The UK’s largest provider of employee expenses services has created more than 35 jobs in Sittingbourne after setting up operations and relocating to Kent Science Park.

GlobalExpense provides a complete outsourced expense management service for more than 150 leading UK companies that between them employ more than 2.5% of the country’s workforce. Using the latest information technology the company processes and validates more than four million employee expense receipts annually and pays reimburses tens of thousands of employees every month.

The deal, sealed after working closely with investment promotion agency Locate in Kent, has seen GlobalExpense relocate its Processing & Validation Department to the county. In addition to the jobs already created at Kent Science Park, the company intends to employ another 10-20 staff by the end of this year.

After searching for new premises on Locate in Kent’s dedicated property website www.commercialpropertykent.com, GlobalExpense was taken on a tour of suitable locations by the agency, which led the company to finally select Kent Science Park.

David Vine, Managing Director at GlobalExpense, said: “We initially looked at the North East and South Wales, when we realised we simply didn’t have any room for growth in our London office. Moving to Kent Science Park has helped the business grow at a significantly reduced cost allowing us to provide an increased level of service to customers without the need to increase fees. Expanding to Kent was the obvious choice - why drive four hours for a meeting from our London office, when we could move to a site on our doorstep at a competitive price?

“We have plans to expand our Kent site further, and Kent Science Park is the perfect location to allow us to develop. We’ve found it easier to recruit in the county too – the labour pool is very good, with quality, skilled and available staff.

“Services in Kent are more competitive than in London, so we’ve made use of local suppliers, and moved our archiving unit into the Sittingbourne area. Choosing Kent has saved us time, travel costs and most importantly, money – and we’re making a long term commitment to the area.”

James Speck, Site Director at Kent Science Park, added: “GlobalExpense as a company has enjoyed phenomenal growth and we are delighted that this knowledge-based business has chosen the Park as its new home.

“To manage such a complex operation requires highly sophisticated and resilient computing technology and capabilities. A significant factor in securing GlobalExpense was access to unlimited broadband via the Park’s Ethernet point of presence, managed by SOTA, a tenant on the Park.”