Employment law and health and safety advice consultancy Peninsula Business Services has bought a company which offers help to firms to cut worker absenteeism.

Peninsula, based in Manchester, took a minority stake in Health Assured earlier this year and has now acquired the rest of its shares.

Health Assured, which employs 15 staff at its headquarters in Taunton and generated revenues of nearly £1m in the year to September, provides bereavement counselling, occupational health and financial advice to employees of small and medium-sized firms.

Peninsula boss Peter Done said the acquisition would generate 20 sales jobs at the group's base near the MEN Arena as it looks to sell Health Assured's products to its existing clients.

More posts are expected to be created as the operation grows.

Peninsula began selling Health Assured's Employee Assistance Programme products earlier in the year and Mr Done said the rapid success of the partnership led him to buy the business.

"In a short period of time it became apparent that, given the number of new clients saying yes to the service, I knew we were on to a winner," he said.

Lawyers at the Manchester office of Gateley, led by corporate partner Charles Glaskie, advised Peninsula on the deal. Mr Done announced in July he was seeking acquisitions after seeing pre-tax profits in the year to March rise from £11m to £11.3m.

Turnover grew from £66.4m to £72m. The group employs about 400 staff at its HQ and 450 elsewhere in the UK and in Ireland.

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