Greater Manchester Chamber Blog

Member Blog: Language and spreading the good word

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 08:55:00 +0000

Language and spreading the good word

Twenty6 understands the challenges of successful business communication.

Talking about your own organisation is fine. But answering the questions that clients are really asking is even better.

At the same time, over-familiarity often leads companies to overlook some of their fundamental core strengths that give clients extra value.

Our combined three strand approach is very effective in explaining the benefits of complex technical ideas and concepts.

1 - What we would like to say to you – please listen!

Offers must be explained clearly. However, focusing solely on what you want to sell can be a trap. Competitor claims may be similar. Customers have heard most things before. You risk talking to yourself.

2 - What clients want to hear - your problem is our problem

This is immediately more interesting. Customers want solutions for their problems … plus innovations that help them to meet their own customers’ expectations.

3 - Hidden benefits – an extra cutting-edge

Most companies offer more client benefits than they realise. These are often hard to see when working too close to the trees. An experienced outsider can help.

Showing thought-leadership

So how can ground-breaking thoughts and ideas best be shared?

These days, we are spoilt for multi-media choice, with apps, interactive graphics, data tools, informatics, animations, and advanced sound-tracks at our disposal.

But we also have words, an incredible mental shorthand connected to the cinema of the mind that is ideal for sharing unique thought-leadership ideas.

Words are amazing things. With no more than sounds formed in the throat, or characters jotted on a sheet of paper – or screen – we use them to describe profound concepts as part of daily life.

For example, words allow us to explain the secrets of sub-atomic particles, an ever-expanding universe, tender emotions, art, and the horrors of conflict … often in just seconds.

The twenty-six letters of the alphabet at work

The unique flexibility of words makes an excellent business and technical communication tool.

Twenty6 text content was central in a global energy company success in seeing its technical articles published by the international oil & gas media.

Our communications brought 800 very different SMEs together in a powerful IT sector cluster group.

We are also helping an innovative UK engineering company to show how it cuts the costs and the carbon footprint of Britain’s expanding North Sea offshore wind energy industry.

Getting started

The starting point is usually a simple chat between two or three people. We ask questions. We also listen very carefully.

Jon Herbert, Editorial Director, Twenty6

T – 0161 356 0321

E – jonherbert@twenty6.com

W – www.twenty6.com

Member Blog: Brexit: Opportunity to revitalise freelancer confidence with ‘softer Brexit

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 09:06:00 +0000

pportunity to revitalise freelancer confidence with ‘softer Brexit’
By Qdos Contractor

With just 18% of freelancers and contractors expecting Brexit to improve their business performance, Qdos Contractor has supported calls for a ‘softer Brexit’ to revitalise struggling freelancer confidence.

Research into 1350 UK freelancers and contractors from leading tax adviser, Qdos Contractor, highlighted:

• 18% of freelancers and contractors believe Brexit will have a positive impact on their business performance

• 44% do not believe their business will be affected in any way by Brexit

• 38% expect the UK’s decision to leave the European Union to negatively impact their business performance

• 70% of freelancers asked currently do not work, or do not have any plans to work on projects in the rest of Europe

Seb Maley, Qdos Contractor CEO, commented on the findings:

“Article 50 has been triggered, and barring any large and hugely unexpected political turnarounds, the UK is set to negotiate its leave from European Union. But given that less than one in five freelancers or contractors believe this is set to benefit their business, is of course concerning.

“The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the UK’s exit negotiations from the EU will have no doubt played its part in affecting freelancer’s optimism. And while chaos following last week’s General Election ensues, it does raise the possibility of a ‘softer Brexit’, which could play an important role in revitalising struggling confidence surrounding our exit from the EU. Brexit negotiators should seize the opportunity as we prepare for exit talks.

“That the majority of freelancers asked currently do not work on projects across Europe, and currently do not plan to, is insignificant when it comes to securing a deal that benefits the UK’s independent workforce. And that 44% of freelancers and contractors asked, do not expect Brexit to affect their business at all, can be considered a positive, particularly in times of uncertainty.

“That said, we urge the Brexit negotiators to prioritise access to the single market, and with it the free movement of people and workers. Freelancers and contractors are vital to business, essential to the UK economy, and should be factored strongly in any exit plans.”

Member Blog: Are your teams leaving their brains at the gate?

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Wed, 17 May 2017 11:01:00 +0000

By Andrea Goodridge, Founder at Ad Florem Coaching

An issue I’m hearing from many of the senior leaders I work with is how some of their staff are just ‘turning up’ for work. They don’t really seem interested in their work; they walk around in a robotic fashion, and just seem to go through the motions until it’s time to go home. They appear de-motivated, lethargic and slightly distant from the team.

What I’m also hearing is the impact this has on the organisation. De-motivated team members don’t perform at their best. They often don’t deliver what is asked of them so the leaders find themselves re-doing some of their work. Sometimes the leaders find it easier to do the work themselves!

Obviously, this is not an ideal situation in any workplace, so we looked at how it could change.

Should you ‘push’ or ‘pull’?

I can certainly relate to this scenario; I remember being in jobs where I was totally disengaged from my work. It was as if I’d drive into work, park up and leave my brain at the gate! Then for the whole day, I’d go through an unthinking, robotic processing of whatever work was handed my way.

This might seem like a crazy way to behave, but if their leaders don’t require them to think, why should a person bother bringing their brain into work? Let’s dig a little deeper and discover how this unproductive behaviour can be linked to your leadership style.

In our discussions, the common thread running through the leaders’ experiences is one-way communication. They can be found giving instructions and advice to their team, who then follow the instructions and process what they’ve been told in a robotic fashion, before waiting for further instruction. Not one person shared an example of two-way communication, where team members were given a voice.

To encourage the leaders to start thinking about how they could turn it around, we looked at a different way. By exploring Myles Downey’s Coaching Spectrum, they soon realised what they were doing, and how it was impacting negatively on their team.

The Coaching Spectrum shows ways a leader might interact with their team. At one end, you have the directive style, sometimes known as ‘push’. This involves instructing, telling and giving people the answers; it might show up as leaders saying, “I’m the boss; I’m the expert; I know best”.

At the other end is the non-directive style, sometimes known as ‘pull’. In this case, the leader asks questions, listens, and helps people to find their own answers. A leader might say, “I’m curious to hear more; let me clarify what you mean; I’ll give you space to talk and I’ll listen”.

The leaders I spoke to could see how, by sticking to ‘push’-style interactions, they had caused their team to just ‘turn up’ and process what they were given, as there was no need for them to think for themselves. They could see how introducing some ‘pull’ interactions would encourage the team to share their opinions, be heard, and tap into their inner knowledge and resources. Ultimately, interactions at the ‘pull’ end of the Coaching Spectrum empower team members to take ownership and accountability, leading to them showing up (instead of just turning up), and bringing their brains into work.

However, there is still a place for ‘push’ interactions, especially in emergency situations, or when working with legislation. The key to success is to be aware of who you are interacting with, and adapt your style depending on the situation.

Adjusting your leadership style to include more ‘pull’ interactions can take your team from just turning up to showing up, and being engaged with their work.

To discover how you can engage your team, contact Ad Florem or learn more about coaching in your own time via our online learning programme

Connect with Andrea, our founder, on LinkedIn

Member Blog: Under Promise and Over Deliver

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Wed, 17 May 2017 10:55:00 +0000

By David Wright, BSA Marketing.

Why is it so popular to try to make a success of NOW – with no thought for the future?

Maybe I’m just showing my age but I think Over Promise, Under Deliver is the scourge of the 21st Century

In business, this is often true of the sales approach. The push to get the deal now means people can almost feel bullied into business and if the aim of the supplier is always to drive on for the next customer, the last customer can feel let down.

As a result, we get a self-fulfilling prophecy. The customer can feel ignored and let down so next time they look for a different supplier. The last supplier loses the business so they are constantly looking for the next new customer – and so the cycle repeats!

If you believe your customers aren’t going to stick with you, you will always be focussed on finding the next customer – yet doing this makes it even more likely they won’t stick with you!

It’s scary and whether you are in business (or politics!), if you over promise and under deliver, keeping going will be tough.

Big promises may be what get the headlines but underneath, in the real world that doesn’t tend to make the headlines, good business relationships do exist. They are typically based on the trust, confidence and respect that is earned when someone aims to Under Promise and Over Deliver– they deliver real benefit and make things better for everyone. A powerful win:win.

If you are after a quick buck then join the rat race and keep chasing the next new customer but without delivering real, sustained benefit, it is hard to grow true business value.

Good, long-term business needs trust, confidence and respect. It’s not about being perfect, it is about relationships and how you respond when maybe things don’t quite go according to plan.

Poor service is never good. I recently found that my energy supplier had let me fall onto their standard tariff which was around 15% more expensive. I’m sure they sent me a letter but I missed it. Then there was nothing for nearly a year until I happened to pick up on it.

I don’t want to spend my life checking on suppliers. They know they have a cheaper deal but don’t make any effort to tell me. They should have communicated regularly (using some of the extra we were paying them!) They know they could deliver better value but made no effort to make it happen.

Needless to say, we have now switched!

I believe in the principle of Under Promise, Over Deliver.

We all have the choice – but I know which I prefer!

