Business Network April 21

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BUSINESS

Keep up to date on latest developments at www.emc-dnl.co.uk/coronavirus

network APRIL 2021

@EMChamberNews

SUPPORTING WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH AND COMMUNITIES INTO THE FUTURE HOW BUSINESSES CAN HELP IN THE CHALLENGING TIMES AHEAD

INTERVIEW

POLITICS

EIGHT BUSINESS LEADERS DISCUSS WHY CSR IS A SOUND INVESTMENT

WHAT DOES ‘LEVELLING UP’ EVEN MEAN AND CAN THE REGION BENEFIT?

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THE FIRST WORD

CONTENTS APRIL 2021

NEWS UPDATE 4

MEMBER NEWS Book explores wellbeing in the workplace

20 APPOINTMENTS Former Reach editor joins Purpose Media as non-executive director

t’s now just over a year since our lives changed beyond recognition. By trading in our freedom to protect our family, friends, colleagues and the most vulnerable sections of our society from coronavirus, we made sacrifices we could never have envisaged before the pandemic.

At a macro level, the effects of 12 months of lockdown restrictions on our economy is stark – UK GDP shrank by just under 10% in 2020 – but the real-world effects have been disproportionate.

Certain industries, including hospitality, retail and tourism, have borne the brunt, while the harsh impact on the job prospects among young people has been well chronicled.

It’s also shone a light on regional inequality, with the East Midlands unemployment rate consistently above the national average since March 2020.

But the bigger the challenge, the greater the opportunity. Perhaps Covid-19 will be a turning point for how we approach economic growth, with the levelling up agenda seemingly near the top of the Prime Minister’s in-tray right now – although we explore what this term actually means in our politics section on p48.

The Chamber is fully tuned into the Westminster themes of “Building Back Better” and “Building Back Greener”, and our Sustainable East Midlands campaign highlights the trends, opportunities and thought leadership in this area – led by our dedicated section on p44.

But two threads of progress we’ve also recently detected when speaking to members are a greater awareness among businesses of their place within their communities, and employee wellbeing.

That’s why this edition is dedicated to both these themes. Our big interview on p22 comes with a twist as eight business leaders, rather than just one, offer their views about what CSR – or ESG (environmental, social and governance), an increasingly preferred moniker for giving back – means to them and ideas on involving more companies.

Our focus feature on p52 analyses how businesses are approaching mental and physical health in their workplaces – whether it’s the use of group sessions, space, training or new ways of thinking.

While it’s been a tough year for us all, our latest Quarterly Economic Survey, which received more responses than ever before, shows business confidence is returning strongly. Let’s hope we’ll look back on this period as the beginning of something better.

I

Best wishes, Dan Robinson, Editor, Business Network

THE BIG INTERVIEW 22 Business leaders discuss the importance of CSR 26 PATRONS New Italian research base for university 28 CHAMBER NEWS The East Midlands: Where good business makes good sense

SUSTAINABLE EAST MIDLANDS 44 Modern slavery and the ESG agenda

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 46 Facing up to Brexit tax practicalities

POLITICS 48 Opportunities for the East Midlands in the levelling up agenda

FEATURES 51 LEGAL SERVICES Debunking the myths of burnout 52 FOCUS FEATURE Exploring mental health in the workplace and post-Covid employee wellbeing trends 57 GREEN BUSINESS A greener way to work 58 Why should SMEs consider reducing energy usage?

TRAINING & EVENTS 60 The benefits of bespoke training

Editor Dan Robinson T: 07764 431028 E: dan.robinson@emc-dnl.co.uk Contributor Jasmine Thompson All Submissions E: magazine@emc-dnl.co.uk Chamber Membership E: membership@emc-dnl.co.uk Follow the Chamber W: www.emc-dnl.co.uk Twitter: @EMChamberNews

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BUSINESS NETWORK is produced on behalf of East Midlands Chamber (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire) by Kemps Publishing Ltd and is distributed to members without charge. The Chamber and the publisher are committed to achieving the highest quality standards. While every care has been taken to ensure that the information it contains is accurate, neither the Chamber nor the publisher can accept any responsibility for any omission or inaccuracies that might arise. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Chamber. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format without prior written permission of Kemps Publishing Ltd.

DIGITAL & TECHNOLOGY 62 Linking in with the right connections

BUSINESS SUPPORT 65 LEGAL Looking after your workforce 66 FINANCE Sustainable investing: What you need to know 68 SKILLS What will the Skills for Jobs strategy mean for businesses?

70 PROPERTY Pandemic and Brexit to trigger real estate shift 72 MOTORING Nick Jones tests the Bentley Bentayga V8 73 INFORMATION How to get a press release published

COMMENT 74 THE LAST WORD Chamber president Eileen Richards MBE on the importance of CSR business network April 2021

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MEMBER NEWS

New book explores wellbeing in the workplace

Sue Grogan

A Leicester businesswoman has authored a new e-book on workplace wellbeing – and is urging workplaces in the East Midlands to implement robust wellness and mental health programmes.

Business wellbeing consultant Sue Grogan wrote her latest book, Wellbeing: Healthy Staff, Healthy Business – Lessons Learned in Lockdown, following interviews with 15 business leaders discussing how they had responded to the pandemic, what worked well and key learnings.

Among the participants includes East Midlands Chamber chief

executive Scott Knowles and president Eileen Richards MBE, the managing director of ER Recruitment, as well as Nelsons head of family law Glynis Wright MBE, Blueprint Interiors CEO Rob Day and Anicca Digital director Ann Stanley.

‘I saw many businesses struggling during lockdown and, at the same time, so many supporting each other’ During the discussions, Sue – who founded Leicester-based wellbeing strategy business Joined-Up Working in 2011 – discovered that when businesses moved operations online, leaders communicated with

staff through regular virtual events and “catch-ups”, trusting staff to manage their time around home life responsibilities.

Those businesses that supported staff health and wellbeing, and actively involved departments in discussions about new working methods, were rewarded with loyalty and maintained productivity.

Sue, who is donating half the proceeds of her fourth book to Loughborough charity Alex’s Wish, said: “I saw many businesses struggling during lockdown and, at the same time, so many supporting each other. As the UK starts to emerge from another lockdown, I wanted to capitalise on this and share my learnings with other businesses in the region.”

Sue is also a partner at Wellonomics, a happiness and wellbeing assessment tool that

provides HR teams with an overview of how departments are faring, and makes recommendations for training and support. Despite investment in health and wellbeing benefits, Sue’s e-book also explains the lack of strategic focus on health and wellness programmes.

She said 70% of the interviewees did not have a budget for health and wellness, and only 9% were actively measuring their ROI from wellbeing programmes.

Sue added: “Employee wellbeing is key to a business’ success.

“Worryingly, a recent research poll found less than half of UK employers have an overarching wellbeing strategy in place.

“There is a potential storm brewing around the mental health and wellbeing of the workforce.

Businesses who ignore this do so at their peril.”

Hope Health in partnership with Dudes & Dogs Hope Health has announced a partnership with national men’s mental health community interest group Dudes & Dogs.

The partnership will see both teams working together to support mental health awareness in workplaces and communities nationwide.

While the core mission at Dudes & Dogs is focused on men, like Hope Health – which provides mental health first aid training and wellbeing services – it believes mental health is important to all.

Hope Health founder Nicole O’Callaghan said: “I’m so excited to support and work alongside

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Dudes & Dogs. Having supported the team recently with its mental health first aid qualifications, I know first-hand the passion and hard work it puts into this voluntary-led initiative.”

The partnership’s initial focus is to create new training workshops and a consultancy service for organisations to train and enable them to support their employees' wellbeing needs.

Dudes & Dogs founder Rob Osman said: “Here at Dudes, our vision is for men in every corner of the world to know it's not just okay to talk, it's vitally important.

"Collaborating with Hope Health has allowed us to accelerate and grow the support we can offer to businesses and organisations. We can't wait to see where this partnership leads.”

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MEMBER NEWS

Alternating vaccine dose study begins The world’s first study into alternating doses and intervals of approved Covid-19 vaccines is underway after participants received their jabs at a University of Nottingham health practice.

Some 111 people visited Cripps Health Centre in the last week of February to receive their initial vaccine doses as part of a research project supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

The aim of the trial is to determine the effects of using a different vaccine for the second dose to the first dose, in addition to two different intervals between doses.

Dame Professor Jessica Corner (pictured), pro-vice chancellor for research and knowledge exchange at the University of Nottingham, was one of the participants.

She said: “I am so pleased to be involved in a study which is asking crucial questions about the efficacy of combining different vaccines and the important question of the

timing of the booster injection.

From a personal perspective, it is great to be able to contribute in a very small way to the efforts scientists and medics across the globe have been making towards vaccine development.

‘I am very proud to see such world-leading work being done from the University of Nottingham Health Service’ “In my professional role, I am very proud to see such worldleading work being done from the University of Nottingham Health Service. This is just one of numerous studies that have already been carried out here, and it is a real team effort.”

Classified as an “urgent public health” study by the NIHR, it is being undertaken by the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation

Consortium and the Oxford Vaccine Group, and is backed by £7m of Government funding from the Vaccines Taskforce.

The volunteers, aged 50 and above, have been recruited to take part in the trial, referred to as the Covid-19 Heterologous Prime Boost study – or “Com-Cov”.

It will gather immunological evidence on different intervals between the first and second dose for a mixed-vaccine regimen against control groups when the same vaccine is used for both doses.

Should the study show promising results, then the Government may consider reviewing the vaccine regimen approach if needed, but only if proven to be safe and recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

The study’s principle investigator Professor David Turner, who alongside his academic role at the university is an honorary consultant in clinical microbiology at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted to be taking this study forward.

“Having been one of the centres that has was involved in the development of the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine, it is now exciting to take development further and to see if by alternating both vaccines, their effectiveness is the same.

“This could have huge implications in terms of easing demand.”

Bouquets boost mental health Morrisons’ flower supplier Flowerworld has placed wellbeing at the forefront of its strategy by donating bouquets to each of its isolating employees during lockdown – and has created a new B2B offer for the wider business community.

‘I would encourage everyone to take a moment to remember how even small gestures can have a huge impact’ The family-run business - which has been established in Derby for more than 40 years and was bought by the supermarket chain in 2011 - reached out to staff feeling anxious, stressed and isolated during lockdown. Its community champions personally delivered bouquets to 67 isolating colleagues.

With one in four people affected by mental health problems in their lifetime, Flowerworld administrator and community champion Tracey Mason (pictured) believes that staff wellbeing has never been higher on the agenda.

“We found that many of our colleagues were feeling stressed, worried and isolated,” said Tracey. “Even though they work with flowers every day, their reactions to receiving a bouquet of flowers was so positive - it showed them that they were not forgotten and made them feel valued.”

This experience has inspired Tracey and the team at Flowerworld to develop a new B2B product range of bouquets for businesses to boost the wellbeing of home-workers. She added: “Now more than ever, we need to look after our mental health and I would encourage everyone to take a moment to remember how even small gestures can have a huge impact for someone who is finding everyday life more difficult.”

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MEMBER NEWS

Air IT announces its third pair of acquisitions Air IT has continued its rapid expansion across the UK by making it six acquisitions in six months.

The Sandiacre-based IT managed service provider (MSP) continued its merger and acquisition growth strategy by taking over Kent-based InfoTech Solutions (UK) Limited and Cheshire-based Concise Technologies Limited for undisclosed amounts last month.

The investments, backed by August Equity, marked the third time it has acquired two businesses simultaneously – the first pair in October 2020 and the second in December 2020.

CEO John Whitty, who has led the expansion since joining in January last year, said: “Both InfoTech and Concise Technologies have outstanding reputations, and we are thrilled to have them on board. We know they will be a great fit for the Air IT group, considering their track record when it comes to customer service and satisfaction.”

‘Entering the North West has always been one of our strategic goals’ As a result of these acquisitions, Air IT has now established itself in the North West, while also boosting its existing presence in the South East.

The addition of InfoTech and Concise Technologies is part of Air IT’s plans to expand across the UK and will see the group’s 175-strong workforce increase by 50 with an additional 250 customers.

John added: “We want to be regarded as the de facto MSP of choice for SMEs across the UK and these acquisitions allow us to expand our footprint and gain skilful, like-minded team members.

“Entering the North West has always been one of our strategic goals, along with future growth in the North East, and we now have the capability to deliver a national offering, serviced locally - which is so important to SMEs.” Concise Technologies and InfoTech share the same client-centric approach, and each has reported impressive organic year-on-year growth.

David Southern, managing director of Concise Technologies, said:

Air IT CEO John Whitty

“Becoming part of the Air IT group will allow us to offer even more strategic and business-enhancing services to our clients.”

InfoTech managing director Jason Ford added: “Being part of this select group will allow us to expand our service offering while we bring to the table our expertise in the financial, construction and manufacturing sectors.”

Budget will cause property market to soar Nottingham estate agent Gascoines expects the property market to soar following the spring budget.

Rishi Sunak’s spending plans, announced on 3 March, included an extension to the stamp duty holiday until 30 June 2021.

A Government-backed 95% mortgage scheme will also be reintroduced to help current homeowners, as well as first-time buyers, purchase a house for up to £600,000 with a 5% deposit.

Gascoines office manager Jess Mitchell believes that the initiative will help “generation rent” become “generation buy”.

“Following the initial Government announcement to introduce a stamp duty holiday, the market saw house hunters relieved of costs and induced a mini housing boom as sellers were eager to take advantage and complete transactions in time,” said Jess.

“We’re expecting to see a high number of properties listed over 6

business network April 2021

Jess Mitchell

the coming weeks and offers placed in very short time periods, from now until September, to really make the most of the extension.”

The family-run estate agent has more than 65 years of experience in the Nottinghamshire property market.

In the past 12 months, the firm witnessed lenders withdrawing 95% mortgage offerings and demanding deposits of between 10% and 15% – along with much higher interest rates.

Jess added: “We’re starting to see these rates dropping back to normal levels again and with the new Government scheme, we hope to see more first-time buyers coming through the door and getting their foot onto the property ladder.

“My advice would be to always aim for higher than your deposit and if possible, have this ready – along with a mortgage in principle – before you start looking for a house and seek advice from your local estate agent or mortgage adviser.”

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MEMBER NEWS

Plan to help students start careers A unique new programme has launched to help talented De Montfort University (DMU) students begin careers in Leicester.

ER Recruitment, in partnership with DMU, has created BrightER Futures, a nine-month programme in which 20 final-year students will be introduced into the city’s vibrant business community.

They will be matched with employers to learn key skills, enhance their talents, and inject new and creative ideas.

The employers, including PPL PRS, Everards and Freeths, will mentor and guide the students to gain professional skills and learn about the commercial heart of the city.

ER Recruitment managing director Eileen Richards MBE, who is also president of the Chamber, said: “Graduates offer huge potential talent for our city and I’m very excited to announce that ER is taking this new focus on supporting graduates’ early careers.

“I had the huge pleasure of meeting a group of highly talented students at DMU’s Leicester’s Future Leaders conference in

February last year and believe that many businesses can benefit from the energy and vision of our graduates.

“Our marketing executive Scarlett Tinsley will work with Zul Muhammed from DMU’s employability team to give 20 students an exclusive programme of insights and experience.

‘We know that our students want to build their careers in Leicester, but they can struggle to cross that first bridge into graduate work’ “Above all, I want the students to find out that business can be great fun.”

The 20 students will participate in a programme that includes insight visits to their employer partner, invite-only events in the business calendar, and interview practice and masterclasses from local recruiters.

Adele Browne, head of graduate success at DMU, the Chamber’s AI and cyber partner, said: “We know that our students want to build

DMU wants to improve Leicester's graduate retention rate

their careers in Leicester, but they can struggle to cross that first bridge into graduate work.

“I’m really excited to be working with Eileen Richards on this new programme that will see DMU students gain such exclusive access and opportunities at the heart of the local business community.”

Sean Smith, managing director of Michael Smith Switchgear, which is taking part in the scheme, said: “It is a fantastic opportunity to support the development of the next generation of business leaders

that are currently studying with DMU. Leicester is in the heart of the Midlands and has a fantastic manufacturing background, of which we are very proud to be a part of.”

DMU is working with Leicester City Council to increase the numbers of graduates who go on to work in Leicester after leaving university. In 2017, figures showed that 28% of graduates from DMU and University of Leicester stayed to live and work locally, compared to a national average of 48%.

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MEMBER NEWS

MEMBER FOCUS: ROADGAS Roadgas, based in Colwick, works with businesses across the transport industry to bring renewable infrastructure into day-to-day operations.

Marketing director Becky Rix (pictured) tells Business Network about how the business is committed to driving the low-carbon agenda, via the decarbonisation of transport, to support the Government’s 10-point plan for net zero by 2050.

Tell us what your company does and a brief overview of its history?

Roadgas is a leading supplier of renewable gas refuelling station infrastructure, delivering solutions with biomethane, bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Based in Colwick since 2007, we work with both the public and private sectors to provide a complete refuelling solution that meets the bespoke needs of fleet, haulage and logistics operations throughout the UK.

New customers are emerging now in the HGV market, especially among those businesses that operate back-to-base fleets.

Who are your main customers and what is your USP to them?

Our customers are in the transport industry across both the public and private sectors. Our flagship project remains the development of our biomethane refuelling infrastructure to support Nottingham City Transport’s fleet of 120 doubledecker buses, which run daily on biogas.

What is your role in the business and what does your day-to-day role involve?

As marketing director, I’m responsible for all communications relating to the business, both internal and external. My days are varied and full of requests for information relating to our refuelling infrastructure, but more recently relating to the benefits of renewable gas in logistics fleets.

‘Our focus remains on working with the haulage and logistics sector to help them decarbonise on behalf of their client’

North Notts BID offers end of lockdown support Businesses in North Nottinghamshire can get ready for the easing of lockdown restrictions with support from the region’s business improvement district.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the North Notts BID has worked with firms to support them through a range of member benefits, the sharing of information and guidance, and supporting Bassetlaw District Council to reopen the region’s high streets safely last year.

Now, with the Government announcing its roadmap to normality, alongside its popular maintenance service, the BID is offering free training courses via a new online platform.

Chief executive Sally Gillborn (pictured) said: “Whether we’re providing immediate help through the maintenance service, or long-term support though initiatives like the savings service and online training, our role is to provide local businesses with the opportunities to develop to make sure they are as prepared as possible when lockdown lifts.”

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How have you fared during the Covid-19 pandemic?

The first lockdown in March 2020 led to a very difficult time in the business. While we were able to respond to the Covid-19 guidance to keep our team safe, we also had to look at new ways of operating both remotely and onsite.

When I look back now, I am very proud of the way in which everyone at Roadgas raised to the challenges we faced and I’m pleased to say that 2021 has got off to a good start with the team now working on a number of projects.

What are the company’s plans for the future?

We continue to drive for continuous improvement in everything we do, which has led to a number of new products and services being offered. Our focus remains on working with the haulage and logistics sector to help them decarbonise on behalf of their clients. We are also excited about the prospect of being able to offer product solutions using hydrogen, but this will come later in the year.

How long have you been a member of East Midlands

Chamber, and what encouraged you to join and continue your membership?

Roadgas has been a member of the Chamber since 2018. The services the Chamber provides and the support we have had, especially during the past 12 months, has been invaluable.

Which membership products have you used and how did they help your business?

Networking events, workshops, training and peer-to-peer support helps us to keep up to date with developments in our region.

The most exciting development for me has been the creation of Sustainable East Midlands, which has raised the profile of the lowcarbon agenda for all businesses.

What do you believe is the most important role of a chamber of commerce?

To connect local, like-minded businesses and drive the economic prosperity of the region for the benefit of all.

NEW MEMBERS In February, the Chamber welcomed 39 members.

• ADR UK Tyremart Ltd (International) • ai accounts • ASG Group (International) • Begbies Traynor (Patron) • Bhayani Law Limited • Birch Print • Blake Emergency Services (International) • Breedon Consulting • Canopy Tree Services • Catena Inspection & Engineering Ltd • Chocolate Lovers Limited • Flogas Britain Ltd • Food Connections Ltd (International) • FSG Tableware Ltd • Gascoines Auctions @ Newark Auction Centre • Ikon Solutions Ltd • International Biomedical Limited

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Invise Limited Janice Rose Lingerie MKKF LTD MT13 Ltd Derbyshire Voluntary Action Overdue Invoices Planet-mi.com Radon Security Ltd Raw Power Ltd Safe and Sound Group Shortlist Marketing Ltd Smart Energy Projects Limited Stowe Family Law Nottingham TecLive Limited Tranquil Plants The Travers Foundation John Mcdonald T/A UK4BSL Voldi Ltd Worldwide Express (UK) Ltd (International) • Youth Enterprise & Employability Academy • Zaza Lewis

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MEMBER NEWS

Qinesis launches pilot counselling support service Business growth consultancy Qinesis is piloting a new counselling and psychotherapy support service to address the mental health stigma in sectors with low engagement.

The new programme, titled Qi Therapy, will be run by qualified psychotherapists to assess the engagement of sectors such as aerospace, rail, automotive and steel fabrication, where take-up of therapy support services are low compared to the public and service sectors.

The Derbyshire-based firm works with businesses across the UK on a range of growth support services, including consultancy, coaching and training. In the past three months, it has noticed a significant increase in mental health discussions with clients.

Dr Cham King

‘Therapy can still be seen as a sign of weakness, when the reality is very different’ Qinesis chief visionary officer Dr Cham Kang said: “Even in 2021, there is a stigma attached to psychotherapy in the UK. “Therapy can still be seen as a sign of weakness, when the reality is very different with much of the UK PLC coming to terms with the impact of mental health on its people and business performance – and we’ve seen many of our clients investing to support employees.

“The take-up of such support in industry remains low and we hope this pilot can address that.”

Lindhurst Engineering managing director Martin Rigley, who is also a coaching and mentoring director at Qinesis, believes the Qi Theory pilot will help workers in industry address the root causes of their challenges.

He said: “If you’re not getting to the cause of the challenge, you are essentially shackled to the challenge and all its manifestations. Psychotherapy gets to the root cause and that’s something we engineers should appreciate when solving work problems.”

Should the pilot prove successful, Qi Therapy will be rolled out as a service from Qinesis to support people in industry across the East Midlands.

White Rose Beauty Colleges offers free training courses A Derby-based beauty therapy training provider has been working with organisations in the area by offering free online workplace mental health and wellbeing training.

Staff at White Rose Beauty Colleges are hoping the programme will help alleviate stress and build positive mindsets by inviting employers to complete a “light-touch” course on complementary therapies.

The course explores the basics of holistic massage including techniques for providing body massage, reflexology and pre-blended aromatherapy massage - as well as general relaxation and stress reduction techniques, healthy eating and wellbeing.

White Rose Beauty Colleges corporate ambassador Jules Slack said: “This is an amazing course to help to develop the learner’s understanding of mental health problems.”

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MEMBER NEWS

Five ways businesses can remain efficient following redundancies The pandemic has caused a surge in redundancies, with a record 395,000 UK workers losing their jobs between September and November last year. To mitigate the potential risks for businesses as a result of a reduction in headcount and continue developing the remaining team, Breedon Consulting managing director Nicki Robson (pictured) has advises employers on how to ensure they remain efficient following a loss of staff.

