Sussex Business Times - Issue 408 2016

SBT

JANUARY 2017 ISSUE 408

SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

SBT & NATWEST ROUNDTABLE MONEY MATTERS:

EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION

THE BT BROADBAND DIVORCE SBT PROVIDES INFORMATION ABOUT THE BT AND OPENREACH SPLIT

+

THE ROLE OF THE LEVY FOR YOUR BUSINESS WE EXPLAIN WHY THE APPRENTICESHIP LEVY WILL BE GOOD FOR YOUR BUSINESS

THE BIG FUTURES SHOW

A BIGGER, BETTER FUTURE SBT SPEAKS TO LEA GILBERT, HEAD TEACHER AT GILDREDGE HOUSE, EASTBOURNE WHO EXPLAINS THE REASONS BEHIND BECOMING INVOLVED WITH THE BIG FUTURES SHOW AND THE BENEFITS OF THIS ON LOCAL SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES SERVING THE SUSSEX BUSINESS COMMUNITY SINCE 1975

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SBTWelcome MEET THE TEAM

Lee Mansfield, Managing Director/ Publisher

Clare Fermor, Operations Director

Simon Skinner, Head of Development

Jenny Ardagh, Editor

Jess Saunders, Editor

Mike Deedigan, Sales

Elliott Mansfield, Sales

Geoff Diamond, Sales

Amy Watson, Production Manager

CONTRIBUTORS

7 Vicki Hughes, MD, Fugu PR

Mark O’Halloran, Lea Gilbert, Head Teacher of Gildredge Partner, Coffin Mew House

Victoria Archer, Senior Account Manager Cobb PR

Michael Dale Brand Strategy Director at Firebrand

Ian Macara, Partner, Bennett Griffin Solicitors

The New Year usually brings with it some reminiscing on the year just passed. For some – or maybe even most – of us, in this year in particular, we would probably rather simply look ahead than look back. 2016 was politically, economically and socially challenging, but we’ve got a lot to look forward to for 2017, and confidence is on the up for SMEs in Sussex and nationwide.

SBT was involved in some pretty exciting projects throughout 2016, one of which came to a close for the year on 12th December in Brighton. Our last roundtable with NatWest of the year covered Education and Finance, proclaiming that ‘Money Matters!’ And it certainly does. We invited local schools to attend as audience members, and got a great response, talking about some prevalent topics – and gaps – that are clearly affecting young people in the education system. We wish to encourage the future workforce to manage their money wisely, not throw it away or lack the skills to invest in business ideas.

We have also partnered with Brighton Business Expo, Mum’s Enterprise and The Better Business Show, all happening in 2017 and all set to hugely benefit the Sussex business community. Read more in these pages.

Elsewhere in this issue, we cover the importance of having a human brand, and how best to market your business in a way that’s clear and advantageous to both you and your customers.

We also take a look at the divorce between BT Broadband and Openreach, and how that will deflect focus back onto the competition; what the Apprenticeship Levy can do for your business; how Black Friday impacted the retail sector this year; and we talk pensions in our finance section. It’s all about saving wisely in this issue!

In addition, see our ‘usuals’ including hotel and restaurant reviews, Ask the Experts, motoring reviews and news, and Made in Sussex - this month, Sussex Beds.

Happy New Year from the SBT Team Jenny Ardagh, Editor.

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SBTContents

Issue 408

SBT

JANUARY 2017 ISSUE 408

FREE

SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

SBT & NATWEST ROUNDTABLE MONEY MATTERS:

EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION

THE BT BROADBAND DIVORCE SBT PROVIDES INFORMATION ABOUT THE BT AND OPENREACH SPLIT

+

THE ROLE OF THE LEVY FOR YOUR BUSINESS WE EXPLAIN WHY THE APPRENTICESHIP LEVY WILL BE GOOD FOR YOUR BUSINESS

THE BIG FUTURES SHOW

A BIGGER, BETTER FUTURE SBT SPEAKS TO LEA GILBERT, HEAD TEACHER AT GILDREDGE HOUSE, EASTBOURNE WHO EXPLAINS THE REASONS BEHIND BECOMING INVOLVED WITH THE BIG FUTURES SHOW AND THE BENEFITS OF THIS ON LOCAL SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES SERVING THE SUSSEX BUSINESS COMMUNITY SINCE 1975

Cover: Lea Gilbert, Head Teacher, Gildredge House, Eastbourne The Big Future Show 2017 www.bigfuturesshow.org.uk Managing Director/Publisher: Lee Mansfield lee@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Operations Director: Clare Fermor clare@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Head of Development: Simon Skinner simon@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Sales: Mike Deedigan mike@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Elliott Mansfield elliott@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 012 Geoff Diamond geoff@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 013 Editorial: Jenny Ardagh jenny@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 011 Editorial: Jess Saunders jess@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819019 Production Manager: Amy Watson amy@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 018 Subscriptions: Linda Grace linda@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 015 Accounts: Anne Greenwood anne@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Published by Life Media Group, Unit1, Swan Barn Business Centre, Swan Barn Road, Hailsham, BN27 2BY Printed by Berforts 17 Burgess Road, Ivyhouse Lane Hastings, East Sussex, TN35 4NR 01424 722733 www.berforts.co.uk

All material in this publication is strictly copyright and all rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. The views expressed in Sussex Business Times Magazine do not necessarily represent the view of Life Media Group LTD. Every care is taken in compiling the contents but the publishers of Sussex Business Times Magazine assume no responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from the participation in any offers, competitions or advertisement contained within Sussex Business Times Magazine. All prices featured in Sussex Business Times Magazine are correct at the time of going to press.

Copyright Life Media Group LTD 2017 ©

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News

View the latest local and national business headlines.

Spending it

Whether you are starting a new fitness regime or just a start of the year detox, SBT has some great products to help you achieve your goals.

Money Matters: Thinking Pensions

SBT considers new research from Skipton Building Society and questions how you can be a bit more savings savvy.

Sussex Events

Sussex Business Times has partnered with the West Sussex Business Expo and Brighton Business Expo for 2017.

Broadband

SBT provides you with all the information you need to know on how the BT and Open Reach split might affect you as a consumer and business.

NatWest Roundtable

For the last roundtable of 2016 we highlighted the problematic situations that young people, entrepreneurs and business people alike struggle with: managing finances.

Cover Feature: The Big Future Show

SBT speaks to Lea Gilbert, Head Teacher at Gildredge house, Eastbourne and explains the reasons behind becoming involved with The BIG Futures Show.

Digital Marketing

Toby Moore, Founder of Yappa, takes us through the psychology of making your marketing strategy more human, and what difference this will make to your brand.

Tried and Tested in Sussex

SBT’s Jenny Ardagh enjoyed an over-night stay at Drakes Hotel in Brighton, while Jess Saunders had lunch at Bibendums in Eastbourne.

Chamber News

Sussex Business Times has partnered up with Chichester Chamber this month to bring you all the latest news.

Motoring

SBT test drives two new cars; The Audi A4 Avant 2.0 and the Mitsubishi L200 Single Cab Pick-up.

Ask the Experts

Local Sussex business experts advise on relevant issues.

Made in Sussex

This month’s home-grown hero is Sussex Beds.

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25/10/2016 09:15

SBTLocal News Lewes-based Accountancy Firm Welcomes New Trainees Knill James Chartered Accountants have announced the appointment of two new Trainee ACA Accountants.

Angharad Evans and Zak Holdaway have taken up their posts at the firm, which celebrates its 130th birthday next year and was recently named Lewes Business of the Year by the Lewes and District Round Table.

The pair have joined the Business Services and Audit department, undertaking accounts preparation for a variety of clients including sole traders, partnerships, LLPs and limited companies.

Kevin Powell, Senior Partner at Knill James, said: “We are committed to training newcomers into our industry and look forward to seeing Angharad and Zak develop and grow into their roles. It’s certainly an exciting time to be working at the firm as we continue to expand and the pair’s enthusiasm makes them the perfect fit for Knill James.”

For more information, visit www.knilljames.co.uk

Batcheller Monkhouse New Office Launch at Battle Funds raised for Friends of Sussex Hospices with a raffle helped to celebrate the opening of the Batcheller Monkhouse new premises in Battle.

Batcheller Monkhouse estate agents and rural chartered surveyors provides a diverse range of property and land related services, and has a strong regional presence with offices in Battle, Haywards Heath, Pulborough and Tunbridge Wells, as well as an associated London office.

Matthew Braxton, Partner, said: “We have been in the town since 1991, but

having outgrown our previous office, moving to bigger premises in a more prestigious location in the High Street was essential for the continued growth of the Battle branch.

It provides ample space and fantastic facilities located in the heart of Battle High Street. The new office marks the next stage in the development for Batcheller Monkhouse and we look forward to this continuing.”

For more information, visit www.batchellormonkhouse.com

Richard Place Dobson Raises Over £4000 for St Catherine’s Hospice One of Sussex’s firms of Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors, Richard Place Dobson has raised £4,059.48 for St Catherine’s Hospice in a series of fundraising activities for the charity’s annual Dragon Boat Festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival, which took place on Sunday 4th September, gave local businesses the opportunity to compete in a series of dragon boat races in order to raise money for St Catherine’s.

As well as competing in the Dragon

Boat race itself in Ghostbusters fancy dress, over the last few months Richard Place Dobson have held a charity car wash, bake sale and quiz night with all profits going to the hospice. They managed to raise more than £1,500 over their original target of £2,500.

Director at Richard Place Dobson, Matthew Tyson said: “Our target was for £2,500 but our staff, clients and contacts have been brilliant in supporting our effort.”

Parker Building Supplies Scoops Top Training Awards Parker Building Supplies has won two prestigious awards for its commitment to training. The firm, which has branches throughout Sussex and Kent, was named Training Company of the Year at the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) annual Members’ Day Awards, and was also presented with the Training Intiative of the Year at the Builders Merchants News Awards.

The two awards topped off a great year for the company, as in early 2016 it opened the first merchant training

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academy, which runs as an active branch based in Newhaven.

Shelly Hodges, Parker Building Supplies’ Learning and Development Manager, said: “We are over the moon to have won these awards. It is a reward for all the hard work that has been put in from initially setting the courses up to everyone attending, and completing their individual levels. I think the most rewarding part of the whole process is seeing the progress people have made from start to finish.”

Local Awards Success Scientific Instrument Firm Wins Export Business of the Year and Business of the Year Scientifica, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of scientific instrument, is celebrating after winning the Export Business of the Year Award by DHL and the award for Business of the Year at the British Chambers of Commerce’s annual Chamber Awards. As a prize, Scientifica will be invited to open the London Stock Exchange on the 13th March 2017, the day the Chamber Business Awards 2017 are launched.

Midnight Triumphs with Corporate Communications Award Midnight Communications has taken home a silver award for the best Corporate and Business Communications Campaign at the recent CIPR PRide Awards 2016.

The consultancy has been recognised for its outstanding work in the South of England and Channel Islands

region for law firm, Thomas Eggar. Midnight has built a reputation for excellence in B2B PR with several recent client wins, as well as a loyal client base, including Coffin Mew Solicitors, Knill James Chartered Accountants, Howden and Crown Worldwide.

South East Firm Wins Technology Award

Yelo Architects Wins Professional Services Award Brighton-based Yelo Architects has also been named Professional Services Company of the Year. The architectural practice beat off stiff competition from construction and property consultants, Robinson Low Francis, and independent financial advisors, Juno Wealth Management. The judges were impressed with the investment Yelo makes in its staff and the genuine passion it shows for the projects it takes on. It has also developed some unique software in-house, which will help visualise new projects in the future. The company was also narrowly beaten in the Best Employer category.

Groundsure, a South East-based business that provides assessments for commercial and residential sales and developments, is also celebrating after winning the Best Use of Technology award, sponsored by BT. The judging panel praised Groundsure for its user-friendly online system that saves significant time and money on all their land and property transactions, in addition to creating a new responsive website that provides customers with greater accessibility and ease of use.

ILG Wins Company of the Year Award ILG has won the award for Company of the Year at the annual Sussex Business Awards. The Sussexbased business has gone from strength to strength in recent years and has been particularly successful in attracting clients from the fashion and beauty sector, with Charlotte Tilbury, This Works and Self Portrait outsourcing their fulfilment to them.

Impressive growth combined with a culture that put employees at the heart of the business, outstanding customer feedback and a CSR strategy were the features that resulted in ILG’s success.

MR Solutions wins Made in the South East Award for Innovation Guildford based MR Solutions’ heliumfree preclinical MRI imaging scanners won the Innovation Award at the Made in the South East Awards evening held at the Hilton Hotel Gatwick in November 2016. MR Solutions is the only company in the world to offer a range of commercially available preclinical MRI imaging scanners from 3T to 9.4T, which does not require liquid helium. These scanners, which are the size of a desk, can be wheeled into a laboratory, whereas previous helium cooled models usually need their own room and substantial building modifications.

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SBTNational News British Chamber of Commerce Warns that UK’s Current GDP Growth Rate won’t Last

The British Chamber of Commerce expects GDP to grow by 2.1% this year, up from the 1.8% it forecast just three months ago, however uncertainty over the UK’s EU relationship and high inflation is likely to “dampen medium term growth.”

Research found that business output rose for the first time in November after 17 months of decline.

Although it has been said that, for now, the UK economy has stabilised “in a lower gear” than it had been running at before the referendum, business optimism is continuing to fall and a “bumpy road ahead in 2017 for British businesses and the economy” is expected.

The pound has fallen by around 15% against the dollar since the referendum, and the BBC expects this to push up inflation and hit consumer spending as wage growth is “eroded” by higher prices, with BBC General Director, Dr Adam Marshall saying: “Lower sterling and rising inflation are now starting to affect business communities and consumers across the UK.”

ASOS to Create New Next Shopping On 1,500 Mobile ToJobs TopOver £53bn Three Years By 2024 Asos will hire an extra 1,500 people over the next three years as it plans to expand its London operation, where 2,500 people are currently employed.

The online fashion retailer has said it has added 40,000 square feet to its Camden headquarters and will spend approximately £40 million on renovating the building.

Many people had believed this was to do with the aftermath of the Brexit

vote, however Nick Beighton, Chief Executive of Asos said: “The decision is nothing to do with Brexit. These plans had been put together pre-June 23rd.”

He continued: “Asos is a mixture of fashion, technology, creative and design capability all in one place. There are very few places where you get that hotspot for those talents in one place, so London’s very good for that.”

Confidence Rebounds as Landlords Move to Limit Impact of Tax Changes Landlords’ confidence is at its highest in a year, with 54% of investors confident over the prospects for their portfolios, according to a survey of 900 property investors, run in association with BDRC Continental. This is a marked recovery from the second quarter of 2016, when confidence hit a record low (39%) as a direct result of higher stamp duty charges.

Property investors have taken action to mitigate the additional tax costs

they will face when tax relief is lowered on mortgage interest payments for individuals. This has seen landlords increasingly turn towards incorporation, and borrowing through a company structure, where finance costs can still be offset against rental income. Kent Reliance’s analysis shows that there has already been more than 100,000 limited company loans issued in the first nine months of 2016, double the total amount in the whole of 2015.

Neva Consultant Tops Year of Growth with Two Awards for Excellence in Leasing Neva Consultants will end a successful 2016 having snapped up the Best Leasing Broker in the 1000-4000 vehicle sales category and jointly winning the Best Leasing Broker Customer Service (up to 4000 vehicles) Award.

The Awards are presented by the Leasing Broker Federation, an independent membership organisation that supports and promotes leasing brokers across the UK. Judges were impressed by Neva’s consultative approach, dedicated

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support teams, its full range of products to service a multitude of sectors and requirements, and its unique C-Fleet online fleet management system to keep fleet managers and drivers updated on all aspects of their vehicle.

Chair of the judges, David Brennan, Chief Executive of Nexus Vehicle Management, said: “This long established leasing broker continues to develop its products, services and added value offering to business and personal customers. New contracts and their fleet

size portfolio continue to grow, re-affirming that Neva’s approach is working year on year.”

Black Friday 2016

Black Friday 2016:

The Aftermath

The now annual Black Friday event has become a manic time for retailers across the country and here, Sussex Business Times gives you a rundown of the facts and figures from last year’s prechristmas deals rush The term “Black Friday” became such a thing back in the Insight 1960s as a way of marking the kick off of the Christmas Shopping season.

“Black” refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black”, back when accounting records were kept by hand and red ink indicated a loss, while black indicated a profit. Although Black Friday is an originally American event, the UK has welcomed it with open arms, and this year, we’ve seen even more of an evolution, causing it to be the key trading period in the UK retail calendar.

In previous years, Black Friday has been somewhat of a sham, causing complete chaos for many stores and outlets.

However, it seems both retailers and manufacturers had learnt from previous years and this year used this knowledge to implement what has been a much more orderly event; there were very few examples of websites crashing and stores in general saw a controlled shopping day.

But what we really want to know as a business society, are the facts and figures of this year’s event profit-wise.

