13 minute read
training and events
Training and Events Diary
Members enjoy discounted rates for training
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Tailored Training
Sussex Chamber can provide company bespoke training courses which is a fantastic way of designing one of our training courses to suit your business needs. This is a cost effective way of training a group of your employees at the same time, on a date that suits you and at the premises of your choice.
Foundation Award in International Trade
These courses are delivered online and are structured to match the ten British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) courses. Each course offers one credit towards the BCC Foundation Award in International Trade and candidates attending six or more courses and obtaining six or more credits received the Award.
Note: receive a discount when booking any six of the courses at the same time. The following prices will apply:
£1026.00 + VAT per person (members = 10% discount)
£1425.00 + VAT per person (non-members = 5% discount)
Training Courses
Gold & Premier members - You can now use your credit pots to pay for training
9th June 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Export Documentation
14th June 9.30 - 13.00 Foundation Award in International Trade - Understanding Commodity Codes
21st June 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Understanding Exporting
22nd June 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Methods of Payment
23rd June 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Import Procedures
5th July 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade - Documentary Letters of Credit
6th July 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Agents & Distributors
7th July 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Prefernce Rules of Origin
19th July 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Inward & Outward Processing
20th July 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade- Incoterms
21st July 9.30 - 12.30 Foundation Award in International Trade - Customs Procedures & Documentation
9th June 9.30 - 16.30 Essentials of Supervision& Team Leadership- 2 Days (F2F)
30th June 9:30 - 16:30 Introduction to Supervision (F2F)
14th June 9:30 - 16:30 Confident & Effective Communication (F2F)
1st July 9:30 - 16:30 Unshakeable Confidence (F2F)
12th July 9:30 - 11:30 Time Management & Personal Effectiveness - Virtual Training
2nd August 9:30 - 11:30 Confident & Effective Communication - Virtual Training
5th July 9:30 - 16:30 Great Customer Service (F2F)
9th August 9:30 - 16:30 Selling Skills for Results (F2F)
Events
Virtual & Face to Face (F2F)
10th June 11:30 - 13:00 Digital Sector Deep Dive - Education Provider Workshop (Virtual)
FREE
15th June 10:30 - 12:00 South East Chamber Networking (Virtual) Members: FREE, Non-members: £15
30th June 08:15 - 18:00 British Chambers of Commerce Global Annual Conference 2022 (F2F) Members: £167+VAT, Chamber Group (via Chamber member): £140+VAT, Membership Organisations: £200 +VAT, Non- Members: £279+VAT
5th July 10:00 - 12:00 The Ultimate Sussex Network (F2F) Members: FREE, Non- Members: £20
12th July
15th July
28th July 10:00 - 11:30 Grow Your Connections (Virtual) Members: FREE, Non- Members: £10
09:00 - 14:00 Sussex Chamber Business Expo (F2F) FREE for Delegates, Chamber Members can Exhibit for £50+ VAT
10:00- 12:00 Discover Your Chamber - Non- Member only (F2F) Non-members: FREE
We are currently finalising dates for our events – both virtual and face to face.
For Sector-Based Forums, Bank of England events, Social gatherings, MP events, Purely Networking and many more, go to the following link on our website for an updated list of all of our events: www.sussexchamberofcommerce.co.uk/events
It’s a phrase we often hear when we sit down with a potential new client that has responded to one of our adverts or editorials.
“It’s just what we do!” is another common response when we sit down and discuss projects with companies across a vast spectrum of industries but particularly engineering firms and manufacturers.
As we start 2022’s exhibition season, if your company is going to be exhibiting, just check to make sure that you are claiming the most rewarding tax relief for a UK company. If you are not claiming R&D Tax Relief, R&D Tax Credits or RDEC, then you might be missing out!
Why are you exhibiting? Have you got a new product? Have you made some further improvements to your existing product lines? Have you had to experiment and make iterative improvements to your products?
Yes, I know it’s just what you do, but companies like yours are also getting some very generous support from the government for that! Why aren’t you?
Just look at the exhibitions that are coming up where your company might be exhibiting and where we have been able to help companies with a relevant claim.