1. DEVELOP MANAGEMENT The increase in redundancies, and a shift to home working for an extended period of time, has highlighted the need for businesses to develop management leadership skills. Skilling up managers will ensure they get the very best out of staff members when they are working remotely, and employers should explore management and leadership course options to provide employees with the opportunity to develop themselves.

This allows staff who may have had their roles altered the opportunity to develop and even re-train.

2. REGULAR COMMUNICATION Maintaining frequent communication with staff is

imperative in remaining efficient following redundancies. Staff members may be feeling alone after a reduction in team size and with so many currently working from home, this distance can feel even bigger. Regular calls can be a great way for teams to maintain creativity and bounce ideas off each other, in the absence of ideation meetings.

3. IMPROVING TIME MANAGEMENT With teams reducing in size, individual workloads can increase significantly and it is important current staff members understand how to manage their new workload. Teach staff the importance of prioritisation to

ensure that tasks of higher importance are accomplished before tasks of lower importance.

Employers should speak to staff about organisation skills and introduce steps such as planning ahead for the next day and goal setting. These measures can really encourage staff to create a routine, improving their time management.

4. REGULAR FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS It can be extremely beneficial to get in face time with team members, so where possible schedule in regular face-to-face meetings that observe Government guidelines. Meeting can be a better way to gauge exactly how they are feeling and it is a good way of

ensuring that tasks are running to schedule and everyone understands their roles fully.

5. IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH The mental health of staff members is of paramount importance. The stress of redundancy periods can have a negative effect on staff members and can lower morale, especially if staff have lost a colleague they worked closely with.

Working from home during the pandemic can also negatively affect mental health and employers should encourage staff members to implement a work-life balance.

Taking regular breaks and getting fresh air outside is also very important when staff are limited to spending lots of time indoors.

Employment advice on offer for SMEs To help SMEs better manage HR and employment issues, Derbyshirebased Timms Solicitors has launched a free advice clinic – offering an initial 30-minute telephone or video conferencing appointment.

Employment law specialist Emma Spandrzyk (pictured) believes the UK is in the midst of a “rising redundancy tsunami” with employers in danger of facing dramatic increases in disputes and tribunal claims.

Her team at Timms Solicitors is now running a free advice clinic so employers get the right support before proceeding with redundancy, absence management or dismissals, as well as for planning future workforce requirements ahead of the Job Retention Scheme’s end date on 30 September.

Emma said: “This is a pivotal time for many businesses, and we are at the brink of what will be a stressful and painful time for both employers and employees alike – particularly once the furlough arrangements end.

“Most employers want to avoid redundancies and taking legal advice now on the different measures that can be explored with their workforce may not only save jobs but also maintain morale. If redundancies cannot be avoided, it is important that the process is handled correctly to avoid litigation.

“Similarly, we are also seeing an increase in disputes and claims from employees around unfair misconduct hearings, absence management and discrimination issues, but early planning can often lead to a mutually agreed resolution.”

The firm will also launch a new employment law hub subscription service, which will give businesses access to a wide range of online employment law and HR resources, as well as ongoing legal advice.

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MEMBER NEWS

Get up to speed with immigration rules Employers have been urged to carry out necessary checks to ensure they are compliant with new postBrexit immigration rules – and not be left with staff departures at the end of an upcoming deadline.

A six-month grace period since the end of the UK-EU transition period, in which businesses aren’t expected to differentiate between EU nationals who have managed to secure British residency and those who haven’t, ends on 30 June.

From this date, businesses would need to sponsor those workers – specifically citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland – for them to remain in the country and continue employment in the UK.

‘Employers need to act now to ensure their HR strategy can overcome the departure of EEA and Swiss members of staff’ Thal Vashista (pictured), founder of Nottingham-based corporate immigration law specialist Paragon Law, said: “Current Home Office guidance has the potential to create an employment cliff edge after 30 June.

“Employers need to act now to ensure their HR strategy can overcome the departure of EEA and Swiss members of staff.”

Under the Home Office guidance, EEA and Swiss citizens who lived in the UK prior to 31 December can apply for the EU Settlement Scheme to continue as a British resident.

Individuals who arrived in the UK after 1 January 2021, and are unable to establish residency before 30

June, can only remain employed if the business is able to sponsor them. They would require a skilled worker licence and must meet points-based criteria.

Thal said EEA and Swiss nationals who have not applied under the EU Settlement Scheme and continue to remain after 30 June are liable to enforcement and removal at any time.

“This is where the current guidance is sloppy and does not foresee potential consequences to businesses or those EEA and Swiss nationals who decide to remain and work with a business despite not having the legal status to do so after 30 June,” Thal added.

“Businesses employing EU nationals who have not applied for, or secured, settled status can’t dismiss them prior to 1 July 2021.

“This presents a risk to the employer as, if they wish to continue to operate legally, they could be in a position where on 1 July 2021, several employees leave voluntarily or they have to begin the dismissal process. Both scenarios make businesses vulnerable.”

The current guidance puts the emphasis on businesses to carry out the necessary checks and act as Home Office outposts.

Thal said this will be a “complex period” for businesses and HR managers and advised them to balance the Government’s position on right to work checks against certainty in their workforce, employment rights and duty of care to staff.

He added: “I advise all businesses to seek advice to avoid discrimination claims during the recruitment process.”

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MEMBER NEWS

Mentoring for entrepreneurs The Youth Enterprise and Employability Academy is offering a new business mentoring service for entrepreneurs under 25 who intend to start or grow a business.

The charity, which supports schools and youth centres across Nottinghamshire, has seen first-hand the impact the pandemic has had on young people, stemming from the cancellation of exams and reduction of job prospects.

It hopes the mentoring service will ignite new ideas and help equip young people with the knowledge to start their own business.

Academy chair Kurtis-Jay Castle said: “We need to create a supportive environment to promote young people’s abilities and aid them in achieving their entrepreneurial ambition. We also support those who are about to start their journey into the world of work by ensuring they are prepared for the challenges that come their way.”

Hundreds attend digital conference The team at Anicca Digital is toasting the success of its Leicester Digital Live conference, which was attended by more than 600 people.

The one-day event featured international guest speakers and software suppliers, alongside Anicca’s own programme “Ask Anicca” – which consisted of 10 sessions on digital marketing channels and techniques.

Anicca Digital is a digital marketing agency based in Leicester, which specialises in driving leads and sales through integrated multi-channel campaigns.

Founder and managing director Ann Stanley said: “Despite being virtual, there was a great buzz around Leicester Digital Live and our registrations were up by more than 150% since 2019.

“I was also able to share preliminary results from our 2021 marketing survey, which enables businesses to benchmark their marketing activity.”

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Adrenalin World will be the centrepiece of the Gateway at PEAK scheme's first phase

Adventure resort is one step closer to completion A £100m adventure resort planned for the Peak District has taken a step forward after the developer signed agreements with several new partners.

Milligan has appointed Chamber patron RDS Global, a technology specialist, alongside architect Stanton Williams, operations consultant DN Consultancy and landscape architect Gillespies to work on its planned Gateway at PEAK scheme.

‘The Gateway is going to be an exciting destination for all types of visitors’ The site, due to open this autumn, will be built on the 300-acre Birchall Estate in Chesterfield, which will feature an Adrenalin World indoor adventure park in its first phase including zip lines, climbing walls, adventure golf, ninja courses, caving, trampolining and go-karting.

There will also be an outdoor activity lake, amphitheatre, cycle trails, up to 2,000 hotel rooms and 250 lodges. Further phases will be added in the coming years, with other leisure, education and entertainment facilities planned.

Melanie Taylor, director of leasing and commerce at Milligan, said: “The Gateway is going to be an exciting

destination for all types of visitors, each looking for something different from their visit to the Peaks.”

In July 2020, Milligan formed a working group of local stakeholders on the Gateway at PEAK scheme, which will be the UK's first fully-serviced national park gateway.

RDS Global has been appointed as the technology partner for the development. The Derby-based company is set to plan and manage the project’s integrated IT platform by deploying its management information system, BlackBox, to create a smart and sustainable technological infrastructure.

RDS Global CEO Andy Flinn said: “When we were introduced to the vision of Peak Resort, we immediately got a sense of how special this project was going to be. It is driven by innovation and sustainability, from its core to its most outer layers, and that is something that really excites us at RDS Global.

To be appointed as technology partner for the Gateway at PEAK project is an honour and we’re thoroughly looking forward to the journey.”

Melanie added: “We’re confident that by having our partners RDS Global, Stanton Williams, David Norris and Gillespies around the table, we’ll push boundaries and deliver ground-breaking and creative ideas that surprise and delight visitors.”

Employees take ownership of firm Pennine Healthcare, the Derby-based medical devices company, has been taken into employee ownership in a move that safeguards its UK manufacturing operation.

The outgoing shareholders, led by chief executive Luke Fryer, chair Liz Fothergill CBE and technical director David Shaw, worked alongside advisers Dains Accountants and Geldards Solicitors to create the Pennine Employee Ownership Trust. The trust will run the business for the current and future benefit of its employees, in a change that is consistent with the long-held values of the company.

Luke said: “The benefits of employee ownership fit perfectly with the future of Pennine. We are delighted with the outcome for everyone involved.”

Geldards partner Debra Martin added: “Dains and Geldards have independently completed six employee ownership transactions in the past month, which confirms the level of activity in the market for this type of transaction. Through early engagement, more businesses can consider employee ownership as an alternative to management buyout or trade sale.”

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MEMBER NEWS

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MEMBER NEWS

How will the region recover from Covid-19?

Analysis in the latest Good Growth for Cities Index by accountancy giant PwC and think-tank Demos shows the UK cities and towns hardest hit by the economic fallout from Covid-19 are likely to make the fastest recovery – but they’re also expected to be worse off than at the beginning of the pandemic compared to more resilient places. PwC’s East Midlands market senior partner Alison Breadon (pictured) picks out the key details from the report in our region.

In the report, we see Leicester has been among the worst-hit places after finding itself in a local lockdown for much of 2020. Along with Nottingham and Derby, it is predicted to start its recovery sooner – despite still being worse off at the end of the pandemic than more resilient places.

Nottingham and Derby both saw their economies contract by more than 11% during 2020 but are expected to have the best levels of growth in 2021 – at around 5% and higher.

Despite the economic decreases in the economies in Derby and Nottingham, other key findings show Derby has one of the lowest rates of workers on the Job Retention Scheme, placing only 6.4% of its workforce on furlough during 2020.

Nottingham has the lowest increase in the take-up rate of Universal Credit, at 2.6% between January and November 2020 – compared with Birmingham, which has the third highest increase since January 2020 at 4%.

Leicester is expected to suffer more economically in comparison to other cities in the Midlands, with a growth rate of -12.2% in 2020,

‘A broad brush approach to levelling up will not address the challenges facing the places that have been hardest hit’ compared with other cities such as Derby (11.7%). The high infection rate in the early parts of the summer has contributed to Leicester’s economic activity stagnating over this period.

As a whole, cities in the East Midlands have performed well on the environment, owner occupation and income distribution measures on the index. However, this positive performance is also coupled with lower scores in skills, health and work-life balance.

High unemployment rates, especially for young people entering the labour force in one of the toughest economic environments, will make jobs even more competitive and potentially undermine social mobility efforts in the region.

‘LIVEABILITY’ IS THE EAST MIDLANDS’ BIGGEST POSTCOVID OPPORTUNITY In terms of trends, we see the pandemic has led to people living their life much closer to home and the likelihood is some of these

lifestyle changes will stay for the medium term.

Those living in the region will no doubt value different things and those places that meet those needs will be the ones that bounce back quicker. This opens up opportunities for places that have advantages in terms of liveability and community, and where “price of success” factors, such as housing affordability, are less of an issue.

Our report sets out a series of recommendations for leaders from across the region and local government, as well as the private and third sectors, as they plan their recovery strategies. Taking a broad approach to economic wellbeing and building resilience will be essential to create liveable, vibrant places where people want to live, work and visit.

The wider regions’ significant growth over the past five years and long-term growth ambitions and investments in HS2, Coventry City of Culture and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will

also encourage the right conditions for a recovery.

REINFORCING IMPORTANCE OF LEVELLING UP However, the pandemic has made us all more acutely aware of existing economic and social inequalities, and why it is so important to “level up” across the UK. It reinforces our view in Good Growth for Cities of the necessity to look beyond GDP and headlines about the North-South divide to focus efforts on tackling the issues that really matter to the public – and local economies – such as skills, sustainable income, and health and wellbeing.

A broad brush approach to levelling up will not address the challenges facing the places that have been hardest hit.

We need a precise approach which considers the strengths and needs of individual towns and cities to build more resilience and drive a fair recovery across the UK. Given continued uncertainties, particularly with the post-EU trading environment and unknowns around pandemic recovery, action is required so that levelling up is a reality – not an unattainable aspiration.

STARK FIGURES OF STORE CLOSURES More than twice the number of chain stores closed in the East Midlands than those that opened last year, according to new PwC data.

Some 1,298 shops closed in 2020, compared to 611 openings – with a net decline of 687 – the research compiled by the Local Data Company found.

This contrasts starkly compared to 2015, when there were 750 chain store openings against 887 closures.

Retail parks witnessed the smallest number of net closures of any location (77) in the East Midlands last year, compared to shopping centres (159) and, faring worst of all, high streets (490).

Nationally, there was a net decline of 9,877 shop closures – with an average of 48 closing every day versus 21 openings in 2020.

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MEMBER NEWS

Support needed for staff returning to the workplace The long-term effects of being on furlough or doing their jobs at home means staff returning to the workplace could need “unprecedented levels of support” to get them back up and running, a Derby firm warns.

With the lockdown set to lift and the likelihood of some companies being able to bring staff back off furlough, firms should now be planning to make whatever arrangements they need with regards to their workforce, according to Loates Management Training.

‘Those still working may have struggled to take on their colleagues’ work’ Employees may be facing a number of issues including a lack of updated training, feelings of isolation, concerns over mental health and issues connected with being placed on furlough, including “furlough guilt” and “furlough fatigue” – both of which have had a marked effect on employees’ levels of work satisfaction and productivity.

Sarah Loates (pictured), managing director of the Darley Abbey-based company, said: “I’ve seen plenty of examples of these issues during the past few months, especially for those who have been furloughed from the beginning of the first lockdown.

“For many, the reality of being paid to not work for months on end while colleagues were left to pick up their workload led to feelings of guilt, while others may

be nursing fears over their perceived worth to their employees as the weeks of inactivity go by.

“Meanwhile, those still working may have struggled to take on their colleagues’ work, along with struggling to juggle home working with home schooling.”

In response to the issue, Loates, which is a sister brand to Loates HR Consultancy, has created a programme of convenient bite-sized training webinars called “Back to Business” designed to give managers a helping hand.

Among the topics covered is advice on how to manage remote workers, how to deal with wellbeing for teams and developing emotional intelligence.

Recruiter tackles HGV driver shortage head on Recruitment agency Encore Personnel is addressing the shortage of lorry drivers by offering a range of flexible jobs to attract the best talent.

Encore, which operates 10 branches across the Midlands with its HQ in Leicester, has been sourcing drivers for UK businesses for more than 15 years.

However, Brexit and Covid19 have caused major problems for the driving recruitment sector as many skilled and experienced drivers chose to return to mainland Europe with no promise of returning.

Managing director Pete Taylor said: “We’ve been dealing with a lack of drivers for several years now and Brexit is certainly not the only reason for this. We pride ourselves on offering a range of flexible, temporary or permanent driving jobs across a broad spectrum of sectors to ensure the best fit for workers and clients alike.”

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MEMBER NEWS

A sweeter way to offer support Staff at a Nottingham-based sweets wholesaler are feeling happier, healthier and more productive after the company joined a free mental health support programme.

TTK Confectionery signed up to mental health charity Mind’s Mental Health at Work Commitment. It consists of six mental health “standards” it must uphold to help improve staff wellbeing, which has been placed under strain during the pandemic. The commitment is one of many free mental health programmes offered by the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) - an initiative run by Midlands Engine that aims to support employers across the region to improve the mental health of their workforce and boost their bottom line at the same time, with no financial cost.

After signing up to the commitment, TTK Confectionery has reported a significant improvement to attitudes towards mental health, with employees feeling more confident in talking openly about the subject.

‘Signing up to the Mental Health at Work Commitment has made us more confident as a business in speaking up about mental health’ Absences have dropped as a result, and the changes have made the workforce happier and healthier.

TTK Confectionery director Jess Barnett said: “Taking care of our employees’ needs and finding the right support for them came down to guesswork really – it was hard to know when to step in. When Covid19 was thrown into the mix, we realised it was time to implement something new.”

Before signing up to the commitment, TTK Confectionery had always tried to intervene whenever an employee showed signs of poor mental health, but felt it was being reactive rather than proactive.

After hearing about MHPP through the University of Derby, one of the programme's partners, Jess got in touch with project manager Kate Wood and discussed the challenges facing the business.

She she was advised to sign up

to the Mind Mental Health at Work Commitment and the company has since made several changes in its work environment.

These included training staff to become “mental health champions” and spot signs of workers who need help, pairing up staff to talk about anything that might be troubling them, having regular mental health briefings, and using Public Health England’s free “Every Mind Matters” resource.

Jess added: “Signing up to the Mental Health at Work Commitment has made us more confident as a business in speaking up about mental health.

“I would tell other businesses unsure about signing up to a mental health scheme to go for it – it’s definitely worth a firm’s time to make a difference in its workplace.”

Western Union puts mental health needs first Mental health first aiders, regular drop-in sessions and a “walking for wellbeing” challenge are some of the activities Western Union has adopted during the pandemic to promote mental health.

After an employee engagement survey showed staff wanted the company to train up mental health first aiders, the international money transfer services firm funded 10 people across the UK to attend a two-day accredited course.

Since completing the training, the team has delivered a range of activities to support colleagues throughout lockdown, including mental health presentations, the walking challenge, and signposting people to additional support and resources where needed.

Vice president of payment products Karen Penney is 16

business network April 2021

one of Western Union’s mental health first aiders.

She said: “The mental health first aider training has given us the knowledge and confidence to support our colleagues and regular catch ups within the mental health first aider group have enabled us to identify developing mental health and wellbeing themes and quickly address them.”

Western Union, which helps its global client base move money internationally, also focused on activities to boost staff engagement to help its workforce transition to remote working.

Each day, the company starts with a virtual, UK-wide morning briefing to make sure staff are aware of key updates and achievements from colleagues in other departments.

Karen Penney

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MEMBER NEWS

Email: info@breedonconsulting.co.uk using the code “BNMAPR21” to claim your free consultation to discuss how Breedon can increase your engagement levels.

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MEMBER NEWS

CCM Group goes online to support charity of the year Nottinghamshire-based creative agency CCM Group has joined forces with its chosen charity of the year, Nottinghamshire Mind, to organise an online fundraising event.

The Big Notts Raffle will take place on Thursday 13 May, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2021. This support is in addition to the pro-bono services the creative agency is offering to the charity, including creative design and website development.

Trent Peek, group director at CCM Group, said: “We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Nottinghamshire Mind throughout 2021. We’re hoping that by organising this virtual event during Mental Health Awareness Week, we will be able to raise awareness and vital funds for such a worthwhile cause in our local community.”

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Claire Twells, Sara Ferdinando, Jo Andrew and Sophie Shapcott, members of Derby's Finest, with the birthday box for a nine-year-old Derby County fan

Helping spread birthday cheer Businesswomen in Derby have joined forces to make sure underprivileged and vulnerable children will be able to celebrate their birthdays.

Birthday boxes containing cake, candles, balloons, gifts, socks, pants, pyjamas, colouring pens and colouring books were created by Derby’s Finest, a group that celebrates the city’s women in business.

The idea was the brainchild of board member Claire Twells, a partner at Smith Partnership Solicitors, who was told through her charitable work about cases of children who do not receive gifts because of difficulties in their home life.

She said: “Some children are living with guardians or carers and all their resources go to putting food on the table.

“This means children – who have already had really tough, often violent, lives – are having to miss out on birthday celebrations. I thought it would be a good idea to try to get a box of small gifts to a boy and girl from needy families every month.”

Among the Derby-based companies joining Smith Partnership on this project are Project D, Evad and EMA Training.

Claire is now reaching out to the wider business community for support as the demand for the boxes increases as lockdown continues.

She said: “The project has grown well beyond my expectations - we have a request for over 30 boxes with that number rising daily. It would be great if we could garner help from other business leaders.”

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MEMBER NEWS

New website highlights child exploitation dangers Creationz Marketing and Little Black Dog Design have joined forces to help Derby-based charity Safe and Sound raise awareness of the dangers facing children and young people of child exploitation through a new website.

The site includes information and resources for professionals working with young people and parents, and incorporates a new live chat facility to enable easier access to the charity’s specialist support team.

Safe and Sound supports children and young people across Derbyshire who are victims of or at risk of child exploitation including sexual exploitation, county lines, modern slavery, trafficking and radicalisation.

Safe and Sound chief executive Tracy Harrison said: “Our caseload increased by over 50% in 2020, largely since the start of the pandemic – brought about by young people being socially isolated and therefore particularly vulnerable to online grooming.

“It was therefore important to have a well-designed and user-

friendly website with a wealth of resources that can be easily accessed to raise awareness of the dangers facing young people in our local communities.”

Claire Taylor is the founder and managing director of Creationz Marketing, which is providing ongoing digital marketing and social media support for Safe and Sound.

She said: “Having achieved our objectives to increase engagement and raise greater awareness of child exploitation across Safe and Sound’s social media channels – we identified the urgent need for a new website to enable it to share important information and resources with stakeholders and the wider general public.”

Financial support for B2B salespeople A charity that supports B2B salespeople who are facing financial hardship has awarded more than 240 grants, with a total value of £115,780, since the start of the year – after donating £680,000 in 2020.

The Salespeople’s Charity offers a variety of support – including the supply of white goods, assistance with utility debts, rent arrears, dayto-day living costs, household repairs - directly to the salesperson and their families.

The national charity was established as The Commercial Travellers Benevolent Institute in 1849 by five commercial travellers to help one of their colleagues who was unable to continue working.

Each grant awarded is designed to support applicants’ most pressing need and does not have to be repaid.

Charity manager Brian Riddell said: “Despite operating for over 170 years, the financial support we are currently making available to B2B salespeople is proving more than ever necessary.”

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APPOINTMENTS

Martin Roberts unveiled as EMCRC's first board member

New director for property agency Commercial property firm Innes England has promoted Matt Howson (pictured) to director after five years working across a range of property sectors in the East Midlands.

Now championing the agency's contracts with household names such as The Co-operative Group, Matt started work as a chartered surveyor and then became an associate director for the company in 2018.

His rise through the company has seen him manage commercial property and land, across various sectors, on behalf of regional and national clients while he also advises clients on the acquisition, disposal, rent reviews and lease renewals of various property portfolios.

Matt said: “It’s an honour to mark five great years at Innes England with this much-appreciated promotion. Since joining back in 2016, I’ve enjoyed helping the company to grow both our team and our client base.

