A booming Bradford recruitment firm is building a bright future for itself - and for disadvantaged people in the district.

Ethical Care Recruitment is this year expecting to turnover £750,000 - only 18 months after it was launched from an office in Cheapside.

And any surplus left over once the firm's staff have been paid is handed over as donations to benefit vulnerable groups.

The not-for-profit company has grown from its original six directors and now has more than 80 workers on its books.

They range from residential social workers, who do an occasional shift in a residential care home, to full-time senior social workers.

Staff are hired out on a temporary basis to host companies like social services departments with the margin used to finance the running of the branch.

Today director Clare Maddock, who was one of the six who founded the business, admitted the first 18 months had been "an exhausting, exhilarating learning curve for the company".

And she had been staggered by the success so far.

She said: "All of the directors had been working for social care agencies but had become disillusioned with firms that worked on a profit basis.

"The bigger the surplus that went to shareholders, then less would be available for local services."

She said host companies across Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees, and Calderdale, had been pleasantly surprised by the concept of the firm.

"I think they found it quite hard to believe when we first started," she said.

"Managers have been surprised that we supply the same high quality workers as other agencies, but at such a low cost."

This year the business is expecting to make a surplus of about £10,000 which will be ploughed back into services such as children's homes.

Mrs Maddock also paid tribute to the support the firm had received from Business Link and said the business was planning to continue its expansion from within Bradford.

"Bradford certainly has its problems, but we want to stay here and be a part of the solution," she said.