Sussex Business Times Magazine

SBT SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

ISSUE 365

N o .

1 for bus ine in Suss ss ex

Why You Should be Driving a Jaguar XKR-S Page 28

Toasting Success Why putting quality over quantity helps Nyetimber survive bad times Page 14

How to twist a commercial bankers arm

(and when you shouldn’t even bother trying) Page 36

17 Business Gifts They’ll Love Page 9

THE EMPLOYMENT LAWS You Need to Know Page 41

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When it comes to Mercedes-Benz, Lookers Mercedes-Benz are the business.

Excellence redefined with these exclusive winter offers.

At Lookers Mercedes-Benz, we pride ourselves on putting you first. It’s a philosophy which has seen us win awards in the past and means that we continually improve the services we offer to the public and to other local businesses.

Being part of Lookers plc, one of the largest motor retail groups in the UK with retailers spanning across the country in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has enabled us to develop our unique state of the art, 250 vehicle, pre-delivery inspection centre, so you can be assured your new purchase is of the very highest quality.

From vehicle funding through to fleet management, you will have the peace of mind that we can provide you with the most efficient and economical service in the area. We have local expertly trained Business Managers on site who strive for perfection and will tailor any financial requirements you may have specifically to meet your needs.

We are sure you can experience the luxury of a Mercedes-Benz for significantly less than what you may think this winter with Lookers Mercedes-Benz.

See overleaf for a selection of our fantastic business user offers available this winter.

Call one of our retailers today on 0844 947 3649 to book a test drive in any of these models.

Lookers plc Mercedes-Benz of Brighton Victoria Road, Portslade, Brighton BN41 1DY

Mercedes-Benz of Eastbourne Eastbourne Road, Westham, East Sussex BN24 5NH

Mercedes-Benz of Gatwick County Oak Way, Crawley, West Sussex RH11 7ST

Official government fuel consumption figures in mpg (litres per 100km) for the Mercedes-Benz range: urban 13.0(21.7)-52.3

(5.4

A-Class image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz A 180 BlueEFFICIENCY SE at £20,125.00 on the road. C-Class Saloon image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz C 180 BlueEFFICIENCY Executive SE Saloon at £26,560.00 on-the-road includin at £645.00, panoramic glass sunroof at £1,350.00, Driving Assistance Package at £1,895.00, COMAND Online multimedia system at £1,995.00 and leather upholstery at £1,350.00. C-Class Estate image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz C 18 road including optional metallic paint at £645.00. E-Class Estate image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz E 220 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Avantgarde Estate at £35,200.00 on-the-road including optional metallic paint at £645.00. SLK Class image BlueEFFICIENCY Sport at £37,625.00 on-the-road. E-Class Cabriolet image model featured is a Mercedes Benz E 350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY SE Cabriolet at £43,900.00 on-the-road including optional metallic paint at £645.00. R-Class image mo price including optional intelligent light system at £1,630.00 and panoramic glass sunroof at £1,835.00. S-Class image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz S 350 BlueTEC at £69,140.00 on-the-road including optional AMG Sports Package at £5, AMG Coupé at £58,255.00 on-the-road including optional Diamond White metallic paint at £480.00. SLK model featured is a Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG at £55,490.00 on the road price including optional 18” AMG Alloy wheels - 10-spoke desig months road fund Licence, number plates, fi rst registration fee and fuel. *All offers shown are for business users only. The offers shown are available on all models ordered and credit approved between 1st October 2012 and 31st December 2012 P 02-03 DPS AD SBT.indd 2

14/12/2012 12:10

s.

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Or simply visit www.leaseamercedesbenz.co.uk for more information.

Mercedes-Benz of Redhill 12 Brighton Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 6QL www.leaseamercedesbenz.co.uk

(5.4), extra urban 22.4 (12.6)-74.3 (3.8), combined 17.8(15.9)-64.2(4.4). CO2 emissions: 378-115 g/km.

n-the-road including optional metallic paint at £645.00. C-Class coupe image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz C 180 BlueEFFICIENCY AMG Sport Coupé with automatic transmission at £38,860.00 on-the-road including optional metallic paint Mercedes-Benz C 180 BlueEFFICIENCY SE Estate at £27,775.00 on-the-road including optional metallic paint at £645.00. E-Class saloon image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz E 200 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY SE Saloon at £29,770.00 on-the0. SLK Class image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG at £55,490.00 on the road price including optional 18” AMG Alloy wheels - 10-spoke design at £525.00. E-Class Coupe image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz E 220 CDI . R-Class image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz R 350 CDI L at £50,175.00 on-the-road including optional 20” alloy wheels at £1,445.00. M Class image model featured is a Mercedes-Benz ML 250 Special Edition at £46,705.00 on-the-road orts Package at £5,665.00 and Driving Assistance Package at £2,065.00. CLS Class image Model featured is a Mercedes-Benz CLS 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY at £47,575.00 on-the-road. C Coupe AMG model featured is a Mercedes-Benz C 63 els - 10-spoke design at £525.00. E Class model featured is a Mercedes-Benz E 220 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Executive SE Saloon at £31,645.00 on-the-road including optional metallic paint at £645.00 On the road prices include VAT, delivery, 12 31st December 2012 and registered by 31st March 2013.

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SBT Welcome “The take-home message from our big feature is that a terrible year can be transformed into an impressive statement of intent”

The festive season is upon us, complete with a Christmas grinch (George Osborne), frosty conditions and an economy in the midst of a not-so-mini ice age. Still, when all else fails, positive thinking can often be extremely productive, so we decided to pack this issue of SBT full of sparkling products to inspire your investment and golden business acumen to aspire to.

We begin with Spending It: a veritable stocking of business gifts that will be sure to spread a smile, upon faces so glum you’d think they’d been botoxed once too often.

Helping us wash down these goodies is a bottle of sparkling wine, courtesy of leading Sussex vineyard Nyetimber. The take-home message from our big feature is that a terrible year can be transformed into an impressive statement of intent. Turn to page 14 to find out why Nyetimber’s tidings in 2012 are an object lesson in quality over quantity.

Next, we serve up three courses of business expertise. We start with advice on pensions autoenrolment, setting out exactly what you need to do by when to keep the regulatory wolf from your company’s door. Following this is a main course of commercial banking insight, complete with a side dish of industry feedback on low interest rates.

Last but not least, we cover the employment laws you need to know to ensure that your recruitment decisions don’t turn sour.

And just to make absolutely sure we’ve banished the blues, we provide a glittering finish.

Our Made in Sussex profile this time is Doug Newman, the main man from Sussex jewellery chain Gold Arts (pun intended).

So come on, tuck in and end the year as you mean to start the next: wiser, smarter and that bit closer to achieving the success you always dreamed of.

Paul Beasley Editor

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Contents SBT Issue 365

SBT

ISSUE 365

No.1

for bus ines in Sussex s

Why You Should be Driving a Jaguar XKR-S

SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

Page 28

Toasting Success

How to twist a commercial bankers arm

Why putting quality over quantity helps Nyetimber survive bad times

(and when you shouldn’t even bother trying) Page 36

Page 14

17 Business Gifts They’ll Love Page 9

THE EMPLOYMENT LAWS You Need to Know Page 41

Cover Image: Chris Hodgkins & Pascal P 01 Cover SBT.indd 1

14/12/2012 14:36

Sussex Business Times Managing Director/Publisher: Lee Mansfield lee@lifemediagroup.co.uk Commercial Director: Simon Skinner simon@lifemediagroup.co.uk Commercial Business Manager: Luke Mould luke@lifemediagroup.co.uk Editor: Paul Beasley paul@lifemediagroup.co.uk Editorial Assistant: Laura Knight laura@lifemediagroup.co.uk Sales Executive Leanne McConnell leanne@lifemediagroup.co.uk Design: Harriet Weston harriet@lifemediagroup.co.uk Media Director Linda Grace linda@lifemediagroup.co.uk Accounts: Clare Fermor/Amelia Wellings clare@lifemediagroup.co.uk amelia@lifemediagroup.co.uk Published by LMG SE LTD Park View House 19 The Avenue, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 3YD 01323 411 601 Printed by Gemini Press, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6NZ 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 2012 ©

3 9 14 23 28 36 41 46 57 62

Welcome Tis the season to be jolly, so we bring you stories about sparkling wine and gold rings – as well as a triple-helping of business expertise

Spending It! Sensational stocking fillers for the discerning businessperson

Nyetimber SBT discovers the secrets of the vineyard at the vanguard of the county’s sparkling wine boom.

Plan Ahead for Pension Perfection We analyse the government’s pension auto-enrolment plans from all angles, and tell you exactly what you need to know to comply in style

Star cars Maarten Hoffman test drives the Jaguar XKR and the Kia Sportage to see if they’re the business

Interest Rate Lows and Highs Commercial banker Robert Clare provides his insider view on interest rates and explains what you need to do to secure funding

Employing the right approach SBT talks to Acas, small business owner Stuart Stokes and Morrisons Solicitors to find out how human resource pitfalls can be avoided

Bennett Griffin Explains Employment law expert Peter Bennett summaries some key regulatory changes in this sponsored editorial

SBT Q&A Our sponsored section of expert insights covers a wide range of essential business matters

Made in Sussex We learn how Doug Newman of Gold Arts has launched and expanded his jewellery and pawnbroking businesses through thick and thin

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Gaby Hardwicke Solicitors is a long established progressive firm which adopts a single standard - excellence

Services for You

Services for your Business

Wills, Probate & Investments Inheritance Tax Planning Care of the Elderly Residential Property Family Law Personal Injury

Corporate Finance Business Transactions Commercial Property Employment Law Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution

For more information: 01323 435900 info@gabyhardwicke.co.uk www.gabyhardwicke.co.uk

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Hastings Bexhill Cooden Eastbourne 14/12/2012 14:29

Spending It!

Great Gifts

From nifty gadgets to swish accessories, we’ve got a range of business gifts all wrapped up

NO. 3 LONDON DRY GIN No.3 London Dry Gin is owned

by Berry Brothers & Rudd, Britain’s oldest wine and spirit merchants. It’s a superpremium gin and designed to be the perfect gin for a G&T or Martini! Classic, simple, lovely. £33.65 (gift pack) www.no3gin.com

SOLAR KEYBOARD FOLIO This combined iPad case and stand has a built-in solar-powered keyboard that is also charged by artificiallight. It offers protection for the front and back of your iPad so you can slip it in and out of your bag with no concerns about damaging it.

The multiview stand holds your iPad so you don’t have to! Logitech, £119.00, www.logitech.com

SPIDERPODIUM This quirky-looking gadget may look like something out of a Stanley Kubrick sci-fi but it is actually one of the most diverse gadgets we’ve ever come across. The Spiderpodium features eight flexible legs – allowing you to attach, cradle, secure or position your mobile phone, satnav, iPad, drinks, torches or even cooking utensils on to a multitude of surfaces.

From £14.95, www.breffo.com

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PICOPIX POCKET PROJECTOR

HUGO BOSS WATCH AND CUFFLINKS

This small and light Philips projector can easily be connected to a notebook, netbook or laptop via USB to display any content you want to share up to 80” in size.

Powered at the same time by the USB connection, there’s no need for additional batteries. Philips, £209, www.philips.co.uk

The watch has a round stainless steel case with a black dial to match the strap. It has a black leather crocodile print strap, with a pink buckle. A great gift for any businessman, £150, www.hugoboss.com

FULTON UMBRELLA USB CUFFLINKS A contemporary, innovative cufflink that uniquely incorporates a USB flash drive, creating a crafty multifunctional design. Each cufflink provides 2GB of data storage. £150 www.tateossian.com

Favoured by the Queen herself, there’s never a royal outing without a Fulton umbrella on standby in matching colours to the Queen’s ensemble – just in case the British weather takes a turn for the worse. The Fulton Birdcage Umbrella features fibreglass ribs that help with flexibility and strength in high winds. £16 www.danielfootwear.com

FILTER WATER BOTTLE Bobble is a stylish, patented water bottle that filters water as you drink.

Bobble’s ingenious design removes chlorine and organic contaminants from tap water. An everyday accessory rather than an impulse decision, it is designed to mitigate the cost of regular bottled water consumption, which can run into hundreds of pounds annually. From £7.99, www.waterbobble.com

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Spending It!

MENS GROOMING GIFT TIN This Traditional Grooming GiftTin from Gift in a Tin contains handmade organic Aloe Vera shaving soap in its own travel case and a handmade best badger shaving brush—he’ll only ever need to buy one of these. The gifts are both handmade in Sheffield and represent British quality and tradition. Gift in a Tin, £32.99 www.giftwrappedandgorgeous.co.uk

THE TRACER DELUXE The Tracer Deluxe offers the touch and feel of a fine writing instrument in a capacitive touch screen stylus.

