< Previous30 Business Link www.blmforum.net MOVEMBER Davies Turner Celebrating 150 years of pioneering service YEARS Your worldwide freight and logistics partner T: 01709 529709 Rotherhamsales@daviesturner.co.uk www.daviesturner.com DIRECT GASKETS LIMITED Contact us today on 01482 219655 or visit our website www.direct‐gaskets.co.uk Since 1989 we have been market leaders in the manufacture of Gaskets. The UK’s leading underwater services with over 50 years experience 1963-2020 Fully certified to undertake operations to a depth of 50m Tel: +44 (0)1482 227276 (24-Hours) www.northerndivers.co.uk Chemex Lincoln & Boston are here to help! We have everything you need to safely reopen your business. Contact us today for no obligation help and advice Email: peter.cussans@chemexuk.com • Tel: 07941733201 PAUL SPARKES CAR SALES Located at Vision Garage Services Ltd Paul Sparkes Car Sales, Vision Garage Services Ltd, Louth Road, New Waltham, Grimsby, Lincolnshire DN36 4RT Tel: 01472 823040 • www.paulsparkescarsales.co.uk QUALITY USED CARS We are a well established vehicle sales, servicing and parts supply company situated on the outskirts of Grimsby Oil Fired Boiler Engineer OFTEC Registered Steve Russell Plumbing Oil Tank Replacement Service Installation, Commissioning, Repairs, 24 Hour Call Out, Servicing & General Plumbing Call Steve on 07840 531403 MIDDLETONS THE GLASS PEOPLE! • Bespoke glazing company • Double glazing replacement units • Window leading • Window filming • All types of safety glass (laminate, toughened, Wired) 52-60 WELLINGTON STREET, GRIMSBY Tel: 01472 352288 n Servicing n MOTs n Repairs n Brakes & Tyres n Engine diagnostics n Car Batteries n Exhausts n ECU Remapping n Air Conditioning Testing/repairs/Re Gas VW, AUDI, SEAT & SKODA SPECIALIST Tel: 01472 812130 www.lincsvwa.com Unit 3, Woodside Park Station Road, Tetney Grimsby. DN36 5HX KEVIN JOHNSON - AGRICULTURAL CONTRACTORS Lime spreading ( Lime stone and Lime x70) and can arrange soil testing with GPS. Also Fertilizer spread including variable rates. Drilling with 6 metre tine drill. Also 220 hp tractor and driver. 4 Church Road, Wittering, Peterborough Tel: 01780 782924 Mobile: 07860 608825 enquiries@kevinjohnsoncontracting.co.uk www.kevinjohnsoncontracting.co.uk “For those times when you need a helping hand on farm or on land” • Soft and hard landscaping • Turfing • Patios • Fencing • Designing boarders • Gravel drives • Tree work • Suppliers of logs & wood chip Garden Aid Caring for two communities Call Mark Howarth 07742 638 423 or email gardenaid2010@yahoo.co.uk We support a Ugandan charity called Age Care Development. GL GL GL Commercials Europa Way, Grimsby, N E Lincolnshire DN41 8DS Telephone: 01469 574239 Mobile: 07711 496138 Email: glcommercials@btinternet.com www.glcommercials.co.uk RELIABLE TRAILER HIRE • Flat Bed Trailers • Skeletal Trailers • Taut Liners TRAILER REPAIRS & SERVICING EXPERTS • 30+ Years of Experience • Trailer Servicing Bay • Breakdown Call-out Service • MOT Preparations GLC REPAIRS LTDGLC REPAIRS LTD GLC REPAIRS LTD Keeping business on the up… CHARTERED CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS To find out how to get your business on the up visit www.dextersharpe.co.uk We pride ourselves on providing a pro-active, friendly and accessible service. Experts in: Accounts and Tax Returns Tax Planning and Book-Keeping Audits and Business Advice T. 01482 379502 M: 07780704350 E: INFO@CHTRAININGLTD.COM W: WWW.CHRISHYAM.CO.UK TRAINING, DEVELOPING, E-LEARNING & CONSULTANCY SERVICES IN HULL, UK & INTERNATIONAL Training to Meet Your Companies Needs If you are getting married then this guide is your must have accessory. It’s full of advice, hints and tips from the county’s top wedding specialists and will provide you with inspiration for your big day. The essential b and G the B guide m ooG B d r t LINCOLNSHIRETODAY. WWW WEDDINGS/ NET.Y S Planning for your special day? Visit www.lincolnshiretoday.net/weddings where you can view the whole guide online 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:53 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 31 MOVEMBER to seek help. Prostate cancer is one of the most profound health threats facing men in the UK. According to Cancer Research UK, it is the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK. In 2014 alone, there were around 11,300 prostate cancer deaths, meaning it accounted for thirteen per cent of all cancer deaths in males for the same year. For British men, prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death. That other most pervasive cancer facing men is, of course, testicular. Though it doesn’t claim nearly as many lives, Cancer Research UK reports it still saw sixty deaths in 2014. Worryingly, half of these were aged forty- nine or under. Movember’s mission statement is “to stop men dying too young” and as well as raising critical funds for research and care, that also means raising awareness. But Movember is as much focussed on mental health and physical, with the charity looking at mental health through a male lens and focussing on prevention, early intervention and health promotion. Globally, on average one man dies by suicide every minute of every day and, around the world, six out of ten suicides are men. But by 2030, the charity says it will reduce the rate of male suicides by twenty-five per cent. To get there, Movember is uniting experts, funding bold new approaches and embracing fresh perspectives. Improving overall mental health and helping men establish better social connections can reduce the risk of suicide. But it’s up to all of us to try and make a difference. In the wake of COVID-19, support for prostate and testicular cancer is more