Research conducted by GfK indicated that price changes this year were not even nearly as extreme as they were during last year’s Black Friday event; from their Online Pricing Intelligence, they counted 71,000 price changes on Black Friday 2015 in comparison to the previous day, whereas this year saw just 16,000 on Black Friday versus Thursday, which shows that retailers were already using sales promotions previous to the big day. Additionally, during the week of Black Friday, the total market grew by 6% overall in value – fuelled by online sales increasing by 21%, causing an overwhelming 48% of the total sales

Friday, causing 22.7% value growth now going through the internet. GfK’s week on week, with almost 40% of this research also shows that the highest growth coming through internet sales. growth areas came from technology Additionally, in other areas, dental care products, with one of this year’s best recorded a 33% increase this year, performers being smart audio products, handstick vacuums were up 40% and and one of the most popular products wearables 60% being the multiroom speakers. This area Head of Retail at GfK, Michael in particular grew 182% year on year in value, while another area of strong growth McLaughlin concludes: “Black Friday week has again included large recorded growth, screen TVs (60 “Online has taken a although less in inches or above), further slice of pie, percentage terms which recorded a than previous years.

135% increase. and based on this, Online has taken a The homewares could realistically further slice of pie, market performed be well over half the and based on this, quite differently could realistically to the electrical market next year” be well over half the markets during this market next year. As year’s Black Friday - Head of Retail at GfK, Michael always, questions event, with a 2.1% McLaughlin now turn into how decline in value retail will perform in comparison over the Christmas period, and with the to last year. Despite this, there were added complexity of Brexit and declining certain areas of growth; candles were up consumer confidence as we reported just under 13% and furniture up almost earlier this week, it will certainly be an 4%. The week itself was significantly interesting time ahead.” busier than the week prior to Black

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New Year, New You Whether you are starting a new fitness regime or just a start of the year detox, SBT has some great products to help you achieve your goals

THE RX800 Rowing works the upper and lower body, and focuses on core strength whilst keeping your heart rate up. You’ll see your energy output on the on-screen watts meter, perfectly displayed for every user in your household with an innovative adjustable console angle. The RX800 is ergonomically designed for comfort, with an oversized molded seat made with superior padding. You can also move to the beat of your favourite workout music with an iPod-compatible sound system built into the console.

PERFECT7 WOMAN AND MAN

RRP from £699.

NordicTrack.co.uk

FLIPBELT Perfect for a runner, walker or gym goer.

FlipBelt holds all your running essentials snug around your waist with no bulk and no bounce. Slip your keys, money, phone and snacks inside your FlipBelt and you are good to go. RRP from £25. www.flipbelt.co.uk

PILL ORGANISER AND WATER BOTTLE This smart, sleek bottle combines a weekly pill organiser and water bottle to wash down your tablets, whether you are on the go, travelling or working at your desk. £17.95. www. designed2enable. co.uk

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YOGI DETOX WITH LEMON TEA Yogi Detox with Lemon Tea has been created to help you feel fresh and rejuvenated.

It contains bitter dandelion with Sweet Liquorice and Spicy Ginger. £2.39. www.discountsupplements. co.uk

Perfect7 Woman and Man is a blend of Natural Source Marine Oil with Omega-3 plus essential multivitamins and minerals. The special formula provides effective absorption of nutrients in your body’s cells to support you from the inside as you get older. £10.49. www.seven-seas.com

AMAZON ECHO Echo is a smart speaker that you control just by using your voice, say the wake word “Alexa” and she’ll answer general knowledge questions, set timers, tell you the weather, play music and radio, order items from Amazon and more. £149.99. www.amazon.co.uk

ALTRA IQ RUNNING SHOES The Altra IQ running shoes powered by iFit provide ‘coaching in a shoe’, communicating all the information runners need to improve their technique and avoid injury. The running shoes have razor-thin sensors embedded in their soles which gather intelligence on the full range of running biomechanics, from foot strike and ground contact time to running cadence and pace. The sensor system feeds back a personal running form critique, via Bluetooth, to the iFit app or iFit tracker watch, just like a coach, to help runners improve every run. Designs in pink and blue.

Expected RRP £149, available soon at NordicTrack.co.uk

THE ALIVECOR KARDIA BAND The Kardia Band allows you to measure your heart rhythm with a quick touch of sensors on the watch band and can instantly reveal if your heart rhythm is normal or irregular. Data is recorded at medical grade, meaning it is so accurate it can be shared with a medical professional. It operates directly with the Apple Watch via the Kardia app (downloadable from the Apple App Store) and can immediately sync your heartrate analysis with other devices such as a tablet or iPhone.

The band is perfect for a tech savvy audience: • It’s the next step in wearable tech – providing heart rhythm data at medical grade • It’s ideal for time-poor high flyers who need to monitor their heart health without frequent trips to their GP (readings can be shared directly with health professionals removing the need for in-surgery ECGs) • It’s optimised for the Apple Watch v.2 so is perfect for Apple Watch fans looking to get even more out of their device. RRP £199.00. www.alivecor.com

SPORTFUL REFLEX CYCLING JACKET Wind and light rain resistant jacket with excellent visibility. 360 degree reflective printing ensure you can be seen when riding in low light visibility.

The jacket is made from tough and durable ripstop fabric to ensure the thin material is long lasting. £28.00. www.merlincycles.com

HIGH WAISTED PATTERNED GYM LEGGINGS Take on the world in these bold design 3/4 length Jazzy Leggings. Great for everything from yoga to weights.

Designed to be supportive, but breathable. It features a highstretch, fast wicking fabric with breathable mesh panels, flat-locked seams, soft-touch waistband and a zipped security pocket. £65.00 www.boudavida. com

URBANISTA BOSTON WIRELESS EARPHONES The new Urbanista Boston earphones are designed to give users that extra push during a workout, offering strong bass and impeccable clarity. Wireless and with Bluetooth, sports fans won’t get tangled up in wires while on the go and a comfortable silicon wing on the earpiece provides a secure fit. A unique construction also makes them water resistant, so they’re great for using in the rain or when a workout gets sweaty! Boston works with Android, iOS and Windows. (Available in blue, black, pink & orange) £59.99. www.carphonewarehouse.com

WATTBIKE The world’s most advanced bike that caters for beginners to professional athletes and is ideal for people who want to be the best that they can be.

This is an indoor bike which replicates the smooth feel of the road and measures your performance with precise, intelligent data. £2250.00. wattbike.com www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 11

“EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE OPTION FOR DEVELOPING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS”

M L I F / Y H P A R G O T PHO S E C I V R E S D N A O I STUD Studio and services include: • Unbeatable rates • Private/dry hire or full creative team available • Corporate films on location or studio based • Editing suite will full Adobe Creative Cloud • Complete team on hand to assist • Production team on site • Comprehensive kit list • Make up/changing area for styling • Free Wifi • Lounge area with refreshment facilities & fridge • Male/female toilets • Studio and equipment rental or full creative team available

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SHOOTING PORTRAITS, FAMILIES, PETS, PRODUCTS LARGE AND SMALL, OR FOR PRIVATE RENTAL

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S

Thinking Pensions

We all know saving for the future is important, yet nearly half of the UK still are underprepared or not prepared at all for retired life.

SBT considers new research from Skipton Building Society and questions how you can be a bit more savings savvy

New research by the Skipton Building Society has recently Finance found that nearly half (48%) of UK consumers aren’t saving for their retirement. The research demonstrates how a large proportion of the public are significantly underprepared for their retirements, after monitoring the retirement savings behaviours of over 6,000 UK consumers. Through the tracker methodology these consumers are grouped into five distinct “savings” categories according to household income, how much they are using to fund their retirement and retirement preparedness.

Skipton’s data shows that UK consumers are most likely to fall into the ‘Ostrich mentality’ category when it comes to saving for their retirement, with this group not saving for their retirement or their savings are falling short, and don’t have anything in addition to the State Pension.

When asked why they weren’t saving appropriately for the future, two-thirds

(66%) of this category admitted they choose not to save because they can’t afford to. However, of those with savings that are currently falling short, 38% believe they’ll be nowhere near their savings target by the time they retire.

When looking at the UK as a whole, this mentality is certainly widespread. More than half of nonretirees (51%) have not yet saved anything to fund their retirement and half (49%) have no idea how much they need. When it comes to saving, over a third (38%) of people surveyed said they can’t afford to save and 13% admit they choose not to.

In comparison, just 6% of the people surveyed have been categorised as having a more sophisticated portfolio with a broad range of investments and savings. Nearly half (47%) of the group are saving to fund their retirement through a Cash ISA, over one third (37%) through

a personal pension, and 32% through stocks and shares investments.

Across the rest of the UK, Skipton’s data shows that it is a mixed picture when it comes to retirement saver types, but overall it seems that a worrying proportion of the UK simply aren’t looking ahead. According to the latest YouGov research commissioned by credit information provider, Equifax, almost a third of Southerners (32%) in particular are very or fairly concerned about not being able to meet their financial commitments in 2017, let alone saving for their retirement. The new research also revealed that 30% of Brits think their financial situation will worsen next year; only 15% believe it will be better. So, we need to start thinking smarter about saving in this financially difficult time.

“30% of Brits think their financial situation will worsen next year; only 15% believe it will be better”

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Money Matters

Here are some starting points:

1

Find out how much money you will need to fund your retirement

Even though retirement may seem a way off, calculating just how much you need is the best way to begin tackling the issue. If you are unsure where to start, it creates a road map for your financial future. Many people tend to overestimate how much they’ll need.

2

Set a savings target

The way to overcome this is to break down this sizeable goal into smaller, more achievable savings targets.

You are much more likely to achieve your goals if they seem realistic and reachable, and smaller annual or monthly targets help to do that. What about the 50/20/30 rule? This rule helps you to build a budget by using three spending categories. 50% of your income goes towards living expenses and essentials, 20% goes towards financial goals and savings, and 30% can be used for more flexible spending and non-essentials. This will put you ahead of the 51% of adults who aren’t saving anything towards their retirements, and the 49% of UK adults who have no idea how much they’ll need to save to fund their retirements.

3

Start now

Small changes to spending habits could make your targets a less of a scary, futuristic goal and more of a reality. One way to start this is to review the outgoings listed on your bank statement, or keeping a spending diary. An audit of your personal finances will reveal many of the non-essential expenses eating into your savings. Some of the most common expenses people say they would definitely sacrifice in retirement include television packages (45%), gym memberships (45%) or nonessential insurance policies (40%).

It could be worth taking a minute to consider whether there are any of these things you could afford to sacrifice before you retire.

4

It’s never too late

When retirees were asked in Skipton’s survey about the sacrifices they had made since retiring, some of the most common ones were going out less (33%) and spending less on clothing (33%). Spending less, however, doesn’t have to mean that you miss

14 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

out. For example, take advantage of seasonal sales when buying clothes, so you don’t need to compromise on quality. When planning days and nights out time your cinema trips so that you see cheaper off-peak screenings, and check online for discount codes before making purchases.

5

Seek financial advice

It’s important to learn more about your options and find the method or product that suits you. Are you someone who likes a hands-on approach to saving, or do you prefer a more automated process?

6

Two heads are better than one

Financial advice doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg. Use the internet, or another option is to reach out to relatives who have already retired. Get in touch with retired family members and find out what financial products they use, the sacrifices they’ve had to make since retiring, and how they went about their planning.

R&D Tax Relief: Is Your FOMO Going to get taste the Better of Youwith in 2017?

Great of success R&D Tax Relief for brewers of craft beers

Did you dust off your New Year’s resolutions? Did you put making a claim for Research and Development Tax Relief somewhere near the top. No? Why on earth not?

In hindsight, 2016 should have been a year It’smany not just technology companies for people running a and smallmanufacturing or mediumthat business can apply sized to for fear,R&D whatTax withRelief. the Entrepreneurial uncertainty surrounding Brexit andthousands the falling of pounds brewers can now claim back pound.

Despite all, the backbone of the and development against costs itconnected with research British economy stuck out it’s stiff upper lip, projects. Brewing is a competitive industry which “kept calm and carried on”.

Could you have constantly has to address the public’s thirst for new done any better?

avours and products. In an environment like this, opportunities to research raw ingredients and try out new Fear Of Missing Out production methods andwhether taste combinations are almost Nobody likes to “miss out”, it’s the inexhaustible. latest tech gadget or Bob’s Christmas Party, but when it comes to your business just think howBulteel, much better could have if Simon fromitCooden Taxbeen Consulting, is an R&D you’d listened to your fear time last year. tax relief specialist.

He this recently discussed how this tax

The Hackney Brewery is another good example of a business that could examine recouping costs for R&D. Brewers Tristram Stuart and Jon Swain spent time developing Toast Ale. They source left over fresh bread from artisan bakeries, then slice, toast and mash it, adding the breadcrumbs to malted barley, a mixture of hops, yeast and water. Prots from the sale of the ale, which is stocked in a number of different outlets in the UK, go to Feedback, an environmental organisation that campaigns to end food waste.

Inventive brewers can contact Simon at Cooden Tax Consulting for R&D Tax Relief advice relief can be applied to brewers of various sizes with (www.coodentaxconsulting.co.uk). He works directly with Was it Beer “the Fear of Failure and Wells Brewery in Bedford Craft World.

The Charles businesses, as well as via Accountants, Solicitors and Uncertainty?” are a wonderful example of precisely the sort of project Patent Attorneys. Simon will ascertain if you are eligible “It’ll Cost Too Much!”

With an average claim for an SME There’s less to fear if you use an expert to that could qualify for R&D Tax Relief. Master Brewer for this specic tax relief and undertake the claim No fear! We offer a free no obligation business valued at over £50,000, if you’ve claim R&D Tax Relief! The level of uptake Chris Read spent “…a lot of time researching brewing process for you.

He is currently a no claim meeting, and processing our “no claim, fee”for a been doing R&D without knowing it, think and successful claims continues. Our own archives, looking for traditional malt and hop recipes and hop processor that also manufactures hop products guarantee, really does take away thefor fear what more you could be doing! We work clients have claimed in excess of £1.5m in working out how best to evolve them for modern tastes”. the brewing industry. ofCooden failure. Consulting has with businesses just like yours to help 2016 with a 100% success rate. Nationally, He £2.45bn then went onclaimed to the by development with his raw they are entitled successfully get what to. This helped businesses with claims between £3k over was over 20,000 work them Don’t let 2017 be another YOMO get isn’tSimcoe a “tax dodge”, it is part the tax different businesses. ingredients and “arrived at a blend of Galaxy, andof£300k. started on your claim now! #CallSimon legislation and is a key incentive in driving and Goldings Hops, alongside various lighter malts, to Britain towards being the “Innovation Your Fear Could Deliver a Free Cash Which business owner wouldn’t raise a glass to that? create a traditionally bitter and hoppy IPA with a soft, www.coodentaxconsulting.co.uk Nation”.

Flow Boost! modern, tropical avour.”

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT TAX RELIEF SPECIALISTS GLASS TOYOMO, DON’T’RAISE LET 2017ABE ANOTHER RELEASE YOURFROM INNER FOMO, CASH BACK HMRC TALKCOODEN TO US ABOUT R&D TAX RELIEF Call TAX CONSULTING NOW!

OVER £1.5M CLAIMED LAST YEAR

100% Success No Claim, No Fee Call us on: 01424 225 345

@CoodenConsults

Office 10

Charter House

email us on: info@coodentaxconsulting.co.uk

www.coodentaxconsulting.co.uk www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

43 St Leonards Road

Bexhill on Sea

East Sussex TN40 1JA

15

Tax Return

Getting Ready for the January 31st Tax Return Deadline

Sussex Business Times got into contact with David Sanders, Partner at Sheen Stickland accountants who explains the ways in which you can fully prepare yourself for the January 31st tax return

There is so much preoccupying our minds during Tax January with personal and financial New Year’s Resolutions, so it’s of little surprise that people forget that there is another important date to remember; 31st January – the deadline to file tax returns and for payment of any tax due.

Completing a tax return can seem like a complex task and many people may choose to put it off until the last minute.

According to HMRC, over 1.3m returns were submitted in the last three days of January 2016, with the busiest day being the 29th.

However, it doesn’t always have to be like that. Below are a few tips and advice that can make the whole process less of a burden at this time of year.

1) Register in time – If you are new to self-assessment then you should have registered with HMRC by 5th October.

For future reference, to register then you need to visit www.hmrc.gov.uk.

2) Be organised - We all know that life can be hectic enough without thinking about filing and admin at home. But it can be little things such as filing bank statements away in a folder each month or keeping receipts together in a box that will be beneficial in the long run.

With everything in one place, it makes it easier to find it and saves you hunting high and low for a receipt for something you bought a year and a half ago.

3) Make time for your finances –

16 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

Probably the most daunting task is realising that you suddenly have to collate data from over 12 months ago and turn it into a reliable tax return.

However, you can make life a lot easier if throughout the year; you set aside some time each month, even if it’s just one hour, to update your books. If you are a sole trader, it is worth considering an accounting package like Xero that will do the hard work for you.

4) Be prepared for your tax payments – The common situation with last minute tax returns is that people forget that not only is the return due by 31st January but so is their tax liability which can cause unnecessary worry and panic. However, if you do your return early enough, this gives you time to plan your payments and set aside money for your future tax bill. It is also worth mentioning that if your tax bill is over £1,000 then you are required to make payments on account – so be aware that

as well as your tax liability, you will need to pay an extra 50% on top of that.

5) Ask for advice – If you are unsure of whether you need to complete a tax return or what should be included, don’t be afraid to ask. There are many complex areas such as capital gains, investments and trading losses that you may not fully understand. Similarly, there may be reliefs available to you that you are not aware of and this is where professional advice is valuable.

Here at Sheen Stickland we have a team of tax experts who are willing to provide advice and discuss your tax return concerns with you. We are also able to prepare and file your tax return on your behalf if required.