David Wright is a Founder-Director of BSA Marketing – davidw@bsamarketing.com

Member Blog: What you need to know to ensure you're compliant with the new debt pre-action protocol

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Wed, 17 May 2017 10:54:00 +0000

Polly Hill, Associate in our Commercial Dispute Resolution department outlines below the new debt pre-action protocol.

Letter of claim

Response by the debtor

Disclosure of documents

Settlement/alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

The current pre-action position for a debt claim is to follow the general principles set out in the Practice Direction Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols as presently, there is not a specific protocol for debt claims.

From 1 October 2017 where a business (including a sole trader or public body) claims the payment of a debt from an individual (including a sole trader), the business must comply with the new protocol before commencing court proceedings. The protocol does not apply to business to business debts except for sole traders.

Reason for the introduction of the new protocol

In January 2010 Lord Justice Jackson raised in his Final Report on Civil Litigation Costs that debt claims ‘constitute a huge swathe of business of the courts‘ and need their own specific protocol.

The core principal of this protocol is so that debtors (or alleged debtors) are provided with sufficient information to enable them to obtain advice before court proceedings are commenced and where possible, that the parties attempt to resolve the dispute to avoid the need for court proceedings.

Key aspects of the new protocol

The new protocol encourages the early engagement and communication between the parties. This includes the early exchange of information to facilitate resolving the matter without the need for court proceedings where possible and encourages the parties acting in a reasonable and proportionate manner.

There is a two step pre-action process where the creditor only needs to supply to the debtor with certain information and documentation concerning the debt. There is then provision for the debtor to request further information if required. Therefore if the debtor does not respond at all, the creditor will not incur the cost of providing the further information.

The first step is that the creditors to sends a letter of claim to the debtor before proceedings are started and which contains the information set out in the new protocol and the information contained in the Annexes to the new protocol such as an information sheet, up-to-date statement of account for the debt, a reply form and a standard financial statement form for the debtor to complete with his/her current financial situation.

The debtor has 30 days to respond before proceedings can be commenced.

The debtor should complete the reply form and can request copies of relevant documents.

The creditor should try to contact the debtor to discuss the reply form and request any further information needed to understand the debtor’s position.

The parties should endeavour to agree payment by instalments based on the debtor’s income and expenditure and the financial statement. If the creditor refuses the debtor’s payment proposals the creditor should provide written reasons.

The creditor cannot commence proceedings until after 30 days of receiving the completed reply form. This period can be extended if the debtor is seeking debt advice, requests further documentation or requires more time to pay.

The parties are encouraged to disclose documents and exchange relevant information to help clarify or resolve the dispute.

The creditor must supply any documents requested by the debtor within 30 days and if the document/information is unavailable, explain why.

If the parties cannot resolve the dispute they are encouraged to consider ADR. If the chosen method is mediation then the parties must take into account if the costs of mediation are proportionate to the debt.

If settlement is achieved the creditor cannot commence court proceedings whilst the debtor complies with the agreement. If court proceedings are required at a later date, an updated letter of claim must be sent and the protocol will recommence afresh. Documentation does not need to be re-sent if it has been provided within the past 6 months unless it needs to be updated

Compliance with the protocol

If proceedings are commenced, the court considers any non-compliance with the protocol when giving directions and can sanction a parties non-compliance by adverse costs orders.. However it is unlikely that the court will be concerned with minor or technical infringements, especially if the matter is urgent.

Taking stock

Following compliance with the protocol a ‘taking stock’ provision requires the parties to ‘undertake a review of their respective positions to see if proceedings can be avoided and, at the least, to narrow the issues between them’.

When a letter of claim and reply have been exchanged but an agreement has not been reached, the creditor must give the debtor at least 14 days’ notice of its intention to commence court proceedings except for exceptional circumstances which require urgent action for example, where the limitation period is about to expire.

Member Blog: 5 Tips For Employers On Dealing With Disciplinary Action

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Wed, 17 May 2017 10:50:00 +0000

By Zee Hussain, Partner and Head of Corporate Services at Simpson Millar.

Zee shares some tips on how your business can effectively manage the disciplinary process.

Have Clear Rules And Procedures In Place

Having clear, concise rules and detailed policies on appropriate conduct within the workplace not only provide standards of behaviour for staff to follow, they also ensure that employers handle certain situations consistently and fairly.

Whether you're reviewing your existing policies or plan on introducing new ones, it's a good idea to get the input of your staff – and their representatives if they have them – during the process.

Sharing the policies with your staff as well as informing them about any changes or updates is also essential. Managers in particular and employees need to understand how to follow the process and know where they can find the policy if they ever need to refer to it.

If you have a different disciplinary procedure in place for staff on probation, information about this should be included in their contract of employment.

Carry Out A Fair Investigation And Gather Evidence

If you believe that a member of staff has behaved inappropriately or breached a rule, it's important that you carry out an investigation as soon as possible and collect the right evidence to support your case.

It's not a good idea to leave a gap between the time of the event and following it up, as this could affect the strength of your case. The person who carries out the investigation should also be different from the individual who handles the disciplinary. This will, of course, depend on the nature of the matter and the seniority of the member of staff concerned, and also whether there is someone within your business who is in an appropriate position to handle the investigation.

In situations like this, you shouldn't draw any conclusions or take any action until the investigation has finished. If you're found to not have followed the right process this could get you in serious trouble if your employee decides to take legal action.

Schedule A Meeting With The Employee

Once your investigation comes to an end, a meeting must take place between the employee involved and the member of staff who carried out the investigation.

It's important that you send your employee a written invitation to the meeting, and you give them reasonable notice, for example around 3 working days.

As part of the invitation, you should:

Set out the allegations that have been made and the possible sanctions
Include any evidence to back up the allegations
Inform your employee that they have the right to bring witnesses to the meeting – if their witnesses are unable to attend, they can bring statements from them to the meeting
Explain the procedure that will be followed

Inform Your Employee About Their Right To Be Accompanied

Employees who have been asked to attend a disciplinary meeting have the right to be accompanied by a colleague or their trade union representative. If your employee wants to bring someone with them to the meeting, they should inform you about this as soon as possible.

If the individual can't attend the meeting on the date that has already been set, your employee can make a reasonable request for another date and time within 5 working days of the original date that was set.

Draw A Fair Conclusion

Dealing with every case and employee consistently in situations like this is essential, as well as coming to a fair final decision.

Your conclusion must:

Refer to your business' existing policies and be consistent with any actions that you've previously taken
Provide detailed explanations and suggestions on how the issue can be resolved
Explain the process for appealing

Employees have the right to appeal against a decision made by their employer. If they choose to make an appeal, it should be handled by a member of staff who hasn't been involved in the disciplinary process and is able to deal with the matter objectively.

Your employee should explain the grounds for their appeal, and any new evidence presented by either your business or the employee should be taken into consideration.

The outcome of the appeal must be in writing and a manager within the business will have to justify the decision that's made.

What Simpson Millar Can Do For Your Business

Disciplinary action is never easy for anyone involved, but having a straightforward process in place will make life a lot easier for both you and your employees.

Our Employment Law experts are well versed in helping businesses create effective policies and introduce new processes. If you need some advice or legal assistance, we're ready to lend a helping hand.

Member Blog: Marketing Strategies & Digital Media in the 2017 General Election

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Tue, 16 May 2017 11:40:00 +0000

By Christian Michaels

Theresa May forced the UK onto another path of uncertainty by calling a surprise general election on June 8^th. A bold yet cunningly strategic move, May announced the snap election at a time when the Labour party is in obvious disarray, highlighting the tactical prowess of the Conservative party in exploiting the weakness of its competitors for its own political gain. Although dissimilar in so many ways, what joins the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, and Green parties is the necessity of devising and executing a seamless political campaign. In seven weeks.

As the party leaders traverse up and down the country trying to convince voters that they are the candidate the people can trust, it’s down to an in-house team of specialists to handle the party’s digital marketing campaigns. We’re going to explore how this general election raises some salient points about marketing, digital media and branding.

Social Media Marketing to Engage the Young

Jeremy Corbyn has undeniably resonated with the young voters of our country, with passionate people in the 18-24 age bracket coming out in full force to support the unpopular leader of the Labour Party. However, only around 40% of people who fall into this demographic voted in the previous three general elections, suggesting that all parties are failing in their attempt to reach younger audiences. The young feel disillusioned, so how can political parties make them feel included again?

Young people are a huge proportion of the population and they represent the future; as such, marketing campaigns have to speak to them. This can be done by embracing the channels that they use the most: social media platforms. Most young people use content from Twitter and Facebook to inform the opinions they make, so politicians need to ensure that this content is tailored to a young person’s tastes. This can be done by diversifying the content that’s put out and changing the tone of voice to suit young people. This can be done by sharing humorous things, creating eye-catching images with facts about the opposition emblazoned on them and using social media to speak about issues that the young care about like education, housing, debt, the environment, refugees and social justice.

Having a Comprehensive Digital Strategy

In 2015, the Conservative party spent £1.2 million of its budget on Facebook campaigns whilst Labour only put £16k into their Facebook strategy. Although this probably didn’t play a huge part in Labour’s failure to secure Downing Street, it does raise some unanswered questions about the audiences that Labour failed to reach by not investing in their Facebook campaign. It’s a shame that Labour failed to tap into the potential of this channel, indicating that political parties should capitalise on and invest in all the digital media tools that are available.

