Content

Peter Lawrence from Human Capital Department shared his views on the impact of low oil price on HR strategies with a panel of experts.

The Chancellor’s Spending Review has delivered a huge boost for business as Norwich Research Park is named as an Enterprise Zone site.

Currently home to over 12,000 people and more than 40 businesses, the development will allow the thriving science and technology Park to further develop by enabling businesses to tap into a wide range of benefits, including business rate discounts and simplified planning processes.

Focusing on supporting more spin out businesses in the food, health, IT and plant science sectors, Norwich Research Park is one of ten innovative locations named in the Autumn Statement this week which will make up the new Norfolk and Suffolk Enterprise Zone.

Dr Sally Ann Forsyth, chief executive officer, Norwich Research Park said: “This is tremendous news for the region. Enterprise Zones are internationally recognised as areas which support businesses by offering tangible assistance such improved access to superfast broadband and reduced business rates.

“Enterprise Zone status will enable us to build upon our existing foundations and further strengthen our position as a leading destination for innovative businesses.”

John Fuller, Leader of South Norfolk Council, the district authority in which the 25-hectare Enterprise Zone site is located.

“The work done at Norwich Research Park leads the world in addressing the challenges facing humanity in food, health, energy, the environment and genetics.The Enterprise Zone status will help turn this basic research into products that people at home and abroad want to buy to generate jobs and wealth for Norwich & Norfolk,” he said.

The combined bid for one of the Government’s prestigious new Enterprise Zone sites for Norfolk and Suffolk was co-ordinated by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and local authority partners.

Its chairman, Mark Pendlington, said: “This is fantastic news for companies locally, nationally and internationally looking to capitalise on the expertise of the East – from world-class food and health research, our thriving all-energy sector and innovation in ICT and digital – this zone will be a magnet for inward investment, help create thousands of jobs and drive our productivity.”

Norwich Research Partners LLP was formed in 2012 and has outline planning permission for over 160,000 sq m of research, health and ancillary buildings. A partnership between theUniversity of East Anglia, theNorfolk and Norwich University Hospital and four independent world-renowned research institutes – the John Innes Centre,Institute of Food Research,The Genome Analysis Centre andThe Sainsbury Laboratorylinked to theGatsby Charitable Foundation. The John Innes Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council are also partners.

Wingfield Consultants have been shortlisted in the
Business Consultancy category at the Business Awards UK 2026.

The Business Awards UK Team:

‘We take great care to ensure all entries
are legitimate. Being shortlisted means we have vetted your entries to ensure
quality and integrity, and our judges will now consider your company as a
potential Finalist or Winner in the categories you have entered.
Congratulations.’

Simon, Founder of Wingfield
Consultants, commented:

‘We are delighted to be shortlisted for an award in
the business consultancy category at the Business Awards UK 2026. To be considered nationally, in
our own sector, is very special.’

On Wednesday 15th October, Susie and Emma attended the Best Employers Eastern Region Awards Conference 2025 at Newmarket Racecourse. Created in 2012 by Pure in partnership with eras, and sponsored by Birketts LLP and Mobas, Best Employers is a flagship initiative that celebrates organisations redefining what it means to be a great employer. Through this programme, Pure champions workplace engagement, culture and leadership across the region.

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Jarrold Training has been named Best Small Company at the 2025 Best Employers Eastern Region awards. We were also awarded Gold accreditation.

Over a decade after its inception, Best Employers has helped 560 organisations start their journeys towards more engaged, productive and successful workforces. Over 45,000 individual employees have had their say in the survey, and they’ve raised more than £56,000 for local charities. This year, around 260 companies throughout the Eastern Region that participated in the programme.

These prestigious awards highlight our ongoing commitment to creating an exceptional workplace culture where our team feels valued, supported and inspired to reach their full potential. At Jarrold Training, we believe that a thriving workplace is the foundation for innovation, collaboration and outstanding results, both for our people and our clients.