“2020 was a challenging year for everyone, especially landlords and tenants, so helping people to navigate that difficult time was a priority for us. While 2021 has continued in similar fashion, I’m looking forward to assisting our clients and driving the business forward.”

Gary Woodward, director at Innes England, added: “Throughout his time at Innes England, Matt has been invaluable in growing the business and the glowing reviews he gets from clients speak for themselves.”

Role at Interflex for Paul Neale A Nottinghamshire manufacturer has created a new commercial director role as part of the company’s diversification and expansion strategy.

Automotive parts manufacturer Interflex has appointed Paul Neale to the post. He brings with him over 15 years of experience working in the automotive and manufacturing industry, including senior sales and consultancy positions. Based in Langar, Interflex manufactures a range of NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) and sealing solutions for vehicles including door seals and interior trims.

Paul’s role at Interflex involves overseeing the sales, marketing and commercial sectors of the business, as well as co-ordinating its overall commercial direction.

“I’m delighted to be working in this exciting new role at Interflex,” said Paul.

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The managing director of Derbybased Neuways has been announced as the first board member of the East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre (EMCRC).

With over 25 years’ experience in the IT industry, Martin Roberts has vast knowledge in how to help protect businesses against cybercrime. He has led managed support service provider Neuways since 2016, helping clients secure and grow their business through strategising and implementating effective IT solutions.

The 60-year-old is also the managing director of partner company Neustro, which delivers functional and technical consulting and development for users around the world.

Launched in March last year, the EMCRC is a not-for-profit partnership between policing, academia and private industry, committed to helping protect businesses in the East Midlands region from cyber-crime.

Martin said: “I believe cyber security, or a lack of it, is the single biggest threat to any business and the quest to protect organisations from this threat drives everything

Martin Roberts

we do at Neuways.

“When the opportunity came up to become a board member, I jumped at the chance to contribute to the wider efforts across the region. Together, we can educate businesses to protect themselves as robustly as possible from this 21st century threat.”

Detective inspector Matt Carson, director and police lead of the EMCRC, said: “Martin brings a wealth of experience, both in the cyber security industry and as a successful MD and business leader.

“He has a real passion and considerable experience in helping businesses become cyber-resilient.

This aligns perfectly with the centre’s ethos and we are very much looking forward to working together.”

JMS Engineers promotes Bhavin Parmar to civils production director JMS Engineers has announced the promotion of Bhavin Parmar to the role of civils production director, following six years at the company.

Reporting to business development and civils director Andy Kenyon, Bhavin will provide operational and technical leadership to the team of civil engineers with the aim of growing the civils business across the JMS Group.

The group – which has its headquarters in Suffolk and an office based at Friars Mill, Leicester – provides structural engineering and audits on construction projects across the UK. Andy said: “Since Bhavin first walked through our doors, we knew he had a great deal to offer the company. Not only is he an exceptionally talented engineer but he has also demonstrated exceptional business development skills, with a client-focused approach, to drive the civils division forward.”

Commenting on his promotion, Bhavin said: “I’m really pleased to achieve this next step in my career.

The support from the whole team has been fantastic, particularly among members of the JMS board.

“JMS is a great advert for the value of family-owned businesses, and I’m incredibly proud and thankful to have been able to contribute over the years.

“I look forward to using my experience and creativity to ensure we continue to provide exceptional solutions for our clients.”

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APPOINTMENTS

Former Reach editor-in-chief joins Purpose Media as non-exec Steve Hall, the former editor-inchief for Reach Plc in the East Midlands, has joined website development, creative and digital marketing agency Purpose Media as a non-executive director.

Bringing over 37 years of experience in journalism and running businesses and news operations across eight sites, Steve was named UK Editor of the Year in 2011 and has won twice at the UK Regional Newspaper of the Year awards. He is also a nonexecutive director at Marketing Derby, where he is publisher of Innovate magazine.

His role at Purpose Media is to help and support the management team to ensure all activity is measured and effective.

He will also oversee projects that support the future ambitions of the company, which is led by

Matt Wheatcroft, left, with Steve Hall

managing director Matt Wheatcroft, and fellow directors Tim Lenton and Claudio Devanzo.

Based in South Normanton, Purpose Media employs more than 30 website development, creative and digital marketing specialists. It is planning to expand the team further with a least three new appointments by the summer to underpin planned growth.

RedTree PR welcomes Hannah Evans to the team RedTree PR has recruited Hannah Evans – a media and communications graduate from Nottingham Trent University.

Hannah joins the Beeston-based agency as a digital PR specialist and will support managing director Chris Mitchell in developing the firm’s digital PR activity for its clients based in London and the East Midlands.

Showing her drive to gain sector experience despite the circumstances caused by Covid-19, Hannah has sought out a range of virtual internships in the marketing and PR industry since completing her degree. She joins RedTree PR from the environmental charity Trent Rivers Trust, where she was a communications and support officer.

Hannah said: “I’m very excited to have been given this opportunity, especially during such unprecedented times. I have a passion to excel in the communications and PR sector, and I look forward to developing creative ideas for RedTree’s clients and working closely with Chris and the team.”

Chris added: “I’m thrilled to welcome Hannah to RedTree PR. Her skills set and experience means that she is already off to a flying start. I’m hugely impressed with her natural enthusiasm, work ethic and prior experience.

“I’m looking forward to supporting Hannah’s career development and seeing the benefits her appointment brings to the growth of our business and those of our clients.”

Steve said: “I have long been an admirer of Purpose Media’s reputation for excellence and I’m particularly impressed by everyone’s commitment to gaining a deep understanding of client needs and maintaining a laser focus on generating impressive results.

“They’ve done brilliantly during lockdown to maintain and build

their business and there is a steely determination to come out of restrictions in a stronger position by investing in the team and niche marketing programmes.

"I am delighted to be joining a company and I hope to guide future decisions in order to capitalise on the current high demand for digital marketing skills.”

Matt added: “Steve brings exactly the type of experience and industry contacts we need at present. I have always acknowledged the value nonexecutive directors can bring to a growing business like Purpose Media as their prior insight and knowledge is invaluable. Steve has definitely ‘been there and got the Tshirt’, and has successfully guided many businesses through economic booms and dips. I am really pleased to have him on our team.”

Roadgas appoints new commercial manager Roadgas, the national refuelling station infrastructure supplier based in Nottingham, has appointed David Bowen as commercial manager.

He has over 20 years’ experience in the haulage and logistics sector, working with household names and being responsible for national account development.

David joins Roadgas at what he considers to be a pivotal moment for the industry.

He said: “The pandemic has highlighted how much the logistics business has changed in a short time and how quickly we need to respond to the UK Government’s call for low and zero emissions.”

Statistics from the Gas Vehicle Network (GVN) show a 78% increase in sales of renewable gas as a transport fuel during 2020.

The HGV sector accounts for a disproportionate share of transport carbon emissions - 17% of the sector's greenhouse gases despite only accounting for 2% of road vehicles.

Managing director David Rix said: “Appointing David is a significant milestone for Roadgas as we usher in a new era of growth for the company. Decarbonising the transport sector remains our priority as we work with new clients to highlight the benefits of renewable gas fuelling technology.” business network April 2021

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

Businesses giving back Whether it’s known as giving back, corporate social responsibility (CSR) or environmental, social and governance (ESG), businesses have a vital role to play in their communities. Dan Robinson finds out what the key drivers are for supporting good causes and how companies can create more impact via such projects from a range of business leaders, who debated their experiences at the Chamber’s first virtual President’s Dinner of 2021.

MICK HALLORAN CAPITAL ONE DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Ever since Capital One arrived in the UK more than 20 years ago, we’ve been active in the communities where we operate, including Nottingham.

But about five years ago, we took a step back to analyse what impact our activity was having.

We'd done amazing things but realised some engagement was piecemeal – for example, our associates would support a community facility by painting it.

There's nothing wrong with that, and we still do this type of activity, but we recognised we should invest more in being truly transformative to the people we engage.

That made us think about scale versus investment. We might not always be able to help thousands of people with our programmes, but spending longer than an hour or two with 100 people is more transformative to their lives.

So we’ve developed longer-term strategic programmes with relatively strict criteria for who we’ll engage with. We particularly focus on helping disadvantaged young people who wouldn’t otherwise get these opportunities.

From our associates’ perspective, it's incredibly motivating for them to feel like they work for a company that contributes to its community.

We also see younger people coming into the organisation at graduate and junior levels are increasingly asking explicitly what the purpose of our company is beyond the core role we serve. This makes it very important from both a recruitment and retention perspective.

Having this strategy in place and the values of our company allowed us to move quickly when lockdown began. We built on existing relationships with school partners and charities to provide hundreds of laptops to the people they identified as being at risk of digital exclusion and isolation.

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HELEN DONNELLAN DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT Universities have been involved with civic engagement and putting something back into their local economies for quite some time. Yet we’ve done a lot of this work without actually explaining to our staff and students what we were tackling.

For example, 100,000 children in Leicester live in food poverty so how can we, as an organisation, make a difference?

When staff hear these kinds of statistics, it really affects their attitude on how we can deal with a problem they may otherwise be unaware of because they only come into contact with an organisation’s local community for work.

‘We’ve done some work that’s shown us how young people genuinely feel a strong drive to work somewhere with shared value’ Measuring impact is also crucial and this is something we started doing about 18 months ago for our voluntary work, which includes running a food bank and teaching STEM subjects.

We’ve done some work that’s shown us how young people genuinely feel a strong drive to work somewhere with shared values so communication is important, while we’ve found they have a very local and global approach.

They’re interested in big enablers like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but they want their volunteering and charitable activity to be local – and to have an impact on those global issues.

Going forward, it would also be useful to think about how businesses can give back to other businesses.

There’s lots of smaller companies that are embedded in their communities, but are struggling to do work that has a big impact on their local area.

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

DEBBIE DURO ROLLS-ROYCE COMMUNITY INVESTMENT MANAGER Over many years, we’ve followed a strategy to support the areas in which we operate, as our ethos is to be a good neighbour and have a real duty of care.

But we’ve had to ensure we can engage our leaders and employees effectively with the community investment work we do.

No matter who we’re working with or the activity we’re running, it must provide mutual benefit and deliver a return on investment.

Giving back doesn’t just provide opportunities for community engagement, but it also helps to develop

skills and competencies within teams.

Increasing communication also helps to improve teamwork and leadership behaviours.

Throughout the past year, we’ve maximised the opportunities to share our community work internally – but also linking it in with how it’s helped our employees achieve great things or build relationships within teams.

There’s so many things we can encourage our employees to get involved with, whether it’s becoming mentors, trustees, governors, STEM ambassadors, coaches or inspirational speakers, to develop their own personal skills as well as give back.

Our main focus right now is about working with leadership so it can support staff to do these things.

DR NIK KOTECHA

IAIN MCKENZIE

MORNINGSIDE PHARMACEUTICALS AND RANDAL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN Business and the charitable sector both play different, but equally important, roles in helping communities to thrive.

If both these very different sectors could better align and support each other, there would undoubtedly be great benefits to both, as well as society in general.

As we hopefully edge towards the end of the pandemic, companies should be seen as partners in tackling problems faced by our communities. This doesn’t just mean jobs – it has to be more than that.

Plenty of businesses want to do their bit and support charities through corporate partnerships. This can often involve company employees taking part in voluntary activities and this kind of mass participation exercise can have a big impact.

The sector’s role has never been more important in supporting local people, who will be our employees and their families, neighbours and friends.

Charities need our skills, entrepreneurship and business knowledge to help them build their own sustainable income generating models.

It’s important to have a mindset from the beginning that making an “impact” with charitable support isn’t about how much publicity can be generated, but the positive effect it will have to people directly on their doorstep.

With this in mind, it’s perhaps best not to focus on the return on investment and to separate an organisation’s CSR targets from the overall business aims.

I know through my own business and the Randal Charitable Foundation that the best way to help is to seek out smaller, local charities that will likely know many of the people we work with and the communities we live in.

MATTIOLI WOODS GROUP OPERATING OFFICER

Strategic collaborations, where companies commit over a period of years to help, can lead to genuine long-term partnerships. This can be a win-win for both parties as charities benefit from more sustainable funding and tap into the expertise found around the boardroom table.

Supporting charities also chimes with the values of companies that employees want to work for. They rightly have higher expectations of their workplaces now and the contribution their employer makes to the world on their doorstep.

It can’t just be a one-off event or fundraising drive – to really work, we need to see long-term partnerships to benefit local communities and business as well.

Staff engagement is central to our mission for a fun, fair and rewarding workplace. We also pledge to treasure our communities, and support local and national initiatives.

From a benefits perspective, involving staff in grassroots charity work enables businesses to bring teams together, foster a sense of togetherness and feel motivated.

There’s obviously the sense of giving back, but we also see it as a way of engaging clients because a worthwhile cause can trigger powerful emotional reactions in customers.

Of course, there’s the benefits arising from marketing opportunities that result in a strengthened reputation and brand – one that clients could feel a genuine connection with due to a shared sense of compassion with a charitable cause.

Charity events are also a good avenue for staff to network, while adding social value activities to company results can be a good mechanism for attracting investment.

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

LINDSEY WILLIAMS FUTURES HOUSING GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE We used to carry out a lot of random CSR activities that made people feel warm and cosy, but actually when we looked at what they achieved, either they weren’t really needed or we couldn’t measure the impact.

So what we’ve chosen to do instead is identify the real needs within a community and then decide how best to support them by picking just two or three key areas for us to work in.

We find this helps to keep people’s passion burning and it’s easier to measure the true value, but we’ve also learned lessons that can be applied to other organisations.

‘It’s about understanding what the needs are rather than what makes us feel good about ourselves as a business’ If you’re going to do something, try to address the root cause rather than just treat the symptoms. We did a lot of employability work but realised that until the root causes within chaotic families were dealt with, people wouldn’t be ready to look at their CVs or do work placements.

There’s a lot of activities that don’t really add value – for example, painting a school fence might be a nice thing to do, but what it really requires is money for a particular project.

So it’s about understanding what the needs are rather than what makes us feel good about ourselves as a business.

The reason many organisations may not have CSR strategies like this is simply because they don’t know how to do it or who to connect to.

Rather than always doing it themselves, there’s a lot to be said for supporting other organisations that are experts in tackling a particular issue.

Also, we’ve sometimes found ourselves doing the same job as others because there hasn’t been much co-ordination of activities, so spend some time researching who else is working in a space you want to target.

PHILIP WEBB INVESTORS IN COMMUNITY FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR We operate in the middle of this sector by facilitating the interaction between business and good causes.

This is what I call them because while there’s 167,000 charities, there’s about half a million community groups, not-for-profits and schools that fall into the good cause category. We have more than 300 live projects.

From my experience, if you want a business to adopt new principles, you must have a reason for doing it, and there’s a couple of key drivers in the marketplace right now.

First of all, there’s natural commercial pressures. The millennials and Generation Z aren’t asking – they’re demanding – to know what businesses are doing in this respect.

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to support in the market by choosing where we buy our products’, and they're voting with their feet.

Also, new measures came into effect in January that place a 10% weighting on social value in the quality of responses when bidding for central Government tenders. Secondly, we all file our accounts every year to generally accepted accounting principles, known as GAAP. Further down the line are generally accepted impact principles that will be filed alongside your company accounts each year – something that's being pushed by the US and will be here very quickly.

While this will initially apply to bigger companies, we’ve seen with GDPR how the larger companies that are affected have initiated supply chain audits.

Eventually, it gets to the small companies and they have to be GDPR-compliant. The same thing will happen with social impact reporting, where businesses must prove their social value credentials to become and remain part of the supply chain.

JILLIAN THOMAS FUTURE LIFE WEALTH MANAGEMENT MANAGING DIRECTOR Over the past year, much of the elderly population has really struggled with isolation.

During the first lockdown, I listed all our vulnerable clients and, over two hours every lunchtime, I’d pick up the phone and talk to them. I found that people needed prescriptions picking up, dogs walking and other pieces of support.

But we also found at that point of time there were people who didn’t realise they actually had early onset dementia, which we’re finding is an issue with a generation of elderly people now due to isolation.

Our team of 10 has now adopted 10 vulnerable clients each and they will phone two of them every day of the week to make sure they’re okay. We’ve won new clients off the back of this, although this isn’t why we’re doing it.

I’d encourage companies that work with these types of people to put staff through courses such as dementia awareness because it can help them provide some amazing support to others.

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BUSINESS NETWORK

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PATRONS

New Italian research base for university The University of Nottingham hopes to strengthen both its position at the forefront of technological innovation in green aviation and alliances with Europe’s aerospace leaders by establishing a research base in Italy.

It will be situated in the Campania region, which is home to the Italian National Centre for Aerospace Research (CIRA) and one of the university’s long-standing partners, Leonardo Aircraft Division. The programme also involves establishing University of Nottingham Italy, with its researchers participating in high technology-readiness level (TRL) aerospace programmes that provide access to other key industrial partners such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce Deutschland, Safran, Liebherr and Thales.

Serhiy Bozhko, director of the Institute for Aerospace Technology at the university, said: “I am extremely happy that our strong links and great history of co-operation with the Italian aerospace community has achieved a new strategic level with the establishment of University of Nottingham Italy.

“Our presence in the heart of Italian aerospace, in the Campania Region, creates exciting opportunities and enforces our university position as a leader in research towards future green aviation.”

Nottingham is already the top university contributor to Clean Sky 2, Europe’s largest research programme focused on reducing emissions and increasing the competitiveness

of the aeronautics industry.

Via its Institute for Aerospace Technology, based on the Innovation Park campus, the university is now planning to work with aviation leaders on the European Partnership for Clean Aviation.

Due to go online this year, this will be the EU’s flagship programme dedicated to reduction the environmental impact of aviation.

Chris Gerada, professor of electrical machines in the university’s Faculty of Engineering, said participation “has the potential to exploit the University’s research expertise related to the electrification of aircraft, advanced manufacturing technologies and other key areas, such as hydrogen energy system”.

Cross Productions joins as patron The company behind Niche Magazine, the bi-monthly B2B publication that champions organisations in Leicestershire, is the latest addition to the Chamber’s list of patrons.

Cross Productions hopes to forge new partnerships in the Midlands and beyond by aligning its brand with the chamber of commerce.

While the business continues to promote businesses and projects in Leicestershire, it works with clients across the UK for its services in marketing, lead generation and digital media.

CEO Jenny Cross said: “Our team is hugely concerned with building lasting relationships that help others to thrive in business, and we have always been able to achieve this in Leicester through Niche Magazine and the Niche Business Awards.

“With Cross Productions, however, we take this so many steps further as we as a parent company are not limited by Leicestershire borders.

“Becoming a patron of East Midlands Chamber is a great honour and a relationship that will help us support other businesses specifically across the East Midlands.”

Marketing mentoring is at the heart of Cross Productions’ wider support to clients. It runs a series of masterclasses, including How to write lead generation content, How to create a marketing strategy, and Understanding your audience.

The company recruits locally and has strong working practices and values. These include ensuring each 26

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Cross Productions hosts the Niche Business Awards, pictured here in 2019

employee is a “team player”, hardworking, focused on delivering to expectation, honest, approachable and has a positive can-do attitude.

‘Our job is to find the right solution for the businesspeople we work with. This means we will never suggest an off-the-shelf package when it comes to creating a marketing strategy that works for them’

Jenny Cross

Jenny added: “What makes Cross Productions different is that we invest fully in both our clients and our team. Taking pride in our open communication policy that cuts through the

noise and ensures transparency in all aspects of our work.

“As a result, the client feels special and is always comfortable in the knowledge that we are focused on their goals.

“Our job is to find the right solution for the businesspeople we work with.

“This means we will never suggest an off-the-shelf package when it comes to creating a marketing strategy that works for them – we will dig deep to find out what makes their potential customers tick.

“We have a team of creative thinkers who will go above and beyond to add value to brands and we’re looking forward to sharing this even more throughout East Midlands Chamber and the companies it’s associated with.”

Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles said: “Niche Magazine is a fantastic brand that many businesses in Leicestershire will already be aware of so we’re fantastic to be working more closely with its parent company, helping Cross Productions to grow its presence across the region.”

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PATRONS

Budget 2021: How will R&D tax relief be affected?

The key message to come out of the latest budget was that research and development (R&D) remains an important part of the UK’s recovery plan, with the Government keen to increase R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. This is good news for companies looking to take advantage of R&D tax relief schemes, explains Scott Burkinshaw (pictured), tax partner at Chesterfield-based accountancy firm Shorts. advisor to understand if this new rule will impact you.

WILL THE BUDGET IMPACT R&D TAX RELIEF CLAIMANTS? While there was little of immediate impact for current R&D tax relief claimants in last month’s budget, there are several points to note that will have an effect in future years, including the Government indicating its commitment to continued support for R&D tax relief through an in-depth consultation on the scheme’s current operation. Here we summarise some of the main points of interest for innovative companies.

CONSULTATION ON THE FUTURE OF R&D TAX RELIEF As part of the aim to increase investment in R&D, the Government announced a review of R&D tax relief to ensure it helps the UK to be a competitive location to carry out R&D and that the relief is fit for purpose.

The review will cover the definition of R&D, eligibility and scope of the relief (for example, extending the relief to the social sciences sector) and also potential operational improvements.

A previous consultation on extending qualifying costs to include data and cloud computing has been rolled into this consultation, which is also looking at whether there should be additional relief for capital costs.

One point to note is that the consultation highlights the fact that

Rishi Sunak unveiled a 'super-deduction' at the budget

the existing SME relief is different in the context of other international schemes, operating as an additional deduction rather than credit.

BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT PAYE cap As part of an attempt by HMRC to reduce abuse of the R&D credit scheme, this has the potential to impact genuine claimants.

Essentially, the payable R&D credit is restricted to £20,000, plus 300% of the company’s PAYE and national insurance costs.

The start date for this new legislation has been delayed until accounting periods beginning on, or after, 1 April 2021 (previously the change applied to all companies from 1 April 2021). If you claim, or expect to claim, an R&D credit in excess of £20,000 we would recommend contacting an R&D

Loss carry-back rules Not directly an R&D measure, the change to the loss carry-back rules may have an impact on how certain claimants can best access the relief.

Broadly speaking, for accounting periods ending between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2022, taxable trading losses will be able to be carried back for three years, rather than the usual 12 months.

Companies that have either cashed in losses for a payable credit at 14.5%, or are carrying forward losses for future relief, could review whether this change now enables them to utilise losses against prior years’ liabilities for a repayment at 19%.

Super-deduction Again, not specifically related to R&D but of interest to companies investing in R&D facilities in the UK, an enhanced first-year capital allowance will apply for expenditure between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023.

Qualifying plant and machinery will be eligible for a superdeduction of 130%, which can be combined with the existing 100% research and development allowances (RDAs) on all capital expenditure relating to R&D facilities (excluding land).

How will corporation tax increases impact R&D claims?

While there were no changes to the rates of R&D relief, the proposed increase in the main rate of corporation tax to 25% from 1 April 2023 will impact on the value of future R&D claims.

Briefly, companies with profits under £50,000 will be subject to tax at 19%, companies with profits over £250,000 will be taxed at 25%, and there will be a marginal rate calculation for profits in between these two parameters.