Maintaining a Strong, Consistent Brand Image

Whether deserved or undeserved, Politicians have reputations for being liars. Being in the public eye means that they’re placed under intense scrutiny, so any inconsistencies in their policies or public image won’t go unnoticed for long. Having a consistent brand image will help inspire trust in voters; this can be achieved by creating a clear branding strategy which involves establishing their objectives, ethos, principles and policies, and sticking to them. Ultimately, people will only vote for the politician they can trust and believe has their best interests at heart. This can only be achieved through strong branding.

Although pertinent to the election, these points ring true for businesses small and large. If you want help with your social media marketing, digital media or branding, contact our friendly team.

Member Blog: How do Ogden tables affect your insurance?

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Mon, 15 May 2017 15:57:00 +0000

By Nigel Bailey of Wrightsure in Stockport.

The consequences of the Lord Chancellor’s decision to amend the rate of the Ogden tables to -0.75% will easily by be overlooked by many people. However, what will not be overlooked is your insurance premium when it jumps up at renewal by anything from 10% to 20%!

All liability and motor premiums will be affected and there is no escaping the fact that insurance premiums will be on the increase in 2017.

Understanding Ogden – The Ogden tables help Actuaries and Lawyers to calculate the lump sum of compensation due to an individual or family. The calculation is generally used on large personal injury claim settlements where the injured party is severely incapacitated and unable to enjoy their former quality of life.

Large settlements comprise of two components:

1) a lump sum paid by the insurer which is lower than the total agreed compensation.

2) interest the claimant can earn through on investments.

Together these are supposed to deliver the agreed settlement sum which can typically run into tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Since 2001 the calculations have been based on the assumption that the injured party can access an interest rate of at least 2.5% from a lump sum investment. However, due to the sustained period of low interest rates the Lord Chancellor has moved the discount rate to -0.75% as of 20 March 2017.

For every thousand pounds paid in settlement £25 was formally supposed to have been delivered by the 2.5% interest accrued each year. This meant the insurer only paid £975.61p for every £1,000 awarded. With the new rate insurers, will now have to pay £1,007.56p for £1,000 awarded.

This will ultimately add up to millions of extra pounds for insurance companies to find to settle claims leading to just one outcome – an increase in premiums for you the customer.

The amended Ogden rate has already been reflected tin Aviva’s UK’s general insurance full year results for 2016 leading the combined operating ratio (COR) to deteriorate to 106.3% compared to 95.0% in 2015.

As just one example, Aviva recently noted in the results that without the impact of Ogden changes the COR would have improved to 94.9% increasing their operating profit on the previous year.

Many other insurers are in a similar position and rate increases will be the only solution to this significant ruling.

So, what we are likely to see in 2017 is probably the largest increase in premiums since the aftermath of the twin towers terrorist attacks back in 2001. Many insurers were caught with huge exposures which they were not aware of and the reinsurance market was heavily hit. As a consequence, premiums jumped for everyone, insurance premiums hardened and the insurance market went through new wave of regulation and amendments solvency ratios.

Many regard the timing of this ruling as a poor judgement as with article 50 apparently being triggered recently uncertain times are ahead for many UK businesses and increases in insurance premiums will certainly not be welcomed.

If you have concerns then I would suggest that you speak to your broker and agree a strategy with them on how to minimise any increases your business may face.

Member Blog: What about your 'Grey Fleet'?

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Mon, 15 May 2017 15:55:00 +0000

By Nigel Bailey of Wrightsure, Stockport.

When vehicles are driven on company business they are your ‘grey fleet’

Almost every business has some form of management system that monitors and manages their own fleet of vehicles. But what about your ‘Grey fleet’.

Grey Fleet is the term used to describe any vehicle that is used for business travel which does not belong to your company This management process will generally be controlled and managed by a fleet manager, director or senior member of your business.

Tracking MOT’s, Insurance, Tax, servicing and driving licenses of permitted drivers is all part of the responsibility of this role. However, many businesses stop at the vehicles they own and ignore or overlook their ‘grey fleet’.

This is a very dangerous thing to do.

So what is a ‘grey fleet’?

Your ‘Grey fleet’ is the term used to describe any vehicle that is used for business travel which does not belong to your company. This can include a vehicle privately owned by an employee, a vehicle purchased via an employee ownership scheme or a privately rented vehicle.

When any of these vehicles are driven on company business (often in return for a cash allowance or fuel expense) these vehicles are then considered part of your ‘grey fleet’ and as such fall under the responsibility of the employer to ensure they are safe and suitable for their intended use.

Remember, just because an employee does not use a company-provided vehicle for a business journey it does not absolve the company or fleet manager from their duty of care responsibilities as the company still has a legal duty of care to that employee (regardless of vehicle ownership).

Because of this responsibility, your grey fleet should be managed in exactly the same way as company owned or leased vehicles.

How to manage your ‘grey fleet’?

Managing your ‘grey fleet’ is in fact very straight forward. In the simplest of explanations, all you have to do is to align the management of your ‘grey fleet’ with the same systems monitoring and controlling the vehicles that you own ensuring that you record and maintain:

· Insurance details (include appropriate business use).

· Current and valid MOT certification.

· Current Road Tax validity.

· Driving license validity for the driver.

· Regular service documents.

In addition to this, you will also need to consider the suitability of the vehicle for work purposes. This could include the age and condition, or whether the vehicle is equipped with ABS, ESP, and whether or not it is suitable for the journey requirements of the company.

Remember, regardless of the ownership, it remains your responsibility to ensure that any vehicle used in connection with your business meets the legal road requirements.

The risk you can personally face

In the situation of a ‘grey fleet’ the employer has a duty of care to the employee (and general public) ensuring safe use of any vehicle for which they are responsible on the public highway.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which means companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care.

This relates directly to managing your ‘grey fleet’ in a responsible way.

The Act allows the prosecution of an organisation or individual where an employee has died as a result of the organisation’s gross failure to comply with health and safety legislation. This potentially exposes the senior management of any organisation as they can face a criminal prosecution before a jury in the Crown Court.

If convicted, the courts can impose unlimited fines, remedial orders requesting that immediate actions are taken and publicity orders requiring the organisation to publish details of its conviction.

The law allows prosecution for gross failures in the management of health and safety within a company as a whole, when that failure results in a death. With fines uncapped and with the power by the H&S Executive to impose prison sentences this should be taken very seriously.

The tests for a Corporate Manslaughter prosecution include the following questions:

· Were the organisation’s health and safety activities organised or managed in a way that fell far below the standard that could reasonably be expected and directly or indirectly caused the death?

· Did the organisation’s conduct amount to a gross breach of a Duty of Care to the deceased?

· Was a substantial part of the failure within the organisation at a senior level?

· ‘Senior level’ means the people who make significant decisions about the organisation or

· substantial parts of it. This includes both centralised, headquarters functions as well as those in operational management roles.

In addition, It will not be necessary for the management failure to have been the sole cause of death. The prosecution will, however need to show that “but for” the management failure (including the substantial element attributable to senior management), the death would not have occurred.

A jury will consider how serious that failure was, how much of a risk of death it posed, attitudes and policies and accepted practices within the organisation which encouraged the failure or produced tolerance of it, as well as looking at the level of Health and Safety guidance.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, the question that you need to ask yourself is are you managing your ‘grey fleet’ effectively and can you evidence this?

Failure to do so could prove very costly indeed to you and your business.

Article supplied by Nigel Bailey of Wrightsure, Stockport.

Member Blog: Tackling Discrimination In The Workplace – A Guide For Employers

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 09:50:00 +0000

By Zee Hussain, Partner and Head of Corporate Services at Simpson Millar

Simpson Millar's Zee Hussain, Partner and Head of Corporate Services, explains how employers can tackle discrimination in the workplace and avoid situations that can often lead to claims for compensation.

Keep On Top Of Your Legal Duties

Under the Equality Act 2010, it's unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees, clients, or customers on the grounds of:

Age
Disability
Gender reassignment, including being or becoming transgender
Pregnancy and/or maternity
Religion/belief or lack of religion/belief
Marital status, including being in a civil partnership
Race (this includes colour, nationality, or ethnic or national origin)
Sex
Sexual orientation

Knowing how these characteristics could impact your business on a day-to-day basis can make a big difference in protecting your business from costly claims.

For example, if your business is making redundancies and this affects a member of staff who is on maternity leave, or shared parental or adoption leave, they might be entitled to preferential treatment relating to suitable vacancies that are available in your business.

As the reporting element of the gender pay gap regulations is now in effect for businesses with 250 or more employees, it's necessary for big employers to share accurate data on gender pay and be prepared to tackle any issues.

Deal With Sensitive Topics Carefully

Discussions around an employee's disability or health-related matters need to be handled very carefully, especially during the recruitment process.

If, for example, an individual mentions any issues with their mental health or they discuss their disability during an interview it's important to make them aware that you cannot discuss the subject further with them.

This is because they are protected by the Equality Act 2010, and it would therefore be unlawful for you to discuss anything related to their disability or health that isn't appropriate to the role. It would also be unlawful for you to not consider them for the position on the basis of what they have told you, and they could take action via an employment tribunal if they believe that they have been discriminated against after sharing this information.