We’d like to extend our congratulations to all the other winners and accredited organisations recognised at this year’s awards for their dedication to creating positive and engaging workplaces:

• Best Small Company – Jarrold Training Ltd
• Best Medium Company – PolicyBee Limited
• Best Large Company – Arthur Rank Hospice Charity
• Most Improved – Virgin Wines Ltd
• Best Not-for-Profit – The Thalidomide Trust
• Best Manufacturing & Engineering – Amarinth Limited
• Best Professional Services – Stratagem IPM Limited
• Best Hospitality & Retail – Paddy & Scott’s

We’re incredibly proud to be recognised among such outstanding employers in the Eastern Region. These achievements not only celebrate our people and culture but also reaffirm Jarrold Training’s position as an award-winning workplace committed to excellence, learning and growth.

Norwich Castle Museum  for the Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards – OOOE Sponsor of best B & B and Guest House – 

B&B and Guest House of the Year Winner: Belle Vue Guest House & Cottage

Sponsor: Out of Office Events

JUDGES SAID: The care and attention to detail throughout the property are evident in every corner, making it impossible to find anything to criticise.

Hosted by Visit East of England . Amazing insparational people at this event that work in the hardest industry in both counties. Hospitality. Id like to thank them all.
Out of Office Events – Event Management & Live Entertainment Provider – we were thrilled to partner with the castle and visit east of england in creating the lighting , sound and stage that transformed the rotunda into a fantastic award space.

A Norfolk PR, marketing and design agency is celebrating two clients winning Business of the Year awards on the same night in two counties.

EPIC International and Ivy House Country Hotel, both clients of Great Yarmouth-based TMS Media, each won the overall trophy at their respective award ceremonies in Norfolk and Suffolk.

EPIC International, an offshore engineering company that employs up to 100 people from its Great Yarmouth base, was named Business of the Year in the EnterpriseGY Spirit of Enterprise Awards at Great Yarmouth Town Hall last Friday.

Across the border in Suffolk at the same time, Ivy House Country Hotel was named Business of the Year in the Lowestoft and Waveney Chamber of Commerce Awards, at the gala event hosted by the Oulton Broad hotel in its new Ivy Hall function room.

Earlier in the evening, EPIC International, set up 15 years ago by managing director Dave Rowan, had also scooped the Spirit of Enterprise Great Engineering/Manufacturing Business and Great New Business Idea awards.

Meanwhile, Ivy House Country Hotel was presented with the chamber’s Business Investment Award for the £1.6m injected into refurbishing the 20-bedroom hotel, building Ivy Hall and Eve’s Bar by owner biochemist and entrepreneur Dr Adrian Parton MBE.

Ivy House was also among the three finalists in the EDP Visit Norfoolk Tourism Awards on November 26, awarded highly-commended.

TMS Media managing director Steve Scott said targeted award entries was an important element of the companies’ PR strategies to shape and raise profiles of both businesses in their communities and respective industries.

“EPIC and Ivy House are two very different businesses operating in very separate arenas, both with impressive achievements, which we believed the community and their industries should know about.

“We have been working closely with them to shape media coverage for their projects, business values and ambitions as well as seeking out other PR opportunities. Community and industry awards are an increasingly important part of the PR mix.”

“We are delighted that their efforts were recognised concurrently on the same night, even though it presented some logistical difficulties!”

TMS Media has worked with regional, national and international businesses for 26 years, offering PR, design, website development and exhibitions and event design and construction.

Ivy House Country Hotel is also a one of three finalists in the Best Independent Hotel category of the EDP Tourism awards.

Another TMS client, Britannia Fire, the UK’s last remaining fire extinguisher manufacturer, was among the three finalists in the EDP Business Awards Business Development category.

“Award entry writing is a new work steam for us. That independent judges spotted the excellence in our clients gives us great satisfaction.”

TMS Media clients include the East of England Energy Group, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, the East of England Energy Zone, the Pier Hotel, Gorleston; OrbisEnergy and Great Yarmouth Tourism.

Norfolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner is calling on the business community to play their part in keeping the county safe by breaking down barriers to employment for ex-offenders.