important than ever. © Shutterstock /orientalprincess The Movember ‘super network’ Movember is launching the world’s largest network of prostate cancer patient registries which will have the power to transform treatment and care of the disease by harnessing the ‘real world’ experiences of over 130,000 men. The global ‘super network’ – believed to be the first of its kind – will contain detailed clinical information on the diagnosis, treatment and survivorship of prostate cancer patients from over 15 countries. The project will fast-track efforts to improve the treatment and care for men diagnosed and living with prostate cancer. Movember is aiming to grow the network to include data on 250,000 men within the next five years. The data will enable prostate clinicians throughout the world to measure and benchmark the health of their patients after treatment, providing them with vital information to improve the quality of prostate cancer treatment and care. © Shutterstock /Eugenio Marongiu 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:53 Page 432 Business Link www.blmforum.net EDUCATION AND TRAINING for tomorrow Training 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:55 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 33 EDUCATION AND TRAINING A shrinking talent pool, increased digitalisation, and economic influences are forcing the skills gap to widen, and it is affecting the nation’s productivity, which is now recognised as the lowest amongst the G7. Organisations in the UK are shelling out £4.4 billion a year as a result of the skills shortage, with well in excess of half of employers having struggled to find staff with the required skills in the past year. Increased recruitment costs, inflated salaries and the training required for those hired at a lower level than needed, as well as temporary staffing are all highlighted as causes for this expense. Our region is fortunate in being the host of world class training facilities, like the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre, specialist training providers, leading higher education institutions and up-skilling funding opportunities. Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are rife with opportunities for business and education institution collaborations in particular. For instance, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is offered by universities across the region. CPD refers to the learning activities employers and employees complete to grow, develop and enhance their skills to ensure their academic and practical qualifications do not become outdated, enabling continuous development of professional abilities and allowing employers and employees to stay at the forefront of their professions. While universities, with their specialist up to date knowledge, offer a range of readymade courses for individuals and organisations, from using people analytics in HR to courses in system safety engineering for those working in computer science, if there is a precise development path one needs employees to follow, bespoke education programmes can be designed in collaboration with many of the region’s universities. Custom programmes present a variety of flexible and effective education options that will inspire talent. Universities are prepared to work closely with business to understand them and the challenges they With a shrinking talent pool across almost all industries, training and education has never been more important for filling the skills shortage. But in the wake of the pandemic, the way training is undertaken has evolved. Business Link explores. 34 Á © Shutterstock /Kate Kultsevych 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:56 Page 234 Business Link www.blmforum.net EDUCATION AND TRAINING face, to meet learning needs as well as form courses that fit to a preferred time frame. With CPD talent can be retained, a team’s specialist skills developed and a business’s productivity enhanced. Courses on offer vary from short courses offering a combination of strategic, practical and core skills to re-enter the workplace with, to longer term leadership and management programmes for new, middle, and senior managers, business owners and entrepreneurs, to sector specific training courses designed for one’s industry, to online and distance learning so one can study flexibly from anywhere. These can be credit or non-credit earning. Building a culture that features growth and leaning opportunities is important for a plethora of reasons - not only is it good for businesses and has an impact on the bottom line, but up-skilling can impact employee satisfaction and retention. Twenty-one per cent of employees indicate the they are more likely to stay at a business that supports their development. Businesses can also collaborate with universities and other education institutions to gain access to high calibre students, for instance by developing a partnership to offer degree apprenticeships that allow students to gain work experience while getting the qualification of a degree and professional accreditation, but also opening up a talent pool with the skills needed by employers. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, online training has grown in popularity and prevalence. Although online training has existed in one form or another for decades with many people – from students right through to senior staff – taking advantage of it. Since lockdown, however, it has exploded in usage as apprentices look to maintain their learning, companies complete their employees’ training, and individuals that are now based from home, or have been made redundant in the wake of outbreak, to upskill. Outside of the pandemic, the appeal and popularity of online training lies in its flexibility. From a home office or smart device, it can be worked around any schedule, fitting in with other engagements and appointments. It can also even be undertaken on-the-go, turning that daily train or bus commute into a learning opportunity. That same flexibility is what gives online training an edge, allowing an uninterrupted learning stream for all manner of individuals while they observe social distancing regulations. Small surprise that many traditional training providers have made the transition to online learning, in part or in full. No doubt misconceptions existed around online training before the pandemic with some employers perhaps reluctant to use them over the misguided 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:56 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 35 EDUCATION AND TRAINING © Shutterstock /muk woothimanop perception that they aren’t the equal of in-person training or lack the range of subjects. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Online courses cover a diversity of subjects from health & safety, administration and quality assurance right through to management and everything in between. Because of the nature of e-learning and the flexibility we’ve already touched on, it means training providers are uniquely positioned to get creative with their content and how it’s delivered. This ‘out of the box’ thinking offers a great opportunity to make courses and learning content more engaging, memorable and, thusly, more effective. It also means that content can be continually refreshed and updated with the latest research and findings in a way that traditional location-based courses simply can’t compete with. Providers also have access to analytic data from which they can see what does and doesn’t work about the courses they provide and, crucially, the way in which they’re delivered. As we look towards future, training of every kind will prove crucial to ensuring there’s a talent pipeline in place for all sectors to draw from and that the skills shortage diminishes rather than continues to widen. 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:56 Page 436 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS SERVICES A businesses’ sword and shield Businesses rely on a dedicated army of suppliers and service providers to continue trading and put growth plans into action. One of the most important business services is employment law. This umbrella term covers a variety of different branches of law, including intellectual property (IP). Solicitors specialising in IP can offer a range of services, whether that’s IP disputes or strategy, or management and protection for patents, trademarks, domain names and designs etc. There are three steps recommended by government in the event a company needs to defend its IP and take action if it’s being infringed. Firstly, a company is advised to get the other party to stop using their IP or come to an agreement, such as a license. Secondly, a company can use mediation or another type of dispute resolution, or, lastly, take legal action should these preceding steps fail. Advice can be sought from solicitors at any stage, though they are only legally required for the third. As IP disputes fall under injunction-based law, they must be handled by a specialist IP dispute lawyer supported by commercial litigation colleagues. Disputes are handled in separate courts whose rules and expectations have little in common with those of other courts, and IP disputes often involve associated contractual disputes and specialist applications requiring the input of commercial litigation colleagues into the team. Where IP law refers to a company’s branding and products, data protection and privacy law issues have an impact on most HR activities from recruitment and employee record keeping, to performance monitoring and references. But it’s also becoming an increasingly hot topic in business with the rapid evolution of digital technology. Consequently, changes in legislation have occurred in order to keep up. In May 2018, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force and replaced the previous Data Protection Act 1998. GDPR affects how organisations gather, store and use data and individual rights over access to information. Augmenting this legislation is the forthcoming ePrivacy Regulation which will provide greater regulation of electronic 38 Á 36-39.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:58 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 37 BUSINESS SERVICES © Shutterstock /ITTIGallery 36-39.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:58 Page 238 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS SERVICES communications within the European Union. Once it comes into law, it will replace the EU’s existing ePrivacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002 which was implemented in the UK back in 2003. Despite the European focus of the legislation, Brexit is unlikely to have much of an affect. Experts say this is because UK companies will likely want to continue to do business in EU countries and will therefore adopt these regulations either fully or in part. For now, all adopted EU regulations continue to apply in the UK until the end of the Brexit transition period on Thursday December 31 2020. Since lockdown, many businesses have been more cautious and have made cost- saving measures – such as searching for cheaper suppliers or letting go of some suppliers altogether. Elsewhere, companies have lost contracts and longstanding clients as other companies seek to reduce overheads or have been forced to shutter their operations in the wake of the outbreak. On