You can, however, ask them questions about their health or disability when an offer of employment has been made. But, the questions can only focus on whether any reasonable adjustments need to be made for the individual relating to the recruitment process or their ability to carry out the role.

If your business deals with construction and you're recruiting staff to put up scaffolding, you can, for example, ask individuals about whether they are able to physically climb ladders and scaffolding as this is an essential part of the role.

Safeguard Your Employees Through Effective Policies

Bringing up the subject of discriminatory treatment with an employer is never easy for an employee, especially as many fear that they won't be taken seriously or will face negative repercussions.

It's good practice to have a clear procedure in place for employees that focuses on how they can report discriminatory treatment, such as first approaching their manager or member of HR. It should also outline what steps you will take to resolve the matter if you find that they have been discriminated against – this could include considering whether disciplinary action is needed or whether a process or policy within the business needs to be changed to stop the problem from occurring again.

Communicating this process to your staff is vital, and might even prevent the situation from escalating.

Crack Down On Inappropriate Behaviour In The Workplace

Whilst it's not uncommon to find friendly banter amongst colleagues in workplaces, it can easily get out of hand and when it does, someone usually ends up getting hurt.

Harassment and inappropriate comments or jokes are some of the main reasons behind cases of discrimination in the workplace. 1 in 5 mothers, for example, have admitted to experiencing harassment or negative comments relating to their pregnancy from colleagues and even from their employers.

Creating an inclusive and open working environment is essential for employers, where employees have the confidence to know that they can approach you about any issues and all staff know that there will be consequences for inappropriate and offensive behaviour.

Check Your Policies For Indirect Discrimination

Some forms of discrimination are quite easy to identify, but when it comes to indirect discrimination do you know how it can impact your business?

Indirect discrimination can happen when a policy or rule in your business applies to all staff but puts a specific group of individuals at a disadvantage or conflicts with a protected characteristic – such as religion.

Christmas and Easter tend to be busy times of the year for some businesses, which is why they might have policies in place that limit the annual leave employees can have or stop them from taking time off.

But, if employees were allowed to take time off for religious festivals at other times in the year this policy could be viewed as indirectly discriminating against employees who are Christian.

Spotting potential problems or gaps in your policies like this isn't always easy, which is why having them reviewed by one of our legally trained experts can ensure that your business is protected in the long run.

Take A Consistent Approach

Although your employees will approach you in different circumstances, you should ideally have a set process in place for dealing with certain types of situations, such as:

Flexible working requests
Complaints and grievances
Issues with performance and lateness

It's a good idea to keep accurate records and evidence of all discussions you've had with your staff – whether they were formal or informal – as this demonstrates that you've followed the right process.

Dealing with problems or requests in a fair and consistent way will reduce the risk of workplace disputes from occurring, and might even prevent your business from facing legal action through an employment tribunal.

Having an effective, comprehensive policy on dealing with discrimination in the workplace can make the world of difference to the future of your business. Whether you'd like some help in identifying areas for improvement or you want to introduce new policies, our Employment Law experts are ready to provide the support that you need.

Member Blog: 4 Major Industries Augmented by VR and AR

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 17:04:00 +0000

4 Major Industries Augmented by VR and AR - By Noir Agency

Anthony Logan - CEO & Alex Mellor - COO

It is no secret that the changes brought by the digital era are making brands fight for space in new and crowded markets. New technologies are being born every second and the companies need to think of innovative way of incorporating them to their strategies, in order to stand out from the crowd.

One type of innovation that is already increasingly adopted in different markets is Virtual and Augmented Reality technology. VR represents the device that creates a whole new digital world, where the user is immersed in, while AR incorporates digital elements to the real world.

Thinking about this, here are a few ways in which the advancement of VR and AR technologies can impact brands within different markets:

Entertainment Industry

Probably one of the industries that takes advantage of this innovation the most. Virtual Reality spaces are being created more and more each day to promote movies, TV shows and specially games. So it is a great marketing tool that sets products apart from others. Recently, brands like Live Nation Channel and Samsung are partnering up to transmit live concerts through the Next VR app.

Prototyping

The use of VR and AR is already revolutionizing the prototypes. Through VR experiences, companies are able to show what they are building and also present their products to the customers without the need of a physical store. This new level of prototyping is making it easier for companies to get feedback on the product in early stages of development, which implies a huge improvement in production.

Healthcare

In the healthcare industry, Virtual Reality can enormously improve the service offered by professionals. One example is the use of controlled environments in therapy. It usually helps people to overcome their phobias by immersing the patients in virtual reality experiences where the doctors can actually examine patient’s reactions.

Market Research

Virtual Reality environments are also helping marketing departments to understand their audience in a better way. According to OgilvyAction study, 39% of purchase decisions are made right before buying, so it is helpful for marketers to know how people behave in store, by reproducing this environment virtually.

It is clear that brands should start thinking about how technologies such as VR and AR can bring benefits to their companies, in order to build a strong customer experience that can make them breakthrough in the ever changing digital world.

Member Blog: The Marketing Spectrum – from Brand to Promotion

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 16:23:00 +0000

The Marketing Spectrum – from Brand to Promotion

By David Wright - Founder-Director of BSA Marketing

Although closely related, there are clear and recognised differences between Selling and Marketing.

What is considered less often is the Marketing Spectrum. At one end is sales promotion, where the marketing goal is generating leads. Typically this is a short-term process.

At the other end of the spectrum is brand marketing – a longer-term process – where the goal is building awareness, perception and understanding of the value your company delivers.

Achieving this goal helps to ensure that when people in your market think of the products/services you supply, they think of you as a good place to buy.

In larger (i.e. non-SME) companies, much of their marketing effort focuses on:

Press Relations
Brand Awareness
Market Engagement
Market Perceptions

This marketing activity isn’t so much about generating leads as managing how the company is perceived by their customers and markets. i.e. building the Brand. They know that a strong brand adds real value to their business.

The value of a brand

According to US business publishing giant Forbes, the most valuable brands in 2016 were:

Apple. Brand value: $154.1 billion.
Google(Alphabet). Brand value: $82.5 billion.
Microsoft. Brand value: $75.2 billion.
Coca-Cola. Brand value: $58.5 billion.

Clearly, building a brand is a great way of adding real value to a business!

The fundamental value in these businesses is their brand. Think about it, if any big brand launches a new product or service, they get noticed, and they try to be very careful that their new offering reinforces their brand – though if you remember Dasani Water launched by Coca Coca-Cola in 1999, even the big boys don’t always get it right first time! You can read the article here

This said, despite the initial problems, the power of the Coca-Cola brand marketing machine didn’t let them down! In the year to May 2016, Dasani held a US market share of 9.9% worth some $1Billion in sales (Source)

But is Brand Marketing relevant to the SME sector?

So what has this got to do with me?

Every business – even your’s – has a brand, and your brand has a real and sustainable value; yet for the majority of SME businesses, when owners and managers think of marketing, their primary focus is on sales promotion, generating leads. Leads can deliver short-term revenue but it is a growing brand that delivers sustained business value.

When a business focuses on sales promotion, if a particular activity doesn’t deliver on expectations then the ‘marketing’ stops. There can then be a period of little or no market communication and engagement while the next lead generation plan is put together.

Don’t get me wrong, lead generation is important for sales and revenue but sales promotion isn’t really building the business brand which is what grows the business value.

SME brand building

By building your own brand you grow real substance in your business – a platform which can deliver value, performance and impact to your sales promotion.

A well-structured marketing process should encompass
brand building as well as lead generation

Amongst SMEs, brand building is too often ignored. I think a key reason for this is cost perception. Brand marketing can be seen as an expensive luxury because it doesn’t drive perceptible short-term sales which are the focus of many SME businesses. However, building your brand in the shorter term can have a real impact on your sales promotion in the medium and longer term.

The more people know and trust your business, the more
notice they will take of your promotional efforts.

Although it is true that 20 years ago, brand marketing needed deep pockets, it is absolutely not the case today; yet there is still an issue – there is a quandary in SME marketing.

The lure of Sales Promotion

Because many SME businesses equate marketing with sales promotion there is a plethora of companies that have grown up offering marketing (sales promotion) services to meet this demand. These services can look appealing so the bias continues – even though, in practice, the services offered (and paid for!) don’t always quite meet the expectations of the SME => Time to go and look for another source of leads!

There is an untapped opportunity for SME businesses...

I guess the lead generation dilemma will continue but there is still an untapped opportunity for SME businesses to benefit from exploring the wider marketing spectrum and consider brand marketing.

As I mentioned above, as well as building business value, effective brand marketing will also have a positive impact on sales promotion – it is win-win.

How do I bring brand marketing into my business?

Here are my top 5 tips for making brand marketing a core element of your business development strategy:

Create a written plan defining:

Your key business proposition
Your target market
Why your proposition delivers real value benefit to your customers

Use the above to develop a practical communications strategy and action plan to get your message out to your market
Regularly review and refine your plan
Stick at it
Brand building takes time. You should see it as a consistent function of your ongoing business, something that you keep doing all the time.
Don’t spend too much!
This may sound like an odd thing to say but if you over-commit your resources (could be time, or money, or both) you will struggle to stick at it and sustained activity is essential.
As a guide, I suggest limiting your ongoing brand marketing budget to no more than 0.5% -1% of your business turnover.