PCC Stephen Bett is asking 100 organisations to pledge to offer a new opportunity to someone with a criminal conviction, with the aim of getting those individuals into long-term employment.

“Repeat offenders are responsible for a significant amount of the crime we have in Norfolk,” Stephen said. “We know that having a job can reduce the likelihood someone will go on to reoffend. But for many, the difficulty they face in finding employment can be a huge barrier to leaving their offending past behind them.”

The PCC brought 50 business representatives from all over Norfolk together at The Great Hospital to enlist their support for the Gateway to Employment campaign, launched in partnership with the Department of Work and Pensions.

Launching the campaign, Stephen said: “75% of employers will use the declaration of a criminal record to discriminate against a job applicant. Yet many of them have a skills shortage and would benefit from an increased pool of suitable candidates from which to recruit.

“There are 10 million people in the UK with a criminal record. Many of these people could be dedicated, trained and reliable workers. They just need to be given the opportunity to prove themselves.

“We are asking our business community to show their support for Gateway to Employment by pledging to offer a new opportunity to someone with a criminal conviction. That could be an apprenticeship or work experience, or a training, mentoring or job opportunity.”

Among those already supporting the campaign are Chloe Smith MP, Clive Lewis MP, Richard Bacon MP and Will Styles and Steve Rodford, governors of Norwich and Wayland Prisons respectively. Gateway to Employment is also being backed by Sam Delcoure from Norse and Davina Tanner who set up Norwich’s Britannia Café – providing work experience and skills training for serving prisoners.

“There is a compelling business case in helping ex-offenders to turn their lives around by finding employment”, Stephen added. “The opportunities, skills and hope our businesses provide for people with convictions can help break the cycle of offending, which means fewer victims and less cost to public purse of the revolving prison door.

“If businesses support this campaign and offer the tools needed to secure a job for the future, in return, they’ll get a wealth of ability, loyalty and hard work.”

More information on Gateway to Employment can be found at www.gtoe.co.uk

A BIG welcome toWinsor Bishopthe latest Norfolk based business to jump on board our digital signage networks across Norfolk.Winsor Bishop are using our screens to maximise business during the busy festive period. The advertisement can be seen on our ‘Domination Circuit’ – comprising of both the gym screens and the new screen viewable to the public, located at Riverside. Switched on 24/7 the domination screen increases the audience we reach in excess of 350,000+ additional consumers a week.

Working alongsideBlanc Creativewe went with some Christmas cheer, creating a fun and festive advertisement. The video footage starts with the opening of the shop door, beginning the wonderful shopping experience. As the frames continue throughout the advertisement, the footage reveals the treasures that can be found inside to give viewers an interactive advertising experience. The companies branding remains static throughout, including contact details and the website address. The ad finishes off with the warming message: “…where Christmas Fairytales Begin”.

Winsor Bishop was first established in 1834 and has been situated at its present site for 180 years. Renowned for the finest watch portfolio in East Anglia, Winsor Bishop continually strives to bring the very best brands and some of the most exclusive timepieces to Norfolk, includingROLEX,Patek Philippe & Co.,Breitling,Officine Panerai,TAG Heuer,OMEGA Watches,Bremont WatchesandLONGINES. Based in Norwich, their jewellery offering is one of the most complete in the region providing engagement rings, eternity rings, pearls, precious stones, costume jewellery, vintage jewellery, diamond stud earrings, diamond pendants and diamond necklaces. Winsor Bishop also house popular brands such asMIKIMOTO,Georg Jensenand Schoeffel.

 represents teacher who secures a damages award in excess of £3/4m.

The Claimant, at the time of the accident, a 37 year old teacher sustained a concussive head injury from a falling object at work.

As a consequence she developed vestibular symptoms which included vertigo, occipital headache, photophobia, phonophobia, osmophobia, which satisfied the criteria for Migraine Variant Balance Disorder, Post Traumatic Migraine with vestibular symptoms and Benign Paraxysmal Positional Vertigo. The neuropsychologists in the case agreed that the Claimant’s symptoms would meet the criteria of Functional Neurological Disorder with anxiety and depression.

