A CONFIDENTIAL shredding experts company is expanding and creating three new jobs at their Haydock headquarters.

The company, which was established four years ago, collects confidential documents and media from customers across the North West.

It transports them securely to its shredding facility where they are destroyed before being sent to be recycled into tissue paper products.

Growing demand for SafeShred’s services meant the business wanted to increase the volume of documents it could process.

After applying for a grant from the St Helens Jobs and Growth Fund SafeShred was awarded £10,000 from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, allowing it to invest in new equipment and enabling it to employ new members of staff.

Managing Director Frank O’Hare explained: "Investing in new machines gives us more scope to take on larger projects because our turnaround will be much quicker without impeding our current excellent levels of service to our existing client base.”

Two new members of staff have already joined the team and the next plan is to add another vehicle to its growing fleet and employ an additional driver.

“As more and more companies become aware of their responsibility to dispose of data securely the demand for our services is increasing and with this investment we are in a good position to continue growing,” added Frank O’Hare.

The £2million St Helens Jobs and Growth Fund is managed by St Helens Chamber and was launched last November to stimulate private sector investment in the Borough by providing investment for growth when suitable finance is not available elsewhere.

Grants of up to £70,000 are available for projects that will create employment opportunities, such as purchasing new premises, existing expanding premises or investing in plant and machinery.

Applications for funding are assessed on a competitive basis by an investment panel and St Helens businesses can apply for grants of up to 20% of the total project value.

Geoff Bates, Regional Growth Fund Programme Manager at the Chamber said: “SafeShred is already a real success story, after growing so quickly in just four years, but this investment in new machinery will enable it to unlock its potential for even more growth in the future, providing services that are in great demand.”

Frank O’Hare added: “The grant has been a huge help for us, in fact it’s a real bonus. We are now able to move forward with our plans much more quickly than we had expected and it is very exciting.”