The soft and durable rubber tip will not scratch your screen and allows you to accurately draw and type with ease. In addition, the Tracer Deluxe includes a two-colour pen for note taking when required. The detachable stylus tip also reveals screwdriver tools and a SIM card ejector pin. £24.95, www.stmbags.com

STAR PENDANT This star pendant is set in sterling silver and studded with Brilliant nonmined diamonds cut to the beautifully traditional asscher shape. It’s the perfect Christmas Christmas sparkler and will add some glamourous glitter to every outfit. £95, www.BrilliantInc.co.uk

PANTHERELLA’S SOCKS

IPAD 2 CASE

Enjoy the comfort and warmth of this pair of Pantherella’s socks. They are 80% cotton and 20% nylon and are a limited edition collection in celebration of Pantherella’s 75th anniversary. Great for a stocking filler. £14, www.pantherella.com

This iPad case by Brunswick England is crafted from the finest-quality leather. Each iPad case is individually checked in the UK to ensure the highest-quality finish before being posted. As well as offering superb protection and good looks, the iPad case folds out into a viewing stand and includes cut-outs allowing you to use your iPad without the need to remove it from the case. £119, www.proporta.co.uk

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Spending It!

BATH ROBE This dressing gown from HOM is made from 93% cotton and 7% polyester and is part of the Chic Business homewear collection.

This snuggly robe provides luxury lounging! £120. www.homunderwear.co.uk

EMERGENCY SMART CHARGER Extra power for your iPod/iPhone. Keep your iPod or iPhone fully charged on the go with the Smart Charger. Rechargeable using the same Apple connection cable you use to charge your iPod, it’s a great way of keeping some extra power handy for heavy use when normal charging options might not be readily available. £12.95 www.gadgets.co.uk

THERMO TRAVEL MUG MENS WALLET A magnificently masculine wallet from this John Lewis & Co. and Harris Tweed collaboration. Expertly crafted, it offers practicality and style in abundance. Features space for eight cards, notes and a Harris Tweed label stitched onto the right hand side of the interior. £35 www.johnlewis.co.uk

The Thermo Mug by SIGG Steelworks has comfortable handles and is the perfect alternative to a traditional coffee cup. The handle is ergonomically designed and the “snap closure” can be easily opened with the thumb. A great way to bring your breakfast caffeine fix to your desk, guaranteeing at least two hours of hot beverage. £19.95. www.sigg.com

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14/12/2012 14:30

Be creative

This simulated image of the above feature shows how you can quickly preview photos in folders.

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samsung.com

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Grape Expectations

Focus

The Nyetimber vineyard is proving that Sussex and sparkling wine make a perfect partnership. Paul Beasley discovers the secrets behind the award-winning wines and finds out why a sodden summer hasn’t burst the business’s bubble

Landscape of the Vineyard

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Focus

If, like me, you crisscross the county by car, you’ll Profile have noted that the region is slowly but surely getting a new hairstyle – a soft green in spring and summer marching in neat rows over the soft contours of the landscape. From Alfriston to Little Chiltington, the new style is really catching on as established vineyards expand and pretenders to the crown – like the Rathfinney estate – play catch-up in a market that’s now shifting up a gear.

Of course, from a French perspective, all of these vineyards are pretenders to their own Champagne industry. When the wind blows form the south you can almost hear the chortles emanating from across the Channel. Les Rosbifs having a go at making sparkling wine?!

Sacrebleu! Well, better that than them blockading our ports and jamming our roads. And if they do take a dim view of us ale-addled, ham-fisted islanders having a pop at making what we call sparkling wine because we’re not legally

Rathfinney Estate

allowed to call it ‘Champagne’, we can hardly blame them. This, after all, is the country whose appreciation of wine has only recently outgrown Liebfraumilch and Blue Nun. Heck, even the Aussies – not often mistaken for highly civilised folk – exported beers they didn’t bother selling to themselves for our undiscerning, unlimited consumption.

But the tide is turning, and Sussex is at the heart of the resistance. The South East, it could be argued without sounding like you’ve had one too many, is the centre of British winemaking, advancing the cause of viticulture from a smattering of private, non-commercial vineyards to an organised, globally respected industry. Nyetimber, the first on the scene, blew away the prevailing homebrew attitude and got serious about its wines.

“At the last count, there were 417 wineries in the UK, but many of this number are hobbyists having a bit of fun. So wine had been made in England before Nyetimber produced their first commercial wines, but the endeavour was not controlled or serious”, says Nyetimber’s recently appointed head

of marketing, the half-French, halfAmerican Christian Holthausen.

Before Nyetimber shook up the market, British winemaking was something of a slumbering giant. Vines were planted by the Romans, and under Catholicism the production of alcohol was largely undertaken by monasteries.

Nyetimber is listed in the Doomsday Book, and wine was almost certainly produced there until, in the middle of the 16th century, pie-muncher-in-chief Henry VIII closed the monasteries. “The loss of agricultural heritage as a result of this was terrible”, says Holthausen.

“Dom Perignon is so great because the monastic life gave the monks the opportunity to dedicate themselves to making wine.”

So while the rest of the wine world knuckled down and got better and better at what it did, Britain’s own tradition rotted on the vine. It took an American couple, then a Dutch lawyer working in tandem with a half-British, half-Canadian winemaker and her Canadian husband, to get the Sussex wine river flowing again.

When Stuart and Sandy Moss bought Nyetimber manor in 1988, their approach to winemaking was not just a punt: it was carefully calculated.

“They were quite serious about what they wanted to do with the winery. All of the research indicated that the future of winemaking in the UK would be about sparkling wine”, Christian explains.

But why would that work here, in Sussex, specifically?

“If you look at it geologically, the chalk in the Champagne region – where I’m from – continues all the way up through Sussex. Also, the drainage is similar here to the conditions in northern France – and the chalk lends the wines their minerality. You need acidity from the chalk, and a cool climate, otherwise the Chardonnay grapes [a key component of Champagne] will be too ripe. You do need a longer hang time in the UK to get the grapes ripe enough, though”, says Christian.

“So the Moss’s thought: ‘we’re going to make sparkling wine like they do in France’. They produced their first vintage in 1992 – 100 per cent Chardonnay – and sold their first wines in 1996. Chardonnay is still the backbone of our produce – for example, our Classic Cuvée is 79 per cent Chardonnay.”

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Local farmer Chris Hodgkins toasts the success of his partnership with Nyetimber’s Pascal.

“All of the research indicated that the future of winemaking in the UK would be about sparkling wine” www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 17

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14/12/2012 11:05

ADVERTORIAL

A Burning Ambition

A senior firefighter has set himself on course to achieve his dream of one day winning the top job in Hampshire’s Fire and Rescue Service.

Dan Tasker, 37, group manager in charge of fire stations in Eastleigh and the Test Valley, signed up for a course to give him a 360-degree view of business management, including everything from human resources to emotional intelligence.

He joined the Fire and Rescue Service at the age of 18 and has since attended more than 4,000 calls to everything from small vehicle fires to aircraft crashes, train derailments and major fires in highrise buildings.

He has also undertaken highly specialised secondments in training, community safety and project management.

But despite his experience, he didn’t have all the qualifications necessary to be considered for promotion to chief fire officer.

Dan signed up for a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Portsmouth Business School.

He said: “The MBA is recognised by the Chief Fire Officer’s Association as an absolute pre-requisite to the role of chief fire officer because it delivers the knowledge-base and senior management skills and attributes necessary to lead a modern Fire and Rescue Service.

“The MBA has without question developed my academic and personal skills to such a level that I now feel ready to take the step into senior management. That step now seems much smaller than before.”

As part of the course Dan studied business-critical subjects including corporate finance, marketing and strategy, and took part in masterclasses on subjects as varied as emotional intelligence and management consultancy.

Dan Tasker

www.port.ac.uk

Show you mean business. Go back to school.

Our Master of Business Administration (MBA) will provide you with the opportunity to develop your strategic problemsolving skills whilst mastering the latest business knowledge and practice: • • • • •

Develop your management abilities Benefit through innovative work-based learning Generous scholarships Taught part-time in two-day blocks over two years Accredited by the Association of MBAs

To find out more about our wide range of degrees, come along to one of our regular open evenings – details of which can be found at www.sharpenyourcompetitiveedge.com.

The Portsmouth MBA has been a lifechanging experience and one that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.’

Heather Short, Entrepreneur

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For more information or to apply: T: +44 (0)23 9284 8200 E: pbs.postgradadmissions@ port.ac.uk W: www.port.ac.uk/mba

14/12/2012 11:05

Focus

By the time Dutchman Eric Hereema (“he’s more British than the royal family”, according to Christian) bought Nyetimber in 2006, the Moss’s had succeeded in establishing a signature wine – “the one British wine everyone knew”. But unless Eric could find the right winemaker, Nyetimber’s range would have stopped at one. Enter Cherie Spriggs, whose arrival in Sussex owes everything to a winning combination of chance and chasing dreams.

“My dad, who’s English, travels back and forth to England, and on one trip around 2000 he brought a wine atlas home”, Cherie recalls. “On the back page was Nyetimber. I thought, ‘that’s interesting – a sparkling wine from England’. By that time I’d already developed a love of sparkling wine, so I was interested to try it. The next time he visited England he asked if he could bring anything back for me and I replied, ‘Yes, a bottle of Nyetimber’. I had no preconceived ideas about how it would taste – and it tasted like nothing else apart from Champagne. It had a very interesting character.”

Interesting enough, in fact, to inspire Cherie transplant herself from Canada to the South Downs.

“On an evening walk, I said to my husband [Brad, Nyetimber’s associated winemaker], ‘why don’t we apply to our dream jobs?’ I immediately thought of Nyetimber. I wrote to them and asked ‘Is it worth my husband and I moving to England to look for work as a wine-maker?’ I got a reply almost immediately: ‘I’ve been looking for two wine-makers for six months – come and see us!’ We did – and we started work at Nyetimber in 2007!”

For Cherie, settling in wasn’t as hard as it sounds. She came from Victoria, on Vancouver Island, which considers itself to be the centre of Britishness outside of Britain.

“Coming from Victoria, I knew what I was getting into”, Cherie explains. “It rains a lot in Victoria, so is very green, and when it snows the place shuts down. Of course, it also has a rugged, raw mountain landscape we don’t have here. In contrast, the South of England has soft curves – it’s different but it’s beautiful, and everyday we work in the vineyard we have beautiful views of the South Downs.”

It’s an ‘office’ Cherie and Brad share

Nyetimber - Vineyard

“Nyetimber wines are matured in cellars on lees for longer than pretty much anywhere else in the UK. I wanted to add some of the character we were getting in the vineyard – the great fruit flavours of the grapes” - Cherie Spriggs, Nyetimber with the 30-35 employees from the Little Chiltington area who work in the vineyard and winery. In November this year, they also shared their office with 250 sheep, which were brought in from a neighbouring farm to give the ground a bit of a tidy up.

Upon arrival, Cherie immediately set about imbuing Nyetimber’s wines with her own signature.

“When I joined, Nyetimber was just transitioning from the 2000 to the 2001 vintage. The grapes from 2000-2006 were already harvested, so it was the 2007 wines my husband and I made from the very beginning. I had some ideas as to what qualities I was trying to keep – the lovely depth and complexity.

Nyetimber wines are matured in cellars on lees for longer than pretty much anywhere else in the UK. I wanted to add some of the character we were getting in the vineyard – the great fruit flavours of the grapes. So from 2007 on we were aiming to create subtle changes. According to the wine journalists, the wine has gained a bit of

femininity as a result. I was pleased with this – I think a gentleness and ease of drinking is a good thing in a sparkling wine.”

So what’s the secret of Cherie’s success?

“When making wines there are a lot of decisions to make. At each stage we ‘tried to get out of the way’, not muck about too much and not overdo anything. It’s not rocket science. There’s no science of winemaking – you can’t say ‘this parcel of grapes will definitely result in that character’”, says Cherie of the alchemy of making sparkling wines.

“We don’t have a table of grape qualities with chemical numbers. It isn’t a recipe like it is in beer making. It’s about tiny things that add up. To get the subtleties in, you have to make the same effort again as you would for the rest of the process, but for smaller returns.”

This sounds similar to the approach of David Brailsford, the performance director at the all-conquering GB Cycling team: marginal gains in every

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Focus

area add up to excellent results.

However, this year certainly can’t be considered a marginal gain for Nyetimber. Instead, it’s been a major setback.

“We went to taste the grapes and they weren’t up to scratch”, says Christian.

As a result, the company decided not to harvest their grapes at all this year.

British weather 1; British wine 0.

“You’ll die an early death if you worry about the weather – you just need to accept that what happens, happens”, comments Cherie, philosophically.

Christian acknowledges that Nyetimber could have made wine from the grapes, but that it wouldn’t have been of tremendous quality. “Not harvesting was the right thing to do for Nyetimber”, he says with conviction.

And what does the head winemaker think?

“If we couldn’t match or exceed our current standard then it wasn’t worth it”, Cherie agrees. “It’s uncommon not to pick your grapes.

It’s heart-wrenching and takes massive commitment to quality.”

The fact that Nyetimber can even contemplate such a bold step is down to two things: its total ownership of all of its harvest and its independence – Nyetimber doesn’t grow grapes for anyone else.

“A lot of businesses are not in a position to take the step we have – they have a contractual obligation to supply grapes every year”, Cherie explains.

Instead of drowning their sorrows, the Nyetimber team set about minimising the damage by emphasising a unique selling point: complete and utter commitment to quality. “It has created positive exposure for us – people realise we’re serious about making quality wines”, says Christian.