As the SME R&D relief is an additional deduction against taxable profits of 130% of qualifying costs, a company with taxable profits over £250,000 could see the value of its SME R&D claim increase from 24.7% to 32.5%.

However, there may be an adverse effect for claimants of the R&D expenditure credit (RDEC) scheme, which is a taxable notional credit, as the increased corporation tax rate will reduce the benefit of an RDEC claim from 10.53% to 9.75%.

It’s worth noting that should the corporation tax rate increase, then the value of the patent box tax relief will also increase.

This is because the current patent box rules tax patented profits at 10% and, therefore, the saving for companies paying tax at the main rate of 25% becomes 15% rather than the current 9%. This additional value may encourage more companies to review their patent box eligibility.

THE CHAMBER IS HONOURED BY THE SUPPORT OF ITS STRATEGIC PARTNERS AND PATRONS

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CHAMBER NEWS

The East Midlands: Where good business makes good sense Much of the discussion in political circles of late is focused on opportunities to reshape the economy as it emerges from the pandemic.

Government has told businesses we need to “build back better” and “build back greener”. But one thing less discussed is the opportunity to build back in a way that recognises successful businesses and thriving local communities go hand in hand, writes Chris Hobson (pictured), director of policy and external affairs at the Chamber. he impact of the pandemic has been uneven in terms of the communities most impacted and, as the economy recovers, there is a chance to demonstrate how that growth can benefit everyone.

The Chamber recently surveyed more than 400 businesses on their approach to community work – corporate social responsibility (CSR) in old-speak – and found that 63% of businesses currently do something they would class as community work. The most popular activity was one-off donations, but companies also offered skills, premises, structured volunteering opportunities and more regular donations.

When asking businesses why they do this, the biggest reasons were emotive – 85% were driven by a desire to “give something back” and 45% had a personal connection to a cause. However, businesses also saw strategic reasons for this work – four in 10 were seeking to build their profile and a quarter viewed it as an opportunity to develop staff. In fact, when asked on a scale of one to 10 how important community activity was to them achieving their overall strategic objectives, the average score given was 5.8. This suggests it’s not just something that people view as a nice thing to do, but is an integral part of their wider business purpose.

And it does make good business sense. In a series of focus groups with members on this activity, businesses told us about the importance of having strong values in attracting and retaining staff, being able to demonstrate their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) credentials when bidding for contracts, and the positive role it played in winning new business.

small number were just unsure of how to.

All these issues can be overcome to a greater or lesser degree by making it easy and resourceeffective for businesses to get involved, demonstrating the value to their company, and some simple explainers about where to start.

There are many organisations – lots in membership – that can help with this and we’ll be looking to form closer relationships with them over the coming months.

T

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OPPORTUNITIES ARE PRESENTING THEMSELVES

Maybe not as altruistic as “giving something back”, but developing relationships that both the business and community can benefit from shows the flow of value can go in both directions.

HELPING BUSINESSES TO HAVE MEANINGFUL IMPACT IN THEIR COMMUNITIES The Chamber wants to support much more activity in this space and to do this, we’re asking the following question, which comes in three parts: How do we get more businesses, doing more varied activity, in a more impactful way?

Understanding impact is something that can very quickly become complicated, but it doesn’t need to be. The surest way to ensure work has impact is to make sure it’s what is needed, and this is done through two-way dialogue.

Many charities are screaming out for pro-bono support in marketing, HR and other professional skills – but apparently finding trustees with an accountancy background is particularly difficult at the moment.

In terms of more varied activity, financial support will always be

essential. But while those one-off donations continue to be invaluable, a large financial services firm in Nottingham told me a more focused, tailored relationship with a community group or cause – involving multiple touchpoints and different activities – can bring much greater value to both parties.

It is also more compelling to sustain over the longer term.

Businesses need to be supported to focus on an issue and see how they might develop a deeper relationship with that cause.

‘As the economy recovers, there’s a chance for businesses to have a closer look at their values’ And finally, how do we get more businesses involved? If 63% of our respondents currently do something, then 37% don’t. When people were asked what the biggest barriers to activity were, 46% said they didn’t have enough resource, 24% were too busy, 20% hadn’t considered it before and a

And finally there are those already active but just don’t realise it, like the scaffolding business that told me it doesn’t engage in CSR activity – yet it sponsors a children’s football team, revamped the local community centre for free and offers discounted services to the elderly. It didn’t have a strategy for community engagement because it was something writ large through its own values – which were so obvious to the organisation that it didn’t think to attach a name to this.

And ultimately, this is the opportunity that presents itself as we “build back whatever”. The pandemic has thrown lots of things that people took for granted up into the air. As the economy recovers, there’s a chance for businesses to have a closer look at their values, their purpose and the ways in which they help drive their overall competitiveness and success.

It’s an exciting opportunity and the Chamber will work with all members interested in finding out how they can do more to help create and support the thriving communities across the East Midlands in which we all live, work and play. #EMComingTogether

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CHAMBER NEWS

Strong return for confidence in region, finds latest QES Confidence among East Midlands businesses is at its highest since before the last general election, according to new data compiled by the Chamber.

The latest Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) for Q1 2021 showed a net 53% of businesses expect their turnover to improve over the coming year, with a third (net 35%) anticipating a rise in profits.

It was the most comprehensive QES yet, with responses from a record 540 businesses between 15 February and 8 March.

‘The EU remains the East Midlands’ most significant trading partner’ Chris Hobson, director of policy and external affairs at the Chamber, said: “The survey data suggests businesses are ready to grow and support the wider economic recovery the country now needs.”

“Sentiment among businesses is as strong as it has been since summer 2019, supported by the vaccine rollout, a roadmap for reopening the economy and a broadly positive response to the spring budget.”

Investment intentions are also on the up, with a net 7% and 15% respectively planning more investment in people and equipment as they look to repoint their business to succeed in a post-Covid world.

Recruitment expectations are also strong – 30% expect their workforce to grow, with the majority of these posts full time and permanent, with only a small percentage (7%) expecting reductions in workforce over the next quarter.

Despite these positive signs, cashflow – which worsened for the majority of firms in each quarter of 2020 – remains a problem for a significant number of businesses, with a net 14% reporting this to be down once again in Q1.

And while UK activity is recovering well, overseas activity continues to trail behind. A third (33%) saw overseas sales worsen over the quarter – only 24% reported an improvement – with four in 10 witnessing a drop in EU activity.

“The EU remains the East Midlands’ most significant trading partner, so the extent to which businesses are able to continue moving up the learning curve for the new way of trading – or in fact whether some of the problems are structural and irreversible – will be of great importance to future prospects,” said Chris.

How the economy handles price pressures will also be significant, he believes. Four in 10 expect their prices to increase over the coming months, rising to six in 10 when looking solely at manufacturers – largely driven by a growth in raw material prices, which were reported by 85% of manufacturers.

Chris added: “Over the past 12 months, many businesses have looked at their operating models and have sought to position themselves to succeed as restrictions are lifted. New ways of working initially forced upon businesses by the pandemic have brought forward some opportunities for efficiencies and greater opportunities to collaborate.

“The success of this activity will be put the test over the coming months as the economy reopens. This set of results suggests that businesses are up for the challenge.”

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CHAMBER NEWS

Enterprising Women #ChooseToChallenge

GB Paralympian Samantha Kinghorn (pictured) joined Leicester-based divorce lawyer at a special Enterprising Women event to celebrate International Women’s Day. With a nod to this year’s IWD theme of #ChooseToChallenge, they each shared their inspirational stories, which included breaking glass ceilings, challenging themselves mentally and physically, and the importance of self-belief.

It was the latest in a series of well-attended webinars hosted by the Enterprising Women network since the beginning of this year, with about 80 people tuning into the event.

Chamber president Eileen Richards MBE, who co-chairs the group, said: “I am delighted that International Women’s Day is being celebrated by men and women like never before by honouring the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

“As a network, we encourage our female peers to continue the #ChooseToChallenge.”

Nominations have now closed for the Enterprising Women Awards and finalists will be announced on 20 May, with the awards ceremony to be held in October.

Co-chair Jean Mountain added: “We are absolutely delighted with the response and calibre of applicants and are looking forward to celebrating the fantastic achievements within our network this October.”

The next Enterprising Women webinar will be held on 22 April, with guest speaker Derby North MP Amanda Solloway joining to discuss mental wellbeing.

To register, visit www.emcdnl.co.uk/connectingyou/enterprising-women.

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East Midlands freeport will deliver investment and jobs A freeport could be a “game-changer” for the East Midlands – bringing jobs, growth and investment, says the Chamber.

The Chancellor confirmed East Midlands Airport was one of eight locations in England to receive freeport status, which provide companies inside the sites with tariff-free trade and temporary tax breaks, in the budget.

The news was welcomed by the Chamber, which had campaigned for this since 2018 when it published the Delivering a Great Future manifesto at Westminster and presented ‘The Big Opportunity’ for the region, featuring a free trade zone linked to the airport.

‘Freeport status means we can cement our role at the centre of Britain's post-Brexit global trading relationship’ Chief executive Scott Knowles (pictured) said: “Since our manifesto was published, we believe both the need and the scale of the opportunity for our vision has only grown, and it was great to see a fantastic collaborative effort from our region during the bid process – including 15 of our MPs coming together to offer their support.

"Our region already has fantastic national and international trading links – something highlighted during the pandemic – and freeport status means we can cement our role at the centre of Britain's postBrexit global trading relationship.

"We are in a unique position as the only inland freeport among the 8 designated zones, which is testament to East Midlands Airport's reputation as the country's most important mover of international freight and the catalyst for the explosive growth we've witnessed in our region's logistics sector in recent years.

"This free trade zone, which will have a focus on innovation, low carbon and trade, signals the direction of travel for the East Midlands economy – giving investors something tangible to back in order to deliver the inward investment and jobs that will enable growth.”

The wider budget announcements – which included announcements of further short-term support for businesses affected by lockdown and longer-term incentives for ambitious firms wanting to innovate and grow – also had the broad approval of businesses, despite the rise in corporation tax for the largest companies.

“Many firms will welcome a business-friendly budget that not only supports them through what is hopefully the final throes of this pandemic, but also provides a shot in the arm to help them grow, invest and innovate during the post-Covid economic recovery,” added Scott.

“It’s important to note though that while this appears on the face of it to be an optimistic budget that is friendly to growth ambitions, announcements of this type only become meaningful once the money starts flowing through – so clearly we will be watching closely to see the Chancellor’s promises delivered over the coming year.”

EU exports tumble after Brexit Exports of UK goods to the EU fell by 40.7% in January – with imports decreasing by 28.8%, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

During the same month, UK economic output shrank by 2.9%.

David Pearson (pictured), the Chamber’s director of partnerships, said the figures tallied with the “significant hit” to East Midlands exports and imports witnessed by the international trade team.

“We’ve seen very minor signs of recovery during February and March, but it’s clear that we won’t return to the same levels of international trade in a matter of

weeks or months so we remain cautious,” he said.

“The Chamber has helped businesses in our region throughout this time, delivering more than 250 hours of free advice and support to businesses trading with the EU. “This covers a vast range of topics – in most cases, we’re finding issues are unique to each company – but there are certainly prevailing problems around rules of origin, VAT and duties.

“The Government’s decision to postpone border checks on certain EU goods, including foodstuff and animal products, by six months until October this year is a positive

step to help smooth the transition for UK importers. However, we need to also simplify the process for similar products being exported into the EU.”

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CHAMBER NEWS

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Helping employees with their mental health It’s now more than a year since the first national lockdown brought huge disruption to our lives. Many office workers are still working from home, huge parts of the labour market are furloughed and others worry whether their job will still exist soon. All this, alongside the continued prohibition on anything resembling a social life, creates a melting pot for mental health issues. The Chamber’s director of resources and mental health first aider Lucy Robinson (pictured) explains how businesses can help their employees.

THE DATA BEHIND MENTAL HEALTH EPIDEMIC There’s no doubt the situation we’ve found ourselves in over the past 12 months, and counting, has had a significant impact on people’s mental health.

According to the most recent survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the proportion of people experiencing some form of depression doubled from one in 10 to one in five between March and June last year.

Further ONS research shows that as the labour market shocks associated with coronavirus have been felt more by young people and the lowest paid – people aged under 30 and those with household incomes under £10,000 were around 35% and 60%, respectively, more likely to be furloughed than the general population – so have the mental health effects.

Those most likely to experience some form of depression during the pandemic have been adults aged 16 to 39, female, unable to afford an unexpected expense or disabled.

Other impacts have been evident in anxiety levels, which reached their highest level since wellbeing data started being collected in 2011 – with financial pressures, struggles to maintain pre-pandemic physical activity levels and an inability to enjoy normal social wellbeing all playing their part.

EMPLOYEE MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS For workers, particularly those who have been forced to do their job remotely, they have been thrust into particularly alien territory.

Three in five UK employees had never worked from home before the pandemic, according to a survey of more than 13,000 workers by employee reward

platform Perkbox – but now just 9% want to return to the office full time.

It also found, however, that 93% of UK workers have faced new wellbeing challenges during the past year.

While we don’t yet know the full impact from Covid-19 on people’s physical and mental wellbeing, many reports suggest these issues are set to increase, rather than decrease.

Perhaps we’re currently in a “fight” situation, where we are using our adrenaline to keep us going.

What happens when the situation becomes more manageable if we are not aware and being supported – will we turn to “flight” instead?

We can’t deny Covid-19 has been stressful and traumatic for many people and psychologists are reporting this could lead to PTSD. While this may only be in the most severe of cases, we absolutely need to take mental health seriously, especially now.

about moving jobs due to the current economic climate, looking after their health is an investment the company should make.

So as employers, we have a duty to look after the people that work within our organisation.

RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE This could be as simple as sharing information, such as Able Futures’ guide to mental health support for people at work, to implementing wellbeing schemes with providers like Chamber patron Westfield Health.

Training up some colleagues to be mental health first aiders, and

ensuring your managers are equipped to have conversations and signpost employees to the right place, would set the right tone within a business.

The Mental Health Productivity Pilot, funded by the Midlands Engine, was recently launched to support employers across the region and may be your first port of call.

But I believe the most important thing of all is to have a trusting culture where people feel safe to inform HR, their manager or a colleague of an issue they may have, rather than keeping it to themselves.

WHAT CAN WE BE DOING AS EMPLOYERS? Some organisations may view looking after their people as being something nice to do, an add-on to their main purpose but not a top priority.

However, research shows the correlation between caring for people in a great working environment and productivity – not to mention a reduction in absences and the ability to attract and retain key people.

Research from Deloitte demonstrated a return on investment of at least £5 to ever £1 spent on employee wellbeing programmes. Zurich Insurance Group, meanwhile, is suggesting that as people feel more concerned

‘93% of UK workers have faced new wellbeing challenges during the past year’ business network April 2021

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CHARITY PROFILE: CHESTERFIELD SAMARITANS Each year, the Chamber president chooses three charities across its three counties to support with a series of fundraising activities. In 2021, these organisations are Chesterfield Samaritans, Help the Homeless Leicester and Nottinghamshire Hospice. Over the next three issues, Business Network will profile each charity – starting with a volunteer from Chesterfield Samaritans.

Who are you and what’s your role within the charity?

I’m Peter Gately, the treasurer and head of resources.

What is the background to your charity?

On 2 November 1953 in London, vicar Chad Varah answered the first ever call to a new helpline for people contemplating suicide, called Samaritans. Although not a religious organisation, he offered counselling to his parishioners. The Chesterfield branch opened in 1971.

Who do you support?

We take calls from anyone who is suffering from distress, despair, anxiety, financial or marital worries, mental and physical health problems, and suicidal feelings.

On occasions, a caller could be in the midst of taking their own life and needs someone to be with

them, albeit over the phone.

Callers can contact us by telephone, email, web chat (in some branches only) and, in normal times, by coming into branch for a face-to-face chat. Our outreach team also takes our work into the community.

How has Covid-19 affected the work of the charity?

Covid has affected how we work as a branch. About 25% of our volunteers are shielding either for themselves or to protect a partner.

This means we have to close shifts sometimes, while our face-to-face service and outreach operations have both closed temporarily as we can’t allow anyone into the branch to talk or meet outside.

How important a role do businesses have to play in supporting your charity?

Giving back to local young entrepreneurs The Chamber allows each of its 150 employees to spend the equivalent of two working days per year on CSR activity. Enterprise adviser Steve Nelson, who previously ran an international events business, explains how he spent his first CSR experience.

At the start of March, I tentatively agreed to offer a couple of hours of my time to talk to second year Peter Jones Enterprise Academy students at Chamber member Leicester College.

The students are currently working on a development and enterprise strategy module and I was invited to a business surgery to listen to their ideas and advise where appropriate. I had no idea what to expect, but after a short welcome from the college team, I found myself in a whirlwind of enthusiastic entrepreneurs rotating every 15 minutes between different business advisers for the next two hours.

It was fantastic to meet all these young students with such amazing ideas, including food and drink combo design packaging, social media management, translation services, eyelash treatments, a tennis racquet restringing service, and a wonderful mobile food service with a twist.

As the students eagerly awaited my response, I found myself able to support them with the experience and training that I’d recently learned from the Chamber’s enterprise team.

The couple of hours flew by. It was a great experience for me and I’ve been asked to return as a guest speaker in April. If anyone is considering this type of CSR activity, I can highly recommend it.

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Business can help our branch by advertising our service, holding events to raise money and donations.

listeners or even support workers.

More volunteers would mean more shifts could be opened, as some branches are open 24/7.

What does the future hold for your charity?

In the future, I would hope we can attract more volunteers to become

For more information on how businesses can support Chesterfield Samaritans, contact chesterfield@samaritans.org

Helping SMES comply with legal obligations Fashion and textile manufacturers across Leicestershire can access free support to help them demonstrate their commitment to ethical and social compliance.

The Business Gateway Growth Hub has created a new programme for SMEs to ensure they comply with legal obligations around health, safety and employee wellbeing.

It’s designed not only to help them survive and recovery through current challenges, but also to transform their businesses and enable future growth.

Growth Hub manager Jon Egley (pictured) said: “Our fashion and textiles sector has taken a beating in recent years and unfortunately this has damaged its reputation.

However, there are many fantastic firms in our region doing great things that want to keep improving and move forward as responsible, safe and sustainable businesses.

“We are delighted to provide this fully-funded service to help them strengthen the businesses from the

inside out and, in turn, open them up to new opportunities and new business.”

The Growth Hub’s service includes dedicated advice from an experienced business adviser, free support clinics and webinars covering three key themes – health, safety and wellbeing; ethical and social compliance; and employing people.

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CHAMBER NEWS

Free crime-fighting scheme available Up to 2,000 businesses in Chesterfield can sign up for free to an East Midlands Chamber-run scheme that helps to reduce town centre crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) has secured funding from Chesterfield Borough Council to offer access to Disc, an online crime information-sharing system that connects businesses with local police forces.

There will be no cost for the first 12 months, with subsequent years costing up to £100 – and potentially lower if enough businesses take up the programme permanently.

Jackie Roberts, BCRP manager at the Chamber, said: “Businesses in town and city centres are struggling at the moment and crime will only make this worse.

“The Disc portal is an integral part of crime reduction strategies as it makes it so much easier for businesses to share intelligence about incidents and offender images between members, police, community safety officers and other partners such as the BCRP team.

“We’ve had a lot of reports during lockdown because police resources have been really

stretched due to sickness, so the BCRP fills the gap where police can’t deal with petty crime.

“By working with local authorities such as Chesterfield Borough Council, we’re delighted to offer this scheme for free to businesses in order to make them more resilient – a key theme during the post-Covid economic recovery.”

The BCRP, one of 200 such programmes in the UK, is funded by both the Chamber and the Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s office.

Its remit to reduce crime in participating towns, cities and retail parks fits into an overall objective to make them a safer place to work, visit, socialise and shop.

Members pay a fee and benefits include a GDPR-compliant datasharing system that facilitates direct reporting to the police without the need to use the timeconsuming 101 system.

Intelligence and crime reports can be submitted electronically to the police and other BCRP members.

There are currently about 80 businesses in Chesterfield signed up to an advanced version of the BCRP scheme that also includes radio connections.

The new funding will give about 2,000 businesses in sectors such as retail, hospitality and tourism the opportunity to sign up for the basic package, which uses the online Disc system.

It will be launched at the beginning of May ahead of the reopening of hospitality in the Government’s roadmap to ending lockdown.

Discussions are ongoing on how to roll out the offer to Staveley, while there are plans to roll out the Disc scheme in Matlock and Bakewell, in which a combined 40 businesses are signed up to the radio system.

Jackie added: “The more businesses that are involved in the BCRP scheme and sharing information, the stronger it will be – and the better the area will be as a result.”

Anyone interested in discussing how to get involved with the Derbyshire Business Crime Reduction Partnership can email jackie.roberts@emc-dnl.co.uk

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Free SME digital healthchecks Free digital health checks are available to SMEs across Leicestershire looking to improve customer experience, productivity and security.

The Business Gateway Growth Hub is also offering a digital consultancy service to eligible businesses.

Growth Hub advisers, together with a range of digital specialists, are working with companies to understand their aspirations and provide action plans to help them not only see potential opportunities, but also develop appropriate digital strategies.

Technical support from specialists is focused on improving performance and reviewing current practices.

Other areas of support include accessing grant funding, selling online, website development, selling via platforms like Amazon or eBay, integrating stock systems or customer relationship software.

As well as the free consultations, specialist digital marketing support is also available to businesses in badly-hit sectors including tourism, hospitality, leisure and retail. This includes free access to a digital marketing expertise, creation of a threemonth action plan and peerto-peer networking.

In addition, a business growth grant, ranging from £2,000 to £25,000, is available to provide a 35% contribution towards capital costs supporting growth and development – for example, towards innovative technology products or services that improve performance.

For more information, visit www.bizgateway.org.uk/enquiry

RSM to help members build business resilience RSM has signed up as the Chamber’s official business resilience partner – with a mantra to share its expertise with members across the network throughout 2021 and beyond.

The audit, tax and consulting firm will deliver workshops, webinars and other online content that is designed to help businesses build an organisation fit to respond to the twin challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit.

It will also help them to recognise the opportunities that arise as the pandemic subsides and the UK sets its sights on global trading relationships.

Kevin Harris (pictured), Leicester office managing partner for RSM, a strategic partner of the Chamber, said: “2021 will be a year where resilience and agility will be the hallmarks of successful businesses. These traits can come in many different forms.

‘The coming year will be one of growth and excitement for East Midlands businesses’

“With businesses across the East Midlands learning to adapt and survive in a Covid-19 landscape, tax incentives continue to offer a way to boost cash reserves available to reinvest.

“R&D tax credits are playing a fundamental part of the Government’s strategy to encourage investment in UK-based innovation. This will no doubt present a huge opportunity for businesses in the East Midlands, where R&D is at the heart of the region.”

Scott Knowles, chief executive of the Chamber, added: “Over the past year, businesses have been challenged in ways that may had never before experienced.

“We are still living with ongoing disruption and, therefore, resilience is the watchword for 2021 so it’s great to strengthen our already fantastic relationship with RSM to offer invaluable expertise to our members.”

“By joining forces with East Midlands Chamber, RSM will support local businesses throughout the year to quickly adapt to any business disruptions while maintaining continuous business operations and safeguarding their people.

