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Business News
Sonia Ali, Litigation and Employment Solicitor
QUALIFIED SUCCESS FOR SME SOLICITOR
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SME Solicitors in Sansome Walk, Worcester has announced the qualification of Sonia Ali as a Solicitor within its Litigation and Employment department.
Sonia, who resides in Worcester, has worked at SME Solicitors since 2019, and in early August successfully completed her training contract.
SME Partner Guy Salter who heads up the firm’s Litigation and Employment department, comments: “I am delighted that Sonia has qualified as a solicitor and will be joining this department. Over her three years to date working as part of our firm, Sonia has proved a great asset to the department and fits in perfectly with the SME philosophy of providing personal and pro-active legal services to our clients.”
Sonia comments: “I am delighted to be qualifiying and that the partners have asked me to stay with SME. I am very excited about my future here, working with Guy and my other colleagues as part of our flourishing litigation and employment team.”
PUT YOUR BUSINESS AHEAD OF COMPETITION WITH EU GRANT FUNDING
One of the most common questions that is asked by businesses is "can UK companies still apply for EU grant funding now we're no longer part of the EU?" In short, the answer is yes and Catax are here to help you do just that. One of the most exciting grant calls available to your business right now is Horizon Europe - the EU's flagship funding programme and the largest of its kind in the world! Launched with a budget of ¤95.5bn from 2021-2027, Horizon Europe is aimed at ambitious research and innovation projects in the following areas:
FOOD, BIOECONOMY, NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT
Reducing environmental degradation, halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity on land, ensuring food and nutrition security for all planetary boundaries and more.
DIGITAL, INDUSTRY & SPACE
Building a competitive, digital, low-carbon and circular industry, ensuring a sustainable supply chain of raw materials, developing advanced materials and providing the basis for advances and innovation. This includes (but is not limited to) climate science and solutions, energy supply in communities and cities.
HEALTH
Improving and protecting health and well-being by generating new knowledge, innovative solutions and integrating where relevant gender perspective to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat and cure disease.
CIVIL SECURITY FOR SOCIETY
Responding to the challenges arising from persistent security threats, including cybercrime, as well as natural and man-made disasters.
The team at Catax can reduce the amount of time you have to spend searching and writing an application, as they manage the whole process for you, from finding the right grant to writing and submitting the application.
Further information on the grants and funding available to your business can be obtained by emailing enquiries@catax.com.
CHECK CONTRACTS ON HYBRID AND HOME WORKING BEFORE OFFICE RETURN
In light of the government’s decision to end the requirement to work from home, employers have been urged to check their contracts of employment before calling on staff to stop working remotely. Employment lawyer Sally Morris from mfg Solicitors said firms may encounter issues if they do not offer some form of hybrid working after workers became used to it during the past 18 months. Sally says that while workers did not have an automatic right to work from home, turning down a request for flexible working, including hybrid or homeworking could result in a claim for indirect discrimination, with protected characteristics of sex, age and disability being common grounds for a complaint. It is vital employers check their legal position so that businesses across the two counties can consider what works best for themselves and their employees. Readers can contact Sally Morris at mfg Solicitors through sally.morris@
mfgsolicitors.com
For you and your business
FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE – AN ALTERNATIVE TO COURT
As anyone who has ever been involved in court proceedings will tell you, court claims are expensive, risky and can take a long time to resolve. Sometimes Court can be the only answer where a dispute cannot be resolved by agreement but there are alternatives.
Where a claimant wants to complain about the activities of a financial business in the UK, one alternative is the Financial Ombudsman Service or ‘FOS’. Thursfields has significant experience and expertise helping eligible clients to navigate the process involved.
WHO CAN USE THE FOS?
(i) Consumers (individuals who were not acting in the course of their trade, business or profession in relation to the issues they want to complain about). (ii) ‘Micro-enterprises’ - businesses with less than 10 employees and turnovers of £2million or less. (iii) Charities/Trusts worth less than £1million
Notably, the FOS itself says that 99% of small businesses are eligible to use its service.
WHO PAYS?
