The labour market remains tight for most firms according to the latest Quarterly Recruitment Outlook survey of almost 5,000 UK firms by the British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit. Jane Gratton, Deputy Director Public Policy at the BCC said: “The recruitment crisis continues to loom large for many businesses across the UK. “Too many firms are still struggling to hire and retain staff. The situation in the hospitality sector is especially concerning.  At the start of an election year, and with a budget just weeks away, it’s vital that politicians start outlining how we can plug these gaps and support more people into work. “The Chancellor announced several welcome measures on apprenticeships in the Autumn Statement, but more action is needed.  For example, increasing flexibility in the apprenticeship levy would help more people get the workplace training they need. “And we need to ensure that local training provision meets the needs of employers and learners. Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), many of them led by local Chambers, are now shifting the dial on this by planning for skills needs, now and in the years ahead. But this transformation won’t happen overnight, and LSIPs need long-term funding and commitment from politicians. “We’ll be looking closely at tomorrow’s labour market statistics from the ONS. While the number of vacancies has continued to decline in recent months, the prospects going forward remain challenging. Our latest Quarterly Economic Forecast predicts unemployment is expected to stay higher for longer, hitting 4.8% by the end of 2025 “Businesses urgently need to see a long-term strategy on skills and training from politicians. We need to properly resolve the ongoing recruitment crisis and ultimately boost economic growth.” Fourth quarter results for 2023 show a slight rise in the number of companies facing hiring difficulties, from 73% in Q3 to 76% in Q4. That’s six percent down from the historical high of 82% at the end of 2022, but has remained at or above 70% since the economy reopened  after the pandemic. Attempted recruitment in Q4 was virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, with 59% of responding firms looking to find staff (61% in Q3). The hospitality sector continues to suffer disproportionately from the recruitment difficulties in the economy, with 82% of firms reporting hiring challenges in Q4 (compared with 79% in Q3). This is closely followed by the transport and logistics sector where 81% of businesses attempting to recruit, reported difficulties in finding staff. Meanwhile 79% of construction firms, 77% of manufacturing companies and 66% of retailers, said they had experienced recruitment issues. Of the hospitality firms reporting problems, 62% faced difficulties in finding semi/unskilled workers, 41% skilled manual/technical staff. As firms continue to navigate a series of economic pressures, many are struggling to increase investment in workplace training. For the second quarter in succession, just over a quarter of firms reported an increase in investment plans for staff training (26% compared to 27% in Q3) with 14% reporting a drop (13% in Q3) Labour costs are cited by most firms as a source of cost pressure, with 68% citing this (compared to 66% in Q3). 55% of firms say they’re concerned about energy costs.  

Work has started at a depot to bring the first fleet of zero emission electric buses to South Yorkshire as part of a partnership between Stagecoach and SYMCA. Electrification work costing about £2.5m has begun at the Rawmarsh depot ahead of the arrival of the first fleet of 23 zero emission electric buses to arrive in the region. The brand-new electric Yutong buses will be introduced on the region’s bus network in the spring and will feature on the 22x and 221 routes which connect the Dearne Valley across Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster. Stagecoach Yorkshire MD Matt Kitchin said: “This development marks a huge step towards the future of sustainable travel in South Yorkshire as we await the arrival of the new buses. “Sustainable forms of public transport are key to reducing congestion and improving air quality across the region and we look forward to these state-of-the-art vehicles encouraging more people to make the switch to bus travel as well as making local air cleaner for all our futures.” DfT contributed about £8,351,000 to which SYMCA added £2,683,000 of its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement. Contractor EO will install the 23 output chargers as well as two mobile workshop chargers at the depot which will facilitate the running of the zero-emission fleet. South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard, said: “We think around 200,000 people in South Yorkshire live in areas vulnerable to air pollution, and 1 in 20 deaths here are related to poor air quality. That’s a challenge we simply have to address, and why we need to get cleaner, greener vehicles of all sorts on our roads. “To meet that goal we’ve funded electric bus projects that are underway across the region as part of the Zebra1 project and we also have a second bid for ‘Zebra 2’ funding submitted to the Department for Transport with Stagecoach and First. “Not only will they help improve public transport in South Yorkshire, they’ll make a real contribution to us hitting our net zero goals, and making South Yorkshire’s air cleaner.“

Trading Standards services across Lincolnshire have joined a national scheme that allows residents to know they’re buying from businesses that work in a legal, honest and fair way.

