Welsh recruiter Acorn has bought LINK, a specialist in forensic mental health care. LINK, also based in Wales, reported a £2.5m turnover in the last financial year. The acquisition, which will supplement Acorn's existing Nursing & Healthcare Division, is part of Acorn's strategy of increasing annual revenues to more than £100m during the next five years.

Capita Social Care and Housing has landed a deal with Blackpool Council for hiring social services temporary staff. The four-year deal will ensure tighter controls over recruitment processes, contract pay rates and invoicing, says Capita. Previously, Blackpool Council recruited contractors through multiple agencies, all of whom engaged different rates, contracts and quality of candidates.

Xchanging, the business processing services company, has acquired Ferguson Snell & Associates, a market leader in immigration services. It says the deal will further strengthen Xchanging's international HR capabilities, by significantly expanding immigration services to its customers across all industry sectors. These services enable corporations to hire foreign nationals to live and work in the UK. It also supports individuals who wish to set up a business, be self-employed or retire in the UK, helping them to obtain official documents such as work permits and visas.

Time Recruitment, a provider of media recruitment solutions in Australia, has selected Search Software, a global supplier of enterprise search solutions, for advanced search and retrieval capabilities. Time handles more than 3,000 job applicants each month, and has 150 specialist positions needing to be filled at any given time. Send your dealmaking news to: <I>[email protected]</I>