It was the Claimant’s case that she suffered a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in a medically complex case involving experts in neurology, neuropsychiatry, neuropsychology and audio vestibular medicine.  The injury sustained prevented her return to work at the time of settlement, although there was some scope for further improvement. Whilst she had not returned to work at the point of settlement, employment experts (less regularly instructed these days) agreed that, after some further treatment, she had some residual earning capacity which the Claimant conceded at £16k pa.

The Defendant local authority funded rehabilitation through regular interim payments, although at the same time instructed surveillance operatives to film the Claimant over the course of the case. Whilst that evidence was underwhelming and in many ways favoured the Claimant’s case, once deployed it had a negative impact upon the Claimant’s mental health and response to rehabilitation efforts due to the perceived intrusion in her private life subsequent fear of being followed.

The Claimant underwent rigorous scrutiny from medical experts on both sides. The Defendant sought to undermine the Claimant’s credibility and their instructed neuropsychologist considered that the claimant met the criteria for a Probable Malingering Neurocognitive disorder, having exaggerated her symptoms and fabricated psychological dysfunction, notwithstanding the fact that that the Defendant’s own instructed Audio-Vestibular expert finding that there was an organic explanation for her symptoms. It is worth noting that the neuropsychologist was alone in his conclusions and whilst alluding dishonesty though disclosure of the reports and surveillance evidence were not so bold as to put forward a positive case that the Claimant was malingering.

The case concluded approximately 6 weeks before trial for a sum exceeding £ ¾ M including claims for future income based upon Ogden 8 principles and involving lost career progression as analysed by the employment experts.

The HSE recommends that workplace first aiders should
complete Annual Refresher every year. 

I’m proud to announce that
all workplace first aid qualifications awarded by First Class First Aid Ltd now
include online Annual Refresher training for the duration of the
qualification. 

The refresher training is free of charge, and on completion the learner will
receive a certificate. The online training takes around two hours in total
and can be completed at the learner’s own pace, logging in and out as
needed. 

If you have any questions on your workplace first aid cover, I’d love to help!

Great Yarmouth College students benefit from Christmas gift from Lintott Jamie Thums from Lintott and Michael Stow from Siemens attended GYC recently to present them with a Programmable Logic Controller. Siemens have kindly donated the equipment and Lintott will be donating training as the college would like to provide staff and students the opportunity to work with latest technology. At this stage the college has received a starter kit. Jamie explained that it is the latest industrial control and being of modular design can simply be expanded to suit its application. Staff have been left with the task of devising some projects that will include use of the kit. Jamie is thrilled to be supporting the college, he explained “It’s our way of providing students with real life experience, exposure to the real-life application and training from engineers that use top rated kit day in and day out. What’s more the scalable kit means that students can learn small scale on a starter module and build up – just as we do in industry” Jamie was keen to stress how he hopes this is just the beginning of a long term relationship with GYC – starting with hardware and training. Lintott are offering the college as much training as they need as well as supporting design software! Jamie explained what is driving this initiative is the need for the industry to help address its skills gaps and provide students with the most relevant experience. “I would certainly be inclined to take on a college leaver with experience of this kit – it would give them the edge” he said. He also acknowledged the need for more leaders in his sector. “Leadership, supervisory and management training is in short supply we are hoping to work with GYC on this in the future”. Gary Jefferson, Assistant Principal is delighted with the new partnership – “we pride ourselves on building strong relationships with employers, precisely so our students get the best start in their careers. And as an engineer myself I am thrilled to add the latest technology to our already pretty comprehensive learning facilities.

Last month Fiona and Lesleybraved the cold to raise money for the Benjamin Foundation in a Charity Sleep Out.

Fiona had a horrible cold but that didn’t stop her taking part.

The Sleep Out took place outside the offices of Clapham & Collinge on a rainy night but the atmosphere helped buoy everyone up.

Fiona and Lesley raised £500 from the event and today proudly handed the cheque to Chris Elliott from the Benjamin Foundation.