Doncaster’s first-ever Women in Business Conference will shine a light on female entrepreneurs and explore the challenges many of them face. Jade Dyer, Business Director at Doncaster Chamber said the event would allow examination of serious issues that didn’t always get the attention they deserved. “It’s a particularly relevant conversation for us in Doncaster, where females are underrepresented in terms of entrepreneurship. Data from the Office of National Statistics shows that only 2.5% of women in our local population are self-employed, a relatively low figure when compared to other places around the UK, while a comprehensive study from Money.co.uk found that we are also one of the country’s most challenging districts for female business owners. “Despite this, we have assembled a fantastic line-up of speakers for the conference — spanning different backgrounds and sectors —who we believe will really inspire the community. For example, we have Rebecca Dickenson; an internationally-acclaimed hairdresser who recently won our Self-Employed Person of the Year award and who is, with good reason, recognised as a true leader in her field. “She will be joined on the day by other amazing guests, including: Leana Coopoosamy-Pearson, Global Inclusion Business Partner at Mastercard and owner of her own Boutique; Julie Carrier, Chief Commercial Officer at Unipart Rail; Zoe Hands, MD in the region for First Bus Midlands; and Amelia Banful, Head of Business Strategy at Enviro Electronics. We cannot wait to hear from all of these professionals, and from those who attend on the day itself, about how we can make Doncaster a more friendly environment for women in business.” The event is sponsored by Polypipe Building Products, and takes place on January 24th.

Leeds Beckett University and Q Medical Technologies Limited have secured Government funding to develop and commercialise innovative new products repurposing healthcare waste. The team will begin by commercialising new, low-carbon aggregate substitutes known as floc – repurposed and treated, clinical and offensive NHS waste – which are in demand for use in civil engineering. Dr Ash Ahmed, Reader in Civil Engineering Materials Science in the School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing at Leeds Beckett University, is leading the project. He explained: “This innovative opportunity to process and utilise healthcare waste – particularly NHS waste – to create new products, has multiple benefits: reducing costs to the healthcare sector, reducing the emissions from the disposal of healthcare waste, and reducing the drain on dwindling natural resources such as sand. “Sand suitable for construction is a finite resource and there is pressure to create more sustainable supply chains to preserve this valuable commodity for future generations. “The NHS produces an estimated 156,000 tonnes of clinical waste per year with disposal costs of around £700million per year – largely through waste management contracts that end in incineration or landfill, both of which are harmful to the environment.” The 30-month project is a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), part-funded by the Government through Innovate UK. The KTP aims to create long-term innovation and New Product Development (NPD) capabilities and pathways for NuGreen – a sister company of Q Medical – to develop, test, commercialise and launch products in new sectors. The project will refine and commercialise earlier proof of concept studies between Leeds Beckett and NuGreen in the use of floc as an aggregate – most notably sand – replacement in cementitious materials, for example concrete and asphalt. The market for aggregate replacements is very large. The worldwide construction industry consumes 25-30 billion tonnes of sand per year and the cost of aggregates is increasing. Clare Atkinson, Founder of NuGreen, said: “The opportunity to divert high volumes of healthcare waste from incineration and transform it into a valuable, low carbon construction material – that replaces the use of a finite resource such as sand – is the future we see. “Healthcare waste incineration contributes to poor air quality, increasing the strain on NHS resources by impacting respiratory health – this is a cycle we want to break. The opportunity for healthcare to be at the forefront of a lower carbon future is vital to drive the global shift required for true connectivity, progress, and sustainability.” Use of healthcare waste is challenging from a regulatory perspective and tightly controlled by the Environment Agency. Construction materials are also highly regulated and rigorous testing and compliance for the floc will be required to meet British standards for commercial use. By the end of the project, NuGreen will have taken healthcare waste through a product development lifecycle, resulting in a commercially viable product to take to market as an aggregate substitute. The Leeds Beckett team will support NuGreen to develop and commercialise further products using other forms of healthcare waste, such as silicone, during and beyond the completion of the KTP. A skilled graduate will be recruited, as a full-time member of the NuGreen team and with the full support of the Leeds Beckett academic team, to manage the project as a KTP Associate. Dr Sepehr Ghaffari, Senior Lecturer in Engineering, and Killian Ngong, Senior Lecturer and Chartered Civil Engineer, will lead the asphalt concrete investigations. Dr Alfred Chinta – an expert in supply chain management with a focus on technology and sustainability – will lead on the strategic support, embedding the innovation and product development systems into the business. Professor Silke Machold, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Leeds Beckett University, said: “There is a very high level of innovation attached to this project that addresses the UK’s Net Zero ambitions. It offers the potential for an agile solution to the healthcare sector – particularly the NHS – to manage and reduce their carbon footprint. “At Leeds Beckett University, our School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing is an international leader in sustainability research. This includes research on retrofitting and net zero technologies in buildings conducted by our Leeds Sustainability Institute.”