For more information on selfassessment and filing deadlines, please feel free to contact us on enquiries@sheen-stickland.co.uk

What has Cottage Cheese got to do with your Leadership?

If you can answer that question I will be impressed! If you Advertorial can’t, then make sure you read on!

If you do know the answer it probably means that you are a fan of the great book by one of my all-time gurus/ heroes, Jim Collins. His famous books are renowned for being massive ‘go to’ references when leading an organisation from where it is, to where you really want it to be. His books are on the ‘must read’ list if you are serious about making an impact and achieving excellent results.

A book I encourage all my clients to get to grips with and apply the learning from is “Good to Great”. It’s a truly helpful guide to what it takes to transform your business to the higher limits of success.

There are six key elements to the core principle of the ‘flywheel model’.

I’m not going to go into the whole book now, but I do want to draw your attention to the key nugget I alluded to in the heading.

“What’s cottage cheese got to do with it?” I hear you cry!

Well it’s quite simple really. Collins tells the story of the impact of leadership and

consistently good results in a hugely the matter of those disciplined people demanding activity – it’s because he who make an organisation great. doesn’t leave it to chance, and neither Collins explains that the business should leaders. We all can benefit from is driven by excellent systems, which constantly improving the odds by working in turn, are driven by the right kind of at those incremental subtleties that make disciplined people, who think and behave the difference. in the right kind of disciplined way.

What about how you greet your team?

One character Collins skilfully uses How much attention to detail do you pay to illustrate the point of a disciplined to the achievers and the not so good approach is Dave Scott - a six times achievers? Do Hawaii triathlon swoop in like a champion who, “There is an important you seagull when things every day, cycles lesson here for all aren’t good, but fail 75 miles, swims to notice when great 20,000 meters leaders who desire work is produced? and runs 17 miles. outstanding results.

Or do you avoid He is serious paying attention about his craft The clue is in the to detail to poor and practises it a attention to living by performance and lot, although that the habits, rituals and hope it goes away? amount of activity You know you need will burn calories, routines” to relentlessly ensure no trouble. that the quality of However, Dave work is at the right standard – but when pays attention to detail and is disciplined. it’s not - what do you do about it?

He makes sure to rinse his cottage Leadership is about movement, i.e. cheese to eliminate the excess fat. It’s moving your people and your business the discipline of the habits, rituals and forward to an improved performance. If routines that he lives by. It’s harder for you’d like to find out more about growing him to NOT be a master of his craft than your business through expert leadership it is for him to be it. then please call. Together we can build a There is an important lesson here culture where your leadership goes from for all leaders who desire outstanding operational to inspirational. Build the right results. The clue is in the attention to habits, rituals and routines to take your living by the habits, rituals and routines. leadership further.

It’s not by chance that Dave can achieve

T: 01323 332316 or 01424 830000 W: www.bespoketrainingeastbourne.com E: Rachel@bespoketrainingeastbourne.com

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 17

Irwin Mitchell

Getting Rid of the Gender Pay Gap

Sussex Business Times got into contact with law firm, Irwin Mitchell to discuss the ways in which businesses can identify a gender pay gap within their business and the steps to take if this is the case

Is there a gender pay gap anywhere in your organisation?

Legal Not sure? Then you are not alone, but if you employ 250 employees or more you will be expected to find out by taking a snap shot of your workforce on 5 April 2017 and to publish the findings within a year.

What is a gender pay gap?

This is a term used to describe any difference in the average pay of all women and men. In 2015, the gap was 9.4% for full-time employees and 19.2% for all employees.

Which employers are affected?

Both private and voluntary sector employers with a workforce of 250 or more are required to comply with the duty. Public sector employers will be subject to separate regulations which have not yet been published.

18 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

The requirement to have at least 250 employees is judged on 5 April each year starting from 2017. This is known as the “snapshot date”.

Are all employees counted?

Only “relevant employees” are counted on the snapshot date and these include employees and workers (including those engaged directly as consultants and independent contractors). This is a wide definition and will bring more employers into the scope of the regulations.

What information has to be provided?

Employers must publish: • Overall gender pay gap figures calculated using both the mean and median average hourly pay for “full pay relevant employees”. As a result, any employee receiving a reduced rate of pay during the relevant pay period (basically, April each year) because they are on leave is excluded. Leave includes family related absence (maternity, paternity etc), sickness and even annual leave if the

worker receives less than their normal pay.

• The numbers of men and women working across each of four pay bands.

• The mean and median gender bonus gap for their organisation and details of the proportion of men and women who received a bonus over a 12 month period.

What counts as ordinary pay?

Pay includes basic pay, paid leave (provided it is at the same rate as full pay), shift premium pay, some allowances and bonuses. Bonus payments will only have to be included to determine the hourly rate calculations if they are paid in April.

If they are paid in some other month, the bonus will drop out of the hourly rate pay calculations altogether.

Pay does not include overtime pay, redundancy pay or payments relating to the termination of employment, payments in lieu of taking leave and non monetary benefits.

Irwin Mitchell

What about bonuses?

Payments received linked to productivity, performance or commission earned have to be included. In addition, benefits received in the form of securities, securities options and interests in securities are also included in the definition.

How is the pay gap calculated?

To generate average earnings figures unaffected by the number of hours worked, employers will need to calculate an hourly rate of pay for each relevant employee. The regulations set out in precise detail how this should be tackled.

Weekly pay is determined using gross weekly pay divided by the employee’s normal working hours where applicable, and adopting a 12 week reference period for employees whose working hours vary from week to week. Weeks where the employee does no work are not counted (but oddly are, where at least an hour’s work is done).

Employers do not have to obtain pay data for all relevant employees. An exception has been created which applies to employees who have a contract personally to do work, if the employer does not have the information required to compile the data and it is not reasonably practicable to obtain it. This recognises that employers may not be able to gather information for workers who are not on their normal payroll systems.

Employers must identify quartiles for the overall pay range. This requires: 1. Determining the hourly rate of pay for all full pay men and women and listing these in order from the lowest to the highest paid.

2. Dividing that list from top to bottom into four groups containing equal numbers of employees.

3. Calculating the percentage of male and female full pay relevant employees in each of the quartiles.

When is the first report due?

Organisations have a year from the first snapshot date of 5 April 2017 to publish their results. This means that the final

Leon Deakin, Senior Associate, Irwin Mitchell

Pay period Pay is calculated over a specific reference period which includes the 5 April each year. The reference period reflects the employee’s pay dates. For example, the pay period for an employee paid monthly will be April.

date for publication is 4 April 2018.

Thereafter, reports have to be published annually.

The requirement to publish information about bonuses requires businesses to look backwards over the preceding 12 months, which means that decisions that you make now (or may have already made) will be subject to scrutiny.

Where do we have to publish this information?

On a searchable UK website that is accessible to the public as well as to your website. The information must be retained for three years.

In addition, employers will also have to upload the information to a government sponsored website (which is likely to display the information in some sort of league table). This has not yet been set up.

Can we opt out?

No. Whilst businesses will not be financially penalised for failing to produce this information, the government has said that it will run “periodic checks”, produce sector based tables and it is also considering “naming and shaming” those organisations that do not comply. If it does so, businesses that do not comply are likely to face reputational damage.

What are the risks to our business if our report shows disparity between the pay of men and women?

There might be perfectly good reasons for this including the fact that more men hold the most senior roles or more women work part time in your organisation. This is not unlawful.

However, if you discover that there is a difference between pay within specific roles and grades, you will need to undertake further work to ascertain the reasons for it. If these relate to gender, then your organisation will be vulnerable to an equal pay claim.

Leon Deakin Senior Associate T: 01293 742739 E: leon.deakin@irwinmitchell.com

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 19

Money Matters

SAVE THE DATE! The West Sussex Business Expo will be taking place on Thursday 25th May 2017 at Fontwell Park Racecourse, from 10am till 4pm.

The Brighton Business Expo will be taking place on Thursday 5th October 2017 at Brighton Racecourse, from 10am till 3pm.

B2B Expos in Sussex

Sussex Business Times has partnered with the West Sussex Business Expo and Brighton Business Expo for 2017. We will be bringing you all the information you need to know about both events over the coming months, but for now here’s a little introduction…

Over the last few years, B2B Expos have attracted over Sussex 1,000 exhibitors and Events over 10,000 delegates and, at a time where business-to-business relations are essential to a company’s growth and prosperity, it’s no wonder!

Whether you’re an existing business looking to grow, a start up looking for your first ‘in’, or an already wellestablished business wanting to keep up appearances, shows and exhibitions are the essential ingredient to building brand confidence, identifying and growing your audience or customer profile, and also clocking your services against others in your field.

All B2B Expos, including the West Sussex Business Expo and Brighton Business Expo, are free to attend, with a range of seminars, keynote speakers, high-speed networking opportunities and a hub of activity to enjoy. Both these events will be packed with an

exceptional list of quality exhibitors, all offering industry-leading services and advice across a multitude of professional sectors, so be sure to book your free tickets today. Equally, exhibitor stands are booking up fast, so if you want to be at the heart of the upcoming West Sussex Business Expo and buy a stand package - including exhibition list, delegate lists, social media marketing, online promotion, a welcome pack and much more – get in touch.

Why exhibit?

The formula for these B2B events is proven to be successful; tried and tested to help businesses to reach a wider customer base. With between 500 – 1,000 visitors, exhibiting your company’s products and services is the ideal way to put your company in front of your target marketing – ahead of your competitors.

Putting yourself on a stand alongside your fellow businesses helps to accelerate your lead and sales generation, plus collecting business cards from as many

01273 286133 or 07885 490266 Email: mike@monkmarketing.com 20 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

Events in Sussex

B2Bexpos

WEST SUSSEX BUSINESS EXPO 2017 FLOOR PLAN

FONTWELL PARK RACECOURSE (SET-UP DATE: 21 MAY, LIVE DATE(S): 22 MAY)

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This floorplan is subject to change at the discretion of the event organisers NOT TO SCALE

exhibitors and visitors as you can at the business show ensures a full database for newsletters, sales emails and special offers.

These events help businesses to discover what local businesses really want from you and also help you to align your business with some of the region’s most successful companies. Have a look at the floor plans to see where would be best for your business stand!

As proud media partners, we will be rolling out information on the West Sussex event’s seminar programmes for Fontwell Park as they are announced, so watch this space and keep your eyes on future copies of SBT magazine.

To book your free ticket to the West Sussex Business Expo, head to B2Bexpos.co.uk/westsussex where you can find a booking form, floorpans and any other information. you might need. There are also sponsorship and partnership opportunities available.

Partners for West Sussex Expo

© COPYRIGHT MEMO EVENTS LTD 2016

B2Bexpos

BRIGHTON BUSINESS EXPO 2017 FLOOR PLAN

BRIGHTON RACECOURSE (SET-UP DATE: 4 OCTOBER, LIVE DATE(S): 5 OCTOBER)

Main Exhibition Hall, Brighton Racecourse

B2Bexpos

BRIGHTON BUSINESS EXPO 2017 FLOOR PLAN

BRIGHTON RACECOURSE (SET-UP DATE: 4 OCTOBER, LIVE DATE(S): 5 OCTOBER)

Main Exhibition Hall, Brighton Racecourse

B2Bexpos

BRIGHTON BUSINESS EXPO 2017 FLOOR PLAN EXHIBITOR ACCESS

BRIGHTON RACECOURSE (SET-UP DATE: 4 OCTOBER, LIVE DATE(S): 5 OCTOBER)

Main Exhibition Hall, Brighton Racecourse EXHIBITOR ACCESS 07

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This floorplan is subject to change at the discretion of the event organisers NOT TO SCALE

© COPYRIGHT MEMO EVENTS LTD 2016

This floorplan is subject to change at the discretion of the event organisers NOT TO SCALE

© COPYRIGHT MEMO EVENTS LTD 2016

This floorplan is subject to change at the discretion of the event organisers NOT TO SCALE

© COPYRIGHT MEMO EVENTS LTD 2016

REGISTRATION AREA

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 21

Thurs 23rd Feb 2017 BRIGHTON AMEX STADIUM, BN1 9BL #shoot forthe moon

IN PARTNER SHIP WITH

reques

t

EXHIBITan O PACK R today

the exhibition for mums on a mission

T

O a

A child work & friendly bu exhibitisiness on

some of our awesome exhibitors...

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w 22 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

L

Thurs 23rd Feb 2017 BRIGHTON AMEX STADIUM, BN1 9BL

OVER 400 attendees already registered 2016 Exhibitor testimonials our visitors:

“The Mums Enterprise Roadshow is set to become the leading event for working and startup mums in the UK.”

ABC1 Mums predominantly 30-45 years old.

• Have a business idea • Run a business they want to grow • Are seeking Franchise or business opportunities • Are seeking inspiration qualifications: GCSE A Levels Degree Master’s Degree Other

Nicola Heulin, CEO Mums “If you want to meet and connect with Mums who are looking to start or grow a business then this event is for you.”

Debbie Gilbert Mums Unltd

REQUEST AN EXHIBITOR PACK FOR FULL DETAILS

“Two great events, we hope to be part of future ones.”

Pam Gordon E.W.I.F

“Lindsey & Lucy did exceptionally well organising it and the atmosphere was great.

I will be coming back.

Hannah Jenkins Franchise Expo

“Mums Enterprise have been so successful at translating the dream in to the reality and putting on two truly inspirational events to meet the needs and aspirations of the mums who attended.”

Hannah Courtney-Bennet Talent & Career

REQUEST AN EXHIBITOR PACK TODAY LIMITED EXHIBITOR SPACE AVAILABLE - we will only be in Brighton once in 2017

www.mumsenterprise.events/brighton-exhibitor Tel: 01923 592 255 Tweet: @mumsenterprise www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk Email: Lindsey@mumsenterprise.events

23

Better Business Show

The Better Business show will take place on Thursday 2nd February 2017 at Worthing Assembly Hall.

This event is collaboratively delivered by Worthing and Adur Chamber and Adur & Worthing Business Partnership. With a strong focus on ‘Buy Local’, this event is a ‘must’ in the 2017 business calendar for ALL businesses in Worthing & Adur, both large and small

What can you look forward to as a Sussex delegate?

Events • B2B Exhibition with over 80 stands, meet network and introduce your business. You’ll find everything from local transport companies, health and fitness providers, a wide range of professional services, local manufacturing and food providers offering a great lunch!

• Support - Free business support for start up and growing businesses, including information about grants and finance. Come along and meet the Business Navigators and Enterprise First.

• Growth – Local procurement teams will be on hand to discuss opportunities including Adur & Worthing Council heads of department. There will be the opportunity to meet procurement teams from other local businesses.

• Be Inspired - Keynote speakers will share their journeys to success. Gillian Fielding, Chamber Patron, financial entrepreneur and ‘Secret Millionaire’ will talk about how she started from humble roots in London’s East End and discovered and used her own resources

to eventually achieve financial freedom, Shaa Wasmund, recently named as one of the top 20 most influential Entrepreneurs in the UK and currently runs several businesses, which were all profitable from day one. Darren Gearing who was an international deluxe hotelier working for the Shangri-La hotel at the Shard and featuring in the TV show ‘A Hotel in the Clouds’. Darren now has entrepreneurial interests locally including the Beach House and Corner House pubs.

• Advise – The Expert Zone will offer advice on finance, marketing, PR, branding and legal.

• Connect – Meet and mingle with other businesses over lunch at the Sussex Food Court.

• Promote – Network and share experiences at the B2B Exhibition with both new and established businesses.

• Google Digital Garage – Find out how to make your business more visible online with the experts from Google.

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The BT Broadband Divorce BT Openreach is required by law to allow UK broadband Insight service providers to access its wholesale broadband infrastructure, which maintains broadband access for more than 30 million customers across the UK. While BT provides individual internet services to its customers, Openreach works on behalf of more than 500 service providers in the UK, such as Sky, TalkTalk, Gamma, Daisy and of course, BT in order to maintain the local access network that covers 30 million customers in the country. This means that BT, has essentially been gaining from their competitors service since Openreach was founded back in 2006. While some argue that the broadband to home services provided by BT Openreach are effectively operating, Ofcom has received many complaints from these service providers, including evidence of poor quality customer service and concerns relating to the future investment in UK broadband

In one of the most prolonged splits in business history, it has been confirmed that BT and Openreach will definitely be going their separate ways.

Here, SBT provides you with all the information you need to know on how this split might affect you as a consumer and business

need, and the country gets the digital infrastructure, as well as a conflict of infrastructure it needs”, and many people interest between BT and Openreach. agree.

After months of deliberation, it has finally The main issue with other UK service been decided that BT and Openreach will providers, such as TalkTalk and Sky, is go their separate ways. that they don’t feel as if Openreach has The debate for this separation been investing enough in the underlying has centred around the argument of infrastructure that the whether or not the firm country’s broadband that has been providing network is delivered over. the majority of the UK’s “They don’t feel Openreach own and broadband infrastructure as if Openreach should be a part of the has been investing operate all of the cables that that the likes of Sky, same ‘parent group’ as enough in the TalkTalk and Vodafone the UK’s leading internet underlying have use of to deliver service provider, and rivals infrastructure most of the broadband have previously argued that this is no good for that the countries to their customers, and both competition in other broadband network are claiming that BT have under-invested and are internet providers and is delivered over” trying to get every last the consumer, with an drop out of the current Ofcom representative network, which is impacting on the saying: “We’ve been clear that we need services provided to their customers. It a more independent Openreach. It needs has also been suggested that Openreach to be genuinely fair and equal access to prioritise BT customers, with BT having the country’s telecoms infrastructure to access to better services. The separation BT’s competitors. This is the best way to of BT and Openreach should level the ensure consumers get the service they

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Broadband

playing field, and without BT having such a hold over the Openreach board, Openreach should be allowed to invest properly in the infrastructure and services being open to all of the companies that use its services. Essentially, this should mean more reliable and quicker broadband to UK customers, even those in regions with traditionally poor service or slow connection speed.