Still, missing a whole year of production sounds financially catastrophic for any company, but Christian is quick to point out that vineyards – and Nyetimber in particular – shouldn’t be judged from the perspective of the typical manufacturing model.

“Our business model isn’t based on producing a vintage every year, so we

A Sparkling Christmas Christian Holthausen picks out four Nyetimber wines that will match Christmas food perfectly Sparkling wine is very much about food – it’s the food-friendliest of wines.

The 2008 Rose we released earlier this year has elegance from the Chardonnay grapes and structure from Pinot Noir. It can be served with prosciutto, veal, lamb, fowl – and any of Britain’s fantastic game birds. I’d celebrate with this wine.

For Christmas dinner, the Classic Cuvée is very versatile. It is made from a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. It is complex and fresh and can be drunk with starters and the main course.

The Blanc de Blancs 2003 is rich, round, buttery and toasty. It is made entirely of Chardonnay grapes and works really well with mushroom risotto, which is served at Christmas in France.

For dessert, I’d pair that with the Demi Sec we released in October this year – the first demi sec produced in England. It contains four times the sugar of a normal Brut. It’s great with panettone.

weren’t dependent on revenue from this year’s harvest. It’s not a hand-to-mouth operation. If you have to produce wine every year you’re in a difficult position.”

Instead, they endeavour to make the best of every grape they harvest, as Cherie explains: “We taste the fruit and decide when to pick them. We have eight different vineyards totalling over 400 acres, and each one has a different character – stronger fruit flavours in some, and more of an austere minerality in others. We keep all of the parcels separate but we may have an idea at this stage of what parcels will work together. We press and ferment the grapes separately. When blending we try the maximum number of options.

We pick and press in October, fermenting [in stainless steel tanks] continues into November and sometimes into the new year.”

Generally speaking, Cherie describes the overall character of Nyetimber wines as high-toned. “We’re like the piano section of an orchestra! Bollinger is more of a base note – heavy and masculine.” But, she admits that the exact quality of each wine is a bit of an unknown quantity. “Sometimes what you want to happen doesn’t happen.

You only know what you’ve got when you’ve got it.”

So how good is Nyetimber wine, exactly? Good enough to impress Christian’s French family and friends?

Probably best leave the older generation to its own ways, he advises.

“My parents have an extremely clear idea of what they drink. They have no idea of wines from other countries, and prefer wines from their region. There’s a very regional attachment in France, and a real focus on local producers. This is starting to happen in the UK too.

People are beginning to talk about provenance and regionality.

“But the younger generation, who have travelled more, realise that they can get so much wine in the UK – London is the centre of the wine world.

Most of my French friends aren’t opposed to English wine – they’re curious. It’d be fun to serve my granny Nyetimber!” he concludes with a chuckle.

I, for one, will raise a glass of bubbly to that. www.nyetimber.com

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Advertorial

The Benefits of Using One Supplier for All Waste Streams

Having a number of companies handling different streams of your business’s waste can take up valuable time and effort. Co-ordinating them can be a costly procedure. Anthony Pearlgood, commercial director at PHS Wastetech explains the advantages of using a single company to manage all of your waste streams.

Firstly, let’s look at all the challenges a business may face when dealing with multiple suppliers. The paper work and admin needed to organise each company takes up valuable time which could be used more efficiently in other areas of the business. Handling multiple contracts means talking to lots of different people, each of whom only has an interest in their sole area of expertise. Rather than looking at the bigger picture of your company’s overall waste requirements, all of their focus in on a tiny piece of the puzzle.

The benefit of having one supplier in this regard is that it provides a more efficient use of company time, and also ensures that you have a company that sees the whole waste management picture. Such a supplier can ensure the most cost-effective solutions and requirements are in place to streamline the entire process.

Secondly, when you are dealing with various waste management teams, it can be hard to keep track of quality control. When you use a single supplier it is much easier to have that control. You are in a better position to understand the service provided and therefore ensure consistency of service.

What’s clear for any business is that a one size solution doesn’t fit all. Not all waste management systems will suit every type of business, and this is where having a single supplier is invaluable. Working with just one company will ensure that your business receives a bespoke waste stream solution specifically tailored to meet its needs.

A complete waste management solution, really should take the burden of managing the waste from the business and place. PHS Wastetech’s complete waste management service covers absolutely everything; from basic waste management programmes and the provision of recycling infrastructure, through to experienced on-site management, and our dedicated Research & Development team that help keep us and the customer at the forefront of industry breakthroughs.

By ensuring your business has a complete waste management solution in place, it is possible to not only cut the costs of disposal, you can totally eliminate them. In today’s economy making savings wherever possible without cutting corners is a no-brainer and by only having one waste management supplier this can be easily achieved. PHS 22 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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Wastetech can even help your business generate an income from your recyclables and help to improve your company’s green credentials.

Taking an holistic approach with your waste management really can make a difference to your recycling performance.

By using one supplier, your recycling rates will improve and so will your environmental impact. If you only use one supplier, then you only need one vehicle to come to site to collect your waste. Having multiple suppliers means multiple vehicles travelling across the country, racking up a much bigger carbon footprint than by just having one.

Additionally, having a single supplier will allow you to establish a close working relationship. They will get to know your business better, will better know the challenges you face and be in a better position to respond appropriately. As your business evolves, so will your supplier and as they will already know your business, it

won’t be hard for them to adapt to your new needs.

The downside of having a single supplier perhaps is that you are wholly reliant on them. This means it is important to choose the right supplier , preferably one that has been trading many years and is able to show examples of other companies which they manage waste streams for.

For further information about PHS Wastetech and to find out how it can manage your complete waste management streams, please visit: ww.phswastetech.co.uk/ or call 0870 241 7491

14/12/2012 11:45

Money Matters

Plan Ahead for Pension Perfection

As the new pension enrolment legislation is rolled out across the UK, we provide a step-by-step guide for employers and two different perspectives on the impact of the new rules. First, Charles Counsell, executive director of the Employer Compliance Regime at Brighton-based The Pensions Regulator, explains how businesses can meet their new pension duties the sensible way

There has been a huge change in the UK’s pension Insight landscape with new legal duties for every employer to help their workers in the UK save for retirement.

The legislation affects employers across Sussex, whether they have just 1, or 100, or 1,000 workers. Every employer will need to act to comply so that workers begin to benefit from workplace pension schemes.

The UK’s biggest employers have already begun automatically enrolling, and millions of workers across the country will be newly enrolled into workplace pensions in 2013. Eventually, 1.3m or so employers in the UK will have reached their staging dates – the date when they have to comply with their new legal duties. The rollout will continue until 2017 for small and micro businesses, and 2018 for new businesses.

It’s fair to say Sussex is at the vanguard of this pensions revolution.

The Pensions Regulator is based in

Brighton and is playing a key role in helping to ensure employers meet their duties. The pension schemes their workers are joining offer the prospect of a good income in retirement.

What is automatic enrolment?

Automatic enrolment aims to tackle growing concerns that people are living for longer but failing to put enough away for their later years. In order to get people saving more for retirement, the Government has introduced a policy where people will be placed automatically into a pension, rather than having to make an active choice to join.

Millions of workers will have a percentage of their pay packet automatically diverted to a savings pot for their pension. Employers are obliged to pay in as well and savings are increased further through tax relief, approximately doubling the contributions made by the individual.

Every employer needs to play their part to make these pension reforms work, and The Pensions Regulator’s goal is to make that task as straightforward as possible. The

“Millions of workers will have a percentage of their pay packet automatically diverted to a savings pot for their pension” regulator has a duty to maximise compliance amongst employers.

Helping employers to comply by providing high-quality information and support is central to our approach.

However, there will be consequences for those employers that do not engage with the new duties. We’ll apply the law fairly and where we find consistent or wilful non-compliance we will use our powers, so that employees do not miss out on contributions they are due.

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What does an employer need to do?

The key date for any employer is its own staging date. Once you know that, you can start planning how to be compliant on time. Staging dates are wholly based on the information held by the regulator from HMRC at 1 April 2012.

More than 50,000 large and medium employers (those with 50 or more workers) will be staged before April 2015. Firms with fewer than 50 workers will not start enrolling their staff until June 2015 at the earliest. But even the smallest employer—such as a painter decorator with two full-time workers will eventually be obliged to comply with the employer duties in relation to their staff.

There’s a tool on the regulator’s website which will give you an indication of when your staging date is [this information is summarised on page 26]. Currently we are writing to employers 18, 12 and three months

before their staging dates. To make sure we write to the correct person within large and medium-sized employers, we are phoning them 19 months before their staging date to establish the right person to contact about the automatic enrolment plans A step-by-step guide to enrolment The regulator has a range of information available to help employers get to grips with the new duties, from interactive tools and letter templates to guidance explaining the duties in detail. There really is a wealth of information on our site and we have been updating the leaflets and tools following feedback from those already well on their way to their staging date.

The main steps have been broken down into the three stages set out below: what you need to do now, what you’ll need to do before your staging date and what happens at staging and beyond.

Minimum Contributions The minimum amount that must, by law, be paid into the pension scheme is 8% of the member of staff’s gross earnings, but only on their earnings between £5,564 and £42,475 per year (anything they earn above £42,475 isn’t taken into account when working out how much contributions should be for that person).

This minimum 8% is broken down as follows: • The employer must pay at least 3% (you can pay more if you wish).

• The member of staff pays the rest and will get tax relief on their payment.

Example Below we’ve only included employer contributions up to 8% but there’s no limit on how much extra you can contribute. However, there is a minimum: 3% - with the employee contributing 5%.

Your contribution per month based on an employee who earns £15,000 is as follows (note, no benefits or fees have been included in this calculation, so this is an approximate guide only): 3% £23.59 4% £31.45 5% £39.32 6% £47.18 7% £55.04 8% £62.91 Notes

1. The minimum contribution levels are being phased in over six years, building up to the full 8% by 1 October 2018. This example does not reflect the phasing period but is designed to show the ongoing minimum contributions after phasing.

2. There will be other costs to employers, such as implementation costs for your business or the pension scheme’s annual management fees and administrative charges. In addition, the pension scheme you choose may calculate contributions differently.

1. Now.

Nominate a point of contact The regulator is contacting organisations directly. Having a nominated person at the employer to liaise with is vital.

Know your staging date and develop a plan.

Depending on the number of workers you have, this will usually mean having a project team. For larger companies, this will include representatives of HR, payroll, IT, finance and communication.

2. Between now and staging Assess your workforce Employers across Sussex need to identify any eligible jobholders working for it – these are the workers that have to be automatically enrolled. They are aged between 22 and state pension age and earn over £8,105 per annum.

In addition to eligible jobholders, there are two other types of worker: noneligible jobholders and entitled workers.

Employers have duties in relation to these types of workers too.

Review your pension arrangements The regulator is committed to ensuring that employers know they need to look closely at the pension schemes on offer and choose the one which best meets the needs of their workforce.

We want employers to choose a scheme that not only meets the statutory requirements but also has the necessary features to enable members to achieve a good outcome from their savings. To help them make a better choice The Pensions Regulator has published information that sets out what we think ‘good looks like’. Again, it’s available on our website and sets out the principles that underline a ‘good’ automatic enrolment scheme and the features we believe best enable members to achieve a good outcome.

Communicate the changes to all your workers: Employers are required by law to write to all workers (except those aged under 16 or 75 and over) explaining what automatic enrolment into a workplace pension means for them. There are different information requirements for each category of worker. Again, there is plenty of information on doing this, along with templates, on the regulator’s website.

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Money Matters

3. At staging and beyond

“The minimum amount that must, by law, be paid into the pension scheme is 8% of the member of staff’s gross earnings”

Automatically enrol all eligible jobholders into a pension scheme: You will need to automatically enrol eligible jobholders into your pension scheme and communicate appropriately with other categories of workers.

Register with us and give us details of your qualifying scheme and the number of people that you have automatically enrolled: You are required to register with us shortly after your staging date.

Contribute to your workers’ pensions: Employers are required to make ongoing contributions to eligible jobholders’ pension schemes. The minimum contribution amounts are set out in law.

What will this cost?

The amount of money paid into auto enrolment pension pots by employers, employees and by the government from tax relief is worked out as a percentage of earnings.

The government has set a minimum percentage that has to be contributed in total, which increases gradually between 2012 and October 2018.

The regulator has published an interactive tool on its website, suitable for smaller employers. Inputting data about how much someone is paid will provide an indicative figure of what it will cost your business to pay minimum contributions into a pension pot for them.

For individuals to attain a good outcome from pension saving, how much you, as the employer, and they, as the individual, contribute is a key consideration. Employers are able to contribute more than the minimum – many already do because they recognise that a pension is a valuable benefit for their staff and a good recruitment and retention tool.

Sanctions for non-compliance In the first instance, my team aims to maximise employer compliance with the new automatic enrolment duties by providing employers, intermediaries and advisers, with the information, tools and support they need to get to grips with the new duties.

We are committed to helping employers with these new duties and to establishing a pro-compliance

culture. However, it would simply not be fair if employees do not get the pensions that they are legally entitled to, or one employer gets an advantage over another by breaking the law.

Willful or persistent non-compliance will result in enforcement action by The Pensions Regulator. If an employer has not complied despite our efforts to help them do so, we will have access to a range of new powers including compliance notices, financial penalties and, in some cases, ultimately criminal prosecution.