Packaging Innovations & EMPAC – we’ve been supporting a company with claims for their work on developing high-quality papers derived from Straw. More recently they’ve been working on a fully recyclable pad for soft fruit packaging that meets all of the requirements for Food Contact Materials. We’ve also prepared a claim for a company that designs cutting equipment for both industrial and agricultural uses, one of the projects we claimed for was to redesign a piece of equipment to accommodate a sacrificial blade. The original machine had a blade that had a significant life span, but was incredibly difficult to replace leading to significant down time, redesigning their equipment so that the blade could be removed quickly and more frequently with little fuss, had a significant impact and was the result of a technical innovation.
Making Pharma – we’ve been working with a specialist lab that supports the BioPharmaceutical Industry to experiment with pre-clinical activities such as assay development and testing samples, the assay development is the area most likely to be eligible, as the testing of samples is general routine in nature unless they have to design a completely new test.
Railtex and Infrarail – we’ve been working with a company developing a model to use solar power to power the railway network and another who is undertaking a variety of different projects across the railway network including projects to improve isolation and earthing of the overhead lines and the Installation of a First of a Kind Static Frequency Converter within Network Rail.
Intralogistex – we are just about to start work with a tech start-up that has developed location optimization software that can be accurate to 10cms, which is far greater accuracy than GPS, imagine how that could change your warehouse management, materials handling and picking and sorting activities.
All of these companies have one thing in common, they weren’t claiming R&D Tax Credits and now they are.
One of the best things about the legislation is that you can claim for your two previous financial years. This means that you are likely to be able to claim for most of the costs of developing the product, service or software that you are going to be exhibiting at these shows. But you’ll need to be quick you don’t want to “miss the boat”, the opportunity to claim expires on the second anniversary of your company’s accounting year end. So a 30 April 2020 year end can still make a claim up to 30 April 2022, but if the claim is submitted on 1 May 2022, it’s too late.
As you might have guessed, we are experts in R&D Tax Credits and their application. We’ll talk through your projects with you and help you to determine whether they represent an advance in Science or Technology. We’ll then tease some fundamental information from you and your team on the scientific and/or technological challenges that you faced during the development period and then we’ll work with your financial team to evaluate the money and time you have spent on developing the solution. Our 100% success rate and over £5m in tax refunds for our clients in 2021, shows that we know what we are talking about.
If you’d like to start your journey or find out more, we offer a free no-obligation discovery session, we’ll ask you some questions, listen and maybe ask one or two dumb follow up questions, then we’ll let you know whether we think there is a potential to claim and whether we can add value to the process. You can book a discover call at a time that suits you by following this link
https://calendly.com/cooden/dicovery-
bus-edge or you can call us on 0300 373
0026.
Rail Fraud: A growing concern for the sector
According to British Train Operating Companies (TOCs), it is estimated that 10-30 percent of compensation claims paid out by the rail sector are fraudulent. Intelligencia Training, who specialise in Counter Fraud Investigation training, explore just how common rail fraud is in the UK.
Rail travel is in high demand in the UK with almost 2 billion passenger journeys each year, but with punctuality for TOCs averaging 92.7-93 percent on-time, fraudsters are taking advantage of the rail sectors compensation system through lucrative schemes.
TOCs are beginning to crack down on fraudulent compensation claims and successful investigations continue to highlight just how big of a financial impact those cheating the system have. In 2020, one serial fraudster was sentenced to jail time after fraudulently claiming £40,000 from TOCs over a period of 5 years. Fraud Investigators found that the man had used the compensation system to claim for delayed journeys that he had never been on. The sophisticated scheme involved the production of hundreds of fake tickets and false claims across 9 companies totalling a staggering £130,000.
Fraudulent compensation claims are not the only ticket fraud scheme impacting the rail sector. In 2021, the British Transport Police reported in an article that a fraudster had made more that £29,000 over a 5-month period through the sale of fake train tickets. The fraudster was eventually caught after LNER received a tip off and the British Transport Police launched an investigation. The scheme would have led to a potential loss to LNER of £263,840.
In a rarer case, one investigation highlighted how the rail sector not only faces threats externally, but also internally. In a 2017 British Transport Police investigation, four rail sector employees were sentenced following a £5 million fraud scheme. The investigation into corruption, fraud, and money laundering found that the employees made corrupt payments to secure a contract and after being appointed, made a series of ‘ghost worker’ claims.
