs and wage rates that are 10 – 20% below the UK average.
• Staffordshire has a plentiful supply of land and buildings, with over 1200 available commercial properties and 800 acres of developable land.
• Staffordshire is home to the Staffordshire and Keele Universities. Staffordshire University has some 16,000 and Keele around 8,300 degree students.
• Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire can offer a quality of life that is not available in the larger urban areas. There is a diverse range of countryside and the County is steeped in history. Indeed, many people who work in surrounding large urban areas prefer to live in Staffordshire.

Assistance and Support For New Business Investors

InStaffs UK Limited:

• Promotes Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire as a premier location for new inward investment for businesses that are, ideally, knowledge driven and offer high value added jobs.
• Responds to inward investment enquiries both from overseas - working in partnership with the Regional Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands (AWM) - and the rest of the United Kingdom. This includes management of enquiries from liaison with stakeholders, developers and agents, providing information on access to funding and comprehensive socio-economic data of Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire.
• In conjunction with partners and stakeholders, initiates development of the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire product, to enable the sub-region to attract more inward investment.
• Provides a property and economic information enquiry response service for locally based companies.

Existing Business Base

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire's investment appeal is underpinned by the strength, diversity and flexibility of its workforce. Over a million people live in the County and with Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire's proximity to Birmingham and Manchester (the UK's second and third cities), the potential pool of labour is massive.

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire has always had a strong manufacturing presence and today still boasts world-renowned companies such as JCB, Wedgwood, Michelin, Pirelli and Areva. Manufacturing employment continues to be above the national average, whilst Staffordshire also has a strong and growing service sector. North Staffordshire has the second largest concentration of Business and Professional Services companies in the West Midlands region, and in Southern Staffordshire, the sector is a recognised growth cluster, with total numbers employed in the sector predicted to grow by 16,000 over the next 15 years.