The first step will usually be for the regulator to issue a notice directing the employer to rectify the breach.

Noncompliance with this notice would normally result in a fixed financial penalty of £400.

My message to employers We’re supporting employers every step of the way so it’s clear what they need to do, by when and how they go about doing it. Nevertheless, we know that some employers may struggle as they come to terms with putting the new pension regime into practice at their place of work.

The key is to start to plan early - don’t leave it too late. Our research indicates that it will take the average large or medium-sized business up to 18 months to prepare. We really encourage employers to tell us earlier rather than later if they are having problems complying as help is available.

For further information, and to use the tools mentioned in this article, visit the website: www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk

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Staging Date Timeline Your staging date is determined by the total number of persons in your largest PAYE scheme. This is based on information we held from HMRC at 1 April 2012. You should therefore be aware that if you made any changes to your PAYE scheme before this date, these may not be reflected in the information we’ve used to determine your staging date.

The following is a summary:

120,000 or more 1 October 2012 50,000-119,999 1 November 2012 30,000-49,999 1 January 2013 20,000-29,999 1 February 2013 10,000-19,999 1 March 2013 6,000-9,999 1 April 2013 4,100-5,999 1 May 2013 4,000-4,099 1 June 2013 3,000-3,999 1 July 2013 2,000-2,999 1 August 2013 1,250-1,999 1 September 2013 800-1,249 1 October 2013 500-799 1 November 2013 350-499 1 January 2014 250-349 1 February 2014 160-249 1 April 2014 90-159 1 May 2014 62-89 1 July 2014 61 1 August 2014 60 1 October 2014 59 1 November 2014 58 1 January 2015 54-57 1 March 2015 50-53 1 April 2015 40-49 1 August 2015 30-39 1 October 2015 29 or less 1 June 2015–1 April 2017*

Notes * This depends on your PAYE code; the codes will be worked through in a defined order, starting with the last 2 characters in PAYE reference numbers 92, A1-A9, B1-B9, AA-AZ, BA-BW, M1M9, MA-MZ, Z1-Z9, ZA-ZZ, 0A-0Z, 1A-1Z or 2A2Z. Employers with these codes have a staging date of 1 June 2015. The full list is available at: www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/ staging-date-timeline.aspx 1. Employers who do not have a PAYE scheme have been set a staging date of 1 April 2017.

2. If you are a new employer and your PAYE income is first payable between 1 April 2012 and 30 September 2017, your staging date will be between 1 May 2017 and 1 February 2018 depending on exactly when your PAYE income is first payable.

Viewpoint Mo Rasanayagam, HR consultant at Sussex Enterprise, says that the reforms are necessary – but employers must be aware of complexities and administration costs if they’re to comply successfully.

We’ve been hearing a lot about public sector pension reform over the last year, future affordability and the need to change the existing arrangements. Too many people are failing to save enough for their retirement, which unless addressed will result in an unacceptable burden being passed to future generations. This even has the potential to undermine the UK’s future competitiveness. Business has a role in encouraging people to save for their retirement and pensions often form part of the ‘benefits package’ that attracts skilled workers and keeps them loyal to their employer.

The new auto-enrolment duty will result in more people saving for a pension, but too little has been done to educate SMEs about the extent of their responsibilities. Most business owners do not have an HR department and are not pensions experts and are likely to need external support in picking a pensions scheme, enrolling their employees, providing them with information, dealing with opt-outs, keeping records and so on.

The Sussex business community generally accepts the direct costs of employer pension contributions, but these are dwarfed by the likely employer administration costs. Successful regulation works because compliance is easy; the complexity of these reforms risks pushing a large number

of businesses into non-compliance, which would further damage the reputation of pensions as well as the reforms. In fact, some businesses have suggested that compulsory enrolment burden of all employees, with a simpler administrative burden, would actually prove less costly.

To prepare for these new regulations talk to your pension scheme provider, if you have one. If you don’t have a workplace pension scheme you need to plan to set one up as this can take some time to implement, and to start budgeting for the costs!

Sussex Enterprise have a number of partners who can give you impartial advice so please get in touch, either via 0844 3759552 or hrservices@sussexenterprise.co.uk if you want more information. I strongly recommend dealing with this sooner, rather than later, so as to minimise the costs and disruption to your business.

“ If you don’t have a workplace pension scheme you need to plan to set one up as this can take some time to implement”

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Money Matters

Case Study Sussex Downs College employs 1,200 staff – many from Sussex.

Here’s the College’s perspective on the new pension rules, as provided by its HR department.

Sussex Downs College already encourages people to make provision for retirement through auto-enrolment into existing high-quality pension schemes (the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and the Local Government Pension Scheme, even though we are not part of local government).

Perhaps because of this, the new auto-enrolment regulations do not work in exactly the same way and are not as daunting for the College as they must be for many other employers. For us, the key challenges will be about effective communication of the changes to all new and existing staff and ensuring that out arrangements meet the requirements of both the current pension schemes and the new auto-

enrolment arrangements to be overseen

by The Pensions Regulator.

We are fortunate in that we have benefitted from additional support from the administrators of both pension schemes, the Association of Colleges and our HR/Payroll Software provider. We also attended a local seminar organised by the Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce, which was helpful in confirming our understanding of the legislation.

There are costs involved in introducing the new auto-enrolment arrangements, which apply to us from September 2013. We have already incurred an additional charge from our software provider for adapting the system to cope with the new AE requirements and will be faced with increased employer contribution costs, assuming an increased participation rate in the pension schemes. This is good for the individuals and the country as a whole in the long term, but difficult for the employer to absorb in the short term.

“The new autoenrolment regulations do not work in exactly the same way and are not as daunting for the College as they must be for many other employers”

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14/12/2012 11:45

© Robert Griffin Photography

Jaguar XKR-S

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Review

I have to admit that l have a love of German cars Review – l love them for their remarkable build quality, their attention to detail and their tendency to go 200,000 miles before politely coughing with a request for an oil change. My first encounter with German engineering came about when l bought a Porsche 911SC back in the 80s and have never looked back. So, what to make of the Jaguar XKR-S that Coventry has just kindly delivered to me? Built in the UK and owned by Tata of India – on the face of it, this does not sound like a great combo!

Well, l am eating those words as l type – the XKRS is the fastest Jaguar ever built and is an amazing piece of kit. OK, it has a few cheap plastic bits in the interior, there are things that might well drop off over time and you will need to move to Venezuela where petrol is 2p a litre to afford to run it, but l have re-discovered my love of cars with a personality and real character.

German cars are brilliant but it must be said that they do lack a certain panache, a certain feeling that leads you, in secret of course, to give your car a name. The Jag has a barn-storming personality, the road presence of King Kong on steroids

and acceleration that tries to rip your face off. An insanely grinning face, of course!

With a 5 litre V8 engine that gives you 0-60 in 4.6 seconds and 542 bhp, the car constantly demands you go faster. There is so much torque, at any speed, that the response to the demand is always ‘yes please’ – which is a bit of a problem when it comes to keeping your driving licence! This is a sublime high-speed cruiser and after driving it from Brighton to Birmingham, l couldn’t wait to drive home again and found myself thinking of visiting friends l hadn’t seen for ages based purely on how far away they lived. It has to be said that the rear seats are all but useless, unless you have very small children or are friends with a family of vertically challenged circus folk but the front seats are to die for, with about 20 different electronic settings, they snuggle you in for the trip to Tesco’s as if you were en-route to Melbourne. You might by now be thinking that l am just a little boy who loves a fast toy and needs a car as a manhood extension – well my wife, who couldn’t give two hoots about cars and would rather watch paint dry, drove it and l do not exaggerate when I say that she couldn’t take the smile off her face for over an hour.

It is no secret that l like noise – screaming, burbling exhaust noise that you can really only experience from a V8 and preferably in a tunnel with the windows open. Well, l’m in love. The noise coming out of the Jag’s active exhaust system did things for my nether regions that my wife can only dream of. Lift off at speed, and you are greeted with an exhaust bang that is glorious. Dare l speak the unspeakable – is this as good as an Aston Martin Vantage?

Hmmm, Well, you would save £10,000 for starters and l dare say that the Jag’s torque pulls harder and for more of the rev range but the Vantage is better built and its value won’t fall off a cliff the minute you drive out of the showroom. If l needed the £10,000 change, then yes, it is as close as any car has ever come to the Aston – l love it and l want to buy one and if you find a spare £80,000 down the back of the sofa, l would advise you to make tracks for your nearest Jaguar showroom. Oh, and buy shares in BP while you are at it!

- Maarten Hoffmann, Motoring Editor

Like:

Style, speed, front seats, road presence, the noise

Loath:

Silly plastic seat belt holders, limited back seats, fuel consumption, little boys crowding round it

Alternatives:

Aston Martin Vantage, BMW M6, Mercedes SL65

Technical Stuff:

Engine 5.00 litre, V8 Supercharged (292 g/km CO2), 3-year warranty Price: £78,500.00

Best Deal:

LEASE £966.41 per month.

RENT £695.00 ‘try before you buy’ weekend

Shoreham Power Station

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Kia Sportage I must admit that l have never paid any attention whatsoever Review to Kia cars. This could be down to the lack of any noticeable style or flair in any previous model that might have crossed my path. Then l spotted a very pretty SUV one day whilst investing my kids, inheritance into a parking meter in Brighton and shock horror, it was a Kia – can’t help thinking of an orange drink during Saturday morning cinema but let’s move on to the car.

Kia kindly delivered the Sportage to me and l must say, l am very impressed. Its interior is roomy, the dial layout is good, the level of kit is very comprehensive and it is quick enough around town to please most people. It will never take on the BMW X5 or the Land Rover Evoque but at a starting price of £17,300 on the road and an unlimited seven year warranty, this is a car to seriously consider. I didn’t bother to take it off-road as let’s face it, 98.6% of you won’t either but it would easily get you through the snow and ice of a British summer and you can load it with kids and shopping and go just about anywhere. If you are looking for a cross-

over, you would be foolish to ignore the Sportage. Kia is selling cars as fast as they can make them so you will not be alone in your choice and it is a lot of car for the money.

- Maarten Hoffmann, Motoring Editor

Like:

Interior space; lively engine; standard kit; fuel economy; full size spare

Loath: Enormous wing mirrors; light steering; tiny rear window

Alternatives:

Ford Kuga, Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai ix35

Technical Stuff:

Engines 1.6 litre petrol (CO2 149 g/km) – 2.00 litre diesel (CO2 183 g/km) Prices from £17,300 - £26,930 7 year/100,000-mile warranty 2-wheel & 4-wheel drive options

Best Deal

Lease £240.05 per month plus VAT, Rent £90.00 ‘try before you buy’ weekend

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Review

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For a free demo visit

www.crunch.co.uk

0844 500 8000 Follow us @TeamCrunch 32 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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LET THE PLATINUM CLUB TAKE THE ‘WORK’ OUT OF NETWORKING The Platinum Club, in partnership with The Grand Hotel Brighton, has developed a highly effective networking forum believing that less is more. We have removed much of the periphery that surrounds many business clubs such as seated meals, speeches and sponsors presentations.

The Platinum Club offers a relaxed and informal Champagne cocktail party each month where local businesses come together from across Sussex to develop and build relationships, catch up on industry news and events and meet an eclectic group of business people in the splendour of The Grand Hotel.

We strive to host an informal and enjoyable event that is highly effective for large and small companies alike and the finest testament we have received is a 100% membership renewal rate

For more information about joining The Platinum Club please contact:

THE PLATINUM CLUB Tel: 07966 244046 www.theplatinumclubbrighton.co.uk maarten@theplatinumclubbrighton.co.uk 34 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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Finance Interest Rate Special Lows and Highs

Commercial banker Robert Clare provides his insider view on interest rates and explains what you need to do to secure funding

Theory vs Practice

Sussex Enterprise assess the impact of low interest rates on local businesses and respond to the Chancellor’s Autumn statement

The Investment Angle

Mark Leonard suggests how to invest wisely in these at economic conditions

Sponsored By

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Interest Rates:

Lows and Highs

Robert Clare, the Regional Director for NatWest’s commercial banking in Surrey, Sussex and SouthWest London answers our questions about the benefits of low interest rates, lending money in the midst of a severe recession and offers hope for those looking to take the big step into business In historic terms, how low Essential are the current interest rates?

Advice They are exceptional in terms of the 0.5% interest rate, the fact that the rate has been so low for so long and also in terms of how long the rate is forecast to stay this low. The economic environment is also exceptional – both in terms of the length of time these conditions have persisted and the forecast of how long it will take to recover. In these respects, current conditions are worse than the great recession of the 1930s.

Is there any way in which the current conditions are positive for entrepreneurs?

The cost of money for businesses is at historic low. In real economic terms, these rates are as low as they’ve ever been. Therefore, the cash required to service this cost is low. This is a good thing. According to most forecasts, the rates will stay where they are for a while – this provides some form of certainty.

There are very few downsides to the current low interest rates.

If you look at the rate of business failure in Sussex, it is very low. One of the reasons behind this is that businesses are able to make the agreed repayments on their borrowing.