It’s a possibility that the separation of BT and Openreach might mean quicker and more efficient customer service. Ofcom has received numerous complaints with regards to BT’s unsatisfying customer service, which has been one of the biggest arguments in favour of the split. Slow services from stress as businesses race to get back BT and Openreach pose huge threats on track. It is only when businesses to British businesses and research experience a problem that they find their conducted by Beaming shows that two large, consumer orientated broadband thirds of businesses across the UK have provider expects them to self-cure experienced internet connection failures problems online or queue for in the last year that hours on the phone to gain have prevented “The internet is the assistance.” them from trading or greatest business It’s not just businesses accessing vital online though; millions of individuals resource ever services, costing them across the country claim they a total of £12.3 billion invented, but our in lost productivity increasing reliance have suffered shocking levels of service from Openreach, and extra overtime. on connectivity but will the changes to Managing Director at creates new risks these companies deliver fast Beaming, a specialist business ISP based in for those that need improvements to customers who have been let down for Hastings commented: it the most” too long? Analyst at Ovum “The internet is the an independent analyst and greatest business resource ever invented, but our increasing consultancy firm, specialising in global coverage of IT and telecommunications reliance on connectivity creates new industries - Matthew Howett thinks this risks for those that need it the most. The will depend on how the separation is pace of business is now such that any handled: “The improvements in quality downtime means missed opportunities, and availability of service that Ofcom lost productivity and a huge amount of

26 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

hopes legal separation will bring about will likely be delivered much sooner if BT can get on and deliver them today as a result of a voluntary agreement rather than a lengthy and uncertain process to run its course at the EU level. In many ways, this would be a better outcome than a forced legal separation, not least because the EU route is uncertain, untested and likely to take much longer to achieve.”

There are also talks of whether or not the separation of BT and Openreach will provide faster internet services, especially for people and smaller businesses in rural areas. Large and medium-sized businesses lose the fewest productive hours to internet downtime, although their greater dependence on internet technologies means they lose a greater proportion of their revenues than smaller companies. Slow and even non-existent broadband has been and is still an issue in the more remote areas of the UK, and small business owners such as farmers have been crying out for help. The Countryside and Landowners’ Alliance, however, has made the point that the split between the two related companies must ensure that the work Openreach has been conducting to close the ‘digital divide’ can continue: “Any formal break between BT and Openreach must not lose sight of the goal to deliver broadband to rural areas. Ofcom must make it clear that the conditions of the separation include guarantees for future investment to further support rural digital connectivity.”

As with various elements of life in the UK right now, nothing can be said for certain – apart from the fact that BT and Openreach will be soon to separate. But how Ofcom will go about this, we don’t know.

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Money Matters:

Educating the Next Generation NatWest and SBT came together for the last time in 2016 for a roundtable on Education and Finance, aiming to highlight the problematic situations that young people, entrepreneurs and business people alike struggle with: managing finances. We ask the key question, when is it the right time to educate young people about managing their finances? Is it ever too early? And most importantly, what is currently being taught to the future businessmen and women in the UK? The Panel • Rachel Carter, Head of Skills and Employment, Brighton & Hove Council • Stephen Ashley, Specialist Advice Director, Coutts • Brett Griffin, Entrepreneur & Founder of Pupil Progress Ltd and Entrepreneurial Spark ‘Chiclet’ • Alistair Barron, Director, Big Futures Show • Caroline Edwards, Senior MoneySense Manager, NatWest

Chair • Jason Dempsey, South East Communications Lead, NatWest

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Jason Dempsey: Hello everyone, Roundtable thank you for coming along today. This is the 5th Roundtable we are holding with Sussex Business Times this year; so far we’ve covered entrepreneurship, infrastructure, professional services and revitalising some of our coastal towns, so I’m very grateful to Sussex Business Times for taking part.

Thank you to all of the schools taking part and to our panelists, who I will now hand over to introduce themselves as well as to answer a brief question which is simply, what is the most valuable piece of financial education you learned at school, or what do you wish you had learned?

overseeing that, but at the same time I also work very closely with the schools in the local authority. This debate today is an opportunity for schools to come along and engage, and I work very closely with the post-16 area. The thing that I think would be useful – and I have a 19-year-old daughter, so I know she would benefit from this as well – is the understanding about income tax. I think there’s something about understanding about money and where it goes once it’s taken from you. I can remember my daughter when she was doing her job, she suddenly came home and said, “why have they taken money?”

Alistair Barron: I’m Alistair Barron, I’m Director of Eastbourne Education Business Partnership, which is a charity.

We come from a history of Education Rachel Carter: Hello everybody, I am Head of Skills and Employment at Brighton Business Partnerships; there are very few left in the country. We are one of the few and Hove City Council. We have a City independent ones and we cover most of Skills Plan and I am responsible for

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East Sussex. We put on events between businesses and schools, facilitating things like Eastbourne Youth Radio, which is a live radio show for 3 days, with businesses and schools working together. The Big Futures Show is an event that we ran last year and that we intend to run every year. It’s modeled on the idea of the National Skills Show, a skills and employability event – something that students in the regions don’t get to do. I hate to use the word “careers” but careers fairs tend to be more school oriented rather than a good spread of exhibitors and a good experience, so that’s where the Big Futures Show comes in. I think one of the most important things you come out of education with – whether in school or higher education or whatever – is some comprehension of where your income streams might come from. Once upon a time everybody went out to school, college or whatever and walked into a job; that’s not necessarily going to be the case in the future, it might be that you have more than one job, and it’s how to balance those. It will be things like, if I have more than one job what will happen to my tax situation, my national insurance situation, my pension and on, because I might be doing more than one thing?

Stephen Ashley: I’m a Chartered Financial Planner and what that means is that I deal with our clients in technical areas of financial advice, largely around estate planning and retirement provision. I left school 32 years ago and back then, the first piece of financial education I got was when I turned - Caroline up to work in a bank; there really wasn’t any. And I feel that young people – whether in sixth form or at university, or even years before that at primary school – should get an understanding of money and what it can do for you. For me, joining a bank in the 1980s, there was a very strict regime for us young bank Clerks; overdrafts were strictly prohibited and if you wanted a credit card or a loan, you went on bended knee and you were scrutinised closely as to whether they

would let you have one. What it did was discipline on how to use money, and one of my concerns nowadays is just how freely credit is available. I don’t actually like the word ‘credit’; I’d rather say ‘debt’ because that’s ultimately what it is. So for me, it’s understanding how credit or debt can be used wisely and how to avoid the pitfalls of taking on too much credit too soon, maybe containing some of the opportunities that are there for all of you.

“Your world is exciting, your world is challenging and we want to make sure you’re equipped to take on those responsibilities and challenges”

Caroline Edwards: I am in the bank’s Sustainability Team and look after our flagship programme, which is called MoneySense. It’s our Edwards flagship programme where we believe passionately that young people should learn about money in school, so it’s a free programme that is available to all schools and teachers, helping young people from the age of 5 up 18 to learn how to manage money and to address the things like, what is income tax? What is credit and debt? What are the responsibilities of having a credit card? When is debt a good thing? I have a mortgage so sometimes debt isn’t always bad, you

just need to know how to manage it well.

So that’s our MoneySense programme.

I suppose the one thing I wish I’d had at school is financial education; we literally had absolutely nothing in school.

I finished school a very long time ago, so the world was far less complex and complicated. Young people couldn’t get credit cards easily, we didn’t have internet shopping so you couldn’t buy anything with a touch of your phone, dare I say we didn’t even have mobile phones! The world is much more complex now and many more decisions are in your hands.

When I finished school everything was in the hands of my parents – my parents gave me an allowance, my parents deemed what I could and couldn’t spend my money on. Your world is exciting, your world is challenging and we want to make sure you’re equipped to take on those responsibilities and challenges.

Brett Griffin: My name is Brett Griffin. I was a teacher for 10 years. I got myself up to an Assistant Principal level in Central London, I was Director of Sport and in charge of health and wellbeing for the school provision, and then – although not planned – created a system that would help teachers do their job more efficiently and save them time and a little bit of stress. That demand created a business. The system is used now by, close to 285 schools and about

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NatWest Roundtable

80 are already paying. I’m now part of what is called the Entrepreneurial Spark programme, based here in Brighton, to help my business get funding and grow to hopefully become a business that’s worth a lot of money. To be perfectly honest, a big passion of mine, and also why it’s grown organically, is the fact that teachers are struggling with the workload, so it’s the perfect time to actually help support what is quite a stressful industry right now. I suppose in answer to the question, the biggest thing for me is learning how to manage money. When I was younger I was very fortunate and had parents who actually taught me the value of money. There was a massive credit card boom when I was around 17 or 18, and all my friends were going out getting credit and credit cards that you can get on 0% and transfer from your £2000 overdraft to another one. Six or 7 of my friends thought it was just free money; going out and buying trainers and shoes and when I spoke to my dad about it, he was very much saying, “don’t do that”, and they had to pay it all back, which set them back quite a long time because they didn’t really have the value for money. My concern in education is, are we teaching children the value of money?

Jason: Brett, you joined the Entrepreneurial Spark programme a few months ago, what have you learned about running your business since

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deciding to start up Pupil Progress?

Brett: I think for me it’s how broad your learning has to be and, again, it’s actually a lot to do with problem solving in your aptitude rather than your knowledge and your ability to retain information.

You have to adopt such different social skills, knowledge bases, and actually coming to an answer based on all this information is the key skill that you really need. When I was at school there was a lot of skills based on how much information you can retain; I will teach you this; you can then go and regurgitate that into an examination process; and there is your grade. What are we doing as an education system in this country that’s actually teaching young people how to problem solve and actually be in a position where they can take lots of different bits of information and come up with the right solution? That’s probably one of the things I was lacking when I was at school; did I do enough in school that’s actually going to help me problem solve and put myself in a position where it’s not necessarily what I know, it’s my ability to carve my outcome?

Jason: Stephen, you work with some of the region’s most successful entrepreneurs through their career and after their career. Does that line up to the feedback you get from them?

Stephen: Very much so. In terms of the client base I deal with I would estimate probably 80% of them are entrepreneurs or have been; they’ve made their business and sold them on, and are enjoying the benefits of that.

Also, I find with entrepreneurs very often that the term ‘retirement’ is something that doesn’t actually cross their minds.

They’ve got this certain spark within their make up that drives them and you’ll look at every turn for the next opportunity that’s coming along. Problem solving, having an analytical nature, wanting to look beyond the obvious to find a solution. Also, Brett one of the things you said that I picked up on is the education process of learning things to put on a paper to get a grade; some of the best entrepreneurs didn’t do very well at that.

They’ve got different skills and different things they can bring to the table. You don’t need to have a good degree from the best university to have a successful life. What you do need, in my opinion, to

“They’ve got different skills and different things they can bring to the table. You don’t need to have a good degree from the best university to have a successful life” - Stephen Ashley

© Adam Hollingworth Photography adamhollingworth.co.uk

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be successful in running a business is a heck of a lot of energy and you need to be brave. I personally rolled up at 18 and joined a bank, and on the 18th of every month ever since someone has very nicely put some money in my bank account - that’s nice and steady, 9-5, and it works for me. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t work for everyone, but those who are need to be prepared to take some gambles in life, not reckless ones; measured ones. Also, don’t be afraid to ask and develop sharp elbows if you’re looking to set up a business. Go out there, talk to people. If you know a neighbour, if you know a family member or someone with a successful business in your field, go and make a nuisance of yourself and talk to people to find out what they’ve done right. As important, find out what they did wrong and learn from it. I completely agree with the things that Brett said, particularly around having that enquiring mind, that desire and willingness to solve problems. The top

thing I’ve put though, is enjoy and feel passionate about what you do. Your working life is a heck of a long time, so you’ve got to do something you enjoy and feel passionate about because if not, then that’s a very difficult place to start from.

been doing this role in the council for a year. Decisions you make now don’t have to stay with you forever. There’s lots of different options.

“People have more than one career.

Decisions you make now don’t have to stay with you forever.

There’s lots of different options”

Rachel: What I’d say on that as well, Steve, is that people have more than one career. Years ago people used to go into a profession and stay in that profession. I think - Rachel if you ask most people in this room they have had more than 1 career, but I’ve worked in different organisations – for 20 years I worked in the BBC in lots of different roles, I’ve been freelance for 10 years and I’ve

Carter

Stephen: I think that’s very much evident from the blend of personalities that we have in the Entrepreneurial Spark building here – it isn’t just people fresh out of college or school or university setting up businesses, it’s people of all ages who take a different path from different directions and really evolve.

Brett: I’ve come to the conclusion that it will find you. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say but actually, I don’t think you can hide from it. If you’ve got

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NatWest Roundtable

wanted to move that idea forward, I could that passion – whether it is to solve because I had made good investments problems within your industry, or solve in property. I’d invested in myself with my problems with efficiency – it will come Masters degree and I worked hard with out in some way or another. I found my career. It put me in a position where that I was creating systems in schools I was actually financially able to take that that were helping people do their jobs massive pay cut to start on something better over 5 or 6 years, but I never that I was really passionate about. The actually realised that one of them was discussion we have on a daily basis is, going to turn into a ‘well is it a product business. And just that’s up and because it’s not a “For probably the running or is it just business doesn’t vast majority of an idea?’ If it’s not mean that it’s not people you would up and running as entrepreneurial an idea then you’re thinking. call entrepreneurs, going to have to it’s something that is do a very good Jason: Can you job of convincing voiced upon them by explain a little about investors to give how to make those circumstance and then you money to make first few steps? they run with it” that idea a reality.

It cost my website Brett: The advice - Alistair Barron £7000 to get up that I would give the and running. That students in the room was a risk that is one thing I was most proud about I believed was worth taking because I was that I was in a position to make believed that, at worst, I was going to get that jump. I was in a position where I at least £5000 back or at least £7000 had been very shroud with my money back, so in my head that was my gamble. in my younger years: I’d bought two Some people aren’t in that position where properties. For about 7 years I didn’t they have saved enough money or they buy anything I wanted, I only bought have put enough money behind them things I needed, which enabled me to to say ‘let’s do it’. So you have to be buy another property. So when it came very careful that you don’t have some to a place where I had a good idea and

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wonderful ideas but physically can’t do anything about it.

Alistair: I think one of the things that’s important to remember is that a lot of entrepreneurship isn’t grown out of ‘I’m going to be an entrepreneur’, a lot of it is by accident. Spending your life in one job is not something that happens to people nowadays; people do move from one career to another and sometimes a change of career happens suddenly, downsizing, redundancy – call it what you like – and you find yourself thinking ‘what am I going to do now?’ Now, you might have had an idea kicking around, and I’ve been in exactly that boat; we had an idea kicking around for years that we didn’t do anything about because we were all in comfortable jobs. One day we suddenly had to do something else and we turned that idea into what was then a very successful business.

It wasn’t something we set out to do, it just happened. It’s the ability to be adaptable, to know where to go and knock on doors. You may or may not have money behind you – if you’ve worked for a company for 20 years then you might come out with a few pounds in your pocket but you’ve still got to survive and so on. Entrepreneurship isn’t something

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that I go out and do. For probably the vast majority of people you would call entrepreneurs, it’s something that is voiced upon them by circumstance and then they run with it.

Brett: For example, Levi Roots didn’t set out one day to turn around and say, ‘I’m going to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds’, it just genuinely annoyed him as someone walking round the supermarket that it didn’t have his culture on the shelf with a Jamaican sauce, and it links back to this whole idea that it will find you. This system I created for education and for teachers found me because it was too much to then ignore. That comes from following your passions.

Caroline: I also wonder sometimes what you’re taught in school is perhaps what we could call hard skills, so you might be taught the practical things about what a business plan looks like, this is how you do crowd funding, this is how you pull together a balance sheet. You might get that level of input but what I think – and Brett’s touched on it a lot as well – is on what we then call the soft skills. It’s about that adaptability to problem solving, it’s about being resilient. I think something that’s very important in any walk of life, particularly for an entrepreneur, is the ability to fail. With so many entrepreneurs,

if you speak to them, you’ll find that it’s not their first venture that is successful.

Being prepared to fail, saying ‘yes I failed and I feel miserable about it but where do I go now and what have I learned about it?’, helps. Sometimes in understanding about entrepreneurship or working in business, it’s what we would call an amalgamation of the hard skills, the practical stuff you need to learn, and those soft skills - how you’re adaptable, how you start to develop yourself to be able to rise to those challenges.

Alistair: The Eastbourne Education Business Partnership facilitates a few things like that – we’ve done a few things in schools around a retail business or a young entrepreneurs challenge and things like that, where we go in with businesses and groups of students from years 7 and 8 and upwards to do a morning of workshop stuff like that and bring some people together and that always works quite well as an introduction.

Caroline: I know for the programme that we provide to schools, which is MoneySense, we follow the Personal Finance Education Group, which is an independent charity, and they have worked with each of the departments

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NatWest Roundtable

“What I found as a teacher was the fundamental skills that we’re told we need to teach actually aren’t necessarily the right ones. I really think financial education needs to start very early” - Brett Griffin ethnicity questions with regards to who was buying and selling to, and it raised a real issue within our school about all of this being caused by money. One child was making about £87 a week in cash!