There is absolutely nothing to stop you developing and running your own brand marketing. There are lots of free tools online to help you. If, however, you would appreciate some support to get you going or keep you going please get in touch.

David Wright is a Founder-Director of BSA Marketing – davidw@bsamarketing.com

Member Blog: 5 Ways to Start a Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 15:56:00 +0000

5 Ways to Start a Presentation

By Buffalo7

You have a maximum of a minute to capture your audience’s attention. Failure to do so and the remainder of your presentation will fall on deaf ears. With this in mind it’s important you start strong so we’ve put together this blog of five different ways you could start your presentation.

1. You can quote me on that

A great quote doesn’t have to be a famous one it just has to be memorable. In fact, you should probably avoid clichés. We’ve all heard the Confucius quote a million times “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” so try to stay clear of quotes you expect the majority of your audience have heard before.

Get your audience interacting from the off. You could put half of the quote on the first slide and then ask your audience to finish it.

“A good speech is like a pencil;………”

Have you got it? Course you have.

2. Share a secret

Don’t delve into your private life, what you get up to at the weekends is your business but something along the lines of;

“Hi. My name is James and I’m going to share a secret with you. When I started this job, my greatest fear was public speaking.”

This shows your human side and can help you connect with your audience. They should immediately empathise with you and will you on from this point onwards.

3. Be a contrarian

Not for the sake of it but if you have an unconventional approach that goes against popular beliefs then be brave and go with it from the start. If you’re talk is on sales techniques for 2017 your opener could be;

“We all know that cold calling as a legitimate sales technique died a long time ago. Well I’m here to tell you that that’s simply not true. Here’s why…”

They may not agree with you but they’ll certainly be listening.

4. A picture says a...

Starting with a powerful image can do the hard work for you. If you can evoke strong emotions early on you’ll have your audience rapt from the get go and this is far easier done with a powerful picture than a plethora of text. Make them feel with a cute puppy or an iconic historical photograph, for example.

5. Tailor your opening gambit

Think about your audience and what would appeal best to them. Try and tailor your opener to their industry and interests. A room of coders will respond better to a joke about Linux than a room of architects. A group of philosophy students will find a Socrates anecdote more relatable than one about Picasso.

Start strong, finish strong

Once you’ve chosen your opener, it’s a good idea to return to it when closing your presentation. This completes the storytelling loop and leaves your take-home message fixed in your audiences mind. A good speech is like a pencil; it has to have a point.

Buffalo 7is the UK’s leading PowerPoint presentation design agency working with names including UEFA Champions League, Dell, Red Bull, Facebook and the BBC.

Chamber Blog: Fixing our broken housing market?

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 09:24:00 +0000

By Christian Spence - Head of Research & Policy at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

The publication on Tuesday 7 February 2017 of the government's housing white paper Fixing our broken housing market is a welcome addition to the policy landscape if only for the tacit acknowledgement that the failure to deliver an adequate supply of housing in the UK is a long-term problem that requires significant remedial action to fix. However, it is not clear that this publication offers any new answers to this critical issue.

The paper correctly states that the fundamental problem is one of under-supply, and that the lack of suitable land and sufficient planning permissions lie at the heart of the issue. Local authority plans are often incomplete or not up-to-date which slows down the planning application process, a problem that has been exacerbated over the recent past by significant cuts to local authority planning departments caused by fiscal constraints imposed by central government. Coupled with an old-fashioned and out-dated approach to Green Belt use where the arbitrary caps on city growth established in the 1940s are considered suitable for today and a lack of acceptance that brownfield land can only provide a limited amount of development and that much of it requires remediation of a scale that makes development commercially nonviable, the system overall seems incapable of delivering what is needed and some of the changes proposed fail to take into account the challenges of developers.

Introducing timescales within which development must be completed after planning permission is approved misunderstands the complexities and financial risks that developers face in bringing forward proposals, particularly of a large-scale. Government and planning authorities must work more closely together to ensure they understand each other's position and that the length of time required to move proposals from conception to delivery, often slowed down by the planning system itself, exposes builders to ever-greater risks. Combined with other issues such as difficulty accessing capital and skills and increasingly complex regulations and requirements, together these push up the development costs requiring ever further intervention to provide affordable homes.

Planning, at a local and city-regional level must develop beyond simple land-use allocation and seek to release greater areas of land for development alongside the development of all other infrastructure, whether physical, digital or social, required to support sustainable communities of the future. Our response to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework consultation highlights these issues in detail. Identification of land for housing development, seemingly chosen because it is politically easier to justify rather than ensuring that the road, public transport, digital, school and health facilities are in place, or at least the needs have been identified and planned, is not in itself sufficient.

For too long this country has been held back by artificially introduced barriers to development. Government and local authorities should approach this problem not through further interventions, but by removing the barriers that exist. It is not clear that this white paper, or the GM Spatial Framework, as they stand, answer these questions.

You can read the GMCC consultation response to GMSF by clicking here.

christian.spence@gmchamber.co.uk

Member Blog: Social Media for the Construction Industry

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 11:31:00 +0000

By Zahid Hussain - Script Social Media

The construction industry is lagging behind on social media.

Social Media is challenging, because you have to continually connect with clients. It’s exhausting. The problem is made more complex by the bewildering array of social media platforms. So, what do you do?

Like anything that commands long-term commitment, a solid foundation is essential. Without detailed planning, the right assets (marketing materials), and long-term commitment, whatever you build is bound to collapse.

Getting Started

Here are some of the questions that you might be mulling over to get you started:

• Which social media platform offers the best return on investment?
• How do you get noticed over the din of noise?
• How much does it really cost?

These are all good questions and you probably have many more. But let’s say you had to start with no budget and wanted to supercharge your presence on social media, can be it done? Absolutely.

To do it well, we’re going to give you a process to follow. It’s completely free. However, you will need time to think things through, but by the end you will have a social media strategy that will frame your online digital presence. So, are you ready?

Step ONE:

Your Identity

a) List your brand values: can you think of three words which capture who you are? For example: customer-centred, ethical, quality-focused.

b) Gather your assets: these are your logo, house style (key words and rules for how you communicate your brand at present), collection of key URLs etc.

c) Update your house style with your branded values.

RULE ONE:

All social media posts, irrespective of platform, must adhere to your updated house style.

Step TWO:

Your Audience

For the construction industry, you might come up with:

• The public sector (contracts)
• Private sector
o Buyers (B2B or B2C)
o The industry itself
o Third-parties
• Yourself (staff, your board members and so on)

For each, add why you want to connect with that particular audience and the difference it makes to your bottom line. Then, list the kind of material that would engender the greatest engagement. For instance, under the sub-heading “The Industry Itself” you may well develop the following Tramlines:

• Changes to legislation/building regulations
• Opportunities/trends emerging in the sector
• Your successes

RULE TWO:

All posts must connect with at least one audience.

Step THREE:

Mapping audiences to social media platforms.

Some platforms are better at engaging with particular audiences. Facebook remains the largest social media platform with the most powerful demographics-based advertising. Pinterest has the best ROI. Instagram is the best for branding. LinkedIn is a sure winner for B2B, but requires a specific type of engagement.

You will find that some platforms cater better for multiple audiences than others. Facebook and Twitter are rock solid choices.

Once completed you will have produced a table that maps the following:

Audience > Content > Platform

You now have a social media strategy. If you then apply it to a calendar, you will have a working operational plan too: well done!

Summary

Social media isn’t like putting up a tent, it’s like building a small town. It takes a lot of planning and dedication. With the right approach, you can guarantee a solid presence across digital media that resonates with clients and cements your brand’s reputation.

http://scriptsocialmedia.com/

Chamber Blog: Prime Minister May lays out plans for Brexit

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:59:00 +0000

By Alex Davies - Research Analyst, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Following Theresa May’s speech laying out Britain’s objectives going into the forthcoming Brexit negotiations, overall, we don’t know a great deal that we didn’t suspect already, but we now have confirmation of a few things in particular.

The Prime Minister made it clear that the deal she wants for Britain cannot mean continued membership of the single market. The objective instead is to work towards a “bold, comprehensive and ambitious” free trade deal with the EU in order to maintain “the greatest access possible”. I’ve explained before why the term ‘access’ is meaningless, but there were a few more details. May said that she is not against the idea of replicating aspects of the single market, specifically mentioning financial services and the automotive industry, and saying that it makes no sense to start from scratch.
May has made it clear in the past that she does not view our status within the customs union as a binary thing, and reiterated this in her speech today. She made it very clear that we would seek to find ourselves outside of the EU’s Common Commercial Policy – allowing us to do our own trade deals – but again, May mentioned something along the lines of an associate membership of the customs union in order to keep trade flowing freely.

The other main announcement was that the final deal would be put to a vote in both Houses of Parliament, a welcome development for many but one which for now has no clear implications. Nobody seems to know what would happen if Parliament did reject a deal, supposedly towards the end of the two-year negotiating period. At this point would we revert to WTO rules and the hardest Brexit of all? The pending legal case on the revocability of A50 will surely have a massive impact on exactly what this means.