The FOS does not charge complainants a fee for using the service. Financial businesses may however have to pay a fee, even if the complaint is dismissed.
WHAT CAN THE FOS DO?
If a complaint is upheld, the FOS aims to tell the financial business to put their customer in the position they would have been in if they had been treated fairly or if a mistake had not happened. That can involve telling the business to pay the customer compensation, interest and their reasonable legal costs. Importantly, there is a limit on the compensation which the FOS can award; currently £160,000 for mistakes or unfair treatment which happened on or before 1 April 2019 and £350,000 for those occurring after that date. Awards can be made enforceable by making a short application to the Court.
WHAT TIME LIMITS ARE INVOLVED?
The FOS cannot consider any complaint unless this is first made to the financial business and they have either responded or had 8 weeks to do so. If the business fails to respond or their response is unsatisfactory, a complaint must be brought to the FOS within 6 months. Additionally, complaints generally cannot be made more than: 6 years after the event complained about or, if the complaint is brought after that period: 3 years after the complainant first found out they had a complaint
WHAT AT THE ADVANTAGES OF USING THE FOS?
These include
Speed – generally, FOS complaints are dealt with quicker than court claims Costs – costs are usually significantly lower. If you lose, you will not be required to pay any costs incurred by the financial business.
Scope – the FOS isn’t bound by legal rules in the same way that the Court is and it can consider a number of factors which the Court cannot consider. This approach can help the FOS achieve a fairer result.
Informality – the FOS process is less formal and it is normally unnecessary to be cross examined about the complaint. Privacy – the FOS annoymises the decisions it publishes so that the parties involved cannot be identified.
If you are interested in making a complaint to the FOS about a financial service which you have received in the UK, please get in touch with Simon Hocking via 0345 20 73 72 8 or email shocking@thursfields.co.uk
Tel: 0345 20 73 72 8 | info@thursfields.co.uk | www.thursfields.co.uk
5 signs that you should consider changing your IT provider
Running a business is difficult; keeping customers happy, managing stock and turning a profit. So the last thing you need is IT systems or support that can’t keep up.
Many organisations are exploring managed services as a way to manage their IT and technology, because it allows them to concentrate on running their business, whilst someone else ensures everthing run smoothly and securely.
So, what is a Managed Service Provider and how do you know if you need an upgrade from traditional IT Support? If you recognise any of the following issues, it’s probably time you considered how managed services could improve your business.
1. Not this again!
Let’s face it, IT issues crop up from time to time, but not to worry, your IT provider has this all-in hand, so it won’t disrupt your business. No? If your business is suffering recurrent IT issues which are taking time to fix, alarm bells should be ringing, loudly. A good Managed Service Provider will have all the latest tools and technologies to sort things out before the turn nasty. They will not only be able to detect and solve problems, normally before you’ve noticed, but they will also prevent them from happening again.
2. Your call is important to us...
So, whether its user error, a glitch in the system or a cyber security threat, if something goes wrong, you want the problem addressed quickly. If your IT provider’s response-time is more IT sloth than IT ninja, the downtime is wasting your time and money. Once you have logged an IT support request a qualified Managed Service Provider will respond to you quickly, providing clear timelines of when you can expect a resolution to your problem.
3. Working 9 to 5
Although you don’t work around clock, your network definitely does, and so does your Managed Service Provider. A reliable IT provider will have a solid monitoring solution in place, able to cope with any unwelcome surprises that may pop up at any time of the day or night, probably before you’ve even noticed anything is wrong. If you can’t be sure that this is the level of service you have in place, you should be looking for a new managed service provider..
4. Dude where’s my data
Data is the lifeblood of any business. Think about how long your business could afford to be without your key systems and data, a week, a day, an hour? Data backup is a good start, but what if the systems that you need them to work on are also down. Where is your data kept and if it’s in the cloud, do you know whose and where it is stored? A good Managed Service Provider will find out how long you can be without your critical systems and data, and then create a disaster recovery plan to make sure they can be restored and working before it gets critical. They can also provide their own data centres so you can be sure where your data is. If you’re settling for less than this level of service, you need to ask yourself whether you are properly protected.