So it is something that I believe is very important within schools. It also links back to this whole idea of a question for the teachers; with regard to your delivery of curriculum, how much freedom do you feel you have to actually build problem solving capability and resilience, and a real good set amount of time to actually do that?

of education and they have got a good value for money if you can’t actually framework for what should be on the afford 2 of the items, for example. So I curriculum. For secondary schools now, think there is definitely a place for that in financial education is on the curriculum; education. it’s a requirement for schools to deliver it. It’s not tested but it is there, and Brett: We had an interesting scenario at for primary schools it’s not yet on the my old school in Central London where curriculum. There is the pupils were incredibly a framework that’s entrepreneurial by buying “There’s often the been agreed for frozen Lucozades, and debate of who is the Department they would come in of Education that responsible for teaching and sell them at £1.25 outlines what should because they would be young people about be covered. I’m not able to get them at close money - should it be 100% sure whether to 40p a Lucozade. Now the parents at home ethics is actually on that created territories; the curriculum – it is who are you buying or should there be slightly more geared education in schools?” off under the arches? towards some of If you’re buying those the practicalities, on the playground then - Caroline Edwards but that’s a really there’s only one person good point. We you’re supposed to be were having a conversation earlier about buying them from, so it became almost needs and wants, and there is a whole like a gang replicating the drug culture. module for the 5-8 age group looking We had to have a real roll out across at what our needs and wants are and the school of, ‘this is causing problems understanding value for money as well; with friendship, with social and cultural 2 for the price of 1 is not necessarily differences’ because there were lots of

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Brett: The Principal of Brighton Aldridge, Dylan, used to be my Line Manager, Vice Principal at the City of London Academy and you are very lucky because you’ve got Head Teacher and you’ve got a multi academy trust that believes in that level of developing those skills we’ve been discussing. I found that I was quite suffocated in that I could see the skills that the children I was teaching needed to have but really, was constrained by the curriculum that I was almost forced to deliver. It wasn’t even the Head Teacher’s fault, it was more really Ofsted wanting to know what an outstanding lesson looks like. What I found as a teacher was the fundamental skills that we’re told we need to teach actually aren’t necessarily the right ones. I really think financial education needs to start very early and obviously you need to have advice at 18. Controversially amongst some of my family and friends, my daughter is 10 years old and she has a debit card.

What I’m trying to do is educate her as to what money is worth and what goes on that card. A lot of people have told me that giving a 10 year old a card is ridiculous and that it’s teaching her all the wrong ways of how to spend money, but I think we need to look at educating at a

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primary school level, even if it’s the most fundamental skills about budgeting and the emotional attachment to money. I think it’s working out well. It does need to start at a really early age because you then run the risk of getting to a very strong-headed 18 year old who believes they know best. To actually reduce that risk I think it needs to start a lot earlier.

Caroline: To give you a level of comfort that you’re doing the right thing, Brett, Cambridge University did some research and young people’s money habits are set by the age of 7. So if anyone says to you ‘you’re starting too young’ and you start at 10, then if anything, according to Cambridge, you’re starting too late.

Young people learn by observing their parents, by observing the world around them and by what they hear and see, and they’ve already formed an opinion of money and an understanding of how money works by the age of 7. So hence, MoneySense starts at 5 and there’s absolutely fundamental things about value, needs, wants, attachment etc. There’s often the debate of who is responsible for teaching young people about money - should it be the parents at home or should there be education in schools? When we surveyed young people what they’ve said to us is they would like to get this information from home too, but what they quite like from school is getting the same information.

We all know that I might get some information from my parents and you from yours, but it is different. So actually,

what’s the right thing and what’s the minimum standard? I think it should be both but I would encourage you to have conversations at home.

was something we worked very closely with her. She didn’t like it at all but we got her student loans to spread out throughout. With Brett’s comment about his daughter, you really can’t start young enough, and it’s “Controversially amongst a responsibility of ours as parents as some of my family and well.

Caroline: It is about what you can do.

What can you do to save some and friends, my daughter is then spend some?

It’s about getting 10 years old and she has Brett: One of into that habit of my first loans at a debit card. What I’m ‘this is my fun university went trying to do is educate money and this is very quick, and I her as to what money is what I’m saving for’. rang Dad and said, It’s a good habit. I worth and what goes on ‘Im here and I’m think for everyone starving’ and he that card” here, you’re fast said, ‘well it’s going approaching your to be a very long - Brett Griffin first management month then, isn’t of money; either you have a loan that it?’ And basically the phone went down. you need to budget or you’re gong to It goes back to personal experience; get your first job. Equally you’re going the next time I then got my loan I had to get your salary slip and you’re going to seriously think about what I was to ask, ‘what does my salary slip mean, going to spend my money on because what does it look like, what are all these I was having to ask for help from a lot deductions, why are people taking of friends and all I really got was baked money off what I’m earning?’ And then beans. I’m sure my family would have how you budget and make that money loved to have given me some money last a month and pay your bills. but there’s times for some tough love and there’s times to actually learn how Stephen: I remember my very first to budget your money, because money paycheck. It was £319 for a month’s doesn’t grow on trees and that’s the work, which probably shows more reality. about my age than the value of money, Thank you to all those who attended but to me I was rich! I’d worked and this and all previous roundtable events. earned money but that was to last me This was a great topic to end 2016 with a month, and 2 weeks in it had gone. and we hope to bring you more topics My daughter went to university and that in the New Year.

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The BIG Futures Show:

A Bigger, Better Future SBT speaks to Lea Gilbert, Head Teacher at Gildredge house, Eastbourne and explains the reasons behind becoming involved with The BIG Futures Show and the benefits of this on local schools and businesses For a huge amount of young people, finding Cover the right career path is an overwhelming Feature process and, alongside revising for the all-important GCSEs and A Levels, can seem almost impossible. Cue The BIG Futures Show, East Sussex’s employability and skills fair, set to take place at The Winter Garden on 22nd March. Run by the Eastbourne Education Business Partnership and sponsored by a range of businesses and organisations including Eastbourne Borough Council, Sussex Downs College, The View Hotel, Hastings Direct, NHS Health Education England and Bexhill College, The BIG Futures Show is the go-to event for students seeking inspiration, clarity and general information on the possibilities out there once they leave education. The BIG Futures Show (#BIGFS2017) offers the many benefits of national shows with a strong mix of businesses, employers and educators in one venue, all with the aim to educate

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young people on making their way into the working world.

“The BIG Futures Show is organised in association with Eastbourne Borough Council. We recognise the importance of hosting an annual skills and employability experience to bring together businesses and students, parents and anyone looking for work or training from across East Sussex to deliver a high quality and cost effective event for all involved,” said Eastbourne Borough Council’s Strategy & Commissioning Officer, Kerry Barrett.

She continued: “Under one roof and in Eastbourne, visitors can receive an interactive hands-on and inspiring experience from a great range of exhibitors to help inform future career decisions, and businesses can contribute to the development of the workforce, find

an employee and gain exposure through the high profile event.”

Also supporting 2017’s BIG Futures Show is the Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce.Christina Ewbank commented ahead of the event: “The BIG Futures Show is a great opportunity for businesses to showcase what they do to the employees of the future. It’s also a great opportunity for students to find out what careers might be available to them once they leave school or college. At Edeal and the Chamber of Commerce we exhibit at The BIG Futures Show because we like to show students how they can work for themselves when they leave college.

There are some impressive young entrepreneurs in Eastbourne!”

For businesses, BFS offers a fantastic opportunity to engage with

“The BIG Futures Show is a great opportunity for businesses to showcase what they do to the employees of the future”

:

Education: Bexhill College

and inspire students that will be their future workforce. It might inspire them to enter your industry, or even to work for a particular firm. Given a show guide, including a unique workbook prior to the event, students come prepared to learn more about their future; they know exactly what they want to know and where to gain that information from. Parents are also welcome to attend The BIG Futures Show to encourage this discovering process and see for themselves what opportunities are out there for their children. Parental encouragement and support is such an important part of these key years in a young person’s life, so parents are invited and encouraged to come along.

A significant new feature of The BIG Futures Show for 2017 will be the “Employability Hub”. During the day Hastings Direct and Sussex Downs College will be running short workshops

and round table discussions on a whole range of ‘readiness to work’ subjects.

These will include transferable skills, personal statements, CV writing, interview skills and employability behaviours.

Later in the day and into the evening the emphasis of these will shift to parents wanting to understand what their child should be doing towards getting into the workplace and to older students who might be about to look for work.

Last year’s event was a huge success, with feedback suggesting benefits all round; to businesses, to schools, to students and to parents. “We took 4 members of staff to hold the stand at BFS, and they had a wonderfully enthusiastic response from student attendees, who they were constantly talking to.” said one exhibitor at last years event. “We used the day as an opportunity to get the word out there that construction isn’t just hands-on

work, but there is a huge element of white-collar work too; most young people don’t realise that 50% of the industry is professional, such as marketing. We chat to them in the hope that we broaden their perspective of the career paths on offer to them.”

Students also noted their appreciation of the event: “It was an event to give us insight about what different options there are after leaving school, such as college and apprenticeships. At the event, we met lots of representative from different local companies such as The Grand Hotel, Caffyns and nurses and doctors from the NHS,” said one Causeway School student.

She continued: “As well as local businesses there were also representatives from sixth forms, colleges and universities who spoke to us about the courses they offer and the grades required to get on certain courses. Overall the event taught us all a lot about our future and has made us all really start to consider our futures and think about jobs and career paths we never knew existed!”

This year though, the show is offering something a little ‘extra’ in the form of The BIG Futures Show Extra. This is an all new pre-show event, co-promoted with Eastbourne Chamber & Sussex Business Times, is taking place on 2nd March 2017 at the View Hotel on Eastbourne seafront.

Aimed at both exhibitors, employers and businesses, BFS Extra aims to help with presenting and engaging show visitors and will offer help and advice across a broad range of topics related to attracting and employing young people. The event will consist of 3

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 37

Cover Feature: The BIG Futures Show

Lea Gilbert, Head Teacher of Gildridge House

presentation sessions of about 2 hours in the auditorium, whilst outside of the auditorium there will be breakout zones for apprenticeship and training providers.

The event will be full to the brim with speakers and presentations from a variety of organisations including Lets Do Business, Shopper Anonymous, East Sussex CC, Sussex Skills Solutions and others. Subjects covered include: exhibition and trade show stands and displays, visitor and customer engagement and offering apprenticeships. There will also be teacher and governor representatives from local schools and from East Sussex County Council offering advice, guidance and understanding about education today and about the qualifications students achieve.

Shopper Anonymous’ Paul Matthews will be delivering a talk based on engaging with visitors at an exhibition and ensuring that businesses maximise sales opportunities through what the prospect sees and feels whilst visiting their stand, as well as what happens after they have left. This talk will incorporate five key areas, including appearance, body language, asking great questions, listening and the follow up.

Paul said: “At Shopper Anonymous we have international experience mystery shopping exhibition stands all over the

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world. In 2016 we visited exhibitions in Mumbai, Madrid and Dubai, giving highquality feedback to help businesses ensure they get the best possible return for their exhibition investment. I am delighted to be involved with The BIG Futures Show for the first time in 2017!”

Eastbourne MP, Caroline Ansell will be attending both events, presenting her Disability Confident project. Backed by Legal and General, this project aims to help people with disability into work. At The BIG Futures Show it will be concentrating on opportunities for young people with a disability, offering opportunities for students with disabilities to meet employers. BFS Extra will offer a great opportunity for employers wishing to find out about offering employment to disabled students.

Tim Sorensen, Programme Manager for Eastbourne Education Business Partnership shared his excitement over the upcoming event: “We are really excited about evolving arrangements for The BIG Futures Show 2017. Organised in association with Eastbourne Borough Council, the show has already proved itself

Cover Feature: The BIG Futures Show

quality provision with the resources available. Everyone involved in the project had a strong sense of the vision and ethos of the school which really helped, particularly in the challenges of our early days. At a free school, we can actually work as a team on an entrepreneurial vision for our school and our students, and we can be aspirational in what we’re doing. It’s exciting to push the boundaries of our curriculum. Parents say to me that our school is a breath of fresh air and I know we’ve made a discernible difference in our town.

What is your own business as the premier employability and skills background? event for the region. Qualifications are Like many teachers, I came into education very important but it is personal aspects because I loved teaching my subjects of employability and skills that carry the and wanted to share my knowledge with day into eventual employment and this a new generation of is what The BIG young people. I have no Futures Show is “We’ll be helping ‘business background’ all about. We are businesses to or training as such. My truly grateful to our understand what head more recent career in partner sponsors for headship has seen me helping to make BFS teachers, careers developing a whole 2017 a reality.” advisers and students new set of skills and Sussex Business will be asking when areas of expertise Times also got they attend The BIG including budget in contact with Futures event a couple management, marketing Lea Gilbert, Head and promotions, Teacher of Gildridge of weeks later” public relations and House, a free school recruitment. I recall in Eastbourne, feeling stunned when I was nominated which was established in 2013 and and went on to win a Woman in Business is now in its fourth year in operation. award a couple of years ago, as I never Here, Lea explains the reasons behind saw myself in this way. I just wanted to do becoming involved with the Eastbourne my very best to make our school a real Education Business Partnership and The success both educationally and financially, BIG Futures Show, and the benefits of which to me meant recruiting the best these organisations on local schools and quality staff and delivering the highest businesses:

How did you become involved with the Eastbourne Education Business Partnership and The BIG Futures Show?

A member of the Board approached me almost as soon as I arrived in Eastbourne.

How could I not want to become involved? Eastbourne Youth Radio was the first real hook for me, and we have been involved in it every year since then, but quite honestly I am so impressed by the range of opportunities for schools to get their children of all ages involved. The EEBP has a strong vision and guiding principles, which means that every event they organise manages to bring schools and businesses together in a meaningful and enjoyable way. The perfect example of this is The BIG Futures Show. I signed up Gildredge House for this immediately when it was first mooted in 2016. As far as I was concerned, it would be a big tick in the box of careers advice and guidance for our secondary students. We only had Years 7-9 at that stage but I could see that attending a careers fair on this scale, bringing our students into direct contact and discussion with business leaders of the county would be a fantastic experience for them. They loved it and we eagerly signed up for 2017. I’m delighted that I am going to be more involved myself next year in the sister event of BIG Futures Extra. We’ll be helping businesses to understand what head teachers, careers advisers and students will be asking when they attend The BIG Futures event a couple of weeks later.

This, I hope, will get the conversations going in an even more formative way and make the event even more worthwhile for everyone involved.

For more information, please visit http://www.bigfuturesshow.org.uk Facebook @BigFuturesShow Tweet @BIGFuturesShow #BIGFS2017

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 39

Apprenticeship

The Role of the Levy for Your Business

The apprenticeship levy will be good for your business. Sussex Business Times asks Marie Harris to explain why and how

As we all know, the greatest asset any business, irrespective Education of size, can have is their staff. It is therefore crucial for sustainability to ensure that staff are given the opportunity to reinvent themselves and hone existing skills or develop new ones so that they can evolve with the business, stay motivated and remain productive.

From April 2017 the introduction of The Apprenticeship Levy and the new Apprenticeship Standards gives employers the opportunity to develop career pathways for everyone in their business from recruitment to retirement.

The question is ‘are you ready to take

advantage of the opportunities these changes present?

Benefits The majority of us know that recruiting young people into businesses as apprentices can pay dividends. With the right candidate, an apprenticeship framework that enables the candidate to develop the skills that the business needs and the right provider, you have a recipe for success. The ‘grow your own’ principle has been used over the years by apprenticeship providers as the hook to engage employers and has proved, in the main, to be successful. Young people can and do bring with them fresh ideas, enthusiasm and energy. They can be your best ambassadors and will always

remember that you were the one who gave them a start in their working life.

They are more likely to become loyal, long serving employees.

Apprenticeship Frameworks being replaced by Apprenticeship Standards puts employers firmly in the driving seat in terms of what training their new recruit will undertake. Long gone are the days when apprenticeships were only for Engineers, Mechanics, Hairdressers and Construction Workers.

All businesses have their core skill needs but the broader business needs, Finance, Marketing, HR, Sales, Management, Customer Service etc., can also be filled successfully by apprentices.

The change from Apprenticeship Frameworks to Apprenticeship Standards means that not only can you create and offer opportunity to young people and ‘grow your own’, you can also ensure that existing employees have a clear pathway to progression within your organisation. The primary reason for this being the restriction on age limits (for funding purposes) and prior qualifications have been lifted.

Apprenticeship Standards (Frameworks) will be available from entry level through to Degree level.

The Role of the Levy The government continues to hold Apprenticeships as its flagship programme and has set a target of three million new apprentices by 2020. In the 2015 Summer Budget the government announced plans to introduce a tax

40 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

Apprenticeship

the Levy will be required to set up a DAS account from January 2017 and payment into their digital account will come directly through HMRC and PAYE schemes.

age and there will be one price, which on big businesses in the form of an will be capped, per funding band. The Apprenticeship Levy. This means that band that the training your organisation from April 2017, all UK employers with needs will be determined by government annual salary bills of more than £3 and based on the cost of delivery. It is million will pay this Levy. Employers anticipated that there will be 15 bands with a salary bill of less than £3m will representing sectors not have to pay the and levels. For Levy, although they “Employers with example; entry level will have to make a a salary bill of less customer service (L2) financial contribution may be banded at, equivalent to 10% of than £3 million will say £4,000, whereas the apprenticeship not pay the a level 3 Welding cost – still great value Apprenticeship Levy. band would have a nevertheless! The value of say, £12,000.