May rounded off her speech by proclaiming that “No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal”. This echoes the Chancellor’s previous sentiment that in the event of a rock-hard WTO-rules Brexit, Britain would strip regulations and lower taxes to establish itself as a Singapore on Europe’s doorstep – something the EU would be concerned about certainly. For now, this strategy is being put forward as a worst case scenario backup plan, and as a mild threat to the EU27 to work with us in good faith towards a new arrangement. The reaction to this from the rest of Europe however, remains to be seen.
There were a few other good details in the speech. On EU citizens in Britain, May said that the government would seek to guarantee those rights as soon as possible, but perhaps in a veiled jibe at Merkel’s previous refusal at such a deal mentioned that there is no unanimity on this from the other side. There was a commitment that workers’ rights would be fully protected and indeed bolstered once within our remit. There was also a commitment to continued collaboration on matters of crime and foreign affairs, as well as science, research, technology and medicine. May suggested that it is reasonable for us to continue to pay into the EU budget for some of these privileges, but that these sums would not be vast.

Another unclear but important part of the speech covered how the PM sees the Brexit process happening. May is hoping for an agreement on the future relationship by the end of the two-year negotiating period, followed by a “phased implementation” utilising multiple “interim arrangements”. How this is different than a transitional arrangement is anybody’s guess, but it was made clear that a cliff-edge is to be avoided. How much detail the PM expects us to agree upon within two years is not clear at all, as would be impossible to negotiate even the trade deal alone within such a time. Instead, it feels as if the PM is hoping to agree upon a broad position within two years, but is happy for the minutiae of process to take much longer, my guess would be a decade or more.

I’m sure that many leavers got a bit tingly during parts of the speech, but the main criticism of it will be that it is undoubtedly a ‘have your cake and eat it approach’, despite being told by the EU27 that such an approach is unacceptable. It seems from how May addressed the ‘phased implementation’ strategy though, that the position she is talking about is the end-game, not where we will be in 2019. The suggestion of multiple interim arrangements necessitates that May understands realising her vision of a global Britain in full won’t be happening in the near future, most likely not during her premiership. In reality, exiting the single market and the customs union was almost always an inevitability at some point in the future of post-EU Britain, but we still don’t have a lot of clarity over the steps we will be required to take to get there. The type of trade deal May is proposing would be more comprehensive than Canada’s CETA agreement, and when such an agreement has never been concluded in less than seven years, often taking more than ten, it could be a long time before we drop out the SM. Until then, interim arrangements will surely be some kind of quasi-membership until we have figured things out, which makes me still reluctant to call this a hard Brexit. In fact, any new UK-EU trade deal will require an independent dispute resolution regime handled by a supranational court. May explicitly said that she is okay with supranational institutions, just not any as strong as the EU ones. This points us directly towards membership of EFTA, which has its own court ready to take the European Court of Justice’s place. Alongside a comprehensive FTA, this would essentially put us in a Swiss-plus position.

Once again, the vital missing piece of the puzzle here is timelines. If following the negotiations, we accept that we won’t be able to do any of this stuff for a long time, then what do we do in the interim? May even conceded that interim arrangements would be up for negotiation. In terms of our final destination then, May has been quite clear as to the government’s objectives. As to what steps we take to get there though, I would still say that nothing is off the table.

Alex.davies@gmchamber.co.uk

Member Blog: Who’s afraid of 2017? The view from the Northern Powerhouse

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 09:40:00 +0000

By Simon Collingwood, Director for Quatro North

2017 brings turmoil at the global, national and regional level. But what does this mean for the North of England? The Northern Powerhouse will enter its third anniversary this year. This is a long time in politics and unlike many other Government initiatives, it has firmly and successfully galvanised support across the North. What can we expect going forward and what should we be looking for in 2017?

1. It’s the economy, stupid

The Northern Powerhouse is both a political and economic construct. Political in terms of devolution and positioning adopted by the Conservative Government; but economic, because substantively the mission is one of growth through increasing investment and narrowing wage differentials with the Greater South East (and international competitors).

The forecasts at the national and regional level are not good; EY’s recent analysis pointed to price rises, increasing uncertainty, increasing inequality, and falling household income and spending. For the Northern Powerhouse region, forecasts are for lower growth 2016 - 2019 than experienced in the previous 3 years in the North West, Yorkshire & Humber and North East.

Against this backdrop, it will be interesting to watch for further spending commitments or the use of other policy levers from the Government to offset this gloomy picture.

2. Metro Mayors

In May, we are due to participate and observe the election of Metro Mayors in Greater Manchester, Greater Birmingham, Liverpool City Region, Sheffield City Region and Tees Valley. (Though Sheffield City Region will have a challenging time to meet the May deadline for the election following the High Court Judgement just before Christmas which upheld Derbyshire County Council’s complaint about the quality of the public consultation.)

I will be paying close attention to the posture adopted by each of the candidates toward central Government and indeed between the newly elected Mayors. I think it will also be critical to look at how they galvanise their wider political constituencies on strategic matters of housing and infrastructure development. The voter turnout numbers will certainly be something to keep an eye on.
Similarly, voter turnout for the PCC elections will also be one to watch, as poor voter turnout could undermine the reputation of the role.

Its finally worth noting that while the Mayors will be the spectacle, it will also be necessary to look at the pursuit of wider devolution deals such as in Leeds City Region, Lincolnshire, and Lancashire.

3. Industrial Strategy

It has been suggested that the Government’s Industrial Strategy should be published by the end of January. It was earlier anticipated for the Autumn Statement and then before Christmas, so it will be received with considerable expectation. No.10’s appointment of Giles Wilkes of the FT to lead their involvement in the policy development is an interesting addition to the mix.

For the Northern Powerhouse, I will be looking to see how the Strategy will dock in with the earlier pronouncements on the Northern Powerhouse (HMT’s Strategy in November) and the well-regarded Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review (Transport for the North). The latter was very strong on identifying the sectors where the North has clear national and international comparative advantage - Advanced Manufacturing, Energy, Health Innovation and Digital Technologies. What will the Industrial Strategy contribute to these growth sectors in the North?

4. BREXIT

Brexit will continue to dominate political headlines in 2017. It will be interesting to see how close we get to answers on what Brexit might look like rather than just the rhetoric. The Prime Minister has reconfirmed that she intends to invoke Article 50, formally signalling the UK’s intention to leave the EU, in March 2017. Central Government will rightly take the lead on these negotiations. The question will be how strong will the engagement be between regions, business, and wider civil society in the formation of their positions and analysis.

5. Housing

Four of the 14 new Garden Villages announced by Housing Minister Gavin Barwell this week are in the North – St Cuthbert’s, near Carlisle, Bailrigg, outside Lancaster, Halsnead near Liverpool and Handforth in north east Cheshire. It remains to be seen whether this type of Government-inspired initiative will succeed in delivering the scale of new homes needed.

The evidence, so far, from the public response to the Greater Manchester Spatial Strategy draft allocations is that some communities in many parts of the Manchester conurbation will present a challenge to the politicians in the run-up to the Mayoral elections in May.

6. Transport

We’ve enjoyed working with clients on the importance of transport infrastructure to the growth agenda in the North of England. Strategic investment in both transport infrastructure and services in the North of England to link our cities and their hinterlands will be a critical ingredient to accelerating growth here. As such, we will be looking closely at the profile of spend and indeed fresh commitments to drive confidence and growth.

A key part of the transport debate, and indeed all the points above, will be the ability of a range of stakeholder organisations to work together to best advocate why the North is a national economic priority. This is a process of building the business cases and delivering the messages to the right audiences at the right time. We will all have a role to play.

From Quatro, we wish you and your families a very happy 2017.

http://www.quatro-pr.co.uk/

Member Blog: New Year Resolutions of a Business Owner

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 16:37:00 +0000

By Paul Tooth, CEO of BrightHR

As 2016 draws to a close, our minds start to turn to the acts of self-improvement we want to put in place for the coming year - be it to join the gym, travel more or learn a new language. As the CEO at BrightHR, now is also the time that I start to think about how both myself and our employees can do better in 2017 - how we can grow and be more productive, happy and successful.

As with any New Year resolution, it’s best not to be overly ambitious but to identify small changes that can be realistically made, and actually, make a big difference. Here I’ll share some goals for 2017 and a few pieces of advice to hold in mind come January:

Make more time for face-to-face meetings

As we know, good relationships are hugely beneficial for business, but they rarely seem to be our highest priority. Relationships typically feel important rather than urgent and suffer accordingly in the time-poor environment of most working lives. There are always more pressing things standing in the way, whether they are HR, legal, administration or compliance issues.

Getting to know your clients is good, but actually ‘enjoying’ the relationship is even better. For 2017, I plan to make more time for face-to-face meetings by continuing to expand our field sales team. We must be ready and willing to give our clients time and if we don’t have it, then we need to start freeing it up and doing whatever it takes to build stronger relationships.

Spread the automation mantra

Leveraging technology to automate the mundane, daily tasks that sap your time and energy is what we’re all about as a business. There’s opportunity for any repetitive workflow in your business to be automated, and the benefits can be huge. Dedicate yourself to investigating technology that can move you toward automation, and you’ll be on your way.

One of my resolutions for 2017 is to spread the automation mantra to more start-ups and SMEs which may be struggling with productivity and time management.