“The coming year will be one of growth and excitement for East Midlands businesses. Through this partnership, Chamber members will have access to the best knowledge and support in the region to help them make the most of the months to come.”

RSM has already supported the Chamber through the implementation of 4Risk, a cloud-based risk management platform, within the organisation to provide a complete picture of its enterprise-wide risks, mitigations and assurances.

The tool, which sits within the company’s Insight4GRC suite for governance, risk and compliance software, helps businesses to understand, map and monitor the various risks they face. As the business resilience partner, RSM will also help members understand their exposure to cyber risks and steps they can take to safeguard against these.

Kevin added: “Resilience is much more than just risk, and through our innovation expertise, we will support businesses to understand the opportunities that can come from doing things differently to get better results – and the incentives that exist for this.

Asda offers apprenticeship levy transfer Asda has pledged to support businesses across Leicestershire by transferring some of its apprenticeship levy to create new apprenticeships in the county.

The supermarket giant has teamed up with the Leicester Employment Hub, run by Leicester City Council, to identify SMEs that would benefit from the support to develop talent they may otherwise not be able to afford.

Businesses with an annual wage bill of more than £3m must pay 0.5% of this total figure as a levy to the Government, but can claim it back for funding its own apprenticeships.

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Asda has opted to transfer a portion of its annual funds to pay for apprentices across some of the areas where it operates. After a pilot with £100,000 funding in the area covered by the Leicester and Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, it has now increased the pot by a further £200,000.

Tracey Waterfield, employment hub manager at Leicester City Council, said it was a “good time for employers to take advantage of this great offer”.

For more information, email the Leicester Employment Hub at employmenthub@leicester.gov.uk

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Reflections from outgoing BCC director-general Dr Adam Marshall As Dr Adam Marshall leaves his post of British Chambers of Commerce director-general after five years in the role and 12 years at the organisation, he reflects on his time at the helm, the impact of Covid-19 and looks to what the future holds. y first day as part of the Chamber of Commerce network was a sunny day in July 2009, meeting with business leaders from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland at the St David’s Hotel in Cardiff Bay. At that time, the UK and the world were beginning a long and complex recovery from the global financial crisis.

Now, nearly 12 years later, my time at the British Chambers of Commerce has come to an end.

Once again, our Chamber business communities are working to restart, rebuild and renew in the wake of another world-changing period.

It has been a huge privilege to be part of the unique and special Chamber family for more than a decade. Over the past five years, I have been lucky indeed to lead the work that we do together to effect change on behalf of our business communities.

Together, we’ve influenced and changed Government policy. We’ve spoken up for our communities, articulating the real-world interests of firms in every region and nation of the UK.

accentuated. Chambers across Britain are at the forefront of supporting young people into work, and there is great hope that a locally-based approach to skills training with substantial Chamber involvement will finally emerge.

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‘We have seen our business communities come together in new and special ways’ We’ve built a stronger global network for British business, with Chambers and business groups now supporting two-way trade with over 70 countries worldwide.

And as we begin life outside the EU, Chambers have risen to the huge challenge of supporting traders and companies through a period of significant change.

Our international trade teams, and our new ChamberCustoms service, have delivered advice, training and brokerage to thousands of businesses as they adapt to new trading conditions – and we have continued to push both the UK Government and our European partners to solve the practical, real-world issues facing firms and to build a stable longterm relationship.

OVER THE PAST year, the coronavirus pandemic has also impacted the way Chambers work, just as it has so many other businesses around the world.

Yet, as we have faced the same economic uncertainty as companies of every size and sector, our network of accredited Chambers has also grown stronger.

We have seen our business communities come together in new and special ways. As geographic distance has become less of a barrier, levels of collaboration, the sharing of ideas, and joint working on common challenges and opportunities has increased dramatically.

The indispensable role played by Chambers, as cornerstones of local and regional business and global trade, has grown even more important. In every conversation, the importance of community, of belonging, and of coming together to support the places where we live and work has shone through.

Many in our communities are suffering – from businesses that have faced closure or a collapse in demand, through to individuals who have lost their livelihoods or experienced physical or mental health challenges. Chambers see and feel this acutely – and have been hugely influential in securing greater support for businesses and their employees.

The recent budget has reinforced the success of our approach, and shown how we as a Chamber network can influence

Government thinking so that as many businesses as possible can keep going until the economy fully reopens. We have also seen significant movement on the training and skills challenges that the pandemic has only

WE ARE NOT out of the woods yet, and significant challenges remain.

Yet the eternal optimist in me sees innovation and progress as well, though we may still be too close to that change to be able to see it and label it as such.

But it is undoubtedly happening.

Companies are rising to the occasion, supporting each other and their people. And they are coming together, through Chambers of Commerce, to find pragmatic solutions to the issues that we face, collectively, in business.

As I come to the end of my time with the BCC, I know these civic business communities will lead the way and will be heavily involved as we work to restart, rebuild and renew.

Long may that continue.

New director-general appointed at BCC Shevaun Haviland (pictured) has replaced Dr Adam Marshall as the new director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

She joins from the Cabinet Office, where she has worked for the past five years running the business partnerships team.

Shevaun has also led the Inclusive Economy Partnership, which aims to build a stronger economy and fairer society through partnerships between Government, businesses and civil society.

Prior to joining central Government, Shevaun had an extensive private sector career and was at the forefront of digital innovation through her work as the founding director of the Academy of Digital Business Leaders and as a director at Independents United. She replaced Dr Marshall after he stepped down on 31 March.

She said: “It will be a privilege to represent this network and to lead the BCC in the next phase of its development.

“Our businesses will be central to driving recovery and renewal in their communities across the UK. “I look forward to championing the needs of our members – at home and around the world – driving change and seizing the opportunities to thrive and grow.”

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How the Peak District can support mental health, wellbeing and resilience With the Peak District National Park on our doorstep, East Midlands businesses are lucky to have one of the UK’s best natural environments – once lockdown restrictions allow – to use for teambuilding activities.

Tracy Duggan (pictured), director of health and wellbeing consultancy Skills Local and a board member of the Business Peak District representative group, explains why it will be important.

he benefits of exercise on our mental health is well known, and throughout the pandemic the Government has encouraged at least one hour’s exercise every day.

Despite this, it’s clear that with the ongoing restrictions and compliance with social distancing, our mental health is suffering. The isolation of working from home, pressures from homeschooling and lack of face-to-face social interactions are definitely take their toll. Who would have thought Zoom fatigue was a thing?

We need to take a deeper dive into how we can support our people and businesses as we come out of lockdown. The repercussions of poor mental health, if we aren’t careful could be hugely detrimental to our economy – with pre-Covid Deloitte research suggesting it already stood at up to £45bn a year.

As a practitioner for the We Invest in Wellbeing accreditation offered by Investors in People and Wraw Index for workplace resilience and wellbeing, as well as being a mental health first aid instructor, I’ve seen first-hand the impact of the pandemic on many employees and small business owners.

We need to consider how we support ourselves and our workforce as we come out of lockdown.

The pandemic has disrupted so much of our working lives and will impact the way we work forever.

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RESILIENCE SUPPORT FROM BUSINESS PEAK DISTRICT Throughout the year, Business Peak District has hosted a series of webinars to support local businesses with resilience techniques and update them on the various funding and support available to them. But clearly there’s still more to be done as we come out of the lockdown.

There needs to be more focus on the support available to help businesses with the longer-term impact of the pandemic and consideration to how we retain some of the good practices. This includes more flexible working, helping manage more

remote ways of working and embracing how blended working arrangements can encourage a better work-life balance.

Businesses need to consider a more proactive approach to mental health and wellbeing. A recent poll in People Management found that only half of firms have a company-wide strategy to support the health and wellbeing of the workforce. Mental health and wellbeing need to become integral to how you support yourself and your staff.

It’s recommended that every adult should partake in up to 75 to 150 minutes of exercise a week. Activities such as walking, hiking or riding a bike provide a great way for all of us to get our daily of exercise. And what better place to do this than the Peak District?

TEAMBUILDING IN THE PEAK DISTRICT The Peak District and the Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) provide an abundance of options on our doorstep, and businesses can use this natural environment.

As we come out of lockdown, there are various teambuilding and corporate sponsorship opportunities open to businesses that want to give something back, not only to their people but also supporting our natural environment.

For smaller teams and individuals just wanting to explore the park, the rangers can organise a host of walks that are suitable and accessible to all.

You can benefit from the many cycle paths, with cycle hire a cost-effective and fun way to explore the national park.

There are also a number of health walks and volunteering options available and this is a great way to support our local area while providing a clear purpose – which is proving really important following the pandemic.

What is clear is that introducing physical activity, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, encouraging social connections and providing purpose are proven strategies we can employ to support mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Business Peak District is a free-to-join organisation for businesses in and around the Peak District National Park.

Its aim is to be a community, voice and lobby for its 650 members from a diverse range of sectors. The Chamber is the accountable body of the group.

For more information on joining, visit www.businesspeakdistrict.co m/get-involved

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For bookings or further information, please contact us:

01709 529 709 rotherhamsales@daviesturner.co.uk www.daviesturner.com

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the long-established international freight and logistics company, has jumped 42 places to 119th position in the latest Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 league table, sponsored by PwC and Lloyds Bank.

The rise up the Top Track 250 table follows Davies Turner’s earlier success in the British International Freight Association’s (BIFA) Freight Service Awards. Recognised as the UK's premier freight and logistics awards scheme, Davies Turner won gold in the European Logistics category.

This success is a testimony to the progressive investment that Davies Turner continues to make in its distribution centres, IT systems, services

aim to give and staff training, while its strong audited results and financial performance are a product of its a high level of service to all its customers total focus on responding to ever-evolving on all modes of transport, be it air, sea, customer needs. road or courier.

With very few other logistics companies in the top 250 table, it gives Davies Turner a unique selling We have the capabilities to move heavy point in competitive and rapidly changing and out of gauge consignments, as well markets, which has been a characteristic of the as general freight forwarding by all company’s development throughout its 150 modes. We also offer valued added year history. Davies Turner is well placed to services such as assisting with letter of take on any challenges the future may bring. credit and offering Marine Insurance. in essence from an envelope to a factory, normal to abnormal.

Branch Manager 01709 529 709 andrewford@daviesturner.co.uk

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SUSTAINABLE EAST MIDLANDS

www.emc-dnl.co.uk/sustainability

Grants to support journey to net zero A scheme that supports businesses in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire to reduce carbon emissions and implement energysaving initiatives is now available in Leicestershire after £1.7m was made available in new funding.

Energy for Business, delivered by the energy innovation and collaboration team at the University of Nottingham, has backed businesses in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire since 2016. The new programme enables Leicestershire businesses to access support until June 2023, with funds comprised of the European Regional Development Fund alongside private and University of Nottingham matched contributions.

Colette McHugh Putman, who leads the energy innovation and collaboration team, said: “This new funding will help promote business growth, accelerate energy initiatives and benefit the local economy.”

For more information, visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/energyforbusiness, or contact the energy innovation and collaboration team on energy@nottingham.ac.uk or 0115 74 84969.

Green Entrepreneurs Fund now available Businesses in Derbyshire with green aspirations can apply for a slice of a new £2m funding pot.

Derbyshire County Council introduced its Green Entrepreneurs Fund at an information session delivered by the Chamber last month.

The fund, created in collaboration with the University of Derby as part of its Covid19 economic strategy and climate change commitments, will help SMEs to develop and invest in low-carbon energy and carbon reduction schemes alongside training.

Derbyshire-based SMEs employing up to 250 staff and micro-businesses with up to 10 staff are eligible to apply for grants, supporting businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, retrain in low-carbon skills and develop innovative solutions in lowcarbon schemes.

For more information, visit www.derbyshire.gov.uk/business/greenentrepreneurs-fund

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Modern slavery and the ESG agenda For ambitious businesses that want to attract investors, win contracts and supply the public sector, a good understanding of the ESG (environmental, social and governance) agenda is the way forward – but one aspect of this that often gets overlooked is modern slavery. Paul Callum (pictured), director of niche risk management consultancy Resilient World Solutions, explains how to start this journey by completing the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT).

Financial institutions are increasingly looking to invest in companies with good ESG strategies and structures. Jill Thomas, of Future Life Wealth Management, says the FTSE 100 companies with the highest yields during coronavirus have been those leading on ESG. The pandemic has provided plenty of opportunity for reflection. We’ve seen inequities in society exposed and a focus on issues like labour exploitation and modern slavery – none more so than in Leicester, where the textile industry was the focus of national reporting.

‘The Government has introduced its own modern slavery assessment tool (MSAT), which identifies and manages risks’ In Leicester, this focus on labour exploitation caused significant reputational damage, not only to the textile industry but to the city and East Midlands.

MODERN SLAVERY RISING UP LEGISLATIVE AGENDA The “S” in ESG is broad and aligned to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which many corporates base their due diligence strategies on.

Modern slavery legislation is developing in countries including Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong and France.

In 2015, the UK introduced its Modern Slavery Act. Section 54, covering transparency in supply

chains, requires a commercial organisation with a total turnover of £36m or more to prepare a “slavery and human trafficking statement”.

This details the steps an organisation has taken during the financial year to ensure slavery and human trafficking isn’t taking place in its supply chains. It’s expected the public sector will be forced to report in the same way when changes in the act are made this year.

SOCIAL COMPLIANCE ISN’T JUST A BIG BUSINESS PROBLEM The East Midlands is a hub of SMEs supplying industry and Government on projects like HS2.

There’s a range of social compliance “standards” in place that some corporates want businesses to undertake before they engage commercially, and this requirement is growing.

The Government has introduced its own modern slavery assessment tool (MSAT), which identifies and manages risks. It helps public sector organisations to improve protections and reduce the risk of worker exploitation in their supply chains.

As well as the moral benefits of protecting vulnerable workers, social accountability action helps SMEs to improve social value, as well as manage labour risks, enhance their corporate reputation, strengthen shareholder confidence, improve employee recruitment and retention, and create more sustainable business relationships.

Embedding the MSAT is a good starting point for SMEs intending to supply into the public sector – but it should only be the only start of a continuous improvement programme.

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SUSTAINABLE EAST MIDLANDS

How to tackle emissions in rural areas Cities and short car trips have been at the centre of many transport policies to tackle emissions – but a Midlands researcher claims rural areas and longer vehicle journeys are arguably a bigger problem.

Simon Statham (pictured), chief technical officer at transport body Midlands Connect, urged policymakers to shift their focus if the transport industry is to be successfully decarbonised – while he said a stronger carbon reduction plan will be required for HGVs.

‘A lot of the solutions being used in cities to tackle emissions won’t be as effective in rural areas’ He presented research at the Decarbonisation webinar, hosted by Midlands Connect in February as part of its strategy refresh consultation, which showed emissions were twice as high on average per person in rural authorities than in urban areas across the Midlands.

Simon said: “In transport planning, there’s a lot of focus on the emissions produced by cities and how they’ll be part of the decarbonisation agenda.

Our evidence suggests cities are not where the problem lies as carbon is being emitted in rural areas at a far higher rate than cities.

“However, a lot of the solutions being used in cities to tackle emissions won’t be as effective in rural areas.”

The Midlands Connect research showed just over half of transport emissions come from cars, while HGVs and vans combined account for 40%, and public transport and rail freight are responsible for the remainder.

Broken down further, just 26% of car emissions are from trips of less than five miles – despite this type of journey being targeted by local authorities for converting people into walking or cycling.

Simon said: “This shows there’s an awful lot of trips happening that are much longer than five miles so while cycling is going to be part of sustainability policies, there’s a question mark over how much it’s going to affect the final result.”

Meanwhile, rural authorities comprise 58% of the Midlands population, yet 73% of all roadbased transport emissions are generated within their boundaries.

Simon points out this is due to large county populations – Nottinghamshire has almost the same number as people as Birmingham, for example – the necessity for people to travel longer distances to get to places, and the presence of motorways and major A-roads passing through counties.

“But this shows we shouldn’t just focus on cities when it comes to transport decarbonisation strategies,” he added.

HGV emissions are also higher proportionally in the Midlands – accounting for 30% of all emissions in the region, compared to 17% nationally. This is largely because a fifth of the UK’s road network is in the Midlands, while 20% of the region’s economy is in manufacturing and logistics – higher than the 13% national average.

No clear pathway to decarbonising HGV fleets has yet emerged.

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Facing up to Brexit tax practicalities Among the changes exporters and importers are having to get used to in the post-Brexit trading climate involve new tax liabilities, namely VAT and customs duty, which must be managed to ensure efficiencies. Andy Ilsley (pictured), VAT director at audit, tax and consultancy firm RSM, explains what the key indirect tax issues are.

1. RULES OF ORIGIN Ensuring any goods traded between GB and the EU meet the respective rules of origin as laid down in the agreement – and this can be complex. Goods merely being shipped from either jurisdiction will be insufficient to qualify per se for tariff-free access.

It should be remembered that duty can’t be recovered in principle, unlike import VAT.

2. PAPERWORK NECESSITIES Tariff and duty-free trading will, in any event, not prevent customs declarations being required at the respective EU and UK borders – and failure to have the right paperwork or arrangements in place is causing delays.

It’s important to have clear incoterms agreed between the buyer and seller so that both parties understand who has the respective obligations to prepare the goods for export and to complete the paperwork and declarations for importation as the goods arrive at the EU port of entry.

‘An EU Economic Operator Registration Identification number (EORI) will be required to clear goods for circulation in the EU’ Prior to the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, incoterms were broadly academic when such transactions were intracommunity supplies – now clarity is crucial.

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CASE STUDY Intelligent Vending, a Derbyshire exporter that specialises in technology for self-service retail, has faced tax challenges since the end of the transition period. Director Sam Roe (pictured) explains what these were and how the company has responded.

What challenges have you faced from leaving the EU? The overall problem we faced was our trading involves complex supply chains with multiple parties involved within EU and the rest of the world. On many occasions, goods never even cross UK borders and they are routed directly through Europe to end clients.

Our main challenge was to ensure we could transition to the new systems required post-Brexit, and to structure our processes and incoterms in such a way that we would keep our EU customers happy,. Minimising administration for our supply chain partners in the EU was also a priority.

How have you sought to address these challenges?

Initially, we focused on setting up systems to maintain trade of our faster moving component-related products, intending to then research origin regulations and new certifications for our own designed and manufactured technology solutions at a later date.

In reality, this staggered approach has only been possible due to the Covid-19 situation as the majority of work related to turnkey product development requires close contact with clients, which has not been possible due to the pandemic.

What types of tax issues have you faced?

Sales tax was therefore the major issue for us as the UK was no longer part of the EU VAT scheme for simplified trading, so it was not possible to operate in the way we had previously. In addition, we required the ability to continue importing and exporting directly from the EU without incurring unnecessary costs and administration. We found it extremely difficult to get specialist advice without

paying large accountancy firms for consultancy.

Many hours were spent researching online and trying to obtain advice through our network of contacts.

The problem was that as many of our queries were tax-related, third parties were therefore reluctant to offer advice – also, in many cases, it didn’t appear that the definitive position was clear across the board as we received conflicting views.

How have you managed to deal with the tax issues?

We’ve now set up a Netherlands VAT number and EORI to mitigate issues where possible and we have so far found the country’s Tax and Customs Administration, the Belastingdienst, to be extremely efficient when answering queries and processing paperwork.

Much of the online documentation is available in English, but we have found that learning Dutch will certainly come in useful in the long term as the client area of its website, and all the hard copy documentation we have received to date, is not currently available in the English language.

Moving forward, we intend to spend more time analysing our supply chains with an intention to source more products from the UK and increase British manufacturing where possible.

We are also re-working the designs for a number of our own products to ensure these are post-Brexit friendly and tariff-free for export under the new regulations.

To summarise, it has been a crazy amount of work, but we are now starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and we intend to focus on growing our international trade, while opening up new markets for our products, as much as possible in the future.

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Online courses available to help firms with Brexit Exporters and importers will be guided through ongoing Brexit issues during a series of new international trade training sessions being launched by the Chamber this month.

POST-EU TRANSITION BUSINESS SUPPORT The Chamber is being supported by Nottinghamshire County Council to deliver a series of free online workshops covering the key issues faced by international traders. They include:

Customs declarations overview 7 April, 9-10.30

Trading with Northern Ireland 12 April, 1-3.30

The importer’s wheel of origin 12 May, 9-10.30 disruption and administration for the buyer, the seller will need to make the import declarations and consider a local VAT registration to pay and recover the import VAT. An EU Economic Operator Registration Identification number (EORI) will be required to clear goods for circulation in the EU and the business may also involve a requirement to appoint a fiscal representative given the UK’s new “third country” status with the EU.

3. B2C DUTIES Many businesses have taken the opportunity to critically review supply chains and moving stock into a single EU point of entry, with VAT and duty declarations to be made and held there, pending further distribution to EU customers free of further declarations or paperwork.

This is particularly important in light of difficulties arising from B2C sales from the UK to private consumers in the EU, with the imposition of import VAT and duties causing logistical problems with carriers, as well as delays, unforeseen costs and disruption for customers.

4.THE NORTHERN IRELAND PROBLEM The particular arrangements regarding trading between GB and Northern Ireland, and also between NI and the rest of the EU, need to be understood particularly where goods might be “at risk” of ending up in the EU. Impacted businesses should register with HMRC’s Trader Support Service to ensure they understand the necessary documentation required and to obtain an XI-prefixed VAT number and EORI number.

How to pay less customs import duty – an introduction 12 May, 2-3.30pm Sessions are aimed at SMEs based in Nottinghamshire and are limited to one attendee per company.

For more information, visit bit.ly/NottsEU.

EU TRADE SUPPORT PROGRAMME Delivered virtually over four half-day sessions beginning later this month, the EU Trade Support Programme is suitable for businesses trading with the EU that are either new to customs processes or want to update their knowledge.

Staff with responsibility for sales, purchasing, shipping and maintaining appropriate export and import records will benefit the most from participation. Sessions, taking place from 9am to noon, include:

New rules for UK-EU trade 27 April

Understanding origin and the importance of HS codes 10 May

Customs special and other procedures 19 May

Customs declaration training 8 June The course costs £1,850 + VAT for members and £2,100 + VAT for non-members.

For more information, visit bit.ly/EUTSP21.

The Chamber can also deliver bespoke international trade training sessions for organisations that want to upskill multiple employees. For more information, contact Julie Whiting or Theresa Hewitt on internationaltraining@emc-dnl.co.uk

Access training with grants Grants of up to £2,000 are available for help businesses pay for international trade training.

The Government has made £20m available via the SME Brexit Support Fund to help firms – with fewer than 500 employees and an annual turnover of less than £100m – gain the professional advice they need to continue trading with the EU and beyond.

Funding can be used for training on: • How to complete customs declarations • How to manage customs processes, as well as use customs software and systems • Specific import and export-related aspects including VAT, excise and rules of origin Julie Whiting, international trade training and services manager at the Chamber, said: “Changes to customs rules and new paperwork for trading with Europe have been challenging for some businesses.

“Early application for this time-limited grant is being encouraged and we are looking forward to supporting businesses through our practical EU Trade Support Programme.”