The Government purpose of the Levy All standards are is quite clear; it is to estimates that only assigned to one fund a greater number 2% of employers funding band. Any of apprenticeships will be eligible to costs above the cap across the UK and must be paid for by to provide a degree pay the Levy” the employer. of sustainability and The employer simplicity in the and training provider agree funding system. This is good news for on a price for an UK business and even better news for apprentice’s training aspiring apprentices. and assessment The rate will be charged at 0.5% of within the standards the employer’s pay bill but only if the funding band. If you salary bill is in excess of £3 million. The are a non-Levy paying government estimates that only 2% of employer the government employers will be eligible to pay the Levy will pay 90% of the total and this could raise up to £3 billion a agreed price up to the set year by 2019-20. The funds collected maximum for that funding will be accessible to employers who band and the employer pays want to purchase apprenticeship training the remaining 10%. Levy regardless of whether they have paid the paying employers have all of Levy or not. the costs paid from their Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) What to Look Out For account. Employers in scope for Funding will no longer be dependent on

How Beta Futures Can Help As with any government scheme there is a lot to take in and administer. We know from the work that we have done that there will be plenty of businesses who won’t know where to begin. Beta Futures is here to help!

We are already working with employers to create new, exciting apprenticeship programmes. We tailor our services to exactly what employers want! First, we will ensure your business is taking the correct steps to be eligible for government funding. For employers in scope for payment of the Levy we can help maximise your return on the investment. For smaller organisations we will consult with you on developing the skills your organisation needs and help you find the right apprentices and training providers.

So to take advantage of the opportunity these changes present please contact us and we will start looking at ways to help you develop your workforce with maximum government support!. Our motto is ‘Recruit, Retrain Retain’.

Written by Marie Harris, MD Beta Futures Ltd. www.betafutures.com

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 41

‘Humanising’ Your Brand Toby Moore, Founder of Yappa, takes us through the psychology of making your marketing strategy more human, and what difference this will make to your brand

Applying psychology and a human touch Digital to your marketing is something that can Marketing seem complex and often as an activity reserved for large brands with big budgets. However, I really don’t believe this to be true. There are in fact some very simple things you can do with your everyday approach to marketing, which will unlock the all-important ‘human’ aspect within your brand and help you to sell more products and services.

This can be as easy as changing the

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words on your website, or as strategic as shifting your whole approach to how you talk about your company publically.

Either way, EVERY business - big or small - should be looking at the human qualities their brand represents and how it then goes about using this to create competitive advantages.

Realistically, what sort of difference can this make?

Brands are more successful when people trust them and people trust brands when they recognise likeable and genuine human characteristics in them.

As markets become busier and more

saturated, the vital elements required to compete in those markets change. In small markets, sometimes something as simple as availability of a product or service can be the greatest competitive advantage. As the number of suppliers in that market space grows, more competitive elements are introduced and move to the forefront such as; price, reliability, quality and trust.

So why is trust actually important and how do you use it to get ahead of your competitors? Let’s look at a real life example: about 6 months ago I decided to take on the services of a new accountancy. My needs as a

Digital Marketing

Every accountant had a website, some of them had a full Google places listing, some of them even had Twitter and Facebook profiles and however small it might seem, this is how I made my choice. About 6 out of the 10 of the firms I researched had a simple website with a list of services and how to contact them.

Another 3 had pages such as ‘meet the team’ and ‘follow us on Twitter’ (with mixed results as to how well looked after Twitter was) and so on. But the company that floated to the top a greater deal higher than the others had a website full of great advice and a strong call to like them on Facebook. So off I go to Facebook, where I found a host of videos they had made while interviewing their clients, discussing their own businesses and what made them successful. All of sudden I felt like I knew this company, I could picture the conversations we might go on to have. And as they had with the customers in the video, they would take the time to really understand my company.

This is the power of trust. Of course genuine trust takes a long time to gain, but in today’s busy online market spaces, it is so important to give yourself the very best chance of introducing your business’ personality and forming a relationship before any phone calls, emails or meetings take place.

How can you get started on improving how your online content builds trust?

It is so easy to begin marketing your company with great intentions, only to then let it quickly slip into the background. I know I am certainly guilty of this and I own a marketing company!

The trick to getting past this is to ‘think small business owner are pretty straight forward, but I also know that the right accountant can do a huge amount of strategic good for my business, so it was a decision I wanted to get right the first time. As with most things, I started with Google and searched for all the accountants in my area. Within a few minutes I had a short list of people and businesses to research and my main goal was to establish, ‘who can I trust?’

You may not think that is an easy or possible task just from Google, however I can confidently tell you that some firms had the odds strongly stacked in their favour and others definitely did not.

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Digital Marketing

Health & Wellbeing

big and do small’. Take the time to know where you want your brand to go in life and how your customers will perceive you against your competitors. But then also ensure that all your plans to get you there are made up of small, easy to manage steps, starting with what you are going to do tomorrow.

To get you started, here are a couple of ideas of different areas of your business you can begin making simple changes to in order to quickly build better customer relationships online.

1. Look at the language If the goal of your website, social media or email marketing is to help customers get a better idea of who they could be buying products and services from, then what are you doing to ensure that customers lots of questions when you’re the tone of voice you are using actually working with them face-to-face - in order sounds like you? Think about some of the to learn more about them and make most positive and them feel like you engaging customer - how have “Genuine trust is built care interactions you you gone about have face-to-face. through relationships. replicating this as What are you doing a ‘brand value’ in However, in today’s and saying to make the content on your competitive climate, the discussion feel website? And if you natural? How are haven’t, where are many businesses are you making the the opportunities to using digital and social customer feel at now do so? channels to begin that ease, and giving them confidence in 2. Who are the journey of trust” your abilities? Now people that make read your website up your brand? and work out whether the language you People like to buy from people, especially are using reflects these great interactions. on a local level. Lots of businesses have For example, if you find yourself asking ‘meet the team’ style pages on their

Toby Moore websites these days, so how can you go one step further to help gain an edge on your competitors online? By bringing the voice of both the people who work for the business and your customers to the front of your online presence, you are providing your prospects with a far more genuine understanding of what choosing to buy from you really looks and feels like.

Not only will this attract more customers, but it will attract more of the ‘right kind’ of customers for you. Social media is a great place to start with this; simple things such as sharing photos of the team, commenting on your customers’ content or posting short success stories you have had from your clients. If it’s something you would like to tell someone in person, then go ahead and share it online.

Ultimately, genuine trust is built through relationships. However, in today’s competitive climate, many businesses are using digital and social channels to begin that journey of trust way before any kind of face-to-face interaction. If you would like any support in putting some of these steps in place for your business, my team at Yappa all specialise in the strategies and technologies required to make it happen and we’d love the opportunity to help you become more successful in your approach marketing online.

Contact Toby via toby@yappa.co.uk or @yappauk Toby is the Founder and Director of Yappa, a content marketing company specialising in changing the way brands engage with customers online. Toby is also the curator and Event Director for TEDxBrighton.

44 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

Wave Leisure - Setting its 2017 Goals, Starting with GP Referral Scheme to Improve Sussex’ Health Sussex Business Times introduces Wave Leisure and takes a look at their new year’s resolutions for 2017 “It’s time to set some goals,” said CEO of Wave Leisure Trust, Advertorial Duncan Kerr. “We need to improve the health of our members, customers and our community and 2017 is going to be the year to do it, and our GP Referral Scheme is a great place to start.”

At the end of 2016, the Sussex-based, not-for-profit Trust, Wave Leisure (Wave), launched a new GP Referral Scheme and, after just two months in operation, it is already improving people’s health and changing lives for the better, and it is one of the Trust’s key priorities for 2017.

Wave, which promotes wellbeing, fitness, and healthy lifestyles across East Sussex has, in-conjunction with GPs at Old School Surgery in Seaford, started the ‘Move More’ pilot project.

Working together, the GPs and Wave’s Health and Wellbeing Co-ordinator, Luke Greenwood set-up a new referral scheme where patients can be seen by Luke for a 30-minute consultation regarding their condition and medical history, which also takes into consideration personal barriers, goals and other support needs.

Luke uses an ‘I Centric’ approach, which explores activities that best suit the individual, and one which they will enjoy, continue with, and improve at. It also explores barriers which may have stopped them from exercising in the past. The lifestyle behaviour change is measured with short, medium and long-term goals which are monitored and evaluated.

The ‘Move More’ scheme has already identified that a common theme is the impact of obesity on the body, which results in various, sometimes chronic conditions, but which can start to be treated and improved by regular exercise and more movement.

Speaking about Move More, Luke said: “Since starting the scheme, I have already seen several small positive changes that have occurred in our client’s wellbeing, and how once the mind informs the body, the body then informs the mind, and has a huge benefit to physical and mental wellbeing overall.

“Comments made to me in just a few

Duncan Kerr, CEO of Wave Leisure Trust

short weeks have identified this mindset, and it is very encouraging seeing the almost instant change in clients.”

Wave offers a diverse range of activities to suit every individual, but the most common activities that are showing successful results include yoga, a strength and balance class, which addresses fall prevention; swimming and general gym-based exercise programmes. The scheme also addresses emotional wellbeing, which is a key element of Wave’s overall strategy.

Once deciding on a programme of activity at the surgery, Luke and the Team at Wave then arrange to meet clients in the Downs Leisure Centre in Seaford, and individuals are taken - quite literally - by the hand through the new process. From experience, the Wave Team understand the anxiety people feel about walking into gyms, so the hand holding approach helps to encourage people through the initial process and nurtures them back to better health.

The hope is that once the impact of the pilot scheme has been recorded, Wave can look at getting additional funding to roll Move More out across other locations, in conjunction with the work of local CCGs, GPs and help deliver Public Health objectives.

Duncan added: “In 2017, we will continue the pursuit of ensuring that Wave is recognised for the role we can play as part of the Primary Healthcare Pathway, supporting GPs with time and patient management whilst ensuring those in need gain access to support and facilities to lead healthier lifestyles. Our

purpose is to ‘Inspire Active Lifestyles’ and this will remain our priority through 2017.

Clearly, in order to achieve our purpose we need to deliver against key targets in a number of areas but, as highlighted earlier, by having one ‘ultimate’ goal, the message across the company becomes very simple and clear.

“Fundamentally, we want to provide a great service across a range of services and quality facilities, accessible to all ages and ability levels.”

The Move More Project is for all age groups and clients currently range from their mid 20s to their mid 70s. With guidance from the Wave Team, behaviour change at any age can happen over a three-month period, taking a state of dependency to independence.

CEO Duncan Kerr concluded: “Delivering to our Community’ is one of Wave’s core business objectives. The challenge is how we ensure this contributes to our businesses’ sustainability. Supporting community initiatives and reaching out to support those in greatest need requires significant partnership working and throughout 2017, we will continue to bring new partners to projects and continue to be creative and re-imagine our role in the community.

“Building on our successes, including our Quest Award for Peacehaven Leisure Centre as the “Best Facility Managed” in the UK, we will continue to ensure our facilities are attractive and fit for purpose for customers and provide a quality service to ensure customers have a positive and fulfilling experience when visiting our centres.”

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 45 For more information about Wave, their GP referral scheme or their 2017 Wave Pledge campaign go to www.waveleisure.co.uk

Feel Your Best for 2017 So here we are at the start of a new year, and with a new start comes pre-work fatigue.

Here, consultants from The Montefiore Hospital in Hove provide you with all the advice you need to tackle those niggling health problems in the new year

Back and Neck Pain Health & “Back and neck Wellbeing pain is a major cause for working days lost, so start 2017 with a New Year’s resolution to look after your back. If you haven’t already, give up smoking as the chemicals in tobacco smoke poison the intervertebral discs.

Drink plenty of water especially if you are in an air-conditioned office - your intervertebral discs naturally lose water during the day. Get up from your desk and move around whenever the opportunity arises. If you do develop some back pain, over the counter (OTC) anti-inflammatories, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, will help as well as keeping moving - lying down for long periods at home is counterproductive. If your back pain doesn’t get better within a few weeks or becomes increasingly painful, or if you have leg or arm pain also, visit your GP or a spine specialist.” - Mr Michael Cass, advert membership.pdf 1 25/10/2016 Spinalstudent Surgeon.

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Migraines “90% of migraine sufferers are unable to work or function normally during their migraine attacks. There are some lifestyle changes you can make to reduce the migraines – drink plenty of water to ensure you don’t become dehydrated, limit alcohol and caffeine intake, and stick to a routine bedtime and waking up time wherever possible. Avoid regular use of OTC medicines, especially those which contain codeine as this can aggravate the headache. Take a painkiller as you feel the headache coming on. Supplements such as magnesium, riboflavin and CQ10 can also help. If the migraines occur several times a month, see your GP. Sussex GPs will be provided with updated guidelines in 2017 on how to better help patients with migraines and when to refer you to a specialist.” - Dr Romi Saha, Neurologist Heavy Periods “One in five women suffer debilitatingly heavy periods that not only affect concentration at work, but even force them to take sick leave on a regular basis.

16:23 Try an OTC medicine called mefenamic

acid (also known as Ponstan) to reduce the pain and lessen the bleeding. If you are obese, losing weight could also help to lighten the periods. If symptoms continue, visit your GP for prescription medication. You may also be referred to a specialist for assessment to exclude other causes such as hormones, polyps or fibroids.” - Mr Faz Pakarian, Gynaecologist.

Benign Enlargement of the Prostate “Are you frequently leaving your desk to go to the loo or getting `caught short’ in a meeting? You might have a benign enlargement of the prostate which affects one in three men in their 50s. Limiting caffeine and alcohol intake, and reducing the number of drinks before bedtime will solve the problem for most men. If not, surgery may be necessary. New surgical procedures are now available which relieve the symptoms of urinary flow without resorting to cutting or removing prostate tissue, and so preserving sexual function. Discuss the options with your GP, Urologist, and importantly your partner.” - Mr Andy Symes, Urologist.

WAVE STUDENT Only £22 MEMBERSHIP (16yrs+) PER M Unlimited gym, classes & swimming *

46 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

TRAIN ANYTIME - ANYWHERE

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Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) “If you wake up several times in the night feeling like you can’t breathe you may be suffering from OSA. This leads to exhaustion and reduced concentration at work, and can be dangerous if handling machinery or driving. Alcohol aggravates the problem, so reduce your intake.

Losing weight and increasing overall body tone through exercise will also help.

However, if the problem continues, see your GP. You may be referred for sleep tests to monitor your oxygen levels. A proven treatment is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy which provides steady air pressure via a mask or nose piece.” - Mr Mike O’Connell, Ears, Nose and Throat Consultant.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) “Sitting through meetings at work can be torture if you are experiencing abdominal pain caused by IBS. Stress, eating poorly and drinking to excess will worsen IBS symptoms, which include diarrhoea, constipation and/or pain.

Avoid common food triggers such as milk or dairy products, wheat and gluten, and vegetables such as onions, broccoli, brussel sprouts and beans.

Peppermint oil capsules can be an effective treatment. For short-term use, try anti-spasmodics, anti-diarrhoeas and painkillers, but if symptoms continue, or include severe pain or persistent rectal bleeding, then see your GP. You may require referral to a specialist for more detailed examination of the bowel.” - Dr Mark Austin, Gastroenterologist.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) “Tingling sensations, `pins and needles’ and pain in your hands and fingers? You could have CTS, a common condition that can be aggravated by poor positioning of your wrists while using your keyboard or mouse and prolonged exposure to vibrations from using hand tools or power tools. Rest your hands frequently and take anti-inflammatories.

If you regularly wake up in the night with a numb hand or the pain is becoming constant, then see your GP who may refer you to a specialist. Most people

Mr Michael Cass, Spinal Surgeon.

Dr Romi Saha, Neurologist

Mr Faz Pakarian, Gynaecologist.

Mr Mike O’Connell, Ears, Nose and Throat Consultant.

Dr Mark Austin, Gastroenterologist.

Mr Chris Williams, Hand Surgeon

Ms Lisa Leonard, Hand Surgeon.

Dr Sunil Zachariah, Endocrinologist.

Mr Andy Symes, Urologist.

can be treated without surgery and you might be advised to wear a wrist splint.”

- Mr Chris Williams and Ms Lisa Leonard, Hand Surgeons.

Diabetes “Diabetes and work don’t always mix.

How do you manage food, medicines, rest, monitoring, and exercise, especially if you’ve got demands and deadlines?

The rise in obesity has led to an increase in the number of people having Type 2 diabetes. Symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, and fatigue. See your GP if you are concerned. It can be managed with the latest medication, but lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, can reduce or even put Type 2 diabetes

into remission. If you have Type 2 diabetes, ensure you have a yearly blood test, an annual eye check and your feet examined regularly.” - Dr Sunil Zachariah, Endocrinologist.

Don’t allow a health concern to continue without seeking the advice of your GP and/or a specialist. In many cases, advice on lifestyle changes, plus OTC and prescription medication will help alleviate the symptoms to allow you to function once again at work.