Low interest rates potentially make investment decisions more attractive because funding costs are low, but a good idea is a good idea regardless of the cost of borrowing. Cheap money should never be the biggest factor

in a decision to start a business, and neither should higher costs of borrowing put people off if they believe in their business idea and have a convincing plan.

If a business is thinking about investing – whether this is in capacity, people, goods, new premises, equipment – the business owners have to be confident that they can pay the money back over the next three-to-five years. The fact that money in this sense is cheap in itself is not a good enough reason on its own to borrow money.

Looking at the situation from a negative perspective, you could argue that if a company has surplus cash then the returns are low. This is because of the flat economic conditions – and this is why interest rates are low.

Do the economic conditions change a bank’s attitude to lending money?

The economic conditions themselves do not change our approach. The same rule still applies: we are looking to be confident that the businesses we are lending to can repay us. In the current climate, if a business is forecasting a change for the better we are going to look at that and test that belief. We need to keep an eye on economic growth and the forecast of the business and ask if this seem reasonable. The economic conditions do not make our approach to lending more stringent.

We want to be competitive. So, for example, we are discounting rates by 1 per cent and are not charging arrangement fees under the Funding for Lending Scheme. This may appear to be an attractive offer, but price isn’t

the only factor. We aim to offer support to a business over time; we can offer expertise and professionalism. We invest in training – which is a sign of our commitment to the long-term approach.

Whatever their rates are, most banks are competing on service and the quality of their people.

How should businesses consider restructuring their debt in the current economic climate?

For example, fixed assets might best be funded by way of asset finance and growing working capital needs might be met by invoice finance or an overdraft facility. Whilst it makes sense to run a business as leanly as possible, including keeping borrowing costs down, a business needs a long-term strategy for keeping ahead. You can’t batten down the hatches permanently because you need a business that is sustainable not just for now but for the future too. It’s about investing sensibly with an eye on the horizon.

Are you seeing more desperate business people come through the doors?

Some people are coming in to see us with last-ditch plans. We sit down and talk it through. Whilst we’d like to help everyone, we have to ask ourselves ‘does this proposition make sense?’

‘Is it credible?’ We have to have an honest conversation.

Has the rate of redundancies in the UK driven up the number of people deciding now is the time to start their own business?

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“We aim to offer support to a business over time; we can offer expertise and professionalism.

We invest in training – which is a sign of our commitment to the long-term approach” Redundancy is one of the key factors for business start-ups. It’s great to think positive in this respect: out of a difficult situation can come opportunity.

Do you consider lending to people with no experience of running a business?

Drive and commitment are essential in all enterprises. Quality of management is a key aspect of success in SMEs. There has to be a match between the skills required and the skills the management can offer. We take this management ability into account, as well as experience and track record thus far, in making a decision to lend money.

Statistics show that many start-ups are not in business a few years down the line. They don’t all fail, but some people decide that it isn’t worth the hard work. Running a start-up business is incredibly tough. If you don’t have any experience of running a business, you need the skill to do it – and the skills required by an employee and a business owner are different. Often, start-ups are owner managed and sometimes a one-man band. So before you commit to starting a business, be sensible and realistic. Think about the downsides as well as the upsides and

ask yourself the following questions: • Could the business still function with just 75 per cent of the target revenue?

• In three-to-five years time, what will this business be, how much revenue will it generate and how many people will it employ?

• Will your business be a lifestyle ‘business’ and, if so, will you enjoy running it and will it pay your salary?

• Are you looking to build-up a business so you can sell it?

Do you ever lend to prospective business people with no money to invest in their business idea?

We’ve had some people come in to see us without any money to invest whatsoever. In most cases, people need to invest time and money into their business before they come to see us.

It’s highly unusual that the owner of a business wouldn’t have cash or money to invest in the first place.

No money and a great idea? It’s not often a bank lending proposition. It may be better to seek an angel investor instead or use your own cash to begin with. We’re always happy to talk but for significant bank funding it’s usually a case of coming to us once the business is off the ground and starting to grow.

Are there any areas of the county that are, in your opinion, surviving the downturn better than others?

Brighton and Hove, for example, has a young population, and it is a destination city – it benefits from the fact that people still want to spend time there. A constant supply of good events brings people in. It’s a strong brand with a vibrant social scene. Therefore, the hospitality sector in Brighton is more resilient than is the case for other towns and cities in the county. Faced with this competition, other seaside towns and cities do find it challenging. Eastbourne and Hastings, for example, do find it challenging. Compared to these places, Brighton has a young population – and it’s getting younger. This is unique, not just in terms of Sussex but the nation as a whole.

Banks currently have a reputation for being extremely reluctant to spend money. Is this fair?

There’s a lot of talk in the media about

whether banks are lending are not.

Don’t let the headlines put you off: we are lending money. Don’t assume our decision is going to be a ‘no’.

Be prepared Robert Clare offers some pointers on preparing for a funding meeting with a bank

• Be clear about how much you need to borrow, what for, how long for and how you will repay it.

• Research and understand your market, your customers and your competitors—be clear why the bank should back you.

• Give yourself and your bank plenty of time—an urgent request for funding might wrongly sound alarm bells to your bank.

• Be realistic about what you are asking for from the bank compared with your financial commitment/risk in the business.

• Have up-to-date financial information for your business, ideally three years of history and at least one year of forecasts.

• Be balanced about financial forecasts, not ‘best case’ or ‘worst case’ but ‘most likely’.

• Don’t hold back information: give the bank the full picture about you and your business.

• Understand the cash generation of your business—your bank will focus on this.

• Get professional advice if you need it to help build your proposal.

www.natwest.com

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Interest Rates:

Theory vs Practice

Sussex Enterprise, the accredited Chamber of Commerce for the county, offers its perspective on low interest rates, the availability of funding for small and medium businesses, and the Autumn Statement 2012

As Robert Clare has explained Essential on pages 36-37, low interest rates Advice should, in theory, help businesses in Sussex take on loans as the cost of paying the money back is historically at a very low level.

Wendy Bell, General Manager at Sussex Enterprise, underlines the key points as follows: “Sussex businesses benefit from low interest rates as their borrowing costs are kept down. When interest rates go up, finance becomes less available and it is then more expensive to make acquisitions with

only works in practice if businesses can secure the funding they require. Bell has her doubts: “The reality of the financial crisis we’re in is that many businesses complain that they are unable to access finance.”

Responding to such concerns, Chancellor George Osborne made several provisions designed to help businesses in these tough economic times in his Autumn Statement: • The Regional Growth Fund and Local Enterprise Partnerships will receive additional funding.

• Exporters to emerging markets should benefit from a £1.5bn export-financing plan.

are a step in the right direction for businesses in Sussex: “Directionally, there appear to be a number of changes that will benefit businesses in Sussex, such as: the extension of the Small Business Rate Relief, a further reduction in Corporation Tax and the abolition of any short-term Fuel Tax rise. Of particular interest is the ten-fold increase in the tax allowances on capital expenditure for plant and machinery, which it is said will benefit 99% of businesses.

“On the down side, however, the lack of response to the recommendations made in Lord Heseltine’s recent review on growing the economy is very

“The Small Business Rate Relief scheme will be temporarily doubled for a further 12 months from 1 April 2013” debt. Typically, when the opposite occurs and interest rates fall, growth will follow with companies able to expand and this will have an effect on a company’s strategy. For example, businesses will look at perhaps taking on a larger workforce to meet sales orders, others may borrow to move into larger premises and so on.”

This should have a positive knock-on effect for Sussex as a whole, as small and medium-sized businesses should have the opportunity to not just survive but thrive.

“Dynamic and vibrant SMEs play a key role in the successful economic growth of Sussex. They provide most of the employment opportunities for the economically active population. It could be argued that with their low levels of debt they are less vulnerable to interest rate hikes than larger organisations that are more leveraged.”

However, whilst this is the theory, it

• The two-year 100% Additional Investment Allowance tax relief for expenditure on plant and machinery costing up to £250,000 should stimulate investment by SMEs and could help significant manufacturers with a base in Sussex, such as Rolls Royce.

• The Small Business Rate Relief scheme will be temporarily doubled for a further 12 months from 1 April 2013.

It is believed that 350,000 businesses nationally will now not have to pay any business rates until April 2014.

• A reduction in corporation tax to 21% should help ease the burden of recession on businesses.

• The ‘Business Bank’ – as first mooted

by Business Secretary Vince Cable in September this year—will provide £1bn of credit to SMEs who are struggling to secure funding.

Nick Handley, Executive Chairman of Sussex Enterprise, is cautiously optimistic that the announced initiatives

disappointing. The Chancellor said that a response will be given in the Spring. In the meantime, Local Enterprise Partnerships will, it is said, benefit from greater funding – although the total figure is as yet not clear.”

Handley is also concerned that this local-level funding will not be coordinated and managed in an efficient way and will, instead, create extra work for the organisations responsible for helping small businesses.

“It is, in my view, unfortunate that LEPs will have to bid for funding instead of concentrating on using the funding to improve skills and generate new jobs”, he says.

In future issues we’ll assess the real impact of the new initiatives and low interest rates on businesses in Sussex. If you’d like to tell us your side of the story, email: paul@sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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Interest Rates:

The Investment Angle Got funds you can invest for the mid-to-long term? Mark Leonard advises looking beyond low-yielding savings and bonds and considering rental property investment instead

It is now very difficult to find any interest Essential rates for savings and investments around Advice the 3% per annum level fixed for two and three years.

As a result, depositors will be ever increasingly interested to find new avenues to invest their hard-earned business profits – and two areas may benefit from this. Firstly, property prices might start to edge up as more money finds its way into bricks and mortar and, secondly, stock market prices may also edge up as money flows into stocks and shares. We’ve seen plenty of occasions over the last 30 years when this has been the case.

All fine and dandy – provided you are one of the first to get into these alternative parking places for your money. As time goes by and more and more people decide that they have had enough of the lower-thaninflation-rate deposit scenario and pull their money out of the banks and into these alternative investments, there is a chance that overheating in those sectors becomes a problem. In other words, as prices for property and stocks are driven ever higher, a time might come when those sectors become overheated, and a collapse in prices follows. Not a problem if by the time that happens you’re out of the market!

Classic economics.

So could investing in rental property really be an option? Rental yields of approximately 6% (that is 12 x £450 as a annual percentage of £90,000), and above, are indicative to me of either property prices being too high, or a shortage of rental property, or a combination of both. Six per cent, it should be underlined, is significantly higher than the ‘risk free’ return available on UK Government Bonds.

It is possible that the current rental yield is only a spike, which the market will adjust. However, it seems to me that these sort of rental yields have been around for some time, so they could well be here to stay, because prices are too high (first-time buyers can’t afford the deposits) and there is a shortage of rental properties. Property prices will only come down if a lot more properties are built at lower prices than those on the market – unlikely in my view.

So keep an eye on the market for first-time buyers and, in particular, any signs of easing in deposit requirements and the percentage of mortgage-toequity stipulations. If you see any significant changes in those, it could signal the start of a major property price boom – especially for lower-end priced properties.

What concerns should you have?

Firstly, It’s never a good idea to have too many eggs in one basket.

Discounting your main residence, tally up the amount you already have invested in bricks and mortar, and see what percentage it is of your total investments – and decide for yourself if in the event you had to go liquid at a time when the market was stagnant (or worse, in decline) whether you’d end up with big losses.

Secondly, assess what the prices of these types of property have done over the last two years, and decide if there has already been a significant rise. If so, could the market bear even more price increases?

Thirdly, when you swap your work boots for your retirement slippers, how much debt (that is, outstanding mortgages and personal loans) would you feel comfortable in having? At that time, you’ll want to maximise your income, so today’s investments should really be aimed at getting maximum capital returns. If you’re left with an

“Property prices will only come down if a lot more properties are built at lower prices than those on the market – unlikely in my view”

outstanding mortgage just at a time when you want to be debt free, you should give thought to where the money to pay this off will come from – unless the plan is to sell the property.

The usual caveats apply: there are questions of property management expenses and income tax, which you need to take into account. If your plan is to sell the property on retirement, there may also be a question of capital gains taxes – again, this is not taken into account in my illustration above.

On balance, subject to the above and a thorough exploration of all of the options (in my view, endowment policies actually carry less market risk than buying property), entering the property investment market is an option well worth considering.

A retired bank treasurer, Mark Leonard now spends time reviewing financial markets using his 30 years of experience in banking to uncover potentially rewarding investment strategies.

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Focus: Employment Law

Employing the Right Approach Employment law can be a real maze for small businesses – and getting lost can result in eye-watering losses of money and serious damage to your reputation.

But fear not! Our expert contributors will help guide you to safety without losing the shirt off your back

Thousands of businesses end up in costly employment Insight tribunals each year because they make rash employee-related decisions without taking proper advice.

Although the trend for businesses becoming tangled up in the red tape of employment legislation is, thankfully, downwards, there are still nearly 200,000 claims made annually. And it could be small businesses that are most at risk.

Three-quarters of businesses in Sussex employ five or fewer people – precisely the small enterprises that face the biggest risks. Many of these businesses have been started from scratch by entrepreneurs who may have no experience of employment law and may be in the habit – through necessity – of trying to sort everything out for themselves. As a result, hiring and managing staff can be a blind spot that ends up causing the unsuspecting business owner a major headache.

