RIFT Group

The RIFT Group was founded in 1999, with a strong focus on helping people claim tax refunds. Since then, we’ve expanded into many other areas, and earned a reputation as the UK’s leading tax refund experts. In the 25 years since we planted the first seeds that would grow into RIFT Group we’ve put £400m back into 145,000 customers’ pockets.

While we’re still best known for our tax refund services we’ve come to encompass a much broader array of services. We’ve branched out into research and development tax relief, helped small businesses and worked with local and national government, unions and trade associations. We’ve formed lasting partnerships with local charities and launched a social enterprise to help people with convictions find meaningful work or launch businesses of their own.

RIFT was founded in Ashford and stayed in Ashford as the business has grown. Our current HQ is the Cobalt Building in Eureka Park and we also have an office in Europe. We could be located anywhere, but we love being in Ashford, it’s home to our HQ and we intend to stay.

We chose the new Cobalt Building as our new home after adapting to a hybrid working model post Pandemic. It has the flexibility to have a workspace and supports collaborative working and communication across all teams and was built with environmental sustainability in mind. A great environment leads to great work and a strong company culture.

The RIFT family has grown to around 170 staff, 80% of which live in the town and the recruitment and training of local people is high on our list of priorities as a way to give back to the local community. We are lucky that the population has a wide variety of highly-skilled people as they are vital to our success. We work with a wide range of clients from individuals needing help with their tax refunds and self-assessment to larger organisations who are claiming R&D tax credits.

A major factor in our success is having our headquarters in Ashford. The transport links to London and beyond means we’ve got great access to the rest of the country. This is important not just for meetings with clients but with our partner organisations, charities we support and the government and industry bodies we work closely with on their behalf. There is a strong, supportive and inspiring business community in Ashford and the expansion of the town means that there is a wealth of talented people and exiting businesses moving in.

Bradley Post, CEO, RIFT Group commented: “RIFT continues to thrive in Ashford. We’ve earned our fair share of awards and accolades but the most important thing about being here for the last 25 years is that we’ve been able to build not just a business but a close knit family and an extended one in the wider community.

The business community in Ashford is welcoming and encouraging and it’s great to be a part of that, in fact I would say that it’s been essential to our success. As a small business owner it can be all too easy to find yourself stuck in an isolated mindset. We’re all so used to fending for ourselves that we’re not taking full advantage of the help and opportunities open to us. In Ashford it’s easy to reach out and build those relationships, whether you’re looking for networking and friendly advice, through to finding services or help with funding it’s all available and everyone is happy to help.“

In Ashford it’s easy to reach out and build those relationships, whether you’re looking for networking and friendly advice, through to finding services or help with funding it’s all available and everyone is happy to help.“ Bradley Post, CEO, RIFT Group Ashford is an exciting place to be. There are so many new opportunities on the horizon with new businesses opening up, big plans from the council and the influx of people bringing talent to the area. New technology is providing more opportunities for innovation and finding different ways of working to benefit us all.

Ashford Borough Council has been incredibly supportive of businesses looking to start up , scale up and grow. They are committed to investment and have taken a proactive approach to development. As a result Ashford has one of the most dynamic and varied business communities in the UK and that rising tide raises all boats as we learn from each other. It’s a great place to plan a future - for business, for investment, to live.

The scale of ambition the council has for the town is impressive. There are many large development projects in the pipeline that have the potential to bring new kinds of businesses to the area. Existing local business can take advantage of many schemes, funds and programmes to support their growth in all areas and to pay that forward into the community.