Founder of WeMindTheGap charity and co-founder of Moneypenny awarded CBE

The co-founder of Moneypenny has bee awarded a CBE in recognition of her dedication to bettering the lives of under-served young people and services to business.

Rachel Clacher, who also founded WeMindTheGap charity, received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire from HRH Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace on February 14th.

Twenty years ago, Rachel co-founded Moneypenny – located on the Western Gateway – with her brother Ed Reeves.

Today, the company has grown to be the world’s lead provider in telephone answering, outsourced switchboard and live chat technology, with a dedicated team of over 750 employees across the UK and US.

Encompassing the same values as Moneypenny, Rachel established social mobility charity WeMindTheGap in 2014, providing support through a holistic twelve-month programme for unemployed, young people aged 18–25.

From running programmes in Moneypenny’s home town of Wrexham the charity has expanded to run programmes in Manchester, Liverpool and Flintshire.

By 2024, with the support of the National Lottery Community Fund, the charity will have expanded across the whole of North Wales and the North West, will directly employ 160 young people and have over 450 graduates in full time work or education.

Rachel said: “I am truly honoured to be receiving this CBE, and see it very much as recognition of the hard work, commitment and ambition of our amazing people at Moneypenny and WeMindTheGap.

“We all share a belief in treating other people as we would want to be treated ourselves, and that has resulted in us, as important and caring teams, making a huge impact in our clients’ and employees’ lives as well as the lives of under-served young people in our communities.”