Peter Archer, the East Sussex Policy Chairman for the Federation of Small Businesses, has witnessed an example of this in the past 12 months. “One

of the members of a breakfast club I belong to had an employment issue he thought he could handle himself”, Peter recalls. “He couldn’t – he lost the day on a technicality and it cost him £1,000.”

Unfortunately, such stories are not uncommon – as Sophie Pelham of Morrisons Solicitors explains: “Small businesses can be at a particular risk of claims as they rarely have internal HR or employment lawyers onboard so there is little or no available knowledge of even the most basic of the essential processes that are to be followed in the event of a dispute.”

She also considers contracts and policies to be potential pitfalls.

“There is either a lack of awareness about what policies are required or small businesses put in place generic contracts which, by their nature, are not sufficiently bespoke enough to cover the true needs of the business”, she says.

Sophie identifies one of the most

“The trend for businesses becoming tangled up in the red tape of employment legislation is, thankfully, downwards, but there are still nearly 200,000 claims made annually”

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Focus: Employment Law

“You need to do the homework, and know the situation beforehand in terms of the law surrounding disputes. You can’t expect to play a get out of jail free card”

common mistakes as small businesses taking on staff on a self-employed or casual basis believing that this will provide protection from employment claims. Unfortunately, she explains, it is all too easy to create an employment relationship without intending to. “I have known a case where a contractor offered to pay some construction workers their unpaid wages and a few weeks worth of future wages when the sub-contractor they were working for went bust without paying them. The construction workers repaid the favour by successfully claiming holiday and notice pay from the contractor in the employment tribunal.”

Sophie therefore advises business owners to be wary when an agreement or contract is signed confirming that the individual is not an employee or worker, because employment law often can override terms set out in written agreements.

Worthing-based Stuart Stokes, who has just successfully launched his latest venture Refer-all, experienced the risks inherent in employing staff when he recruited an employee for a previous business. “Employment law can be a real issue for a small business”, he acknowledges. “If it’s all sweet, then well and good. But if there are problems, you can be a sitting duck.”

Although Stuart, from his time in local government, was aware of the need to maintain a professional relationship with his staff and document the management steps he was taking, he ultimately realised that the HR measures he had in place were not necessarily enough to keep the law on his side.

“We’d followed the letter of the law but when things went wrong it felt like the law was on the side of the employee, who we felt was in the wrong”, he says. “The trouble it caused nearly cost us our business as we had to pay fees to have the situation assessed in order to show we’d followed the right steps. We were lucky that we found Business Link and were a member of the Federation of Small Businesses – they really helped us out. If you’re not aware that these organisations exist, you could be in the firing line.”

Joining the FSB, which costs from £120 to £870 depending on the size of your business, entitles you to free legal advice. “You’ll get a response from an

appropriate lawyer within two hours”, says Peter.

Another dispute-resolution option for business owners is Acas – a government-funded body providing advisory, conciliation and arbitration services for employers and employees.

Sophie says that there are clear benefits to calling on Acas: “As a conciliation service it is very useful during tribunal proceedings in providing a simple way to settle claims and in being the ‘middle-man’ for negotiations. This is the case even where lawyers are involved. Where Acas is involved there is no need for a compromise agreement for settlement of claims as, once a settlement is witnessed by Acas as agreed, it becomes binding. It is then formalised in a fairly standard agreement, without the need for the employee to see a solicitor.”

Acas also provides a conciliation service that can be utilised prior to a tribunal claim form being issued. Sophie acknowledges that this is a useful – if underused – option. “The service would be most useful where an employer is happy to offer the employee settlement monies in preference to spending it on defending a claim or, in my experience, where an employee is seeking some other remedy than a financial settlement such as an apology, which they would not get at tribunal.”

Employing staff doesn’t have to come to such a sticky end, of course. The advice is ‘start as you mean to go on’.

“What we’ve learnt is that taking on staff is something that has to be really thought through”, says Stuart.

“Don’t think you’ll be able to seek advice when you need it and that will be the end of the matter. You need to do the homework, and know the situation beforehand in terms of the law surrounding disputes. You can’t expect to play a get out of jail free card.”

Although doing your homework requires an investment in time that you may feel you are unable to make, Stuart warns that this is exactly the sort of thinking that could put you in a tight spot. “If you don’t do your homework you could be in a whole world of pain.

Think ahead – think about your wider business, not just your current business needs.”

Take these steps and there’s no reason for you to lose your way in the employment law maze.

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5

Employment Laws You Need to Know

Acas, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, is a government-funded organisation that helps to resolve employment law disputes. Here, Acas overview the top five burning employment issues of today and explain the virtues of its new early conciliation service

Our role at Acas is to improve working life through better employment relations. Every year we help employers and employees from thousands of workplaces, including keeping them up to date with employment relations issues, helping to resolve disputes in the workplace and providing advice to businesses across the region.

Acas South East has an office in Fleet, Hampshire, and we have over 30 advisors and conciliators who work across Sussex and the South East region. We are a government-funded organisation but we are directed by an appointed Council, which makes us independent and impartial. We have over 30 years of experience in dealing with employment relations in the workplace and many of our services are free to use.

1.

Contracts of employment – Is everyone entitled to a written contract of employment?

A contract of employment is an agreement between an employer and employee and is the basis of the employment relationship.

Starting work proves that an employee accepts the terms and conditions offered by the employer.

Employment contracts do not need to be in writing to be legally valid, but it is far better if they are. In Acas’s experience, a simple misunderstanding over what is or what is not in a contract is one of the main causes of employment tribunal claims.

Most employees are, however, legally entitled to a written statement of the main terms and conditions of employment within two calendar

months of starting work. This should include details of things like pay, holidays and working hours.

2.

Holidays – What is the legal entitlement to annual leave?

Most workers, are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. Additional annual leave may be agreed as part of a worker’s contract. If a worker does a five-day week, he or she is entitled to 28 days leave. If he or she does a three-day week, the entitlement is 16.8 days leave. Employers can set the times that workers take their leave, for example for a Christmas shut down. If a worker’s employment ends, he or she has a right to be paid for the leave time due and not taken.

There is no legal right to paid leave for public holidays; any rights to paid time off for these holidays depend on the terms of a worker’s contract. Paid public holidays can be counted as part of the statutory 5.6 weeks of holiday.

3. Discipline and Grievance –

Is the Acas Code of Practice legally binding?

The ‘Acas Code of Practice 1 – Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures’ sets out principles for handling disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace. A failure to follow the Code does not, in itself, make a person or organisation liable in an employment tribunal. However, the Code will be taken into account when considering relevant cases.

Tribunals will also be able to adjust any awards made in relevant cases by up to 25% for unreasonable failure to comply with any provision of

“The annual cost of absence to the UK economy is £17 billion.

On average, in relation to unauthorised absence, people are absent from work for 6.5 days a year” the Code. This means that if the tribunal feels that an employer has unreasonably failed to follow the guidance set out in the Code they can increase any award they have made by up to 25%. Conversely, if they feel an employee has unreasonably failed to follow the guidance set out in the Code they can reduce any award they have made by up to 25%. You can download the Acas Code free of charge at www.acas.org.uk.

4. Absence – How can we minimise absence and lateness?

Did you know that, according to the 2011 CBI Absence Survey, the annual cost of absence to the UK economy

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Focus: Employment Law

is £17 billion? On average, in relation to unauthorised absence, people are absent from work for 6.5 days a year (CBI 2011 Absence Survey).

Several key areas of the business may need to be addressed to minimise absence in the long term. These could include the quality of management, working relationships, job design, employment relations, communication of information and flexible working arrangements.

Research indicates that carrying out Return to Work Interviews is the most effective measure employers can take to reduce absence levels. Failing to carry out Return to Work Interviews (or conducting them but getting them wrong) can cost business time and money and can also send out the wrong message to otherwise committed and engaged employees. If workers know that absence will be noticed and investigated, they are less likely to take time off work without proper cause.

The introduction of the Statement of Fitness for Work (the Fit Note) has created a new opportunity for early discussions around returning to work and reaffirms their importance as part of an effective and fair approach to absence management.

Unauthorised absence is normally the ‘odd day off’ when employees give no reason for the absence. Whether

paid or unpaid this type of absence can be costly to an organisation as it is unpredictable. Absence of this kind may eventually lead to disciplinary action.

5. Dismissal – Can an employee

be dismissed instantly for bad behaviour?

Summary dismissal or dismissal without notice should only be considered in cases involving acts of ‘gross misconduct’. Even then, fair disciplinary procedures must be followed, so dismissal is never really ‘instant’.

What an organisation regards as acts of gross misconduct should be clear from its disciplinary rules. Typically, they might include such things as theft or fraud, physical violence, gross negligence, incapacity due to alcohol or illegal drugs, and serious insubordination.

Even in these cases it’s still vital that the employer follows a fair procedure as for any disciplinary offence. Failing to establish the facts before taking action and holding a meeting with the employee, and denying the employee the right to appeal is highly likely to be considered unfair at an employment tribunal and lead to a claim against the employer.

It may not be appropriate for the employee to be at work while facts

are established, so a short period of suspension on full pay may be helpful.

But a suspension should only be imposed after careful consideration. It should be made clear to the employee that it is not in itself a disciplinary action and does not involve any prejudgement.

Acas has written the statutory ‘Code of Practice 1 – Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures’, which provides practical guidance to employers and employees and sets out the principles for handling disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace.

More comprehensive advice and guidance on dealing with disciplinary situations is contained in the Acas booklet ‘Discipline and grievances at work: The Acas guide’.

Acas also offers a comprehensive programme of training events on all of the above topics. For more information or to book workplace training or a place on training, visit www.acas.org.uk/training or call 08457 38 37 36. For free advice, call our helpline advisers on 08457 47 47 47

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Sponsored Editorial

Bennett Griffin

EXPLAINS

Employment legislation has been changing fast in recent years, so be sure to keep on the right side of the law It’s all change in employment law!

Welcome to the brave Advice new world created by the coalition government. They have hacked down bureaucracy and red tape to free up employers and encourage us to take on more staff without fear of ending up in an employment tribunal. This is a serious attempt to dismantle some areas of worker protection legislation.

Yes there is good news for managers and employers. The number of claims in tribunals has already plummeted by 18% in two years.

The new two-year qualifying period before an employee can bring a claim for unfair dismissal came into force for those starting work on or after 6 April 2012.

Introducing fees for claimants when they lodge their claims will also have a big impact. A furious and disgruntled worker may want to rush out and file his/her ET1 but the sobering thought of having to stump up £250 may stop the claim dead. And add the £950 cost of the trial fee (making a total of £1200) and the balance of justice may be swinging more towards the employer.

But do note that if the employee wins, he gets his fees back – added to the award.

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill (shortened to the ERR Bill!) should become law by April 2013.

Capping compensation to 12 months pay or a new limit yet to be fixed is excellent news for employers. The ERR Bill intends to:

• Weed out weak cases before they get to the tribunal; • Repeals the law which made bosses liable for the harassment of their workers by third parties – which always seemed unfair; • Brings in Settlement Agreements instead of Compromise Agreements; and • Awards more costs against wayward claimants. It’s good to get companies and employers out of the frying pan!

But don’t relax completely – nothing is that clear cut in this tricky area of law.

It is the discrimination law that is, if anything, strengthened. No new rules or guidelines but have a look at the size of the awards – and remember: there is no upper limit in discrimination cases. The average award last year for disability discrimination was £22,000.

The top award, however, was £390,871.

For age, the average was £14,327 and the maximum was £144,100. For sex discrimination, the average was £9,900 and the top £89,700. And don’t forget how many different ways there are to discriminate: religious discrimination awards averaged £16,725 and topped out at £59,522; Sexual orientation cases were less common but the highest award was £27,473; and race discrimination settlements averaged £10,200 but the maximum last year was £4,445,023!

• Here are a few tips to avoid getting badly burned by employment law: Have a good staff handbook or manual – printed out or, just as easily and as validly, published on your website or intranet. That is essential.

• Make sure (1) you have clear

instructions identifying discrimination; (2) that your staff know the policies outlawing discrimination; and (3) that you implement them. Make sure all the policies against discrimination are in place and you will sleep more easily at night.

• Remember to have your anticorruption policy and procedure in place under the Bribery Act; • The rather complex provisions of the Agency Workers Regulations 2011 are now fully in force. You need to make sure that any agency workers are treated in the same way as permanent staff – but there are qualifying provisions, so double check.

• Amongst all these changes, don’t forget also the Minimum Wage went up to £6.19 from 1 October 2012.

All these big changes are designed to make business feel safer, reduce red tape, encourage enterprise and increase employment numbers. If you are reading this, you probably have got all this in place or know where to get it.

You don’t have to worry half as much as the manager who thinks that ERR is what you say when someone asks you if you have proper policies in place.

Enjoy 2013!

Have a prosperous New Year from us all at BG Commercial.