its own, this weaker cashflow would be a major hindrance, but it comes amidst an already established culture of late payments that has pervaded the corporate world for years. However, there are ways in which a company can secure funding to cover the gap in cashflow posed by late invoices. Chief among these is invoice finance. This is the simplest means of releasing cash tied up in a businesses’ outstanding invoice. It sees a business sell its invoices to a third party who will advance some of the funds it is worth up front for a cut. Thousands of businesses already rely on this kind of financing to maintain a healthy cash position, whilst others use it to take back control of cashflow issues that arise from late and unpaid invoices. Perhaps the biggest draw is that businesses can be paid most of an invoice within forty-eight hours instead of the typical thirty-day period specified on most invoices. Of course, this is far from the only finance solution businesses can draw from. Asset-based finance is a specialised method of providing companies with working capital and term loans that use accounts receivable, inventory, machinery, equipment and real estate as capital – essentially, any loan to a company is secured by one of that company’s assets. This option is commonly used to pay for expenses when there are gaps in a company’s cashflow, but it is also frequently used for start-up financing as well as refinancing existing loans, financing growth, mergers and acquisitions, as well as management buy- outs and management but-ins. Although it’s not suited to meet every business requirement, it can prove useful for those that have stretched their credit limits with vendors and reached lending capacity at the bank. Companies can also take out loans to fill the gap and bolster cashflow, though some companies may already be at their limit with their banks or otherwise don’t meet the requirements for securing loans with traditional lenders. In these situations, companies can turn towards alternative lenders and finance providers. Private equity, for example, is where investors provide long-term equity capital investment in a company in return for either shares, a percentage stake in the business and/or, sometimes, a seat on the board. Although many businesses might be loath to dilute their ownership, private equity does offer a good option of raising capital for businesses that aren’t ready to list on the stock exchange. Another form of private finance is an angel investor – a high net worth individual who makes use of their own personal disposable finance and makes their own decision about making an investment. Angels would normally take an equity stake in a business in return for providing equity funds. As well as capital, angels can also provide their experience, knowledge and contracts, making them especially attractive to early stage businesses. Every investor is different and will therefore provide differing amounts, but typical investments range from between £10,000 and £500,000, though deals of up to £2 million are becoming more commonplace as angels group together in syndicates. Although angels are one of the most significant investors in start-ups, that shouldn’t deter more established firms from making enquiries. It’s important to keep in mind that securing an angel can be a difficult and protracted process, as well as being harder to research and contact compared with a private equity firm. But raising capital is a hard task without the advice and guidance of an accountant – an indispensable asset to businesses. Moving with the times has been a mantra for the accountancy sector these last few years as a number of shakeups have been introduced to streamline and simplify matters and bring the sector and its clients into the digitally-focussed modern world including the 36-39.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:58 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 39 BUSINESS SERVICES aforementioned GDPR. There was also Making Tax Digital (MTD), the government’s initiative to streamline the tax return process for businesses that came into effect this year. More recently, one of the biggest accountancy challenges to overcome has been related to coronavirus. Any business owner will already be aware of the necessity and importance of financial statements. These financial statements are used by banks and financial lenders, regulators, investors and credit bureaus and ratings agencies, and these statements inform the financing decisions that can literally make or break a company. However, with the pandemic having seriously impacted many companies’ revenues, assets, expenses and contracts in one-way shape or form, businesses have bene left in a precious position where financial statements are concerned. The issue is that, given a global pandemic took the global economy by surprise, there is a dearth of official advice and guidance regarding the financial reporting of the pandemic’s impact on a company. The issue is in how companies can report their financial statements to correctly and clearly convey the impact of coronavirus on their business. That’s a concern for the present but future statements will need to show true growth in revenue and profitability rather than just a recovery from a year in which the pandemic struck. These are major obstacles that businesses have been forced to contend with. Unfortunately, there’s no one source a company can turn to that has all the answers. The good news, however, is that businesses can find support, guidance and advice from the service providers they depend on in the present and moving forward. © Shutterstock /namtipStudio 36-39.qxp_Layout 1 05/11/2020 11:58 Page 4Next >