Claire Wilcock: Welcome to Westlakes Fusion
Westlakes Fusion's Managing Director, Claire Wilcock, provides insight into what makes the business different, future aspirations for the business and her motto to live by.
By Jessica Leary
With 18 years of recruitment experience, 10 years of experience working within the nuclear sector and 10 years of accounting experience, Claire Wilcock is now the Managing Director of Westlakes Fusion, based in Cockermouth.
What services do Westlakes Fusion offer?
Westlakes Fusion facilitates flexible contracting with permanent stability. We deliver payroll services to the UK nuclear market, from our headquarters in Cumbria, UK.
We support contractors, agencies and construction organisations, with a focus on long term relationships. We take care of all the necessary financial administration, so contractors in the nuclear and defence industry can concentrate on what’s really important.
With a personal account manager dedicated to each of our contractors, we hope to offer a market leading, friendly and high-quality service.
Where did it all begin?
The first business I founded was a recruitment business; Westlakes Recruit. I sought a balance between motherhood and an insatiable entrepreneurial spirit. Following a lifetime of belonging to a community of one of Europe’s largest nuclear sites a nuclear recruitment business seemed the perfect opportunity.
Nearly a decade on I saw an opportunity to further support our nuclear contract community, not just in their assignments but as a full support in their career journey. We want to support them in their assignments AND with on-time efficient, HMRC compliant payroll.
What would you say are your main aspirations for Westlakes Fusion?
We hope to expand and grow both in our abilities to assist our customers and geographically.
My current role as MD of Westlakes Fusion focuses on being the UK’s nuclear go-to payroll solution by combining high quality service with market leading technology. Every single one of our contractors are important to us, and we want our contractors to be confident that they will receive their pay in an accurate, timely manner, every week.
What makes Westlakes Fusion different?
Westlakes Fusion are the only professionally accredited umbrella payroll solution business in Cumbria.
We are a family business, founded by nuclear recruitment specialists and accounting professionals, who understand the importance for on time, accurate payroll. We decided to become a nuclear pure play business as we had sectoral knowledge and strong links to the nuclear community, enabling us to support our customers with their assignments to the best of our ability. As a nuclear pure play, we support workers from all aspects of the nuclear industry.
Our values of family, accountability, respect, excellence and diversity underpin how we work every day.
We are currently undergoing a rebrand of our business and website, so we can combine financial innovation with cutting edge technology, to ensure a streamlined experience for our customers.
What do you enjoy in your free time?
I am very fortunate to love what I do and maintain a great work-life balance. When I am not working my time is best spent with my family and friends trying to have as much fun as possible. My motto is “Say yes to everything unless it’s dangerous!”
How has the Coronavirus Pandemic affected your business?
Like many businesses, the Coronavirus Pandemic was a very uncertain time for us. Our business is people focused so our ambition was to support our customers through daily difficulties they faced.
To find out more about Westlakes Fusion, visit their Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin pages.