BrightHR’s research revealed that more than a third of business owners in the UK cite HR administration as one of the biggest drains on productivity. We also discovered that automating the holiday request process was at least 10x faster than using a manual process - and that’s if nothing went wrong in the manual process!

And it’s not just HR, there are all sorts of repetitive processes that can be automated.

Measure productivity

Recent research by BrightHR revealed that only eight per cent of UK companies regularly monitor their productivity levels, and more than this, many are in the dark about the real business benefits of doing so.

In 2017 I’ll continue to work with our team to identify our biggest time saps, be it needless admin or too many meetings. This isn’t a one off fix, it’s an ongoing process, but one which stands to empower both yourself and your teams to make vital adjustments.

Productivity is key to the success of any business and the more engaged the workers are, the more productive they will be.

Be more balanced

As personal and professional lives are increasingly merging, it’s become more important to schedule breaks and holidays. This is time that you can spend seeing family, visiting somewhere you’ve always wanted to go.

There’s no doubt that regular breaks make staff more focused and productive, and productivity is key to the success of any business. BrightHR recently conducted a survey of UK business leaders which revealed, that 90 per cent recognise that having a good relationship with employees has a positive effect on productivity. Being understanding and generous with their time away from the office in crucial to this.

To help manage the process, a key piece of advice for small business owners would be to learn how to better cope with the challenge of holiday date-bagging by encouraging staff to spread their time off throughout the year - and start looking for that city break bargain to make the most of it yourself!

Think content

What happens when a prospective customer visits your company's website? Is there fresh content that is going to keep them engaged? Does it look like it represents a company that cares about the impression they want to make on the rest of the world?

Your company's website is your digital storefront. Often, it is the only source your customer might look at to determine if they want to spend money on your service or product. So your website needs to be the best.

Continuing to generate engaging content will be an ongoing our website will be a focus for our business next year, including content that demonstrates new technologies and advice for fledgling businesses.

Look after your people

There's a famous saying, that "culture eats strategy for breakfast". It's a lesson that a lot of businesses neglect, despite good intentions. No one sets out to create a lousy working environment; frustrating and unproductive work cultures develop when no one acts to deliberately create something better.

Employees who are engaged in a positive workplace culture are inherently more productive. And there are loads of things that business owners can do without huge budgets.

For 2017, I will continue to develop our trusting and inclusive environment, where everyone feels respected and motivated.

Did you know the first week back in the New Year has proven to be the busiest time for staff booking holidays? Why not starting automating this now and add a 30 day free trial of BrightHR to your resolution list? Go to https://register.brighthr.com/planned-absence

Timely advice from Bacs – plan ahead or yule be sorry!

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 16:15:00 +0000

By Nizam Yusuf – Senior Content Creative and Social Media Manager

Christmas is almost upon us, but it’s not always a time of festive cheer between businesses and their customers – especially when it comes down to paying bills.

A Happy Christmas for all?

Customers have a different set of priorities around this time of the year. Many will be concentrating on buying presents and planning festivities, rather than paying a few troublesome bills that can surely wait until next year.

Meanwhile, businesses are hoping for timely payments from their customers, so that they can shut down for Christmas and relax for few days.

Getting paid on time at Christmas means that a business can return after the festive period and start planning for 2017 straight away, rather than wasting time chasing up late payments, resending invoices and casting a nervous glance over the state of their cash flow.

With most of the UK on holiday until 3rd January 2017, countless payments will be delayed – So what’s the answer?

Direct Debits – regular payments all year round

For many businesses, Direct Debits have made late Christmas and New Year payments a thing of the past.

Customers don’t have to remember to pay automated Direct Debits, so even if they’ve got a Christmas party to go to, the payment still gets made in good time! Allowing the Finance Director and CFO to take a well-earned Christmas break, safe in the knowledge that the business is getting paid on time, and in full.

Having said that, there are some points worth bearing in mind when it comes to Direct Debit payments around this time of the year.

Plan ahead with a little help from Bacs

Bacs Payment Schemes Ltd has sent out a timely reminder this year, asking businesses to plan in advance to avoid payment trouble over the Christmas period.

"During the busy festive season it’s easy for delaying payments, however, with a little careful pre-planning, there is no reason why salaries and suppliers cannot be paid on time even with the seasonal bank holidays." — Mike Hutchinson, Director of Scheme Support & Development at Bacs*

For example, if your business is looking to process accounts payable and payroll payments before the Christmas break, then the last date for submission of payments will be:

Wednesday 21^st December 2016.

Download the processing calendar from the Bacs website: Click Here

Get paid on time this Christmas…

Do you struggle with payments around Christmas? If so, AccessPaymay be able to help. Please feel free to give us a call.

If you already get paid by Direct Debits and Christmas payments have never been a problem for your business, we’d also like to hear from you. If you have any tips or advice on getting paid on time, feel free to share your thoughts with our followers on:

Twitter: @Access_Payand mention #XmasPayments

LinkedIn: Follow us on LinkedIn
Facebook: Follow us on Facebook

Patron Blog: How Can Employers Manage Long-Term Sickness Absences?

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 14:14:00 +0000

Dealing with long-term absences in the workplace can be quite challenging for employers, who have to make sure that they are supporting their employees whilst managing the needs of the business.

Zee Hussain, Partner and Head of Corporate Services at Simpson Millar, shares some tips on managing long-term absences and supporting your employee's return to work:

• Maintain contact with your employee whilst they're on sick leave – employers tend to be quite wary of keeping in touch with employees on long-term sick leave. But, keeping in touch about their progress/recovery and any important workplace changes can be beneficial for both parties, and might even help relieve some of the anxiety your employee might feel about their return to work.

• Do you need to make workplace adjustments for your employee? Employers should explore what types of changes or adjustments need to be made to ensure their employee's return to work is as smooth and comfortable as possible.

Some employees might recover from their illness over a certain period of time and only need temporary adjustments, whereas others might have ongoing conditions or disabilities that require permanent changes.

For example, if your employee is unable to return to their normal working pattern straight away, a phased return to work might be the best option where they work flexible hours or part-time.

• Offer managers training or guidance on managing an employee's return to work – some managers might not have experience in dealing with employees who have long-term illnesses, so employers need to ensure that they are aware of what steps they need to take to facilitate the employee's return to work.

It's a good idea to have regular meetings with the manager before and after your employee returns to work, as you can address any concerns or questions they have and identify whether they need help.

• Look at patterns of behaviour – if employers notice that members of staff are repeatedly taking a lot of time off from work they need to establish why this is happening. This will help you separate those who are taking time off without valid reasons from those who have genuine reasons.

It will also help you identify whether there are more serious underlying issues that need to be addressed. For example, employees who are having problems at work – such as being bullied or harassed by other members of staff – might be afraid of coming forward and feel like they have no other option but to take time off sick as a way of escaping the issues. The sooner you can understand why your employees are taking time off, the quicker you can act and take the appropriate steps.
Whether you have an employee who has a serious illness or ongoing condition, long-term absences have to be handled delicately and on a case-by-case basis.

If you're concerned that your policy isn't comprehensive enough or you're not sure how to deal with a particular absence and need some legal assistance, our Employment Law solicitors are ready to lend a helping hand.

Member Blog: Asset finance can help SME manufacturers stuck with unsold stock

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 10:18:00 +0000

By Davenham Asset Finance Managing Director, Paul Burke

Research carried out by The Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) shows that the value of unsold stock held by SME manufacturing companies has risen to £4.94 billion, putting cash flow under greater strain.

With the value tied up in unsold stock remaining stubbornly high over the last five years, this inventory currently amounts to a shocking 16% of the £81 billion annual turnover of SME manufacturers. For companies requiring short term finance, issues are often caused through difficulty to quickly move stock. Of course, money tied up in unsold stock is what would likely have been used for business development, and therefore puts a halt on business growth.

Being in this situation, SME manufacturers still need to grow, but many are still unaware of the alternative methods of finance; by refinancing fixed assets the cashflow issues caused by unsold stock can be eased, and the pressure removed until the stock is sold.

It’s great to see that demand from businesses for alternative routes of finance is growing, with the value of funding secured against stock by ABFA Members standing at £584 million at the end of June, up by a staggering 56% over the last five years. Our team at Davenham is passionate about helping companies to access to vital funding through our bespoke asset finance and refinance services, giving them the opportunity to invest in their business and preventing growth from being stalled.

It is essential that we continue to raise awareness of asset finance and refinance as alternative forms of finance, particularly to sectors like the manufacturing industry who could greatly benefit from this route. If your cash flow has taken a hit due to unsold stock, and you would like to learn more about refinance and how it can benefit your business, call 0161 832 8484 and speak to a member of our experienced team.

http://www.davenhamassetfinance.co.uk/

Patron Blog: Why do employers need to have effective social media policies?

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 16:27:00 +0000

More than just a way of keeping up with friends and family, social media is a powerful tool that offers businesses a way of reaching out to new audiences.

Regardless of whether your business has a large or small social media presence, in the digital world, your employees act as representatives of your brand and how they behave can have a significant impact on the reputation of your business.

Zee Hussain, Partner and Head of Corporate Services at Simpson Millar, discusses why it's important for employers to have effective social media policies in place:

What Does A Good Social Media Policy Cover?