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By Peter Bennett of Bennett Griffin solicitors and notarie For expert advice contact Elaine Smith or Peter Bennett at es@ bennett-griffin.co.uk or pgb@bennett-griffin.co.uk or call 01903 229999

46 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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Service Directory

Avenue Snacks The Avenue Eastbourne East Sussex BN22 3YA Tel: 07868369940

Eurovans Eastbourne, BN24 5NH Tel: 01323 325859 Brighton, BN41 1DW Tel: 0844 818 8712 Crawley, RH11 8DU Tel: 01293 279082 www.eurovans.co.uk

Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium American Express Community Stadium Village Way Brighton BN1 9BL. Tel: 01273 878288.

Fax: 01273 878238 www.seagulls.co.uk

Fresh Cleaning Park View House 19 The Avenue Eastbourne East Sussex BN21 3YD Tel: 01323 411 601 Fax: 01323 411 654

City Gym Express No.2 Furness Road Eastbourne East Sussex BN21 4EY Tel: 01323 648863 www.citygymexpress.co.uk

Eastbourne Property Shop 7 Mimram Road Stone Cross Pevensey, East Sussex BN24 5DZ Tel: 01323 764122 www.eastbourneproperty shop.co.uk

Gemini Press Unit A1/Dolphin Way Shoreham-by-Sea BN43 6NZ Tel: 01273 464 884 www.gemini-press.co.uk

Graves Jenkins 1 N Rd Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1YA Tel: 01273 601 060 www.gravesjenkins.com

LONG ROOM THE

Hopkins & Partners 1 Ivy Terrace Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 4QU Tel: 01323 416123 www.hopkinspartners.com

Identity Signage and Printing Westham Business Park Eastbourne Road Eastbourne, East Sussex BN24 5NP Tel: 01323 469111 www.signage-printing.com

Ross & Co. 13b High Street, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 1AL Tel: 01323 841814 Fax: 01323 849281 Eastbourne Office: BN21 4RB Tel: 01323 642426 Fax: 01323 417171 48 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk www.rossandco.co.uk

MDJ Services Limited Third Floor Map House 34-36 St Leonards Road Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 3UT Tel:01323 646477 Fax: 01323 646412 www.mdjservices.co.uk

P 48-49 Books SBT.indd 48

The Innovation Centre Highfield Drive Churchfields St Leonards-on-Sea East Sussex TN38 9UH Tel: 01424 858285 www.ifltd.org

Smith Osborne Downsview House, 31A Cornfield Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 34QG Tel: 01323 649418 www.smithosborne.co.uk

The Long Room 8 Bolton Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 3JX Tel: 01323 723023

The Best Of Eastbourne 8-9 The Business Suite The Old Print Works 20 Wharf Road Eastbourne East Sussex BN21 3AW Tel: 01323 458121 www.thebestof eastbourne.co.uk

17/12/2012 10:54

SBT Recommends

SBTBook Club In each issue, we will be searching out and offering you the cream from the latest, business relevant titles at the very best prices. Choose from a host of titles, including our featured books from any issue and join us online at www.hive.co.uk/sbt to view more SBT recommends at your leisure.

You can order these to be delivered to your door or, alternatively, select your favourite bookshop and pick up from there. Enjoy...

Post Modern Investment: Facts And Fallacies Of Growing Wealth In A Multi-Asset World This book offers valuable advice on how to develop investment management and asset allocation strategies consistent with the new realities of the ever-changing world of alternative investments.

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc Publication Date: 05 December 2012 ISBN: 9781118432235 £40.00

Terms Of Employment: The Secret Lingo Of The Workplace Charlie Croker has patrolled hospital corridors, hung out by office water-coolers and lingered in shops to listen in on the conversations that only take place at work, gathering together the jargon we all use, often without thinking. “Terms of Employment” is an invaluable - and entertaining - guide.

Publisher: Cornerstone Publication Date:25 October 2012 ISBN: 9781847946843 £10.39

Start Your Business In 7 Days You will find all the fundamental ingredients for any new company, whatever sector you want to be in, whatever size of business you have in mind, along with the tools to make it work. You can be one of the 10 per cent of businesses that do make it.

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd Publication Date: 01 March 2012 ISBN: 9780670920648 £10.39

You Can Get It If You Really Want Aimed at the younger end of the start-up market, it includes down-to-earth practical advice as well as Levi’s personal anecdotes of his success, the mistakes he made, and the lessons he learned from them.

Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group Publication Date: 07 March 2011 ISBN: 9781845335977 £6.59

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SBT

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Morgan Sindall Trusted to Deliver in a Challenging Market Place Pulling Together Lawson Commercial - The Perfect Team Morgan Sindall A Record of Achievment Michael Jones Property Listing

COMING SOON: Let’s relocate too...

SBT assesses the pluses and minuses of the county’s cities and biggest towns from a relocation perspective.

Get involved: Email your views on transport links, investment and commercial property to paul@sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 50 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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Advertorial

Morgan Sindall – Trusted to Deliver in a Challenging Market Place

The challenge for construction companies in 2013 is growing market share when opportunities are diminishing. Clients are cautious when going to the market and rightly seek security of delivery when choosing their contractor Ian Pinington is business development manager for construction company Morgan Sindall, which has its Sussex office in Brighton and is part of construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall. Ian reports a positive outlook for 2013.

Morgan Sindall has been a proactive company in the local business community for many years, being Premier Members of Sussex Enterprise and members of Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce.

This year saw Morgan Sindall’s Brighton office celebrate 125 years of trading in Sussex with a glittering reception at Palatine Park Pavilion in Worthing, a project that the company built for Worthing Borough Council earlier this year. Morgan Sindall has recently delivered a diverse range of projects across Sussex, including Gatwick Airport’s £50 million North Terminal Extension, the £19m Jubilee Building at the University of Sussex and £3m of major improvements to Crawley Hospital.

Current projects include Worthing Borough Council’s exciting new £18m Splashpoint Leisure Centre, which is being built next to the existing 1960s Aquarena; the new centre will be completed next Spring. Also underway are a second phase of essential backlog maintenance work at Crawley Hospital and £6.5m phase two additions to Northbrook College in Worthing.

This variety demonstrates the breadth of construction services that the company is able to offer its customers.

Morgan Sindall’s Group results for the first half of 2012 were published in the summer, which saw turnover reach £1bn and pre-tax profits up 13% to £20.3m. This is backed up by a strong order book featuring long-term construction frameworks such as Gatwick Airport’s £1.2 billion programme of upgrades and improvements along with the

Improvement Efficiency South East (iESE) framework, where Morgan Sindall is a contractor on both the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Sussex Cluster.

Twenty-thirteen will once again see Morgan Sindall invest in the success of local businesses through its sponsorship of the Sussex Business Awards, promoting for the second year the award for ‘Sussex Business Person of the Year’. This will enable Morgan Sindall to reward the individual who has best demonstrated outstanding success for a business based in Sussex.

In addition to the Business Awards, the company continues to support its local communities by investing considerable sums in its training programmes. “There’s a wealth of talent in our area and we always aim to employ local trades people who care about the areas in which they work”, says Ian. The company also provides yearlong placements for construction undergraduates undertaking degree courses and who need to gain practical

experience, as well as providing a comprehensive training programme for new graduate employees that covers practical skills and theoretical knowledge.

“Morgan Sindall continues to provide the highest levels of service to our customers, ensuring we support them in what is currently a challenging environment”, says Ian. “While market conditions remain challenging, we continue to make the most of our opportunities as they present themselves and invest in our businesses in order to position them for growth in the medium-term. We look to the future with cautious optimism and are confident that we are well positioned to deliver long-term sustainable growth in 2013 and beyond.”

The core business remains construction and Morgan Sindall continues to provide the highest levels of service to its customers, ensuring they support them in what is currently an extremely challenging environment. www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 51

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Pulling together Lawson Commercial – the perfect team For East Sussex commercial property from prime to picturesque

LETTING • SELLING VALUING • ACQUIRING • SHOPS • OFFICES • FACTORIES • WAREHOUSES • LAND • INVESTMENTS SURVEYS & VALUATIONS RENT REVIEWS RATING LEASE RENEWALS

Tel 01825 76 44 88 Fax 01825 76 11 44

52 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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The Granary, Cornfords Yard, High Street, Uckfield, East Sussex TN22 1RJ Email info@lawsoncommercial.co.uk www.lawsoncommercial.co.uk

15/12/2012 14:29

MS

A record of achievement

University of Sussex, Jubilee Building

We are delighted to support the Sussex Business Awards 2012, proud sponsor of:

The Sussex Businessperson of the Year Morgan Sindall is a UK construction, infrastructure and design business with a network of local offices. The company works for private and public sector customers on projects from ÂŁ50,000 to over ÂŁ500 million. The company operates across the commercial, defence, education, energy, healthcare, industrial, leisure, retail, transport, waste and water sectors.

Northbrook College, Worthing Image courtesy of ECE Architecture

Ian Pinington, Business Development Manager ian.pinington@morgansindall.com T 01737 228750 M 07808 920303 Morgan Sindall 4th Floor London Gate 72 Dyke Road Drive Brighton East Sussex BN1 6AJ

morgansindall.com A part of Morgan Sindall Group plc

@morgansindallci

Maidenbower Park Pavillion

Bluebell Railway, Uckfield www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 53

Boundless possibilities MS4129

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15/12/201208:45:19 14:29 23/11/2012

COURTWICK

LANE

PARKER SSD DRIVE

A259

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3.16 Acre Development Land For Sale

Prime Office Investment For Sale

• Site with the consent for the development of up to 4,000 sq m (43,000 sq ft) of employment space • Would also suit trade counter / drive thru / medical etc (STPC) • Extending to approximately 3.16 acres (1.28 hectares) • Considerable roadside presence to the main A259

Offers are invited for the freehold of the site

• Total area approximately 7,869 sq ft • Reception and storerooms to ground floor, open-plan offices to 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors with partitioned meeting rooms • On-site parking for approximately 19 cars • Current owners are offering a new 15 year lease back (with break at 10) at an initial rent of £85,000 per annum

Trade / Warehouse Units To Let

High Quality Offices To Let

• Situated on popular south coast industrial estate close to main A27 and A259 coastal roads • Approximately 3,158 sq ft with potential for 6,308 sq ft • 3 phase electricity, allocated car parking, roller-shutter door and glazed front elevation • Potential for trade counter use (STPC)

• Total area available from 574 sq ft to 5,357 sq ft • Private allocated car parking spaces, attractive communal areas, open plan office space • Situated in the heart of Worthing town centre • Suit professional occupiers • Accommodation offered as a whole or on a floor by floor basis

From £15,750 per annum

From £12 per sq ft

Offers invited in excess of £950,000 Freehold

Commercial

Download our latest newsletter

01903 228602 8 Chapel Road, Worthing commercial@michaeljones.co.uk

www.michaeljones.co.uk

54 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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residential lettings

commercial property

new homes 15/12/2012 14:29

Offices With Parking To Let

Ground & First Floor Retail Unit To Let

• Total area approximately 5,131 sq ft • Ground and first floor offices • Parking for approximately 20 cars • Carpeting throughout • Reception and meeting areas

• Total area approximately 3,319 sq ft • Ground floor sales with first floor sales and storage area • Nearby occupiers include Boots, Marks & Spencer, Next and BHS • Other commercial used considered (STPC)

Rent and incentives upon request

Rent offers invited

Character Office For Sale

Pub With Development Potential

• Currently B1 office use • Total approximate area of 2,550 sq ft • Suitable for residential conversion (STPC) • Off-road parking for approximately 5 vehicles • Would suit a variety of other commercial uses (STPC)

• Prominent corner plot • Town centre location • Vacant possession • Residential development potential (STPC)

Guide price £300,000 Freehold

Offers in excess of £275,000 Freehold

Contact our Commercial team: Steve Berrett steveberret@michaeljones.co.uk Jon Justice jonjustice@michaeljones.co.uk Susie Viner susieviner@michaeljones.co.uk

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residential lettings

commercial property

new homes 15/12/2012 14:29

Intelligent printing by design...

• digital • specialists in dimensional printing • design • litho • web To transform your digital marketing please call Mark Tulley or Lynn Brazier on 01273 441832 or email sales@gemini-digitalprint.co.uk

www.gemini-digitalprint.co.uk

56 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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SBTQ&A

WE ASK THE EXPERTS TO GIVE YOU THE ANSWERS YOU NEED

Q

A

‘Tis the season to be temporary!!!

Sophie Nettleton from Morrisons Solicitors guide us through the Christmas period of casual staffing

Status of casual workers The main issue to be aware of with casual workers that you take on directly over the Christmas period is whether, despite the casual basis of their work, they are actually classed as employees. Where working arrangements develop a regular pattern, a casual worker may be able to show a continuous relationship exists during the periods when they are not working for that particular business. This is less likely when casual staff are taken on solely for the Christmas period. However, it is important to make it clear that casual workers are not obliged to accept work, preferably by way of a casual worker agreement. Seasonal casual workers are likely to be regarded as workers, as long as they provide personal services under a contract and you are not a client or customer of a profession or business carried on by them (i.e. genuine self-employed individuals).

Assigning work To avoid practical problems when it comes to arranging work with seasonal staff, it should be made clear how the business will contact the worker when they are needed for an assignment.

Care must be taken to ensure that a regular course of dealing does not suggest that the worker has gained employee status. One option is to reserve an unfettered discretion over how you allocate work to workers in a casual staff bank, and to ensure no obvious pattern develops in practice.