It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.  It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years. Here we speak to Luke Gidney, Managing Director at estate agent HOP. The rentals market in Leeds has been very busy in the last 12 months and rents in many areas increased by between 10% and 12% in 2023. We now typically receive between 25 and 30 enquiries for every property we list and will pre-qualify around 10 people for a viewing. Of these we usually expect three to apply, so it’s a very competitive market for tenants. Generally, property stock levels do increase slightly in December and January as people usually try to avoid moving during the Christmas period. This is a trend that we are seeing this year as normal, so any tenants looking for a home might have a slightly better chance if they act now. Looking ahead to 2024, the shortage of available rental property looks set to be an ongoing theme. Substantial tax increases and higher interest rates combined with some laborious legislation mean many landlords continue to sell up. As a result, we expect rents to rise further, although possibly at a slightly slower pace than in 2023, but growth of between 8% and 10% would come as no surprise. However, the reality is that many tenants are already over-stretched financially, and lots are already facing a tough time due to sky high energy bills and food inflation. There has been an increase in the number of tenants falling into rental arrears in 2023 and this is likely to remain an issue in 2024. This is also driving the popularity of rent guarantee insurance, often known as tenant default insurance, amongst landlords, which typically costs around £250 a year and gives landlords peace of mind that they are protected from financial losses incurred by tenants failing to pay their rent. Ultimately, the market needs more rental property and although landlords are selling up in droves, there are others who are recognising the opportunities that the current market offers. This is particularly true for seasoned investors. Our specialist investment division agreed approximately £5million worth of off-market investment sales in 2023. How this pans out in 2024 will depend on what interest rates do. However, there’s no doubt Leeds is still very attractive to investors and especially because it offers an excellent average rental yield of 6.3%, which means you can get even higher yields in certain pockets of the city. In some areas of Leeds, you can find two-bedroom houses at £130,000 and three-bedroom homes around £180,000, so it still offers great value for money. These would rent for £850 and £975 respectively. Plus, there’s the potential for capital growth over the medium to long term. Leeds sits comfortably in the top 10 table for the best UK cities to invest in property, and there is an abundance of reasons why. The city brings together several compelling factors – a growing younger population, thriving economy, great value investment and high yields, making it a savvy choice for investors on the hunt for decent returns. Research by JLL shows that Leeds is consistently one of the top five cities in the UK for capital growth and our own five-year prediction suggests house price growth of 14% for Leeds between 2023 and 2027. With a skilled workforce of 1.4 million people, Leeds is fast becoming a leading business hub in the UK, hosting big companies including newcomers Channel 4, BT, Sky, First Direct and Asda. The city has also been named the “Digital Capital of the North” with one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the UK. With continued investment being pumped into the city with the likes of the exciting new South Bank region and TransPennine Routes upgrades being approved, Leeds isn’t putting the brakes on anytime soon.