We’re very happy to announce that we’ve been helping great companies find great people in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire for a quarter of a century this year! 

And as the chosen recruitment partner for our clients in the manufacturing, precision engineering and distribution sectors since 1997, we’re celebrating our Silver Anniversary, by becoming a fully employee-owned company on 24th June 2022 - National Employee Ownership Day! 

This makes us one of the first independent recruitment consultancies in the south-east to become owned by its employees. 

Our Founder and current MD, Barbara Law, explained what the change means:

“Although our ownership structure has changed, as far as our clients and the people we help to find jobs are concerned, nothing will look any different. 

“Our clients and candidates will receive the same friendly, professional and responsive service they have always enjoyed, with the added benefit of knowing that the team who help them are now co-owners of the company with an even greater vested interest in making sure that we provide a top-notch service.”

We will continue to be called Priority Appointments and will be led by Tracy Welch, who will now become Managing Director, together with the senior management team. 

Barbara Law will remain a Director of the company, focussing on performance and overall strategy.

Tracy Welch added, “We’re all very excited to become business owners and are looking forward to building the company as a team by continuing to find great people for great local manufacturing, precision engineering and distribution firms.” 

James de le Vingne, Chief Executive of the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), commented on the transfer of ownership saying: “We congratulate our member Priority Appointments on its transition to employee ownership; securing the ethos, values, and culture of the business, as well as rooting jobs in Basingstoke and the surrounding areas.

“Businesses that give employees a stake and a say build trust and shared responsibility, uniting leaders and employees behind a common purpose, leaving businesses in a better position to flex and adapt.”

There are now over 800 employee-owned businesses in the UK with this succession solution being one of the fastest growing in the UK. 300 of those having transitioned since 2020.

This growth is due to the use of the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), which was introduced by the government in 2014 to encourage long-term employee ownership. 



One in every 20 private company sales is now an EOT, with Priority Appointments joining a network of EOTs in the UK that include Richer Sounds and Go Ape.