Advice provided by The Montefiore Hospital, Montefiore Road, Hove www.themontefiorehospital.co.uk 01273 828148

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£22.95

PER MONTH* *Based on our MAX 12 month contract

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 47

w w w.wave l e i s u r e .c o . u k

Working Lunch:

Bibendum Bar & Restaurant

For January’s lunch review, Sussex Business Times’ Jess Saunders enjoyed two courses at Eastbourne’s Bibendum bar and restaurant

Bibendum Eastbourne

Address: 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne BN21 4EU Telephone: 01323 735363 Web: www.bibendumeastbourne.com

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Located in the heart of Eastbourne town, Lunch the Bibendum bar and restaurant posed Review the perfect lunch date for a crisp but sunny December day.

Only a small distance away from the majority of Eastbourne’s most loved facilities – placed just a short walk away from the mainline railway centre, theatres, seafront, town hall and shopping centre facilities – this venue is the perfect destination for a quick lunchtime pint or a mid-commute dinner.

Right on the corner of Grange Road, Bibendum boasts a sophisticated and overpowering exterior, with white walls and large, spacious windows. Outside the front of the building is a garden/terrace with numerous square tables and large sun (or rain) blocking umbrellas. This area was completely empty – not a person in sight – although this was to be expected on a freezing winter afternoon, especially with it being so close to Christmas. While Eastbourne’s Arndale Centre was packed

to the brim with locals hungry for the perfect festive gifts, Bibendum bar was near-enough deserted and getting away from all of the chaos flooding the town centre for a quiet bite sounded perfect to me.

When walking in, I was overjoyed to feel a wave of heat hit me. The log fire was roaring, the radio blasting festive music and the familiar sound of the chefs clunking in the kitchen instantly provided me with the perfect atmosphere for a cosy winter lunch.

The long bar is positioned right in front of the main entrance, showcasing their wide range of wines, liquors and beer, and I was welcomed in with huge smiles from the two front-of-house staff. Here, we were given the freedom to choose our preferred seat, although this was probably helped along by the fact that there was only a handful of people in the entire building. A member of the waiting staff was not far behind us with menus and the question of what we wanted to drink. As designated driver for the day, I opted for a pint of Pepsi

with ice and fresh lemon, which was disappointing after seeing the huge selection of beverages stored in fridges behind the bar, while my guest opted for a refreshing glass of lemonade and lime.

Taking full advantage of the menu, both my guest and I opted for a starter as well as a main, and as a selfconfessed savoury fan – not so much sweet – I stayed away from the dessert menu, not that I would have even been able to stomach another bite anyway. I opted for the soup of the day to start, which on this particular day, was spicy butternut squash, served with bread and butter. My guest opted for the potato shells, stuffed with bacon, cheese and served with salad and a sour cream and chive dip. With my guest being fashion and were served and presented indecisive, the attentive and polite to perfection. I didn’t know it was waiting staff happily allowed us more possible to make a bowl of soup look time before returning to take our second so attractive! The soup course choices. My guest was piping hot right until eventually opted for the “If you’re looking the end and the bread Fish Gratin – salmon, cod was soft inside and with and smoked haddock for a cosy and a slight crunch to the bound in a homemade relaxing lunch crusts, which was the white wine sauce with in Eastbourne perfect accompaniment, mushrooms, spinach this winter as was the sour cream and prawns, topped with mashed potato and then Bibendum and chive dip to the potato shells. As for the cheese, while I opted for is definitely taste, I assumed by the the Hunters Chicken – the place” noises my guest was baked chicken breast and making that her starting bacon in a BBQ sauce, course was as delicious finished under the grill as mine. The only element that prevented with a cheese topping and served with me from finishing the whole bowl was chips, grilled tomatoes and breaded the fact that, after the delightful tastes mushrooms.

I had just experienced, I didn’t want to Both starting courses – which looked miss out on finishing what I expected to incredible although maybe slightly too be a delectable main course. The mains large – arrived at our table in a timely

also delivered above and beyond my expectations. My Hunters Chicken dish was delightful; the chicken perfectly moist, the chips deliciously crunchy and the tomatoes juicy. My guest also thoroughly enjoyed the Fish Gratin, describing the many weird and wonderful tastes included along the way, although her one minor complaint was that it was slightly too ‘watery’.

Both meals were, again, steaming hot right to the centre, which to me, is a sign of a properly cooked meal!

If you’re looking for a cosy and relaxing lunch this winter in the heart of the hustle and bustle of Eastbourne town, with top-quality service, outstanding menus and a wonderfully varied selection of beverages – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic – then Bibendum is definitely the place!

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Hotel Review:

Drakes Hotel

Address: Drakes of Brighton, 43-44 Marine Parade, Brighton BN2 1PE Telephone: 01273 696934 Web: drakesofbrighton.com

Jenny Ardagh spends a night at Drakes Hotel in Kemp Town, Brighton, absorbing everything the area has to offer and appreciating the boutique home-from-home decadence Facing the waterscape of Brighton seafront, Drakes Hotel offers Review potentially the best view on offer for those who wish to look out over the sea, onto the beach and across to the pier.

Situated on Marine Parade and settled in amongst a range of other hotels, lodges and guest houses in Kemp Town, this is obviously an ideal place to go for an overnight stay, in particular if you want to be close enough to the city centre to access the many restaurants, pubs, bars, shops and tourist attractions, but still far enough away to feel out of the hustle and bustle. This Georgian townhouse hotel is, however strongly set apart from the

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others in the area; it is contemporary, sophisticated, highly romantic yet also very appropriate for business meetings.

Its interior, designed by Tim Shephard, creates an exquisite homely feel, with warm furnishings, natural woods and ambient lighting.

My partner and I arrived at the hotel at around 6pm. With a car each, we thought this might be quite problematic, but we were given a parking permit each and directed to two parking bays in the road next to the hotel. This was very simple, although I perhaps wouldn’t advise driving over other forms of transport; there aren’t too many spaces (15 in total on a first come, first serve basis) and actually the traffic in Brighton can be fairly hellish. It’s not far from the train station

Tried & Tested in Sussex

and there are plenty of buses, as well as, of course the option of taxis.

We were shown to our room, which was a King Size Circular Sea Facing Room on the second floor (room 101) - one of the 20 individually designed bedrooms. This was the type of room that became more and more impressive the more you looked at it. Floor to ceiling windows faced us as we entered, allowing a panoramic-effect view over Brighton seafront, curving around our circular shaped abode, including two armchairs, a King size bed, a television with full Sky package, a desk, a wetroom style bathroom and – last but definitely not least – a free-standing bath.

Never before have I experienced a bath in my bedroom, and this one provided the perfect vessel for relaxing on a cold winter’s evening, with a fantastic view of the world outside. Of course there were shutters for privacy, which were very effective in blocking out the light and even noise from outside, free Wi-Fi, and i-Pod dock, and the room had a wide range of lighting to suit any situation.

I can’t emphasise how comfortable the bed was. Unfortunately, I didn’t have dinner included in my review (due to our previous month’s review), so there was a temptation to simply go straight to bed and enjoy the comfort, but of course that would have been a wasted opportunity for going out for a meal in Brighton. My partner and I headed out into the centre and found a lovely Greek restaurant, which filled us up ready for our luxurious night’s sleep at Drakes.

In the room there were plenty of amenities, such as tea and water (still and sparkling), and we were also offered a turndown service for while we were out and about. The staff were incredibly attentive to our needs, and I felt very at ease asking for anything I needed to make my stay more comfortable.

Breakfast was served from 7.30 till 10 am, which was the perfect window to allow a slightly more leisurely wake up call than usual, but still securing time to get to work at a reasonable hour. The restaurant area itself was intimate and nicely laid out, and of course this time of year brought with it a particularly flashy Christmas tree, which created an even more homely atmosphere. This area would lend itself perfectly to corporate events or private hire. We were greeted by a lovely member of staff on our way into the restaurant, who informed us that the

“Drakes aims to be a ‘lavish home from home’, and it certainly achieves this aim, with its beautiful rooms, laid out with the clear intention of privacy and intimacy” dish of the day was poached eggs with haddock, and that the pastries, bread and granola were all homemade. Upon sitting down and ordering our pot of tea, we also learned that the marmalade and raspberry jam were homemade, which were both absolutely delicious with our slices of white and whole grain toast.

I went for the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, whilst my partner went for the Full English – one of us had to.

My smoked salmon and scrambled eggs were delicious, with a slice of lemon to taste and some parsley as garnish, which actually made a huge difference. From the noises on the other end of the table, I can safely assume the Full English was

also delicious. In addition, and included in the price of all the breakfast options, was a continental bar with hams, cheeses, breads, porridge, cereals, juices and pastries.

Drakes aims to be a ‘lavish home from home’, and it certainly achieves this aim, with its beautiful rooms, laid out with the clear intention of privacy and intimacy – as you’d find at home – and with impeccable service across the board.

I should think this hotel would be ideal for a range of nights or even weekends away. They have corporate hiring facilities and can cater for weddings also, so head to Drakes for an occasion, or simply spend a night and enjoy the view!

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NEWS

Sussex Business Times has partnered with Chichester Chamber of Commerce this month, informing readers of some of their main activities in and around Chichester, and some upcoming business events

Public Affairs and the Chichester Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chichester is a glorious city, steeped in history, with Roman remains, a grand 900-year-old cathedral and heritage buildings that span the centuries. We are now making new history through people like Tim Peake, the astronaut who attended the local high school and other locals who have made a name for themselves in the arts, business and education.

Although the Chamber of Commerce has not been around since the Romans or the building of the Cathedral, it’s

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still an important part of the City and wider Chichester district. As with all Chambers it promotes the area it is based in and promotes its members with the aims of creating growth and prosperity. Key to all of this is the Public Affairs Agenda, ensuring businesses get a voice, locally and nationally.

Business voice The Public Affairs Agenda is crucial in being an effective Chamber of Commerce. It is one of the key elements of the Chamber’s value

proposition and can create positive impact and opportunity for members.

With its prominent Public Affairs Agenda the Chamber is much more than an events only organisation and it puts the Chamber firmly into the highly competitive business networking sector.

Over the last 12 months the Chamber has increased its lobbying activity and developed its Public Affairs Agenda. This followed research carried out in partnership with the University of Chichester, which found that members believe their Chamber needed to

www.chichestercci.org.uk

Chamber News

Road and rail There are a number of key issues affecting the Chichester District today.

Two of these are the improvements to the A27 and the ongoing challenges of the Rail Network; issues for most of the businesses along the South Coast. Members have reported loss of customers and loss of revenue created by the rail strikes and delays and the traffic issues on the A27 have an equal impact.

The Chamber has addressed these issues by inviting key people involved in these challenges to talk to the members at the monthly meetings. The Chamber has surveyed the membership to get their views on what solutions are the best for the A27 challenge and the Chamber has written to ministers regarding the rail fiasco. Clearly these issues are not going to change overnight, but the Chamber is proactive in presenting its members’ views and making their voices heard.

Business events However, it isn’t just the lobbying that can make a difference. The busy events programme is designed to keep members abreast of changes happening

Photos by www.simoncallaghanphotography.com ©

address key issues affecting their business, the city and the district.

in the local area. Key speakers regularly attend our events, such as the Director of Planning at Chichester District Council and the Director of the Gatwick Diamond Business Association. Both these speakers gave compelling presentations on changes that may impact local business. The redevelopment of Chichester City’s Southern Gateway and the second runway at Gatwick / Heathrow were topics members could hear and raise questions about.

Chamber members were given the opportunity to lunch with local

MP Andrew Tyrie. It gave members an opportunity to meet the local MP and to chat about key issues while they lunched; and was followed by a talk and a robust Q&A session. The last MP lunch, back in June, clearly had a slant to towards Brexit, but also addressed a range of topics such as the A27 and airport development.

The Chamber believes that its Public Affairs Agenda, along with its busy calendar of networking events and business support, sets it apart in the development of the local area, the local economy and local businesses.

Events coming up: Networking Chamber Monthly Meeting • Monday 9th January 6pm to 8.15pm • Everyone Active, Westgate Leisure Centre, Via Ravenna, Chichester, P19 1RJ • FREE – Non-members welcome.

The Chichester Business Breakfast – in conjunction with Chichester College • Monthly, from Wednesday 11th

January 7.30am to 9pm • Chichester College, Westgate Fields, Chichester PO19 1SB • Members £11.25 ¦ Non Members £12.50 Peer to Peer Taster Sessions – in conjunction with MDHUB • Tuesday 17 and Tuesday 24 January 5-7pm

• The Cathedral Room, Chichester College, Westgate Fields, Chichester, PO19 1SB • Free to CCCI members Business Planning for Growth – with Get Set For Growth • Thursday 19th January 9.30am to noon.

• 4 Canon Lane, Chichester Cathedral Enterprises, Chichester, PO19 1PX • Free to CCCI Members Observer & Gazette Business Awards Launch – in conjunction with University of Chichester • Wednesday 25th January 5.30pm to 7pm • University of Chichester, Bishop Otter Campus, College Lane, Chichester, PO19 6PE • All welcome – FREE

Tel: 01243 531765 Email: admin@chichestercci.org.uk www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

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Motoring

Test Drive Sussex Business Times continues to provide businessmen and women with insight into the motoring world, this time reviewing the Audi A4 Avant 2.0 and the Mitsubishi L200 Single Cab pick up

Audi A4 Avant 2.0 The Audi A4 range been updated too. Diesel engines has been quite have become evermore popular, and prevalent over the the A4 demonstrates just that with Comfort last year, so much its incline four-cylinder, 2.0L diesel so that it managed engine with BTG turbocharger, making to bag itself the title it a powerful, agile and down right of pleasurable car to 2016 Car of the Year drive. The A4 is a “The A4 is a from What Car? nice looking car magazine. The A4 from all angles, and nice looking car has had a lot to live definitely delivers from all angles, up to, as the BMW 3 on the appearance and definitely Series and Mercedes front, although it C-Class have kept the does provide a delivers on the competition fierce in few surprises; it’s a appearance this class. surprisingly spacious front” The exterior design car for one that is is an evolution of its deemed to be ‘small’, predecessor, with offering the utmost some sharper creases in the bodywork comfort for the driver and making it and a wider radiator grille, while the perfect for those longer journeys. SBT interior has been subjected to a heavier has tested a few Audis in its time, but redesign and the efficient engine has the A4 is definitely preferable to some

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others in its range – it’s nimble but the traction is incredible. Like BMW and Mercedes drivers, Audi drivers are more often than not seen as ‘arrogant’, but after testing the A4, it’s clear to see why. If we had our own car which, like the Audi A4, was well put together and able to pull itself out of corners at levels of high speed, we would be driving it in exactly the same manner; its capability to drive as well as it does is unique. It’s an incredibly responsive car and, to be honest, quite an impressive one at that.

This car is incredibly understated for a car that costs near-on £40,000, and delivers exactly what you could ask for as someone who desires a decent and nice looking car with the highest spec and technologies, but doesn’t want anything particularly flash; it could well be the perfect car for, lets say for example, a senior accounts person.

It’s an incredibly comfortable motor, and surprisingly, what you see on the outside is not reflected on the inside.

At first glance you’d be expecting something relatively narrow and maybe not suitable for a car full of people, however the inside boasts a much bigger space than initially expected.

The Audi A4 demonstrates a smooth and robust drive, and the sound of the engine is almost non-existent, providing the driver with an effortless and relaxing driving experience, and with the highest technologies all incorporated, you can just sit back and enjoy your journeys.

The Audi A4 also sports a start-stop system, independent front and rear suspension, CO2 emissions as low as 104g, split folding rear seats in three parts with a rear centre armrest, 3-spoke leather multi-function steering wheel, LED Interior Lighting Pack,

auto-dimming rear view mirror, electric boot lid release and an S line 3-spoke leather multi-function sport steering wheel.

All in all, although the Audi A4 isn’t all that different to the many other SUVs we’ve had grace the SBT pages in past issues, it is an understated but

generous car that provides a flawless and comfortable drive.

Engine capacity: 2.0L Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch 0-62mph: 7.9 seconds Max speed: 143 mph Retail price (OTR): £35,145

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Motoring

Mitsubishi L200 Single Cab Mitsubishi’s L200 Series 5 pick-up Off Road has been winning awards since before it was even launched in the UK – Auto Express named it Pick-Up of the Year in 2015 shortly before its launch here. The title is managed to retain throughout 2016, and understandably so.

The L200 came out on top in a head-to-head against the Toyota Hilux, also carried out by Auto Express, which followed on from the triple test against the Nissan Navara and the Isuzu D-Max, where the L200 won with a five-star rating. Pick-up trucks have become fundamental to Mistubishi Motors and globally, Mitsubishi boasts six decades of pick-up production, accounting for the sale of more than four million vehicles. The L200 Series 5 has inherited the DNA of its predecessors, further enhancing the pick-up concept and, as an entirely new vehicle from the ground up, has seen considerable improvements in more than 300 areas. The end result? The ultimate vehicle for commercial duty, combined with SUV-like modification in quality and dynamic performance.

In all key areas, the L200 Series 5 is quite amazing, providing car fanatics with a driving experience like no other and one that is a generation above that of any other pick-up in the market, and we can vouch for that…

The Mitsubishi L200 pick-up was the first of its kind that Sussex Business Times had the pleasure of becoming hands-on with and boy, did it deliver.