When writing or updating a social media policy, employers should aim to strike a balance between protecting their reputation and also encouraging employees to engage with the business.

Although employers might use social media for different purposes, a well-written policy should be clearly communicated to all staff and include the following:

• Outline what is acceptable for employees to do when using social media – effective social media policies don't just tell employees what they shouldn't do – they can be really useful ways of getting employees to raise brand awareness outside of the workplace.

But, they need to be told that this should be done in an appropriate way that isn't to the detriment of the business.

It's useful to give examples of what would be acceptable for them to do, for example sharing tweets posted from your business' Twitter account or leaving constructive comments on posts on any other accounts you have.

• Be clear about the consequences of your employees' actions online – whilst supporting your employees' use of social media can have its advantages, you should set clear boundaries about what employees cannot do online and define what consequences they will face if they breach the policy.

For example, if they engage in prohibited behaviour, will this lead to disciplinary action?

• Encourage your employees to check their privacy settings – privacy settings tend to change quite frequently, so it's a good idea to remind your employees to check them on a regular basis.

• Data protection and monitoring – if you believe that it's necessary to monitor how your employees are using social media then you must justify why in the policy.

• Include guidelines for employees who are using the company's social media accounts – any employee who is sharing information and expressing views on behalf of your business should also be given some guidance on ensuring that their communication and actions online are in line with the brand's values.

Whether you're reviewing or developing your social media policy, Simpson Millar's legal experts are on hand to help you identify how well your existing policy is working and whether any improvements can be made.

Used correctly by your business and employees, you'll find that social media can prove to be a very effective marketing tool.

http://www.simpsonmillar.co.uk/

Member Blog: What does your business actually deliver?

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 10:47:00 +0000

By David Wright - BSA Marketing

I’m not looking for a description of the products you make or the services you offer. I’m asking from the point of view of your customers.

We all do business with other companies and people because we get something out of the relationship. Normally the people we buy from aren’t the only people we could buy from so why have we selected that particular supplier – or more pertinently, why do your customers choose your business ahead of one of your competitors?

 Why do they have a relationship with you?
 Why are they willing to hand over their hard earned cash to secure your products/services?

What you have to decide is:

“What is the real value I deliver to my customers?”

To illustrate the process, let me reflect on what we have been going through recently at BSA.
We have reviewed our core business before but I recommend a review at least every year or so.

What does BSA Marketing offer to our clients?

This question set us on an interesting journey of discovery!

Our first answer to the question was a lengthy description of the tasks that we undertake on behalf of clients (mainly focused around writing effective content and using it in websites and e-mail newsletters planned and implemented within a strategic marketing framework).

After this, the question was repeated:

“Yes, but why do clients deal with BSA and not someone else?”

After more discussion, we came up with the following:

1. We take the time to understand our clients’ businesses.
2. We give unbiased advice on marketing in a world where so much is focused on “The next big thing”.
3. We tend to under promise and over deliver.
4. We offer specialist marketing knowledge in the context of a digital age because we are marketers first and web techies second.
5. Our focus is on making things happen, not just on the strategic planning process.
6. Long term is important; we stick with clients and gently encourage them to stick with the marketing process. (Good marketing takes time).
7. We have a great track record of delivering value for our clients.
8. We understand the SME environment, the concept of budgets and the need to maximise the effectiveness of marketing spending.

…and what we didn’t say…

Interestingly, the words ‘Website’, ‘Content’ and ‘Email Marketing’ don’t appear anywhere in this list, even though we are specialists in all three.

What came out is our proposition that we work with our clients to deliver real, joined-up marketing communication programmes that are sustainable and effective.

In this context, content, copy-writing, websites, email, social media and data management etc. are important elements of our offering, and the ability to deliver these is vital, but they are simply tools in our core offer to our market:

BSA Marketing takes a practical, realistic approach to making marketing work.
and this, in a nutshell, is our key business proposition!

What do our clients say?

If you care to take a look at some of the testimonials and case studies on our website, you will see that our clients have been telling us this for years!

So take some time out to ask yourself:

What is my business proposition and why do my customers keep coming back?

The answer may surprise you!

If you’d like to talk to me about answering the question for your business (and then making the most of what you learn!); drop me an email to davidw@bsamarketing.com.

…..if you’re a manufacturer, there might even be some grant support to help you grow.

http://www.bsamarketing.com/

Member Blog: Simplicity is the key to brilliance

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 12:12:00 +0000

By Nizam Yusuf, Senior Content Creative at AccessPay

Actor, producer, film director, screenwriter and a kick-ass martial artist – Bruce Lee was a man of many talents, who also had a way with words.

The San-Francisco born movie-star pretty much defined what we now know as the "Chinese Martial Arts" film genre, and in doing so gained many fans – one of them being me.

I may have been a tad young when I first came across those legendary action-packed movies, but as I grew older I came to appreciate that Bruce Lee was more than just an iconic martial artist. He was also a profound thinker, philosopher and a great writer.

So, when I was looking for a way to explain why Direct Debit is an ideal customer retention tool, all I could think of was this famous Bruce Lee quote;

SIMPLICITY IS THE KEY TO BRILLIANCE

BRUCE LEE, 1940 – 1973

Why is SIMPLICITY the key?

Direct Debit is all about simplifying the payments and collections process for both businesses and their customers.

For consumers:
• Direct Debit is a simple, safe and convenient way for consumers to make regular or occasional payments from their bank accounts.
• Once the customer has been notified of the date and amount to be collected, payments are simply deducted from their account.
• The entire process makes it easier to consume products and services.
• Other than making sure sufficient funds are available in their account, consumers don’t need to do anything else after the Direct Debit instruction is signed.

For businesses:

• Direct Debit empowers you to simplify the ongoing payments process for your customers - ideal for things like buying goods, subscribing to services and making charitable donations.
• Chasing customers for card payment failures becomes a thing of the past, as Direct Debit gives you complete flexibility to collect money straight from the customer’s bank account.
• If you decide to amend the payment amount, cancelling standing orders and agreed monthly card payments can lead to customers leaving and going elsewhere. With Direct Debit, other than notifying your customer of the change, no further authorisation is required.
• Collecting payments by cheque, cash and standing order can be an administrative burden for any business. By switching to Direct Debit, you can remove these barriers through automation and ensure your business never suffers from late or missing payments again.
• By reducing your own costs of collecting payments through Direct Debit, you could pass on the savings you make back to the customer in the form of discounts – further cementing your relationship with a valued customer.

I’m happy, you’re happy – we’re all happy

Both consumers and business alike benefit from the simplicity of Direct Debit. They each benefit from being able pay and collect through Direct Debit, but for a business this also means longer term benefits such as customer retention.

Consequently, businesses need to see Direct Debit not only as a payments and collections service but as a fundamental part of the customer experience - it couldn’t be more simple.

What next?

As the master martial artist Bruce Lee said; Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.

Now that you understand why Direct Debit is ideal for building customer loyalty, perhaps it time you took control of your payments and collections process and started maximising those existing customer relationships.

Find out more about Direct Debit: What is Direct Debit?

http://www.accesspay.com/

Member Blog: JAM today or JAM tomorrow? Anticipating the Autumn Statement

noreply@blogger.com (gmchamber) — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 16:08:00 +0000

By Simon Collingwood - Director, Quatro PR

As ever, the Autumn Statement will be keenly watched. But perhaps more so this year than previously given continued uncertainty about the implications of Brexit. Expectations are high and it is unlikely that it will deliver the sizzle some hope for.

Philip Hammond has said he will revert to a low key Autumn Statement, with greater emphasis placed on the spring budget. But the nation’s finances alone don’t tell the whole story. There is a lot of expectation on the Chancellor to deliver a boost for the JAM (just about managing) demographic. What this means for infrastructure and business remains to be seen, but it will be a balancing act between measures to help raise living standards (JAM today) and taking a long-term view to secure economic improvement (JAM tomorrow).

Building on the messaging at the Conservative Party Conference, the Autumn Statement is a set piece opportunity for Theresa May’s Government to show that they mean business and what that actually means. Her comments at the CBI this morning will give some succour to business agitating for investment in shovel ready and long term strategic needs as will Mr Hammond on Peston’s sofa over the weekend.

We’re anticipating a few key themes:

- Seeking short-term help for consumers and home-owners
- Showcasing the UK as open for business
- A focus on industrial strategy and investing in the productivity of the UK economy
- Corporate responsibility and the next steps in Theresa May’s commitment to deal with boardroom issues like the gender pay gap, board pay levels and employee involvement

We do not expect to see any overt discussion of their approach to the Brexit negotiations, though it will be important to listen for signals and emphasis. It does of course set the context in which the Autumn Statement is taking place. The aftershock of the EU referendum is still raw. MPs from all sides of the House are keen to keep up pressure on the Government over Brexit, international trade and, now, the UK’s prospects in a President Trump world.

The Chancellor has already indicated the plan to drop his predecessor’s objective for a balanced budget by 2020, though that is less to do with its desirability as the practicalities of delivering it. Expect a longer timetable. We’ve also already seen some big announcements on Heathrow and High Speed 2.

That doesn’t mean to say that there won’t be any big ticket spending commitments, but rather ensuring the flexibility to support these in the future. As ever with the Treasury, the devil will be in the details.

http://www.quatro-pr.co.uk/