To apply for the SME Brexit Support Fund, visit www.customsintermediarygrant.co.uk/smebrexit-support-fund.

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POLITICS

Opportunities for the East Midlands Ever since Boris Johnson entered No 10 in December 2019, levelling up has been an oft-used phrase from the Prime Minister and his cabinet. But what does it even mean and how should it take shape? A group of political and business leaders, including a Chamber director, discussed this at a recent webinar, with Dan Robinson in attendance.

few months ago, Lord Daniel Ravensdale was driving towards Sherwood Forest when he passed Clipstone Colliery Headstocks. The abandoned towers are the centrepiece of a north Nottinghamshire mine that produced a million tonnes of coal per year in the 1980s but closed in 2003 after eight decades in operation.

“It’s an immense and actually quite beautiful mining structure, with two giant towers that held the wheels controlling the descents of the cages into the pits and drawing out coal,” says Lord Ravensdale.

“But it’s in quite a sad state of disrepair. It’s crumbling, most of the windows are smashed and I thought it was really quite an evocative symbol for how we got here following the deindustrialisation of the North and Midlands – and why we need to level up.”

Clipstone, located on the north-east edge of Mansfield, is just one of many post-industrial communities in the East Midlands.

Before the 1984 Miners’ Strike, the region boasted about 30 working mines but just a few years later, most had closed with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. Its final mine, Thorseby Colliery, shut down in 2015.

“Many of those mining communities around where I grew up never really recovered from those pit closures in the 1980s,” says the Nottingham native.

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LORD RAVENSDALE IS a cross-bench peer who founded and co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Midlands Engine alongside Broxtowe MP Darren Henry.

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hosted by the transport group Midlands Engine, just over a year after Boris Johnson won a clear majority in Parliament on a pledge to “get Brexit done” and “level up” the UK. It’s a frequent phrase used by Westminster, but its actual meaning is sometimes unclear.

Jane Stevenson, the Wolverhampton North East MP, says it’s about “equality of opportunity” to key social motors like jobs, while Chamber director of policy and external affairs Chris Hobson believes we need to consider sectoral, as well as geographical, levelling up. Many agree that infrastructure will be at the backbone to all this.

‘Thinking about the green economy, we need to build our innovation systems in the Midlands with a particular focus around net zero’ Webinar host Caroline Wheeler, deputy political editor of The Sunday Times, says that while the Government’s “bandwidth” for levelling up has been affected by the pandemic, the signs are positive it remains high on the agenda.

This is partly inspired by a desire to hold on to the “red wall” seats Johnson won from traditional Labour strongholds in the North and Midlands at the general election, but also because of the opportunity to “build back better” – another phrase coined in No 10 that reflects the need to restart and rethink our approach to economic development.

In the 3 March budget, it was announced some Government departments will be moved

Lord Daniel Ravensdale

out of London into the regions, while Caroline adds “there’s a real opportunity now, when it comes to infrastructure and transport investment, to really drive the economic recovery of those areas outside London.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast borrowing to hit £355bn for the current financial year ending April 2021 – the highest level since the Second World War – due to the major state interventions during pandemic.

But Lord Ravensdale believes the UK can still afford levelling up as the ultra-low interest rates – the Government can currently borrow for 30 years at 0.9% – make it an “ideal time” to invest in sustainable infrastructure.

Among the projects he would like to get started on with haste include Midlands Engine Rail – seven projects that will improve links between the East and West Midlands – as well as strategic sites earmarked by the East Midlands Development Corporation surrounding East Midlands Airport, the proposed Toton HS2 station and Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station.

He adds: “Thinking about the green economy, we need to build our innovation systems in the Midlands with a particular focus around net zero.

“This would get our research and development going, improve our productivity and increase the growth rate of the economy.”

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POLITICS

How metro mayors could help eliminate regional inequality

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station

The abandoned Clipstone Colliery Headstocks

Lord John Mann, another cross-bench peer who was Labour MP for Bassetlaw from 2001 to 2019, believes the Prime Minister will place great significance on developing a green economy as rapidly as possible because he won’t want his legacy to be tarnished by Covid-19.

“We’ll see significant investment, for example, in the electric car industry to try make us world leaders and, off the back of that, there’ll be openings for advanced technological innovation,” he says.

He believes taking advantage of tax breaks, such as the 130% first-year capital allowance for plant and machinery in the “super-deduction” policy announced in the budget, will help the UK to get a “headstart”.

THERE’S ALSO OPPORTUNITIES presented for cities in the Midlands by the anticipated exodus from the capital post-Covid.

Lord Mann says there’s “lots of whispers in Westminster about what on earth is going to happen in London” as companies pivot towards homeworking, commercial property values plummet and major investors follow people in looking away from the South East.

He adds: “This is a huge opportunity for our region, quite unlike any that’s been before, as investors with the products and services of the future look to relocate either their people or physical infrastructure.

“We’ll see vast amounts of this, which means the era of the Midlands Engine is about to happen if there’s the inventiveness.”

The Chamber and its partners have already noticed a growing number of inward investment enquiries from businesses currently based in London and the South East, says Chris Hobson,

Lord John Mann

although one of the key challenges to address will be providing enough high-quality workspace.

Abandoning “yesterday’s thinking” in terms of our approach to developing cities and towns, as well as the role of technology, is also critical to grasping these opportunities.

Chris adds: “What’s really important for us in the Midlands, which we’ve previously fallen foul of, isn’t to focus on how much funding we receive compared to other areas of the country but to instead focus on what we can give back as a return on investment in infrastructure within the region.

“To be clear, infrastructure is a means to an end for us – it’s about creating business growth, harnessing exciting new technologies and regenerating communities.

“So what is our offer in the Midlands? The advanced logistics sector has been going great guns over the past 12 months, while we also have strengths in MedTech, biosciences and advanced manufacturing that can grow for national benefit with the right infrastructure investment.”

It’s all a far cry from the coal mining era of Clipstone’s heyday and Lord Ravensdale believes there’s ample opportunities for these left-behind communities.

But it will require the Government to “define what levelling up actually means because we all know that what gets measured, gets managed”.

He adds: “The Chancellor said last year he would do whatever it takes to support households and businesses through the Covid crisis, and we need a similar unambiguous commitment from Government to do whatever it takes to level up the regions.”

Regional inequality has been an “intractable problem” for nearly a century – but giving metro mayors more power could help to finally deliver levelling up, according to Lord David Sainsbury.

The former Sainsbury’s chairman and life peer believes increased regional responsibility for spatial planning and transport policies – similar to those held by the Mayor of London – as well as further powers to align courses run by further education colleges with industry needs would improve how cities are managed, while creating a “much more favourable business environment”.

He also called on the Government to target more R&D funding at poorer regions, rather than established centres of excellence such as London, Oxford and Cambridge, as this would allow “value-added sectors” to grow outside the South East.

Lord Sainsbury unveiled research on these issues at a Levelling up the UK’s regional economies webinar hosted last month by the Centre for Cities think-tank that he founded.

‘The only way to level up the UK is by supporting the growth of existing or potential new clusters of high value-added businesses in the poorer regions of the country’ “It should be remembered that regional inequality has proved an intractable problem in the past and the price for success is enormous,” he said.

“If the country’s underperforming cities close their output gap, the UK’s economy would be nearly £70bn larger. That’s a target worth going for.”

The reason for “deep regional inequalities” stemmed back to the Industrial Revolution, in which many cities in the North specialised in a single industry, said the former Science Minister.

“As these industries faced competition from low-wage firms in the developing world and their prosperity declined, new highwage, value-added firms blew up in the South instead,” he said.

“The experience of other countries should show the Government the only way to level up the UK is by supporting the growth of existing or potential new clusters of high value-added businesses in the poorer regions of the country.”

In January, the Centre for Cities published the Cities Outlook report, an annual health check of the economic performance of the UK’s largest cities and towns.

It said the “unprecedented increase” in the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits since March 2020 meant there was now a four-fold increase in the number of people who now needed to find or improve their job situation in those regions in order for levelling up ambitions to be realised. business network April 2021

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FEATURE

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LEGAL SERVICES

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LEGAL SERVICES

FEATURE

Debunking the myths of burnout Burnout is a hot topic, especially in the current climate.

Yet it’s still not taken seriously by many individuals and organisations, especially in the legal profession, says Donna Smith (pictured), managing director of Nottingham-based growth and transformation coaching company Odonnata. She takes a look at some of the myths she believes are getting in the way of taking this topic seriously.

MYTH 1: ALL YOU NEED TO RECOVER FROM BURNOUT IS A GOOD NIGHT OF SLEEP Not true. Burnout is a slow burn, literally. It creeps up on you in a stealth-like manner over a period of time. Getting progressively stronger until it hits you full on – either physically, mentally or both. My own burnout manifested itself physically – I lost the ability to walk for several days.

The mental burnout had been going on for some time but it was only after physically collapsing that I had to face the reality of how burnt out I was.

Recovery from burnout takes time. A good night of sleep is a good start but it is only that, a start. Adequate rest is a key component of recovery from burnout BUT it needs to be consistent, rather than a one off.

MYTH 2: TO AVOID BURNOUT MEANS NOT WORKING HARD How comfortable are you with saying “no” to requests from others? For many, the thought of having to say “no” to your boss, clients and family will fill you with dread as your thoughts spiral into: • What will people think of me if I say no?

• Will I jeopardise my career progression if I say no?

• People will think I can’t cope if I say no!

For example, if you do not have clear boundaries for yourself around things like working hours, responding to emails, taking regular breaks and so on, how can you expect those around you to honour those boundaries? If you do not regard your time or your mental health as precious, no one else will either.

I often hear this statement “I don’t have time for myself, I am too busy”. Not true – if a loved one suddenly needed half an hour of your time every single day, and their life depended on it, you would find the time, no matter what.

Well, guess what? Your life depends on you finding time every day that is just for you. Treat yourself as you would do a loved one. Surprisingly, the more you make time for yourself every day, the more the people around you will start to honour those boundaries and work around you.

Try it once a week. Commit to taking a half an hour lunch break away from your laptop, every day. See how much you benefit and how quickly those around you accept that that is what you do now.

It’s time to burn bright – not out.

I believe this demonstrates the conditioning faced by many in industries such as the legal profession that success equates to long hours, working hard and never switching off. This conditioning needs to change if we are to prevent the spread of burnout in the law.

Arianna Huffington, the co-founder of The Huffington Post, summed this up perfectly when she said: “We need to change the delusion that we need to burn out in order to succeed. The truth is, we are much more effective if we take time to recharge and refuel.”

Avoiding burning out is not about not working hard – it is about ensuring you are taking care of yourself so you can be at your best more.

MYTH 3: IT’S NOT MY FAULT I’M BURNT OUT, IT’S MY JOB/BOSS/WORKLOAD Organisations could do more to support the mental wellbeing and resilience of their people.

They absolutely could, and great steps are being taken to make that happen. The Mindful Business Charter is one example. However, whether you burnout or not is a choice – your choice. business network April 2021

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MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

The business case for offering mental health support Mental health was rising up the agenda before most of us had ever heard of the word “coronavirus”, but the pandemic has turbo-charged society’s selfawareness over a delicate issue. Businesses are also quickly realising its significance in the workplace, both for the purpose of employee wellbeing and productivity, as Dan Robinson finds out. uesday evening is social club, employees gather for a tea break on a Wednesday and then there’s the regular stream of open mic, comedy and quiz nights. Every day, the 270 employees at PPL PRS have a chance to get involved with a different group on Microsoft Teams that keeps conversations flowing virtually while they work from home.

Not only does this continue social interactions and a sense of community within the business, but for many people it’s also an important tool in supporting their mental health during what has been a challenging 12 months – and counting – for everyone.

“We did a lot of socials previously but we’ve placed a bigger emphasis on this since everyone began working from home because we realised the need to connect,” says HR operations manager Louisa Starling.

“There’s also a half-hour ‘time to talk’ session that people can log on to and just talk about what’s affecting them, and our employee assistance programme is able to signpost people to various support that’s available.

“They’re nice touches that are about being proactive in removing the stigma around poor mental health.

“It’s something we all need to take ownership of – to break down barriers and enable people to really connect with their own mental health.”

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LOOKING AFTER MENTAL health is being accelerated up the priority list for leadership at just about every business – one Chamber member has spoken about establishing “no email days”, banning internal meetings once a month and clamping down on people unnecessarily being copied into emails to help employees keep a clear headspace– but at PPL PRS it’s particularly pertinent.

The Leicester-based not-for-profit company that issues TheMusicLicence – enabling businesses to legally play music for employees and customers – has a relatively young workforce, with an average age of 32.

It’s been well documented that young people have been markedly affected by mental health issues for a number of reasons, including a lack of space to successfully separate working and personal lives, as well as loneliness resulting from prohibited social interaction.

A survey by the UK charity Young Minds conducted in the three weeks to 12 February found two-thirds (67%) of people aged between 13 and 25 believe the pandemic will have a long-term negative effect on their mental health.

“The good thing is that young people feel more comfortable in talking about mental health,” says Louisa.

“In my generation, we got told to just pull ourselves together and buckle up. But we’re gradually removing those barriers for everyone.”

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MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

FOCUS FEATURE

A WORKPLACE THAT WORKS

Nicole O'Callaghan, Hope Health founder

Mental health awareness predates the pandemic at PPL PRS – which has built a reputation as an attractive place to work since it moved into a modern office at Mercury Place, adorned with a 30-metre-long music history wall mural, in April 2017.

The company has had mental health first aiders in place for two years. There are 11 in the team, spanning various roles and departments, and there’s plans to increase this cohort to 15.

Employees – known as “band members” internally in keeping with the music theme – can access profiles on each person to see their skills, experiences and specialisms, such as bereavement, schizophrenia and depression.

Louisa is glad to see other businesses following suit with similar schemes and training.

She adds: “If you think about things coming out of the pandemic that will be a positive, the way in which businesses think about mental health in the workplace is definitely one of them.

“People are now actively talking about it and companies are implementing changes that will make a tangible difference to employees.”

NICOLE O’CALLAGHAN SPENT a decade struggling with poor mental health as she tried to hold down a stressful business development director position in a large facilities management company while raising a young family.

She eventually reached a crisis point in March 2009, when she nearly took her own life, but would piece herself back together again.

‘We try to make sure mental health is on a par with physical health’

PPL PRS HR operations manager Louisa Starling

Designing spaces for “free-range humans” is crucial for maintaining employee wellbeing and maximising their potential, believes Rob Day (pictured).

The chairman of office fit-out specialist Blueprint Interiors says companies must approach post-Covid as an opportunity to “de-institutionalise” their workplaces.

He has never been an advocate of offices featuring rows upon rows of desks as he doesn’t believe they are conducive to how people work and interact with each other, but feels the pandemic has accelerated the need for businesses to move away from this concept.

Rob says: “If you accept that people are your main asset, as most businesses will, then why wouldn’t you do everything you can to ensure they are at their most productive? It should be pretty obvious that having rows of desks isn’t the best way to achieve that. Give them an overall strategic objective, and then empower and resource them to go away and deliver that. You can do this by thinking about what makes them tick.

Because if people are ill, they can’t function properly and fulfil their potential.

“Quite often, a workplace overrides individual style and personality in order to drive a consistent outcome, but businesses should celebrate their staff’s individuality as ‘free range’ human beings.”

Rob uses three main tools to ensure his company, based in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, creates spaces fit for humans.

His first, dubbed “human givens”, explores people’s basic needs – both from a physical and emotional sense.

This requires high-quality environments that not only make them feel safe and secure, but also able to flourish.

“We need to feel a sense of community and belonging, and not under constant threat,” says Rob. “Humans are complex individuals but if you can satisfy those fundamental needs then people won’t be ill, stressed or under-performing – they’ll be happy, healthy and productive.”

The framework now being used by Blueprint to build these environments is the WELL Building Standard, created by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) – a public benefit corporation that claims to be “leading the global movement to transform our buildings and communities in ways that help people thrive”.

Blueprint’s interior designer Rebecca Beadle is working towards obtaining a qualification that will enable her to advise businesses on achieving WELL status, which measures the attributes of buildings based on seven concepts – water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, mind and air.

“It tells us what good looks like,” says Rob, whose company is redeveloping its own office according to this standard as part of a project called WorkLife Central to illustrate its benefits to clients.

“Not only does it ensure people are well hydrated and nourished, but it helps us design comfortable environments with the right temperature and humidity – vital components for treating humans as humans.”

Compelled by the despair she had experienced, Nicole retrained as a mental health instructor with social enterprise Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England and set up Hope Health UK, a wellbeing consultancy.

Based in Essex, it has instructors located across the country, including the Midlands, who train people within businesses to become mental health first aiders.

Nicole says: “We try to make sure mental health is on a par with physical health. For me, it makes a lot of sense because if there had been mental health first aiders in my workplace, they might have picked up the signs that were there. I would then have got the help I needed sooner before I reached the crisis point.

“There was also a business cost for my employer as it lost me for three months while I recovered. I then left the company permanently so there’s a retention case in all this too.” business network April 2021

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MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE

This is a crucial point for Nicole. She puts people at the heart of her mental health first aid courses and bespoke wellbeing programmes – the first port of call is training managers to spot the signs of distress so they can spark a conversation with people who need support – but is keen to stress the bottom-line impact for the businesses that hire her services.

Mental health issues were costing UK employers £45bn per year by the beginning of 2020, a 16% rise on 2017, according to Deloitte – which estimates the return on investment for mental health initiatives has risen from £4 to £5 for every pound spent during the same period.

“A lot of companies are fearful about this subject,” says Nicole. “There was a lot of good work going on before the pandemic to change this culture but now it’s shone a light on the actions that need to be taken. There’s a moral rationale but also a solid business case.”

PINNACLE WELLBEING SERVICES is another company engaged in helping businesses deal with mental health challenges.

Like Hope Health, much of its training takes place in the mind, with a big emphasis on using body language and voice to better connect with people. Recognising many Pinnacle Wellbeing Services SMEs don’t always have spare CEO Richard Reid capacity in their budgets or time to offer sufficient support, its wellbeing training has been adapted into an e-learning package so employees can complete it in their own time.

CEO Richard Reid, who grew Pinnacle out of a therapy business in 2005, says: “It’s all about culture because if this isn’t right, people don’t feel like they can be themselves.

People will always fall through the cracks if they don’t feel like they can speak up.”

As well as making people generally more aware and sympathetic to mental health issues, he believes the pandemic has created a more democratic environment in many organisations where employees at all levels feel able to feed back their experiences.

“The challenge will be that as we come out of lockdown and a lot of people feel anxious about returning to the workplace, how businesses respond to this,” adds Richard.

“A lot of employees will remember how their organisations treated them throughout this period and there’s every chance people will walk once the job market picks up again.

“So while it might be tempting for companies to put this whole experience behind them and plough on as they did before, it’s a great opportunity to take stock and do things differently in future.”

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES Recognition is growing about the link between physical and mental health, believes wellbeing expert Richard Holmes (pictured).

The director of wellbeing at Westfield Health has already noticed more businesses identifying the need to bring these two concepts closer together in their approach to employee welfare over the past year, and expects to see more of this post-pandemic.

He also anticipates more investment in turning managers into “health leaders” as companies count the cost of losing staff to mental health-related sick days.

Richard says: “If we don’t have the right environment around us, everything else we do will be ineffective. People who have a good diet, sleep well and exercise regularly are more resilient to the mental health challenges they might be facing.

“Likewise, poor mental health is a precursor to poor physical health – if you’re anxious or feeling down, then all the bad habits and reducing physical activity come into play.

“We’ve seen mental health really dominate the agenda for a lot of organisations but now we’ll see a move back towards prioritising physical health in recognition that they need to take a holistic approach to health and wellbeing.”

IN WESTFIELD HEALTH’S Coping with Covid report, published in February 2021 after surveying 1,600 employees and HR leaders across England about their workplace health and wellbeing, it found a 10% rise in mental health-related absence. This cost businesses at least £14bn – probably much more due to under-reporting.

This is despite sickness levels falling to their lowest levels on record last year, with the Office for National Statistics reporting a drop from 1.9% to 1.8% in 2020.

Richard believes the issue of “presenteeism”, where people work despite ill health, and the tendency to work beyond contracted hours that’s known as “leavism”, also mask the true scale of the problem.

“There’s pressure on presenteeism and leavism during the pandemic because people are anxious about being seen to be doing their job well by their employer,” he says.

“Undoubtedly the move to homeworking has also exasperated the issue of ‘leavism’ because we lose our routine that comes from commuting and the structure of a workplace. One of the problems with leavism is that it tends to drive fatigue, which in turn reduces our physical resilience – and if that happens, we lose our ability to cope with mental health issues.”

The Westfield report found that a quarter of employees want extra wellbeing support from their employer and more than a third of the workforce said their mental health affects productivity on a weekly basis.

As a result, 81% of HR leaders had increased their wellbeing focus during the pandemic.

Richard, who believes line managers will play a key role in embedding a culture that enables wellbeing initiatives to succeed, adds: “Covid has underlined to employers how important their people’s health is to their business health.

“They’re now investing more than they ever have in their staff because they recognise the relationship between morale, productivity and performance.”

MENTAL HEALTH WORKPLACE RESOURCES Mental Health Productivity Pilot (MHPP) The three-year, pan-regional project, funded by the Midlands Engine, signposts businesses to established initiatives that can help employees’ mental health, while companies can sign up to other pilots for trilling new workplace interventions. Visit www.mhpp.me Wellbeing at Work Charter Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport (LBS) offers an accreditation scheme for employers across Leicestershire and Rutland that want to take a lead in supporting staff wellbeing.

The charter is a step-by-step process that includes training and workshop opportunities, a tracker for monitoring physical activity levels, wellbeing tips, and access to a workplace health needs assessment tool for identifying key priority areas.

Visit www.lrsport.org/wellbeingatworkcharter Workplace wellbeing toolkits MHFA England has a series of resources for workplaces, including information on mental health first aiders, a mental health and wellbeing employer checklist, weekly wellbeing check-up, and guidance for line managers and mentors. Visit mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/resources/for-workplaces 54

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BUSINESS NETWORK

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FEATURE

GREEN BUSINESS

The UK is leading Europe towards an ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2030, and the automotive industry is contributing significantly towards this goal.

This has resulted in huge investments in R&D and innovation. Thus, the OEMs, Tier1s and startups of this industry are aligning themselves with the megatrend of Connected, Autonomous, Smart & Electric (CASE) technologies, and are adopting newer technologies in their operations at an unprecedented scale, such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data & analytics, internet of things (IoT) and blockchain.

The European automotive industry is also well situated to be the centre for developing, testing, and adopting new technologies and this has prompted Methodica Technologies to enter the UK & Europe market by leveraging our global presence in the US, Canada and Germany to further support its growth.

Methodica Technologies Ltd. is an emerging global technology consulting firm, offering embedded solutions supporting the automotive industry. Its goal is to become a preferred total solutions provider for Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP), Embedded Software & Model-Based Development (MBD), Calibration Support, Test Automation and Hardware in Loop Testing (HIL).

“

In this everchanging and disruptive e-mobility landscape, Methodica has already grabbed attention from OEMs, Tier1s and Start-ups, with state-of-the-art IT & office infrastructure and niche expertise.