5. More than switch it off and on again
Good news your business is growing, thanks to the hard work of you and your team. Great news for you—but not so good for your IT provider if they are no longer able to keep up. The bigger you get the more complex your IT needs become as well as your reliance on technology to work first time, every time. A professional Managed Service Provider will be able to provide you with the IT support you need as well as the guidance to make sure your IT is working as hard as you are.
If you’re worried that your business is not getting good value for money or that your current IT provider can’t cope, speak to EBC Group about our Managed Services on hello@ebcgroup.co.uk or 0121 368 0154 or visit www.ebcgroup.co.uk.
Gain the simplicity of one Managed Service Provider for all your technology
The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise by the nation ensuring that those who serve or who have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated fairly. Locally in Herefordshire the principles of the Covenant are overseen by Herefordshire’s Armed Forces Covenant Partnership, a cross-sector network facilitated by Herefordshire Council who were one of the early local authorities to pledge and sign their support to the Covenant in 2012.
The partnership works collaboratively to address local issues facing the Armed Forces community and raise awareness of the Armed Forces Covenant to wider stakeholders such as healthcare providers, local communities and employers. Herefordshire has a long-standing and proud association with the Armed Forces; its serving population, Reservists, Cadet Forces and large veteran community. It is estimated that around 25% of the county’s population has a serving, former-serving or family link to the Armed Forces. Due to the unique circumstances of military life and the personal sacrifices that are made whilst serving, it can sometimes be challenging accessing local services or settling into civilian life. So Herefordshire’s Armed Forces Covenant Partnership collaborates with key sectors to influence changes in policy and delivery, and to remove any disadvantage accessing public services such as health, mental health, housing, schools, education and training. The Herefordshire Armed Forces Covenant Partnership is considered to be one of the most proactive partnerships in the West Midlands. It works to a clear action plan to address known local needs and has strong and active relationships with NHS providers, statutory services, the military charities, town councils, training providers and the business community. Promotion and communication of the Armed Forces Covenant is also a key remit of the partnership through awareness raising opportunities and engaging with the business community. Businesses can take a major role in supporting the Armed Forces community by recognising the value of employing veterans, spouses, Reservists and Cadet Force Adult Volunteers. In Herefordshire there are over 80 organisations that have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and pledged to be forces-friendly employers. Many of them go above and beyond and will offer bespoke employment opportunities, events, training and work experience. Others support local projects offering their time, expertise and sponsorship. They all play a big part in Herefordshire’s recognition of the Armed Forces community. We touch base with all our business covenant signatories once a year at our annual review event where we update them on the previous 12 months, and showcase some of the outstanding examples of commitment from our employers. Signing the Armed Forces Covenant is a quick and easy process and can be pledged by a sole trader or a large national employer. No matter the size, organisations are making a public pledge to be forces-friendly. There are some real benefits too - access to events, training, networking, use of free employment portals to support recruitment to the workforce and attracting candidates with highly transferable military skills. Employers are supported by the regional West Midlands Employer Engagement Team based at West Midland Reserve Forces & Cadets Association. For those organisations who go the extra mile, organisations can apply to the Ministry of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme. The national scheme was set up to reward those companies who are signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant, recognising their level of support with a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. The three award levels each have their own criteria, which must be met and once confirmed the Silver and Gold Awards are then awarded annually. In Herefordshire we are proud to have a mighty medal haul of 52 Bronze, 19 Silver and 6 Gold award winners. Herefordshire Council were awarded Gold in 2020 in recognition of their forces-friendly recruitment policy and actively employing Reservists, veterans and military spouses. They also advocate and encourage other organisations to sign the Armed Forces Covenant as part of their procurement process as well implementing the principles of the Covenant into their services. To find out more about the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme and signing the Armed Forces Covenant visit
https://www.wmrfca.org/employers
For more information on Herefordshire Armed Forces Covenant and to sign-up to our monthly newsletter please visit
www.herefordshire.gov.uk/armedforces
Or follow us on social media: Facebook @AFCHerefordshire Twitter @AFCHfdshire Instagram Armed Forces Covenant
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