These cases are just a handful of successful investigations by TOCs, but as external and internal fraud threats rise, many rail fraudsters go undetected. Virgin Trains report that they receive almost half a million compensation claims for late or disrupted services each year. For TOCs to improve their ability to identify and investigate fraud, parity of skills across the rail sector is key.
Intelligencia Training supports Fraud Investigators working across a multitude of private and public sectors. The training providers Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship Standard has allowed for parity across sectors and comprehensive development of all knowledge, skills and behaviours associated with being an effective and competent investigation professional.
In a new video case study, a number of Intelligencia Training’s Counter Fraud Investigator apprentices spoke about their experience on their apprenticeship and how it is added value to both themselves and their organisation.
To find out more about the Level 4 Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship Standard, visit www.intelligenciatraining.com/ counter-fraud-investigator or contact
info@intelligenciatraining.com.
RISE to the challenge with innovation
The RISE (Research and Innovation in Sussex Excellence) project was established in 2021 to provide an open door for Sussex-based small to medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) with access to support from two of their main local research and innovationled universities: University of Brighton and University of Sussex.
Lorraine Bell
Head of Project RISE
Our mission is to help local businesses take charge of their innovation, capitalise on new opportunities and become more productive, competitive and resilient – enabling them to meet economic challenges and adapt to shifting market conditions.
RISE provides business that have a bright idea and the ambition to take a step forward, providing a low-risk, cost free and time effective route to explore R&D projects to help them innovate and grow.
Lorraine Bell, Head of RISE, says “If you have an idea that has the potential to create value for your business, will help you become more productive, competitive and sustainable, then we want to hear from you.”
“RISE is a really exciting fully-funded programme which offers webinars, workshops, 1-2-1 support, direct access to cutting-edge research from the universities of Brighton and Sussex and access to an online community – all at no cost to members.”
“Our expert team will work with you to draw up an innovation action plan, and navigate the universities for you so that you can access the latest cutting-edge research from the Universities of Brighton or Sussex to develop, or improve a product, process, or service.”
Membership
Small to medium-sized businesses in the West Sussex Coast to Capital region are welcome to join, subject to eligibility. Once membership is confirmed, an Innovation Advisor will meet with you to discuss your challenges and opportunities, explore any potential gaps in capability and knowledge, and work with you on plan before putting you in contact with the right expertise.
RISE has three key elements:
Up to £7,500 worth of free innovation support. This is not a cash grant, but a transfer of knowledge and expertise. This includes funding to ‘buy time’ with university academics and get direct input on your project. This could be anything from research on barriers to market, to drawing up a technology map, validating a concept or developing a prototype.
Access to a secure portal. The portal is a digital space where members can connect and network with their peers, access toolkits, tips and advice on funding and innovation.
Access to a range of bespoke workshops and masterclasses. Sessions are created to be bite-sized and draw on the latest thinking around innovation, growth, and resilience.
Lorraine says: “RISE is unique in that there’s access to expertise from two universities, no lengthy funding applications to complete, and we’re able to quickly assess and scope ideas and put together a workable plan. We can also draw up Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to protect intellectual property rights where needed.
“We are working with businesses on all stages of innovation project ideas from proof of concept – using our academic knowledge and research to validate the ideas or suggest improvements; prototyping; feasibility studies; scoping project briefs; market research and developing business cases for funding and investment and pilot demonstrations – with access to over 4000 academics between universities we are able to cover a wide range of R&D support to transfer the capability and knowledge into the business” We know that time constraints can be crippling, so there are no two-day workshops, just bite-sized initiatives. We aim for a quick return on investment. Just an hour a week could pay dividends in terms of improving efficiency and productivity.
Our Innovation Advisors can get the bones of an idea in an hour and come back later with questions. Hardwiring the process, working out finances, writing a proposal and documentation is all taken care of by the team, completely confidentially.”
Could your business be eligible?
RISE Team
L to R - Lorraine Bell, Zoe Webb and Mark Hadley
Visit rise-innovation.uk to find out more.
The RISE programme is receiving up to £603,514 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 in England. Grant Reference: 04R21P04430
The West Sussex Councils are also providing partnership funding to support the delivery of RISE, and through this, to provide help and support to SMEs in West Sussex.