Vivek Maladkar

”

Director - Europe Business & Operations Unit

PARTNERSHIP VALUE PROPOSITION • Facilitating the client to excel in the latest tools and standards • Enabling the client to select the best toolchain and provide them flexible high-end test platform • Decreasing time to market on large complex vehicle programmes • Unique solutions for Automotive start-ups enabling small to midsize players.

Tel: +44 786 750 5709 Email: operations@methodicatech.com Website: www.methodicatech.com

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GREEN BUSINESS

FEATURE

A

greener

way to work

Going green has many obvious advantages, such as reducing waste and cutting costs, but it can also positively affect employee health and productivity. For businesses thinking about transforming their office into an environmentally-friendly place of work, Business Network explores some of the ways companies can create a work culture of sustainability.

WASTE NOT Reducing the amount of paper your business gets through can be an easy first step to creating a sustainable culture.

As well as encouraging people to think twice before printing emails and setting up a waste paper recycling point, you can also set up default double-sided printing, aiming to save half the use of paper by eliminating single page print-outs.

You can also set up a printer-friendly email signature for each employee. This isn’t just sustainable, it is a clever way to let other businesses know you are doing your bit for the environment and encourages them to do the same.

Finally, go one step further and install timers on printers so they automatically shut down during out of office hours.

This is more reliable than assigning an employee the role of turning off the printer (they might forget or be off work) and it has the additional advantage of reducing your electricity bill – and your environmental footprint.

Maximising natural light sources will help save on energy bills and also boost the mood of your staff.

If you don’t a lot of natural light, consider installing LED lighting – ideally with sensors and timers.

TEAMWORK In order to implement a green policy, there needs to be teamwork, so get employees on board and enthusiastic about a sustainable workplace.

Encourage your employees to share their ideas on how they, as a team, can make the office more environmentally friendly.

You could offer an incentive for the best ideas or set a monthly challenge, such as for staff to go 30 days without using single-use plastic, and offer a reward to all those who stick to it.

FIND A GREEN HOST Businesses looking to create a work culture of sustainability could benefit from switching web hosting to green hosting.

Green web hosting uses renewable energy to power their data servers and reduces indirect emissions from your carbon footprint.

When looking for green web hosting companies, the most reliable will have proof of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). This is so they can use energy off the grid to power their data servers, and then purchase 100% renewable energy to put back onto the grid.

WAYS TO RECYCLE New equipment and furniture can be costly, so consider recycled or second-hand furniture.

It won’t necessarily be in poor condition – in fact there are many furniture firms that specialise in selling high quality, second-hand items at a reduced cost.

And why stop there? Provide your staff with recycled, sustainable stationary, such as notepads, paper, pens and pencils, and recyclable or reusable drinks bottles.

A GREEN MAKEOVER A few small changes around the office can really make a difference. To start, remove all individual bins at desks and replacing them with a communal recycling system.

Encourage employees to decorate their desks with houseplants to help improve air quality and create a happier environment. business network April 2021

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FOCUS FEATURE

GREEN BUSINESS

Why should an SME consider reducing energy usage?

Fusion Electrics, winner of the Small Business of the Year category at last year’s Leicestershire Business Awards, installs and maintains electrical supplies for SMEs, businesses, schools and colleges across the UK. Business development director Joanne Skinner (pictured) explains how much of its work today involves helping clients to reduce their energy consumption – and in many cases, begin generating their own power.

ntroducing sustainable energy sources into the workplace can be a time-consuming exercise when you are busy running a company. As with all SMEs, the decision to change drills down to time versus money and time best spent. I believe businesses need to understand why it is so important for change before they are ready to make any big decisions.

So it’s the responsibility of companies like ours to prove why these changes to energy consumption are so important – once businesses understand the full picture, they are often keen to make the investment required to make the necessary changes and to reap all the benefits of a more sustainable energy source.

As with all new technology, it comes at a price. However, while the technology for new and sustainable technology continues to change at pace, the costs have levelled to a point that the significant benefits cannot be ignored.

Corporate profiles are important and a positive reputation can be beneficial in securing contracts. Today, many consumers make a decision to buy not just on a company's product range, but on its green credentials too.

I

FINANCIAL BENEFITS Reducing carbon usage brings financial benefits; by adopting and promoting an “environmentally-friendly” profile, a company will boost its popularity, market position and often will also lead to increased sales.

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• Install energy-efficient lighting • Introduce programmed lighting controls to reduce the time lighting is on • Install energy reduction equipment such as PV (solar) energy systems and battery storage devices • Encourage employees to change to electric cars by installing electric charging points.

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GREEN BUSINESS

FOCUS FEATURE

EDUCATING BUSINESSES In order to build momentum in the switch to renewable energy sources and to play our part for the UK to reach net zero by 2050, we realise that businesses need to become much better educated about the long-term benefits of investing in new technologies and services that reduce energy usage.

Accessing information and understanding the practicalities of reducing energy consumption is just one part of that picture. Take, for example, a Leicestershire school that wanted to reduce its energy consumption: following the installation of new electrical systems – a solar PV system and replacing all lighting with energy-efficient LEDs – CO2 emissions were cut by 45.5% and the school made an annual saving of £12,000 on its energy bill.

However, the other important factor is for businesses to fully take on board the advantages of marketing their green credentials back into the marketplace.

Today’s consumers make buying choices often based on reviews and the “personality” of a company. As the years roll on and the pace for change in our energy consumption increases, this message of sustainability and caring for our environment will only become more and more potent.

We don’t know precisely how climate change will affect the planet, but we can be certain it will impact economies and devastate populations. Businesses need to make changes to their energy usage – we all have a corporate and social responsibility to do so. If we don’t act of our own accord, then political restraints and regulations will be imposed. So now is the time to make these changes. business network April 2021

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TRAINING

The benefits of tailored training Alongside the usual calendar, the Chamber’s commercial training team provides bespoke packages designed to upskill SMEs according to specific requirements. Business Network speaks to Ian Lawrence (pictured), CEO of Chesterfield-based United Rental Group Ltd, a car agency with 67 staff, about his company’s experience with tailored training.

Tell us what your business does and who you work with?

We manage and operate a network of more than 600 independent vehicle rental businesses, which are licensees of United Rental System.

It’s similar to a franchise network, except they each trade under their own name and we provide them with everything they need to run their business – hopefully at better terms than they could achieve on their own.

What type of training did you require and why did you decide to work with the Chamber’s commercial training team?

We have an internal leadership team and I wanted them to benefit from understanding leadership versus management, along with all aspects of getting the best out of colleagues through example and motivation. It needed to cover a broad range of business areas, which as a group they’d all be responsible for at some point – and ensure there were common approaches towards achieving similar goals.

What did the training delivered by the Chamber involve?

It was a little more complicated than normal in that everything had to be delivered via Microsoft Teams one afternoon each week – over an

eight-week period. The trainers were great – even splitting the delivery between them depending on their specialism. After each session, I was sent an update and summary so I could see what they had been working on. I found that extremely helpful and thoughtful.

How will this support your business aims and objectives?

Most importantly, it bought each section leader together as one unit, highlighted some common objectives and brought home to everyone that although they all have different areas of responsibility, they were one team – and should endeavour to work to the same principles. I was more than pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm with which each trainee greeted the opportunity to participate each week – testimony I think to the quality of the training and delivery.

Why should businesses place a strong emphasis on continuous staff development?

Business changes all the time and legislation can change too. It’s important that we invest in keeping our teams up to speed with those changes – and even more vital they see we are investing in them too.

It’s motivational as well as educational. It’s also important they all sing from the same hymn sheet and understand the challenges

their colleagues face on a daily basis.

What do you believe were the main benefits of a bespoke training course?

One of my concerns was that our leadership team is already really good and mostly very experienced.

I didn’t want to insult those people or look as if we were teaching them to “suck eggs” – so it was important we pitched the content at the right level.

Because we got that right, we came out of it with an even more enthusiastic set of leaders who had all learnt some new skills. I also had the chance to speak to the trainers

beforehand and describe our culture, which gave them the opportunity to tailor the delivery and content of each section of the course to match our business and ethics.

We now have a clear indication on where we need to go next in terms of investing more time in educating our teams – and which areas we should focus on. I think it’s easy as a business leader to drive a company forward and forget that what you’re “driving” needs some maintenance or a “service” now and then. Our people are our greatest assets – offering bespoke training that makes clear sense to them is key to ensuring a more secure future for the business.

More than 100 businesses are supported by the Chamber with bespoke training courses each year.

A dedicated staff member assigned to each company will design and develop tailored face-to-face or online sessions, which are delivered to either individuals or teams of up to 12 people.

They will liaise with the business lead throughout the programme, selecting a training specialist most suited to its requirements, ensuring these are met by the course content and completing a quality check following delivery.

For more information on bespoke training, contact business training manager Vicki Thompson on vicki.thompson@emc-dnl.co.uk or call 0333 3200 333 (ext 2153).

Understanding how to be a good manager Learning how to be an effective and efficient manager will be the focus of the next instalment of the Chamber’s Managers Development Programme.

Key topics covered by the training course include understanding the management role, motivation and organisational culture, communication skills, coaching skills for developing others, managing performance and identifying opportunities for innovation.

The programme will be delivered online by a trainer from Challenge Consulting. It runs for six half-day sessions, lasting between 1.30pm and 5pm, from Monday 10 May to Monday 21 June.

The course costs £735 + VAT for members and £1,050 + VAT for nonmembers.

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EVENTS

Generation Next Awards now open Young talent in businesses across the East Midlands will be celebrated in the first ever Generation Next Awards.

Entries can now be made for the awards, which are delivered in partnership with the University of Derby and form part of the Chamber’s new Generation Next network for professionals and business owners aged under 35.

There are seven categories, covering a broad spectrum of people in organisations – from apprentices to business leaders – as well as an award for a fastgrowing start-up.

The deadline for entries – which can be made by either employers or their employees – is 26 April, with finalists to be announced on 17 May. Winners will be crowned at a virtual awards ceremony on 16 July.

Lucy Robinson, the Chamber’s director of resources and Generation Next lead, said: “Generation Next is a really exciting new initiative from the Chamber and these awards promise to be a fantastic celebration of the amazing young talent we have across the East Midlands.

“Young people don’t always receive the recognition they deserve but this is now their chance to tell their stories and showcase their successes.

“It’s also a great opportunity for employers to shout about the great work and innovation coming out of their businesses thanks to the contributions that young employees make every day, who we know are a great asset in ensuring organisations remain fresh

GENERATION NEXT AWARDS 2021 CATEGORIES – WHO DO THEY RECOGNISE? APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR Current or past apprentices aged between 18 and 35 who can demonstrate an exceptional contribution they’ve made to their workplace.

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR Dynamic, creative and visionary business leaders who define the qualities of successful entrepreneurship, including those with drive, ambition and tenacity.

COMMUNITY AWARD Individuals who have developed and implemented CSR policies, or promoted inclusive workplaces, as part of their overall business planning or daily life in the office. and relevant in today’s world. We have carefully crafted a broad range of categories, and there’s an award to suit every young professional and entrepreneur at each stage of their career.”

The University of Derby is the headline partner for Generation Next, with GBS Apprenticeships, Nottingham University Business School and The Lettings & Sales Business also partners.

Professor Kamil Omoteso, pro vice-chancellor and dean of the University of Derby’s College of Business, Law and Social Sciences, said: “Generation Next is the ideal initiative for providing young professionals with support for their new career or business, and these awards are a superb way of celebrating how those taking part have responded to the challenge of establishing themselves in what is a very competitive environment.

“I hope many employers across our region take up the invitation to

Raise your profile and share your successes Entries remain open for the East Midlands Chamber Business Awards 2021. Chamber members have until 7 May to stake their case for recognition across 14 categories.

They include new categories for Collaboration Project of the Year and Excellence in Innovation. There will also be a return for the Environmental Impact Award introduced last year, as well as regular favourites such as Apprentice of the Year, Community Impact, Excellence in International Trade and Small Business of the Year.

An overall Business of the Year will be crowned for each county, as chosen by headline sponsor Mazars.

Finalists will be announced on Thursday 30 June. Winners will be chosen by a panel including members of the Chamber’s leadership team and board, as well as sponsors.

They will learn their fate at ceremonies for each county – Derbyshire Business Awards on 12 November, Nottinghamshire Business Awards on 19 November and Leicestershire Business Awards on 3 December.

For more information and to enter the Chamber Business Awards, visit www.emcdnl.co.uk/businessawards2021

CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD People who are dedicated to continuously improving customer satisfaction and exceeding expectations, or have overcome key challenges.

EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY AWARD Business leaders or employees who have used and integrated innovative technology to boost performance within their organisation.

BREAKTHROUGH AWARD New businesses that started in the past three years and have achieves consistent growth backed by strong financial performance – with continued growth ahead.

OVERALL WINNER – GENERATION NEXT FUTURE LEADER An influential individual who has significantly contributed to their industry during their career to date, making a visible difference to their workplace’s growth.

nominate candidates for the Generation Next Awards, which will provide everyone whose name is put forward with deserved recognition for their contributions and ideas that are helping to take businesses forward, and to make

our region’s economy more dynamic and resilient.”

To enter the Generation Next Awards 2021, visit www.generationnextemc.co.uk/ awards

Award sponsorship opportunities available Sponsorship opportunities remain available for the Chamber’s Business Awards and Generation Next Awards.

Companies can sponsor a category at either event, offering them a platform to raise their profile, engage with fellow members and to reach wider audiences.

There are three categories available at the Derbyshire Business Awards – Commitment to People Development, Excellence in International Trade and Collaboration Project of the Year.

Three categories are also up for grabs at the Nottinghamshire Business Awards – Commitment to People Development, Apprentice of the Year and Excellence in Innovation.

Generation Next is seeking three further partners for the network and each of these will be allocated a category at the Generation Next Awards.

For more information about sponsorship opportunities, contact partnerships manager Sanjib Sahota on sanjib.sahota@emcdnl.co.uk or 07776 596889. business network April 2021

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DIGITAL & TECHNOLOGY

Linking in with the right connections, whether you are virtual or not LinkedIn is the social media platform of choice for professionals, but not everyone knows how to make the most of it. The Chamber’s social media expert and Digital Growth Programme consultant Paul Ince (pictured) gives his advice for how to make connections online.

here's a glimmer of hope on the horizon that business relationships may return to a more face-to-face presence in the coming months, but many of us have turned to more digital means to continue networking.

Most network groups have turned to the likes of Zoom and Microsoft Teams to host virtual conversations. Where this is organised and hosted properly, the same outcomes can be achieved (well, without the stale coffee and Danish pastry).

Even if you don't attend a formal networking session, LinkedIn offers a great opportunity to expand your network of connections and generate leads for your business.

Unsurprisingly, user growth on LinkedIn has grown during 2020, with more than 772 million monthly active users now on the platform.

Many companies ask me about LinkedIn company pages, and whether they are worth it. They potentially are, but the real power of LinkedIn is the personal profile that you, as an individual, build.

Consider it a virtual representation of you when networking: what are they seeing when they first meet you? How do we give a potential connection the best version of ourselves?

T

perhaps keep it professional or neutral.

Cover photo: There's nothing that says you're not very active on LinkedIn than the default cover photo, grey and dull. This is a prime piece of real estate on your profile and should contain something that reflects you, your business or your personality. There are lots of options here, so don't waste the space.

Headline: Arguably one of the key parts of a profile. Searchable and displayed in results, so one of the first pieces of information anyone will see about you. How can you demonstrate the value you'll bring to the relationship in a couple of sentences?

DRAWING PEOPLE ON TO YOUR LINKEDIN PAGE Just like managing your website for search engines, your LinkedIn profile needs to convince someone to click the link in the search results.

What's compelling about you when you come up? The first call to action you need someone to take is to click your name to look at you.

Only then will you have the chance to impress someone with the rest of your profile.

Today, there are multiple areas in which you can demonstrate that are a perfect fit for a relationship with your potential new connection. Your experience will show your credibility.

Your skills and recommendations will prove you're worth it. Also consider adding any publications you've featured in, volunteering roles and certifications.

LINKEDIN BASICS TO CONSIDER

BE ACTIVE, YET THOUGHTFUL

Profile picture: Does it look like you in 2021? We've all aged in the last 12 months so upload a more recent photo that represents what you look like today. It should also represent how you wish to be seen.

If that's in your holiday swimwear then that's no problem, otherwise

To show you're not just a pretty face, but have some clout in your sector, your activity within the platform indicates to others that you have the knowledge to comment on your industry, and you can bring expertise to your relationship.

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The most successful users take time to put their thoughts into a post or direct connections to a useful article, while adding their own commentary – this is also a good way to share posts from a company page too.

Finally, it's worth keeping your eye on new features on LinkedIn to see how you can use them.

Stories and LinkedIn Live are two features that still are less heavily used and, therefore, less crowded – helping you to be seen.

LinkedIn is currently promoting any events created on its platform to users who it thinks should attend. It’s also sending emails to potential attendees, taking some of the leg work out of promoting an event.

Thanks to the investment by owner Microsoft, you can be sure LinkedIn's development will continue and make it a must-use platform, whether business returns to normal or not.

Paul will lead an action planning workshop about Boosting your LinkedIn Business Account on Wednesday 14 April from 9.30am to 12.30pm. To register, visit www.leics-digital.co.uk/events

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE Need digital support? Businesses can access fully-funded support via two digital programmes managed by the Chamber, the Digital Upscaler and Digital Growth Programme.

Digital Upscaler, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), aims to provide high-growth businesses across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire with the knowledge, investment and capacity to scale up through embracing new technologies. Visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/digitalupscaler The Digital Growth Programme is designed to help SMEs located in Leicester and Leicestershire to improve productivity and growth using digital technology via themed action planning workshops, grants and digital advice. It is part-funded by the Chamber, ERDF and Leicestershire County Council. Visit www.leics-digital.co.uk Businesses based in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire can access similar support by visiting www.d2n2growthhub.co.uk

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LEGAL

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LEGAL

Looking after your workforce: What are your responsibilities for lone workers?

With many managers now faced with the task of supervising employees remotely, it places a greater onus on companies to include mental health within their health and safety responsibilities. Sara Ellison (pictured), a chartered legal executive in Banner Jones’ employment law team, answers some common questions she is asked by clients. may be necessary to provide them with the equipment they need to work from home.

If you feel it would be conducive to productivity, then you may choose to reimburse your employee for certain items.

IS MY EMPLOYEES’ MENTAL HEALTH MY RESPONSIBILITY? The Government’s Good Work Guide recommends some core standards that employers should meet to promote the wellbeing, safety and security of their team.

This emphasises the importance of supporting mental health in the workplace.

Furthermore, mental health is considered to be part of the duty of care an employer owes to its employees. Neglecting this could be a breach of this duty and result in costly claims by the employee.

If an employee has a longstanding (usually for 12 months or more) or serious mental health condition that impacts on their ability to carry out day-to-day tasks, this could amount to a disability under the Equality Act 2010.

Under the Equality Act, disabled employees are legally protected from being discriminated against at work and failing to give a disabled employee adequate support could mean you are not fulfilling your obligations as an employer.

WHAT CAN I DO TO PROMOTE GOOD MENTAL HEALTH IN MY TEAM? The most important thing employers can give to their employees is time and understanding. Feeling judged, unsupported or even discriminated against will not only make your team members unproductive and potentially impact negatively on their mental health, but it may lead

WHAT ABOUT EMPLOYEES WHO ARE AT RISK WHEN WORKING ALONE?

It is vital that you keep strong communication with team members

to them taking legal action against you.

You can support your team by communicating regularly and openly. One way to do this is to carry out team meetings and activities remotely via video-based apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. You should also check that lone workers are able to manage their workload and ensure they are taking regular breaks.

Remember that a mental health issue can be a legitimate reason for absence from work. Your employee is still required to notify you of their sickness absence in line with the terms of their contract.

Where they request adjustments

to their work or role, or reasonable adjustments are recommended by their doctor, you should consider these properly and in a timely manner. Such adjustments might include adjusting their working hours or providing specialist equipment.

CAN EMPLOYEES CLAIM FOR ADDITIONAL EXPENSES WHILE WORKING AT HOME? Employers are obliged to carry out a risk assessment of a homeworker’s working environment to ensure they are safe and not at risk of harm when working.

Businesses are not legally obliged to provide additional expenses for homeworkers, but it

Employees who would normally return to an office after completing a challenging lone-working task, like visiting a family as a social care worker, may now return home and have nobody to talk to.

It’s vital that you keep strong communication with your team members who face triggering activities and put measures in place to replace the natural support from working together that may have now disappeared.

If they could be at risk of verbal or physical violence while lone working, you must have a clear management plan to prevent or control these risks by law. They may not report incidents as readily as they would have done when seeing you in person. You should make amendments to your health and safety policy to reflect the current situation if necessary.

Violence or risk of violence has a high chance of leading to workrelated stress. This could result in serious mental health issues.

You may wish to visit the Health and Safety Executive’s website for further guidance on this: www.hse.gov.uk/loneworking/employer/violence.htm

High volume of deal activity for Freeths

Leon Arnold

Freeths’s corporate practice completed 43 major mergers and acquisitions in 28 days leading up to the budget.

The national law firm, headquartered in Nottingham, oversaw transactions with values ranging from £1m to £40m in the four weeks before 3 March.

The deals covered a wide range of sectors in which Freeths specialise, including renewable energy, aviation, logistics, leisure, retail, technology, manufacturing and engineering. Notable transactions include advising Bristol-based engineering design consultancy Hydrock

on its acquisition of Kelly Taylor Associates, a mechanical and electrical design consultancy business with a base in Lutterworth that specialises in the logistics and distribution sector.

Leon Arnold, joint national head of corporate at Freeths, said: “This volume of deal activity was partly driven by the uncertainty around potential tax increases, which may have been in the budget.

The breadth, depth and energy in our corporate team enables us to deal with a high volume of transactions within a short timeframe.” business network April 2021

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FINANCE

Sustainable investing: What you need to know Investors are increasingly applying prioritising environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in their decision-making for identifying risks and growth opportunities. Jillian Thomas (pictured), managing director of financial planning service Future Life Wealth Management, explains why.

David Attenborough and the 2019 Australian bush fires have propelled ethical and ESG discussions into the mainstream, enabling a far broader discussion about the future of our planet.

It’s not just people like Greta Thunberg who are sitting up and taking notice of what is happening with the Earth – investors too are looking at what their money is paying towards. As the saying goes, put your money where your mouth is.

In the past, our clients tended to invest for the best returns.

Traditional investment practice typically ignored how companies operated or what they did.

Some people did try and avoid investing in certain sectors – tobacco and arms, for example, in what you might call “ethical exclusion” – but historically most of our clients’ concerns were fairly traditional in thinking about where to invest. We looked at attitude to risk and your future plans.

However, our clients are increasingly asking about what they are investing in.

INVESTORS NOW PRIORITISING RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES Remember, when you invest in a fund, your money gives financial support for the companies or

‘We, as individual investors, collectively have the power to influence what is known as ESG or how companies are run’

organisations in which the fund invests. People are starting to think beyond just avoiding harm. Now investors are thinking about benefits, for people and the planet.

For example, investing in companies that follow responsible practices. It might be one that treats its workforce well or one that is reducing its impact on the environment.