It’s the intention of SBT to review more commercial cars and with vehicles like this out there, we can gladly cater to this. Once upon a time, pick-ups were the domain of traveller folk, yet nowadays, vehicles like this are becoming more popular with business users everywhere, especially so now

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that twin cab versions are peeking into the consumer market, and who’s to say they can’t deliver the same level of practicality and comfort your regular business car can? Pick-ups tend to inherit more hard-wearing materials as opposed to providing luxury, although the L200 seemed to meet both of these elements, with a basic but comfortable interior.

The best thing about modern-day pick-ups and the L200 in particular, has got to be the fact that they drive just the same as your regular car, but with a bit more ‘monster’ about them, especially so with its 2.4L engine, producing 151bhp and 380Nm torque.

Although it’s a very basic pick-up vehicle and delivers exactly what it says on the tin, the L200 supplied us with all the performance you would ever need, and with exceptional gear to power ratio. Most vehicles of this kind don’t tend to come with all of the top-of-the-range mod coms, mainly because of what they’re typically used for, but you will find that some of the

higher-end models do, although you would probably have to investigate the upper ranges to find these. We do find though, that with vehicles that boast the top-range technical elements comes more opportunity for issues to arise and things to go wrong.

Despite this, the Mitsubishi L200 came equipped with everything we could have possibly required; six-speed manual transmission, Auto Stop and Go technology, heavy-duty suspension, rear differential lock, 16 inch steel wheels with a full-sized spare wheel, 2 SRS airbags for both the driver and passenger, manual air conditioning and Trailer Stability Assist, if you’re looking to use it for it’s historic function.

Also, with Active Stability and Traction Control, driving at high speeds and in all weather conditions would prove not to be a problem for this vehicle.

In addition to all of this, the L200 also boasts a colour-coded front bumper, Bluetooth with music streaming, central locking, steering wheel audio controls, front electric windows, external

temperature display and a whopping 3,000kg towing capacity.

Two things that were missing from this vehicle if we’re talking about transportation for businessmen and women, was a Sat Nav and digital radio. With most modern-day cars you’ll often find a built-in Sat Nav system and, although not a necessity, commuters will find elements like this incredibly useful. However, here at Sussex Business Times, we review cars regularly and not having overwhelming amounts of technology made for quite a different and pleasurable drive.

All in all, the Mitsubishi L200 Single Cab was certainly one of a kind, and here at Sussex Business Times, we look forward to reviewing more vehicles of its kind in issues to come.

Engine capacity: 2.4L Transmission: 6-speed manual 0-62mph: 12.2 seconds Max speed: 105 mph Retail price (OTR): £21, 883.80

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 57

SBTMotoring News World Premiere of the Ferrari J50 department and designed by the Ferrari Styling Centre team in Maranello, just 10 examples of the J50 will be built and, in the spirit of Ferrari’s fuori serie tradition, each one will be tailored specifically to the customer’s requirements.

Based on the 488 Spider, the J50 is powered by a specific 690 cv version of the 3.9-litre V8 that won the overall International Engine of the Year Award last year.

During a special celebration held at the National Art Center in Tokyo to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ferrari in Japan, Ferrari revealed a new strictly limited series of bespoke cars, the J50.

The Ferrari J50 is a two-seater, mid-rear-engined roadster that marks a return to the targa body style evocative of several well-loved Ferrari road cars of the 1970s and 1980s. Created

by Ferrari’s Special Projects

November growth delivers 2.5m YTD record for UK new car market 184,101 new cars were registered in the UK last November, with the market increasing by a steady 2.9%, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The growth has helped deliver more than 2.5 million new cars on to British roads so far this year – the first time the milestone has been reached in November.

Demand for Alternatively Fuelled Vehicles (AFVs) remained strong in November, representing 3.6% of the market – the highest ever achieved.

Petrol registrations grew 7.9% to 88,541 units, while diesels just edged ahead on market share with 88,897 vehicles registered, a fall of -2.9%.

Superminis continued to be the most popular body style – making up more than a quarter (29.7%) of all cars registered in November and executive and city cars enjoyed the biggest growth, up 27.7% and 25% respectively.

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8 Out Of 10 Cars Shipped Overseas In October As Export Growth Drives UK Production UK car manufacturing dipped -1.0% in October, ending a 14-month run of growth for the industry, according to figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

151,795 vehicles were built in the month, with production for export growing taking an 80.9% share of volumes. 122,765 cars were shipped to overseas customers, an uplift of 1.7% on the same month last year, and offsetting a -10.9% decline in production for the home market.

Despite the fall, domestic demand

remains strong, with production in the year so far up 3.3% and at its highest level since 2005.3 Overall production levels, meanwhile, achieved a 17 year record of 1,444,248 – up 9.2%.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “October’s figures underline the export-led nature of the industry, with 8 out of 10 cars built for overseas customers. Despite model changes which have ended the consistent growth pattern of the past year or so, we are still on track for a record number of exports.”

Uber and Volvo’s Self-Driving Safety Nightmare In December 2016, Uber, the ride-sharing technology company announced that it is expanding its self-driving pilot to San Francisco, California, using specially-converted self-driving Volvo XC90 premium SUV’s. However, just a week after this announcement, Uber had to eat their words, admitting that the self driving cars are not safe for the road.

With the vehicles having been found to cut across bike lanes when turning rather than merging into them, as legally required to. Uber have admitted that there is a problem with the autonomous cars, which threatens the safety of cyclists near the cars.

The move marked the next phase in

a deepening alliance between Volvo and Uber after the two companies signed an agreement in August 2016 to establish a jointly-owned project to build base vehicles that can be used to develop fully autonomous driverless cars. The cars were initially tested in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and were aiming to be used in San Francisco.

Since the safety concerns have arisen, the company has been slammed by authorities and road users, prompting doubts about whether the service can continue.

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SBT

ASK THE

SBT Ask the Experts is sponsored by

EXPERTS

WE ASK THE EXPERTS TO GIVE YOU THE ANSWERS YOU NEED

EXPERT

Michael Dale, Brand Strategy Director at Firebrand In a marketplace of increasing complexity and choice, a new smart breed of organisations use simplification to shape their entire customer experience. These brands outperform the market average by 170%.

Raise your visibility by applying focus Businesses of all sizes struggle to stand out in a sea of competitive noise. They often resort to throwing ever more money into marketing when all they need to do is simplify and focus. How? Make it clear what you stand for, explain why you are different and prove why it matters.

How can I use simplification to reach more customers and at the same time improve their experience?

Believe it or not, your customers want less, not more... Less clutter, less confusion and less time-wasting.

EXPERT

How can schools like yours benefit from business networking?

Free schools are much like academies in the current educational landscape: free from local authority control, they manage their own finances, with funding from central government. We also manage our

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A well-defined purpose, strong differentiation and clear positioning will allow you to connect with your prospects effectively and permanently.

Design a better customer experience By creating customer journey maps, you

can analyse, simplify and improve every point of interaction with your brand ensuring you maintain a seamless experience.

Here are just a few ideas: • Provide plain language information and clear call-to-actions.

• Communicate quickly with data visualisation or infographics.

• Streamline your website or devise a simpler, more intuitive checkout process.

• Create ‘decision simplicity’ by selectively revealing the choices your customer needs to make.

Simplification requires a concerted effort, but it’s clearly better that you do the hard work than expect your customers to. Make it easy for them to deal with you, and they’ll keep coming back.

Lea Gilbert, Head Teacher of Gildredge House own pay and conditions for staff and all aspects of human resources. As such, we need to be particularly business-minded, ensuring excellent financial management in order to sustain the best educational provision for our students. This is becoming more challenging in the current landscape of educational funding, forcing schools to be collaborative, creative and innovative in their approaches to everything from income generation to staffing and resource management.

It’s so important to get careers advisers and head teachers talking to people in business about what each sector needs. We have a big responsibility in schools these days to ensure that careers guidance is embedded into the curriculum but, more importantly, that we are involving external agencies – advisers, work experience providers,

employers, business mentors – to inspire and support young people as they plan and prepare for their future careers. Even if the latest Ofsted Handbook didn’t make this clear – and it certainly does – school leaders have a big responsibility to develop initiatives that foster employability and skills which help children to get the best start and be prepared for the next stage in their employment and training.

With schools’ limited resources, this can be a challenge, which is why it’s brilliant that the Education Business Partnership to a certain extent is doing it for us. We would be crazy not to take full advantage of the high quality opportunities they offer to bring businesses, education, students and, very importantly, their parents together in such a positive way.

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Should I be concerned about the Investigatory Powers Bill?

There has been a lot of noise about the Investigatory Powers Bill and it is certainly aimed at being a game

EXPERT

Mark O’Halloran, Partner, Coffin Mew changer to enable the police and security services to obtain web histories, call logs and many other data sets more easily. It is also deeply flawed and unlikely to assist in defending UK citizens from any but the most incompetent criminals and terrorists.

As is typical with legislation that has been rushed through, the Bill doesn’t really understand the nature of what it’s trying to regulate. The idea that all encrypted services should include a ‘backdoor’ is very 1980s (think the original War Games) but it poses major issues with the security of public key encryption systems, which are based on very large prime numbers.

Whilst there are methods of implementing a backdoor (such as the Clipper chip developed in the US), researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have reported that trap doored primes could make even 1,024-

Victoria Archer, Senior Account Manager Cobb PR do. But they couldn’t be more wrong.

Small businesses have a lot to shout about and can reap the rewards of PR whilst sticking to a budget. Here are my top tips to start a campaign on a shoe string:

As a small business, how can I reap the rewards of PR in 2017?

Many people believe that investing in public relations is out of reach for small businesses – the spend will be too great to justify the rewards, so PR is something that only corporate giants can afford to

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bit keys susceptible to being hacked.

So, the security services can unlock the encryption and criminals have an easier time cracking it.

Citizens will be concerned that their web histories are being monitored and recorded - and not just for the police and security services. There are a range of public bodies that have rights under the bill, which may lead to people avoiding the internet.

Over 100,000 people have signed a petition against the Bill. Most people will agree the police and security services need enhanced surveillance powers and many people will accept this as a price worth paying. Criminals and terrorists will simply switch to illegal, fully encrypted apps and communications systems, and pay-asyou-go disposable smart phones, and may not find themselves particularly inconvenienced.

1. Identify your target audience Knowing who your target audience is will ensure you use your time for PR and marketing efficiently. If you’re looking to tap into local businesses, business magazines and networking events will be fruitful. However, if you want to target a specific sector then trade magazines and industry conferences will be more beneficial.

2. Keep it simple When launching a campaign, it can be tempting to include as much information

as possible into one press release.

Remember that a journalist is only looking for the facts and figures so ensure the key information is the first thing they read.

3. Join the conversation If an industry advancement is going to affect your sector, make sure your voice is heard. You don’t need to be controversial but by having a share of voice in local and national news stories, you’ll position your business as one of note that’s got its finger on the pulse.

Victoria is a Senior Account Manager with Cobb PR in Brighton.

Contact her on 01273 021988 or victoria@cobbpr.com for further information and advice.

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SBT

ASK THE

SBT Ask the Experts is sponsored by

EXPERTS

WE ASK THE EXPERTS TO GIVE YOU THE ANSWERS YOU NEED

EXPERT

Why is it important for business owners to have a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a document made by an individual that appoints another person to act on their behalf and in their best interests.

Having a LPA in place will help to protect your business against the threat of disruption and enable continuity if you

EXPERT

I’m planning an event – what can I do to publicise it?

Here are five essential things to remember for a sell-out event: 1. Be clear about your audience: Know exactly who you want to attend.

Who are they? Where are they based?

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Ian Macara, Partner, Bennett Griffin Solicitors became incapacitated. Making informed choices now is a far less expensive option than trying to make decisions in the middle of a crisis; when the options may be limited.

You need to ask yourself what would happen if you were unable to authorise payments or sign off contracts. How would staff wages and insurances be paid? How would stock be bought?

Who would have the authority to recruit key staff to fulfil projects?

It’s reassuring to know that everything is covered by your LPA; even if it’s never needed.

It’s fairly typical for a business owner to have three LPAs in place covering their personal affairs, their business interests and their health and welfare. It’s quite possible, and often preferable, for different Attorneys to be appointed to take on different roles and the LPA needs to be carefully drafted to ensure that the scope of their remit is clear.

How do I set up a Lasting Power of Attorney?

The actual process is straightforward but I would always recommend you consult a specialist advisor who understands the nature of your business to ensure that everything is properly considered.

For more information please contact Ian on im@bennett-griffin.co.uk or telephone 01903 706956. www.bennettgriffin.co.uk

How much does it cost?

It really does depend on the complexity of the LPA, but if you choose a regulated advisor you should expect to pay around £500-£1,000 plus VAT.

Vicki Hughes, MD, Fugu PR What do they read? What interests them?

What networks are they connected to? Once you have answered these questions, then you can start to reach them.

shared and provides an inexpensive way to run a short promotion targeting a very specific group of people. And don’t forget Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn – utilise all the platforms that your audience uses.

2. Stay on message: Make sure you reflect the key messages of the event and ensure all copy and images support this.

5. Email and direct contact: Nothing really beats the personal touch and many people will be flattered if you can find the time to contact them directly. But do make sure you include where and when your event is somewhere in every email.

You’d be surprised how often this crucial detail is missed.

Finally, do keep the event in the minds of those who have already booked by sending short reads and interesting articles that are relevant to the issues you’re addressing. www.fugupr.com Tel: 01273 3327514

3. Plan ahead: Get started as early as possible. Ideally, you want people putting it in their diaries at least a month earlier.

Many local papers and websites have regular listings of events so make sure you send them your event details along with a strong image – media endorsement can be incredibly powerful.

4. Use social media: Set up an event page on Facebook. It can be quickly

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Networking in Sussex

SBT

Society

PR agency, Lea Graham celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new direction

Lea Graham’s clients, media representatives, long-term colleagues and friends turned out in force on 25th November to wish the PR agency a happy birthday and raised £450 through a raffle for St. Peter and St. James Hospice. Guests also enjoyed delicious home-cooked canapés produced by Indigo Events, accompanied by sparkling wine from the award-winning Ridgeview Wine Estate in Ditchling. A show-stopping cake by The Little Cake Fairy topped off the evening.

The public relations and entertainment agency, established in 1986 by Susan Fleet in Burgess Hill, ushered in its fourth decade in style at Great Ote Hall in Wivelsfield, as a special guest of Carola Godman Irvine.

The night saw the introduction of new professional associates joining the team in January. It will extend the agency’s traditional PR and marketing services into broadcast media training, photography and illustration, team building, event management, web design and bid writing.

The new direction will be marked next month with the launch of a website and a social media teaser campaign running for the whole of December.

Susan Fleet, Managing Director, said: “This was an opportunity to celebrate our milestone with media friends, colleagues and clients as well as the chance to showcase some of the best entertainment talent on our books. We are extremely grateful to Carola Godman Irvine for hosting us in her gracious surroundings which are now so popular for weddings and corporate events alike.”

Search Twitter for “#LGA30” to see some memorable moments from Lea Graham’s three decades.

Website: http://www.leagraham.com

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 65

Made In Sussex

Made In Sussex:

Sussex Beds

This month, SBT takes a look at Sussex Beds, a local Hastings based company that has pulled through the hard times to now winning a national award. We take a look at their roots in Sussex, their recent win and their future Starting life in Hastings in 1981, Brand Sussex Beds has Focus gone through many ups and down over the years – including facing closure in 2014. But throughout its history its family roots have remained firm and the couple who founded the business still remain at the helm today, alongside their three grown up children.

It was in 1978 that young couple, John and Sandra Pickering made their first foray into business after buying a small store trading as Miles House Furnishers in St Leonards. The store was successful, but in the summer of 1981 their focus changed after they visited a trade show and were inspired to open a new store specialising in beds and mattresses.

Just a few months later, in December 1981, the couple threw open the doors to their first branch of Sussex Beds in Queens Road, Hastings. Run in turn with their St Leonards store, which continued to trade as Miles House Furnishers, the Hastings branch boosted staff numbers and turnover, and new outlets across Sussex soon followed, including openings in Hailsham, Bexhill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath.

At the age of 16 the couple’s eldest son, Steve joined the company full time on the sales floor, closely followed by their second son, Matthew and daughter, Suzanne. The trio worked their way up and are now all Directors of the company – which sells a range of exclusive beds, frames, mattresses and headboards. But the whole family’s mettle was tested in 2014.

Suffering from the rise in online shopping and the financial crash, the

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company suffered severe losses and was put into liquidation, putting more than 30 jobs at risk.

Determined not to give up, however, the family decided to take drastic measures. Led by Steve they brought in an external consultant who helped organise a complete company restructure and introduced new branding and management systems.

“It was far removed from anything we’d ever done in the past but I felt we had nothing to lose,” Steve said. “The thought of having to close the company after more than 30 years, not to mention having to lay off our fantastic staff, was horrendous so we had to do something.”

The gamble paid off and over the following months the company’s finances were not only brought back into the black but overtook forecasts. And the

overhaul was so successful the family is now embarking on an ambitious expansion programme, with plans to open a further 11 stores within the next five years.

The turnaround in fortunes also landed Sussex Beds with the prestigious National Bed Retailer of the Year Award, which recognised the efforts the whole team had made to help get the firm back on its feet.

Steve added: “Winning the award was a very emotional time for all of us. I’m so proud of the team and couldn’t have down it without them.”

Sussex Beds operates from seven branches in; Hailsham, Bexhill, East Grinstead, Newhaven, Haywards Heath, Portslade and Uckfield. For more information visit www.sussexbedcentre.co.uk or call 01424 212177.

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