Statutory sick pay Casual workers will be classed as employees for the purposes of statutory sick pay (SSP) but only if: • Their earnings are liable for Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs).

• They are absent for four or more days in a row, including weekends and holidays. (SSP is not payable for the first three days in any period of sickness.)

• They have had average weekly earnings of not less than the current lower earnings limit (currently £107 a week) within the previous eight weeks.

Working time The Working Time Regulations 1998 applies equally to seasonal staff as permanent employees. Seasonal staff are entitled to daily and weekly rest periods and subject to the maximum weekly working time limits, unless they opt-out in writing. You must also keep the usual records showing that average working time is less than 48 hours per week, for your seasonal staff. This could be complex if the worker has arrangements in place with a number of other employers. You should, therefore, ask workers to confirm if they work for anyone else and to keep you informed of any changes in their working circumstances.

Family leave and pay Only employees, not workers, are entitled to family friendly rights such as maternity/paternity leave and pay. However, the Equality Act 2010 protects a wide range of individuals within the field of employment, including workers.

You must therefore still ensure that you do not discriminate against your seasonal staff on grounds of pregnancy and maternity, as well as the other protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Holiday leave and pay Your seasonal staff are likely to be entitled to a payment in lieu of holiday each time an assignment comes to an end and no holiday will accrue between their contracts. The amount to which they are entitled can be calculated on the basis of the number of hours (or days) worked on the basis of their average income over the 12 working weeks before the termination.

Taking on casual staff during the Christmas period can be complicated for employers. If you would like us to draft a Casual Worker Agreement for you, or if you need any other employment advice, contact Sophie Nettleton on: 01737 85 45 02 or by email to: sophie.nettleton@morrlaw.com; or speak to your usual adviser in the Employment team

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Q

SBT speaks to Itziar Leighton, Director of Commercial and Enterprise about retraining within an organisation, changing careers completely and developing entrepreneurial skills

A

Is it really possible to completely change careers in today’s business climate?

Absolutely! People are often unaware that they can retrain and qualify themselves in a huge range of areas, from business and professional courses such as accountancy, human resources, training and development and leadership, and law to more vocational career paths such as hairdressing, beauty, graphic design and web design. Many of our adult learners work, whilst studying with us during evenings and Saturday to achieve their goals and aspirations.

Opportunities exist, and where there are missing we have examples of our students creating opportunities themselves, through successful networking, which we encourage and provide opportunities to do so, and progression into working independently or freelance. Of course it’s always possible to change careers within an organisation, from sales to training, or admin to human resources. We have found employers welcome staff who show initiative and drive, and encourage their professional development. Many of our students have successfully negotiated with employers to sponsor their development, and we work closely with employers to ensure they are kept up to date on progress and achievement.

What opportunities are available to students wishing to further develop their entrepreneurial skills?

As an individual and as a college we

are passionate about supporting our students to become entrepreneurs.

One of the most frequently asked questions asked of me is: can you really teach someone to become an entrepreneur?

Having the confidence to present to people, share a vision and motivate a team to own your goals, are skills which are invaluable to any business or individual. Our students will have the opportunity to practice these frequently through all the various activities, events and competitions they participate in. Understanding a balance sheet, and net margins is frequently absent from individuals skills set. Having the drive to remain focused, and not allowing a failure to stop you in your tracks, can certainly be developed. Our learners will experience set backs, we push them to reflect on what went wrong, and learn from it. Working closely with our industry partners and entrepreneurs is invaluable, the contacts advice and knowledge they provide our students is a great motivator. Our Entrepreneur in Residence – Nigel Lambe, of Small Batch coffee, and W J King Brewery, spends every Thursday morning in college, meeting with students and staff, to provide advice and contacts as well as a different objective perspective. He’s made a great impact and been supportive of the college’s drive to embed enterprise in every aspect of college life. We have a business start-up fund of £20,000 for students to bid for and gain our investment, there is a student and a

staff enterprise and innovation clubs, and we are sponsors of as well as participating in Young Talent Start Up, an entrepreneur initiative with a top prize of £50K. So strong is our belief in enterprise that we intend to ensure that every student regardless of subject from art to construction, and forensic science to child care and plumbing to event management – will have a core of enterprise through their course.

We have seen the success our previous learners achieve, successfully running and operating their own businesses, or leading the organisation they work for through innovative practice and development we know just how much can be achieved.

Do we believe you can teach someone to be an entrepreneur?

Without a doubt!

For more information call Itziar Leighton Director of Commercial & Enterprise, City College Brighton and Hove: 01273 667788

58 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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S

SBT Q&A

MDJ Services Limited Accountants Business Development Business Solutions MDJ Services is a well established accountancy practice serving Sussex and the South East • We offer a full range of accounting services • We work with new and established companies to help establish and grow successful enterprises • We are committed to providing a friendly and efficient service tailored to your needs at a reasonable cost • We are happy to offer a FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION to all new clients Our services include: • Statutory and annual accounts • Management accounts • Corporate tax • Personal tax • Company formations and services • Payroll • Construction industry scheme • Business plans • VAT • Business consultancy • Bookkeeping

Contact Us MDJ Services Limited Third Floor Map House 34-36 St Leonards Road Eastbourne East Sussex BN21 3UT Telephone: 01323 646477 Fax: 01323 646412 Email: post@mdjservices.co.uk 42 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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14/12/2012 12:29 05/12/2011 10:56

Q

How can commercial property owners avoid delays in the selling of their property, save money and make their property a more attractive proposition to buyers?

A

In the current economic climate anything that can cause a delay could be fatal to the transaction completing.

One possible cause of delay is whether or not the commercial property owner has made a claim to HMRC for Capital Allowance Relief. This is a claim for tax relief for capital expenditure on plant and machinery within commercial property.

Any prudent buyer’s solicitor will expect to receive correctly answered Commercial Property Standard Enquiries from the seller’s solicitors.

These enquiries require information about whether the seller has made a Capital Allowance claim as 90% of commercial properties have unclaimed allowances.

Since HMRC require property owners to establish that no prior claim has been made in respect of the property, it can take up to three months to obtain the relevant evidence. From April 2014 it will be mandatory for the seller of commercial property to pool the value fixed with the purchaser, if they have not already done so, in order for the purchaser and any subsequent owners to be entitled to claim allowances.

I therefore recommend that whether or not commercial property owners are contemplating a sale they should investigate and establish whether they

can make a claim. As the benefits not only are obvious tax savings, once the claim has been made the position has been clarified and the correct information can be given to any buyer, and the parties can make and agree the apportioned amount for tax election purposes when the property is sold. This should avoid delaying the legal process and provide a buyer with a tax relief benefit, which makes the property more attractive than a similar type of property that does not have the benefit of a claim.

At Rix & Kay we work with specialists who make Capital Allowance claims, we can advise and assist you in getting ready for sale and also offer web portal access services which will allow property owners to access the legal documents and key facts about their properties.

www.rixandkay.co.uk

For all your business needs no matter the fleet size... ...we are just a click away: www.leaseamercedesbenz.co.uk

Follow our group online to keep up to date with the latest press releases and information from Mercedes-Benz.

Find us on Facebook.

Search for ‘Lookers Mercedes-Benz’.

Follow us on Twitter: @LookersMercedes

Lookers plc Mercedes-Benz of Brighton Victoria Road, Portslade, Brighton BN41 1DY Mercedes-Benz of Eastbourne Eastbourne Road, Westham,Eastbourne BN24 5NH Mercedes-Benz of Gatwick County Oak Way, Crawley RH11 7ST Mercedes-Benz of Redhill 12 Brighton Road, Redhill RH1 6QL 0844 3649 www.leaseamercedesbenz.co.uk 60 947 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Check out our YouTube channel: Search for ‘Lookers Mercedes-Benz’.

Retailer

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Awarded by Mercedes-Benz UK

Awarded by Mercedes

of the year

of the y

Official government fuel consumption figures in mpg (litres per 100km) for the Mercedes-Benz range: urban 13.0(21.7)-52.3(5.4), extra urban 22.4 (12.6)-74.3 (3.8), combined 17.8(15.9)-64.2(4.4). CO2 emissions: 378-115 g/km.

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High

SOCIETY

The County’s leading premier networking forum The Platinum Club, met last month at The Grand Hotel in Brighton and the event was well attended with a very diverse range of business leaders from across Sussex.

TPC is quite different from many other such events as it is very relaxed, well organised and hosted by the Platinum Directors who seem to know everyone in the room, their businesses and make constant relevant introductions throughout the evening.

The Club has created a new ‘drop in’ taster session for companies that might like to join but with only 4 members per business category, there are not that many categories remaining therefore time is of the essence. For more information about attending a Platinum Club event, call 07966 244046 or e-mail maarten@ theplatinumclubbrighton.co.uk. As one member stated at the last meeting “I have made so many valuable connections at The Platinum Club that it has virtually removed my need for a marketing budget” The Sussex Business Times is proud to be the official media partner to The Platinum Club.

Alan Prior (The Pinnacle Group) Anastasia Meldrum (Absolute Magazine) Charles Belliere (BSW Building Services) Alex Santos (The Pinnacle Group)

Alan Prior (The Pinnacle Group) Dean Orgill (MayoWynneBaxter) Peter Stewart (Baker Tilly)

John Healy (Healy’s Law), Maarten Hoffmann (The Platinum Club)

Robert Griffin Photography ©

Dave Green (HSBC) Kylee Charles (Mindseye Management) Maarten Hoffmann (The Platinum Club)

Retailer of the year

Awarded by Mercedes-Benz UK

Luke Mould (SBT) Robert Wakeford (Bank Leumi)

David Cuff (Latest Television) Sarah Edmunds (Legal) Nick Tong (Tzuni) www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 61

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14/12/2012 12:29

Home Grown Hero

Made In Sussex:

Gold Arts Ever since I left school at 15 without Brand much education I Focus always wanted to be self-employed.

My father was an electrician and I used to help him, pulling wires through the pipes they used to be housed in in those days. We went to a jewellery workshop to do some work and I really liked what they were doing. I was due to start training at a farming college, but I went home and told my mother I wanted to be a jeweller instead. She did her nut, but my father said ‘If that’s what the boy wants to do, that’s what he should do’.

I did a six-year apprenticeship, followed by two years of national service. When I returned to civilian life I decided I wanted to get into the retail side of jewellery. I went to work for Ernest Jones and started a diamond-mounting workshop for them. Things went really well, but Ernest Jones was a family business and I wasn’t a family member but earned good money. I decided it was time to go – and pursue the dream of running my own business.

I was in a good position to start a business: I had a certain amount of management experience; I had shares in Ernest Jones that had doubled in value; I had good contacts in the trade; and I had experience of buying diamonds – I was buying in the region of £500,000 of diamonds every year, and that’s at late 1960s prices.

I didn’t have all of the money I needed, but one way or another I got credit from my contacts, and managed

Doug Newman tells SBT how he’s managed to string a chain of jewellery shops right along the Sussex coast

to get my overdraft extended with Barclays. I started out quite small – I opened my first shop in the Lanes in Brighton in 1979, but financially I soon was up to the hilt. It’s taken me years to become self-financing. When you start, especially in a business with expensive stock, you have to use other people’s money – and it’s more difficult to get money now than it was then. But if you have the enthusiasm and the drive,

you can successfully start your own business – and that’s as true now as it was then.

These days, I have nine outlets in total and employ over 40 staff. All of the shops are in Sussex – from Hastings to Chichester. Five are Gold Arts retail shops with workshops, and four are GA Pawnbrokers.

It’s a complete accident, but pawnbroking and jewellery work well together, because a boom is good for jewellery sales and a bust is good for the pawnbroking business! In fact, Gold Arts diversifying into pawnbroking was an accident as well. One of the jewellery

shops I bought had a pawnbroking licence, and I thought ‘why not?’

We make a large proportion of our own stock in our own workshops, so even if the metals and gems come from outside of the UK our stock is made in Sussex.

The current economic conditions haven’t been either good or bad for us. The increase in the price of gold has made it harder for us to sell our heavy items, like our gold chains. But we have a lot of customers who trust us to buy gold for them so we buy in a lot of gold, and as the price has increased continually over the past few years we have done quite well out of it.

The low interest rates don’t really affect us as we’re self-financing. If you’re starting out now, though, the interest rates are much better than they were when I started out.

I was paying up to 15% on overdrafts a few years ago!

It can still be a bumpy ride from time to time – especially when someone sticks a gun in your face. But there have been other challenges, too. In my first few months in business, I got into partnership with a salesman. I’d source gold chains and he’d sell them.

He was a born salesman, but he was also a born crook – he disappeared with £30,000 worth of chains. I had known the maker of those chains for years – and he could have bankrupted me by forcing me to pay him for the chains immediately. He didn’t, though – he let me pay him back over a longer period of time. I managed this – and we’re still expanding the business now. www.goldarts.co.uk

62 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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31/10/2012 12:09 13:21 14/12/2012

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YOUR NEW ALFA ROMEO DEALER FOR SUSSEX You don’t have to travel to Milan to find the best of Italian style, performance and engineering. PDH Cars, the new Alfa Romeo dealership in Sussex has it all, right on your doorstep. So whether you’re already an Alfa Romeo owner or would like an introduction you’ll find a little bit of Italy is now a little closer to home.

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