And you can go further – you can invest in funds that support companies that have a positive impact on the planet. They might generate renewable energy, improve energy efficiency or address healthcare needs.

We, as individual investors, collectively have the power to influence what is known as ESG or how companies are run and what they do, or don’t do, to harm or help people and the planet.

And if you think that, ultimately, the global economy is dependent on how well we manage and share the world’s resources, taking ESG factors into account actually makes financial, as well as ethical, sense in the long term.

ESG INVESTING IS RISKIER But a few caveats. Excluding some sectors for ethical reasons means you are starting to limit where you can invest.

Investing in companies that have the intention to make a positive social or environmental impact will limit your choices further.

It also brings more risk. These may be companies with a smaller number of stocks, potentially increasing their volatility. So, we still need to look at your attitude to risk when thinking about ethical investing. It is not just on the side of the investor where there is a focus on ESG. Companies know it is important too.

REPLACING CSR WITH ESG In the old days, we talked about CSR – or corporate social responsibility – maybe staff were given paid days to do voluntary work or the company sponsored the local junior football team.

But ESG runs deeper. It is about major changes in how companies actually do business, about how they can essentially do good.

When you have examples like BP and Shell both pledging net-zero emissions by 2050, you realise it isn’t just Greta Thunberg who is doing the talking – big businesses are too.

And as investors, we can think about where we put our hardearned money to make ESG more than just a passing fad. After all, the planet depends on us taking the long-term view.

No individual investment advice is given, nor intended to be given, in this article and liability will be accepted in respect of any action you may take as a result of reading this article. If you are unsure, you are urged to take independent investment advice.

Aston Lark announces latest major acquisition Aston Lark shows no signs of slowing down on the acquisition front after buying Venture Insurance Brokers Ltd. The Goldman Sachs-backed national chartered insurance broker, which has an office in Derby, announced the takeover of the Bristolbased company in early March.

Venture Insurance Brokers offers traditional insurance advice to businesses and individuals, with specialist expertise in professional indemnity insurance, property management, haulage, small business solutions and risk management.

Aston Lark group CEO Peter Blanc said the acquisition would help expand its presence in the South West.

“From our initial meeting with the Venture team, we have been continually impressed with their ‘client first’ approach which sits perfectly with the ethos of Aston Lark,” he added.

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FINANCE

Specialising in:

• Short-term Business Loans • Selective Invoice Finance • Supply Chain & Trade Finance

Whether just starting out or well established, businesses use finance for any number of reasons. Cash-flow along the supply chain is a frequent concern. Suppliers, tax liabilities and wages can’t wait.

Assets and property require funding. An extensive range of financing solutions is available, with access to lenders across the whole of the market.

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SKILLS

What will the Skills for Jobs strategy mean for businesses?

In the Skills for Jobs white paper published in January, the Government outlined its proposals to “move on from previous underestimations of further and technical education, and reinforce its pivotal role as a pathway to a bright future”. Corrina Hembury (pictured), managing director of Access Training, takes a look at what the strategy involves. he white paper puts businesses at the heart of defining local skills needs.

To share their voice, of course, employers need a clear and effective channel of communication.

It is, therefore, welcome news that the white paper explores a new role for chambers of commerce and other employer representatives.

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The white paper is split into five themes: 1. Employers at the heart of skills 2. Higher-level technical qualifications 3. Lifelong learning 4. Training providers 5. Excellent teaching As one of the East Midlands’ leading independent training providers, Access Training’s role will be pivotal in upskilling our region’s workforce over the coming years. We’ve picked out the key proposals from the strategy we think are of most interest to Chamber members:

DEFINING LOCAL SKILLS NEEDS By feeding into employer representatives like the Chamber, local employers can help shape a clear and effective roadmap on upskilling the region’s workforce, and improve productivity as a result.

It presents the opportunity to highlight skills gaps affecting productivity not only tomorrow but today, such as in care and construction.

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Acting as the bridge between employers and further education providers, chambers can play a vital role in co-designing and codelivering curricula.

Local skills improvement plans will be piloted in “trailblazer” areas in order to feed back to Government the most effective models of employer representation before wider rollout.

EMPLOYER-LED STANDARDS There will be a focus on ensuring skills provision meets skills need.

The substantial majority of post-16 technical and higher technical education and training will be aligned to employer-led standards set by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

MORE SUPPORT FOR APPRENTICESHIPS The Government’s recent reforms to apprenticeships are still seen as the “gold standard” vocational route.

Apprenticeships will focus on three key areas. Firstly, more people will be supported to begin apprenticeships, helping employers to recover from the pandemic with the skilled employees they need to grow.

Secondly, Government will continue to respond to feedback from employers to improve the programme, including by maximising use of apprenticeship funding, making it easier for larger, levypaying employers to transfer funds.

Apprenticeships received a further boost in the budget.

The Chancellor announced a raised incentive for employers to recruit new apprentices of any age.

This will be increased to £3,000 per apprentice over and above the £1,000 grant already in place for learners aged between 16 and 18.

INCREASED STATUS OF TRAINEESHIPS AS A PROGRESSION ROUTE Often under-valued, the quality of traineeships will be enhanced to better support young people to transition to apprenticeships and other occupations.

It was announced in the budget that the £1,000 per trainee incentive to employers will be extended into next year.

HIGHER-LEVEL TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS Higher-level technical qualifications are recognised as a valuable alternative to a university degree, and are accordingly worthy of investment. The new £2.5bn National Skills Fund will enhance the funding to support adults to upskill and reskill.

Backed by £95m in 2021-22, it will help all adults achieve their first full advanced (level 3) qualification as part of a new Lifetime Skills Guarantee.

The Government’s flagship Institutes of Technology programme and T Levels will be further expanded, preparing students for entry into skilled employment or higher levels of technical study, including apprenticeships.

From April 2021, the digital bootcamps will be expanded and other in-demand technical skills, such as construction, introduced.

MORE CAREERS ADVICE SUPPORT For some time now, the careers landscape has been confusing, fragmented, and unclear.

The National Careers Service website will become a single source of Government-assured careers information for young people and adults, with a particular focus on interactive careers maps.

Schools will be expected to provide independent careers guidance, from year seven onwards.

It’s encouraging that vocational training – and specifically, apprenticeships and traineeships – are recognised as playing such a pivotal role in the nation’s economic recovery. It’s now down to each of us as employers – and with the trusted support and lobbying of the Chamber – to help influence how and where skills funding is allocated in our region.

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SKILLS

Local teacher named UK’s best apprentice A Leicestershire teacher has been crowned the best apprentice in the country after a meteoric rise from learning support assistant to full-time school staff member.

Matthew Moir, 20, from Market Harborough, won the Apprentice of the Year Award at the Association of Colleges Student of the Year Awards, one of the biggest student awards in the further education calendar.

The Loughborough College student was shortlisted after rocketing through the ranks at Little Bowden Primary School, in Leicestershire, where he started last year as an apprentice but quickly found himself leading classes, working with special educational needs and disabled children.

‘Matt’s award is fully deserved and he has shown that he is a great role model’ He even became a YouTube star during the first national lockdown in March 2020 after creating a series of “stay active at home” video PE lessons for children.

Matt made such an impact during his apprenticeship at Little Bowden that he is now a permanent member of staff and, at the age of 19, was entrusted with helping develop the school’s approach to PE, leading lessons and sports clubs.

He said: “I never applied for this apprenticeship thinking I was going to end up to being nationally recognised for doing something

Matt Moir

that I do for the pure enjoyment and pride that I can make a difference in young people’s lives.”

On top of his work at the school, for which he received glowing appraisals from senior staff, Matt was also chosen as a joint group representative for Loughborough College’s school sport health and wellbeing apprenticeship.

Sunny Chavda, Matt’s tutor at the college, said: “Matt’s award is fully deserved and he has shown that he is a great role model not just for the students he teaches, but for anybody looking to take on an apprenticeship.”

Two other Loughborough College students were runners up in the awards, which were held online on 25 February. Halle Parker was a finalist in the Young Student of the Year category, while Daniel Jennings was a runner up in the HE Student of the Year category.

Pippa Culverwell and Chris Goodman

PIPPA CULVERWELL, A digital marketing apprentice at fellow Chamber member North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, was a runner-up in the Apprentice of the Year category.

Pippa, from Leicester, started her role as an apprentice for Billesdon-based print and graphic design business Soar Valley Press last year and helped to drive an eight-fold increase traffic to its website. She achieved a Chartered Institute of Marketing Level 4 qualification and, after gaining a distinction grade for her apprenticeship assessment, was promoted to a marketing coordinator role. She now leads the business on SEO, social media marketing and web design.

Soar Valley Press managing director Chris Goodman added: “We are proud of how far Pippa has come over the last year and pleased that she has been recognised in this way by the Association of Colleges.”

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PROPERTY

Pandemic and Brexit to trigger real estate shift New research indicates the pandemic and Brexit could act as catalysts for a shift in commercial property returns on investment in favour of the East Midlands.

In an RSM survey of more than 300 senior real estate experts across the UK in which respondents were asked to rate their top three regions, 70% believe the region will achieve the greatest commercial yields in the next five years.

This places the East Midlands among the top regions expected to generate the highest yields.

London (86%) maintained its position as the region set to see the greatest returns, the West Midlands (85%) came close behind, and the North West (79%) also rated highly in people’s minds.

Residential property was viewed differently, with neither the West or East Midlands featuring among the top three.

Some 86% believe the South West is the region set to see the greatest returns, followed by the South East (82%) and Yorkshire (74%).

The survey also showed that 61% of those based within the East Midlands believe changing working practices will be the largest influence on increased investment over the next five years.

The research goes on to illustrate that typical officebased roles will likely become more “remote-working” in nature, and less London and southerncentric.

‘The survey showcases our region is ready to reap the rewards of real estate investment’ Almost two-thirds (65%) believe planning reform will make a difference locally when it comes to Government policy for the sector.

Both HS2 (35%) and the Norther Powerhouse (35%) agenda carried the same belief, with over a third believing both schemes will have a similar impact.

Nationally, it seems data centres will upset the traditional order of asset classes over the coming year.

While nearly 70% of all industry experts surveyed see industrial property as the main beneficiary of investment in the next 12 months, data centres accounted for the second highest level of expected investment (56%), usurping residential property as the third most favoured asset (44%).

The private rented sector featured as the fourth most likely asset to see a boost in investment (41%).

Kelly Boorman, partner and head of real estate in the East Midlands at RSM, said: “The global pandemic and Brexit have combined to

present economic and geopolitical conditions and prospects that will change the real estate sector for good.

“Our survey supports the notion that both events could be acting as a catalyst for disrupting the traditional order of asset classes as seen with the rise of data centres – rebalancing where in the UK we will see the greatest returns on investment, particularly within the commercial sector in the East Midlands.

“The survey showcases our region is ready to reap the rewards of real estate investment, unlocking value that will only go onto stimulate economic growth for those who live, work and visit the East Midlands.”

Linby warehouse is snapped up One of the UK’s top railway contractors fought off stiff competition to take over the lease of a warehouse and office in Linby, Nottinghamshire.

QTS Group Limited has let the 25,000 sq ft space at Baxter House on a site near junctions 26 and 27 of the M1 in a deal overseen by FHP Property Consultants.

FHP director Tim Gilbertson, who worked with associate director Chris Proctor, said: “It’s yet another example of the strength of the local market. Demand ranges across all sizes and locations throughout the East Midlands in what remains a pleasingly strong market.”

Further up the motorway near J28, FHP has also marketed three newly-built units at Castlewood Business Park, in South Normanton, on behalf of Clowes Developments.

A 25,000 sq ft space was taken by CST Industries, which relocated from Alfreton, with strong interest in the other units.

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Clifton housing development site

Newton Garden Village

Nottingham site comes to market Housing could be built on a 24-acre plot of former agricultural land in Nottingham after a property agent was appointed to sell the site.

Innes England is acting on behalf of its co-owners Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham City Council to market the site on the western fringes of Clifton, which also features surplus university estate.

It has outlined planning permission for a housing development, which would be flanked by open countryside and ancient woodland.

Nearby is the Barton Green play centre and old Clifton village, while it is locates less than half a mile from shops and services, with further amenities in Clifton town centre about a mile away.

Craig Straw, director at Innes England, said the site was already generating interest from national and regional housebuilders.

“It will provide a fantastic housing scheme for families who will be able to enjoy the site’s perfect location – close to Clifton and its array of facilities, as well as Clifton village with its woodland and River Trent walks,” he said.

“This is a great time to be marketing the site, with a backdrop of a strong residential market.”

Meanwhile, Innes England has agreed a deal with housebuilder Redrow Homes to create Nottinghamshire’s first “garden village” on the former RAF Newton base.

It will build 528 homes in the second phase of development on the 250-acre site near Bingham.

Bellway and David Wilson Homes are already delivering the first phase of the scheme. The second phase will be known as Newton Garden Village and will include homes with between two and five bedrooms.

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BUSINESS NETWORK

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MOTORING

Sometimes smaller

is better

The Bentley Bentayga of old has always had the creamy-smooth, yet hugely powerful, 6.0-litre W12 engine under the bonnet, producing huge swathes of torque, a huge top speed but with a somewhat disappointing mile per gallon figure. But that has changed thanks to a makeover towards the end of last year and a new V8 has been added to the range, with a V6 plug-in hybrid also available. Motoring journalist Nick Jones tries out the latest petrol variant. aving just the 542 horsepower, the Bentley has the ability to run on just four of its eight cylinders (two from each bank that shut down) on a lightened right foot, and thus enabling it to have a dramatic effect on fuel returns and emissions.

These days, the twin-turbo V8 needs all that power to push the Bentley’s vast bulk around and have a torque figure of nearly 600lb-ft at just over 1,950 revs per minute. Despite it having twin blowers, there is no turbo lag whatsoever – just a seamless,

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effortless amount of power.

Talking of which, it still harnesses to the road via a rear-biased fourwheel drive set-up that gives Crewe’s supercar a handy, welcome advantage when the going gets slippy. The Bentayga still uses the eight-speed transmission built by ZF and can be used as a full automatic or by paddles behind the steering wheel.

Top speed for the new V8 here is 180mph, with 60 taking a scant 4.4 seconds. But it’s the fuel savings that is the real plus-point here; the previous W12 would see single figures quite easily when pushing hard, perhaps mid-teens on a

decent run. Here, the V8 still has all the power and panache an engine must have to be installed in a Bentley, yet delivers a commendable 21 miles to the gallon, with the emission figure set at 302g/km – which sees it at the top of the company car tax bracket.

I just love the styling cues the V8 has too – the front grilles are menacingly apt, and if you were to raid the options list, you could have larger alloy wheels with styling cues both inside and out to really personalise the car.

The fit and finish is exemplary, of course, and the signature “floating”

FACTFILE MODEL Bentley Bentayga V8

PRICE OTR From £151,830

PERFORMANCE Top speed: 180 miles per hour 0-60 mph: 4.4 seconds

CO2 EMISSIONS 302g/km

COMBINED MPG 21.2 mpg

LED lamps extend around the wings, giving meaning to the car’s purposeful, somewhat wide stance.

The hand-crafted interior remains sumptuous with acres of veneer, leather and woods; the fascia has been designed with a notion of symmetry, the centre console rising up to divide two epic paths of veneer, resembling the Bentley logo itself.

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INFORMATION

How to get your press release read (or ignored) by a regional newspaper website As a former regional newspaper editor, George Oliver (pictured) knows better than most how to get a press release published. Now the owner of Loughborough-based 1284 Ltd, which works with organisations on their communications strategy, media relations and stakeholder engagement, he explains how businesses should approach local and regional journalists in the modern age.

Journalists invariably take a different view as to what constitutes a story than those who send them press releases. This trend has accelerated in the slipstream of the rapid advance of digital technology since the mid2000s.

Put simply, regional newsrooms don’t work like they did 10 years ago. In fact, they don’t work like they did 10 months ago. And they will continue to change.

This is not to say that regional news websites no longer respond to useful press releases. They do.

Newsrooms are very collaborative environments – but they’re also fast-moving environments.

We asked two senior editors which submissions catch their eye among the hundreds of unsolicited emails their titles receive each day – as well as what gets ignored.

REMEMBER THAT NEWSPAPERS ARE BUSINESSES Some people assume newspapers will publish whatever they receive.

This is incorrect. Even an “oven-

Don’t expect it of journalists and their readers. Simple stakeholder mapping can address this.

IDENTIFY WHO YOU ARE PITCHING TO

ready” press release requires a journalist’s time for uploading and optimisation.

Such time could be spent on either (a) breaking news or (b) producing content that has an obvious large audience.

Submitted content should offer real value. You would not expect your colleagues or clients to engage in activity that ran counter to organisational strategy or which resulted in no benefit.

Newsrooms are undergoing almost constant change. This means the staff in newsrooms (and their roles) are changing too.

Don’t send emails to an editor addressed to their predecessor.

Don’t send directionless emails to the newsdesk and then repeatedly ring up to confirm receipt.

Instead, research who is the most appropriate person to contact. Allow them time to come back to you. If the story is interesting enough then they will do so.

DON’T TELL JOURNALISTS HOW TO DO THEIR JOBS There are few things more likely to pique a journalist’s interest than being told “that’s not a story”.

Conversely, there are few things more likely to make a journalist

switch off than a stranger telling them they have a great story.

They hear this frequently.

Instead, tell your story clearly and succinctly. Display the key detail prominently and in the subject line.

Attach contact details, pictures and video. If the story is good enough then it will sell itself.

DON’T PLAY JOURNALISTS OFF AGAINST THEIR COMPETITORS It doesn’t work. Journalists develop sources from a position of trust.

They then return to them.

Consider basic relationship marketing principles: trying to bounce local journalists does not build trust. Relationships take time to establish.

Start by offering a strong exclusive the journalist will remember. But accept their decision-making if they do not use your press release. Attempt to understand their reasoning. Then refine your future output accordingly. Collaborate.

What does the Supreme Court’s Uber ruling mean for the gig economy?

More than 45,000 Uber drivers based in the UK will be entitled to basic employment rights following a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court. Melanie Morton (pictured), legal director in Nelsons’ expert employment team, considers how this landmark ruling will change the gig economy.

Following a long-running legal battle, the Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers must be treated as workers rather than self-employed under the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Drivers engaged by Uber should now benefit from basic employment rights moving forward – including national minimum wage, rest breaks, sick pay and holiday pay. It’s thought that many workers could be entitled to an average compensation amount of £12,000 each.

However, as a result of the associated additional costs the company will have to pay its drivers, Uber may decide to adapt its current

platform. This could see the company reducing the level of control over its drivers, with a view to permitting the drivers more freedom – changing the service so it’s more akin to a genuine self-employed relationship.

The Supreme Court’s ruling could also have big ramifications for employers that engage with people using similar operational methods to Uber on digital platforms, such as Deliveroo and UberEats.

It doesn’t mean everyone who works in the gig economy will now automatically be classified as a “worker” and it will be interesting to see

how the reasoning in the judgement is applied to future employment status litigation. As with every employment law case, each one will depend on specific facts relevant to the case.

The Supreme Court decision has opened the door and could potentially lead to similar legal action by an estimated five million people in the UK who work in the gig economy.

They may now be able to use the principles put forward by the Uber drivers to claim they too should be entitled to some basic employment law protection in respect of the holiday pay and national minimum wage. business network April 2021

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COMMENT

THE LAST WORD Chamber president and ER Recruitment owner Eileen Richards MBE on the value of giving back to communities for businesses work together as region. In contrast, the CSR work done in the region shows that impact is often very effectively delivered in our own back yards. As Helen Donnellan described at the dinner, De Montfort University works within a framework of global objectives as it supports positive change for people in its locality. The young people want their time and energy to address global issues through local organisations.

My three presidential charities for 2021 are Chesterfield Samaritans, Nottinghamshire Hospice and Help the Homeless Leicester. Each has a huge impact in the community it serves.

I’ve now spoken with each of them about how the Chamber can support their fundraising this year. I’m sure they would greatly appreciate a call from your organisation too.

everal ideas struck a chord as I listened to guests discussing corporate social responsibility during my first virtual President’s dinner. Here are four thoughts which kept me reflecting in the days after the event.

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INTEGRATING CSR WITH ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES The first was Philip Webb’s observation that emerging social impact reporting trends will transform the way UK companies do business.

Are our boards prepared for this? Are we ready for CSR activity to be logged on the balance sheet? Perhaps social impact measurement might be a practical measure for integrating the developing “Build Back Better” recovery agenda into business.

As we have seen during recent Chamber member forums and idea-sharing around recovery, now is a time to be thinking about how we emerge from the pandemic. In the meantime, a more immediate way for us to focus on business impact is through developing member-to-member opportunities. I’ve been speaking with David Pearson, the Chamber’s director of partnerships, about how we can take this forward.

Meanwhile, and going back to the point of social impact reporting, my second observation has been on the importance of social value. It’s not always about money. During the dinner, Dr Nik Kotecha stressed the hugely positive effect of strategic collaboration with charities. This is supported by research by Caroline Fiennes, the director of Giving Evidence, which advises organisations on how to be effective philanthropists.

As Dr Nik described, getting those business ideas and networks around the boardroom tables of small charities can be transformative in the work they deliver in their communities. An investment of executive time can have a huge effect on small non-profit organisations. This has been seen with Capital One’s work in Nottingham and it works both ways: it means business leaders can collaborate with a local cause that aligns with their organisational and employee values.

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EMPLOYEE DEMANDS ARE CHANGING That reflection of internal employee values was insight number three from the dinner.

Workforces are changing. I wrote as much here last month, when I described how the boards I recruit for are increasingly interested in nonexecutive directors in tune with emerging external forces. It certainly makes sound business sense to be aware of such trends – and this includes internal themes.

Philip, for example, described millennial and Generation Z employees wanting to know what their organisations are doing about social challenges. Capital One’s Mick Halloran summarised how young people want purposeful employers. These young people aren’t solely activists. They aren’t simply customers or employees either. These are our leaders of the future. And, as such, it’s vital they be heard. It’s why I think the Chamber’s Generation Next network is so important. My first GN board meeting reiterated the vast human capital we have in the East Midlands. It’s so important for everyone that we take full advantage of the opportunity.

PROMOTING THE VALUE OF LOCAL After considering emerging trends, impact and the expectations of future leaders I reach my final thought on CSR. It is the value of local. The successful freeport bid has shown how we can

FREEPORT OPPORTUNITY There’s been so many words written about the successful freeport bid that there’s not a great deal for me to add (beyond reiterating, of course, that it will be transformational).

Last month, I described how the crossparty support of MPs in promoting the bid had caught my eye and left me feeling extremely positive about our region’s future.

Since then, we’ve had the freeport confirmed and, as our colleague Scott Knowles described earlier this month, a budget that was broadly business-friendly – at least for now.

The corporation tax increase is on the horizon but whether it actually happens is another matter.

In the meantime, we must remain focused on ensuring the levelling up agenda continues to benefit the East Midlands.

The freeport and the Towns Fund were fantastic gains. But let’s not lose sight of the prizes which remain up for discussion – and let’s start by getting the decision we want on the Eastern Leg of HS2.

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BUSINESS NETWORK

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