Member News

The UK’s largest network of small business accountants has relaunched its successful and innovative advertising campaign across a number of terrestrial and digital TV channels leading up to and during the height of the tax return season.

TaxAssist Accountants has heavily invested in a timely TV advertising campaign to raise brand awareness and drive new business as part of the national marketing package offered to its 200-stong franchise network.

James Mattam, Group Business Development Director, said: “Our ‘Get All Relaxed About Tax’ campaign was launched last year, resulting in a good uplift in enquiries and helping to push the TaxAssist brand on a local and national level. 

“With more than 328 visible and accessible TaxAssist Accountants shops and offices across the UK, our accountancy network is ideally placed to service the increased demand from small businesses during the tax season and beyond, particularly as we head towards Making Tax Digital for VAT which comes into force in March.”

The TaxAssist Accountants franchise has been operating successfully for more than 24 years and has been a game changer for both the accounting industry and for small businesses in the way it ‘retails’ tax and advisory services through open and welcoming shops.

If you are interested in find out more about operating a practice under the TaxAssist Accountants brand name, please call 0800 0188297 or visit www.taxassistfranchise.co.uk We look forward to hearing from you.

Branded and centrally supported Tax and Payroll insourced services are now on offer to franchisees providing an enhanced service, benefiting both franchisees and their clients.  

Since joining the TaxAssist Accountants Board last year as Group Commercial Director, Daren Moore FCCA has been keen to develop centralised services to help support franchisees, offering huge benefits in terms of pricing as well as time efficiencies and marketability for franchisees.

“We already have a number of external partners providing payroll and tax consultancy services, but while our external partners provide a great quality service, they are generally aimed at larger clients and more complex situations,” explained Daren. “By using our collective experience in the small business market, we are able to tailor services to our typical clients.”

TaxAssist has built an in-house team of experts to deliver the TaxAssist branded services, generating economies of scale, which will be reflected in the pricing for these services helping franchisees increase their profitability.

And with payroll services being run through a leading cloud-based portal, insourced services can provide enhanced functionality for the franchisee, the client and their employee.

“We want to create as much flexibility as possible for the network and we hope that by introducing insourced services, we will help franchisees generate additional fees and free up valuable staff time that may be better used elsewhere,” added Daren.  

These services don’t just benefit existing clients, tax and payroll services are also highly marketable services for franchisees.

“Our marketing plans will reflect the launch of our new insourced services, allowing us to target different types of clients and increase the number of existing businesses we can provide leads into for the network.

Looking ahead, TaxAssist will continue to develop insourcing plans and will look at other complimentary services that can be brought in house as we see huge benefits in these services and opportunity for all.”

If you would like to find out more about joining the TaxAssist Accountants network, please call 0800 018829 or visit www.taxassistfranchise.co.uk

There has been recent media coverage in relation to the use of faux furs and instances where it has been revealed that real fur is present. The Advertising Standards Authority have created some guidance for businesses where this may be an issue.

See attached.

Norwich Business School at UEA has launched this year’s graduate recruitment programme. This is a great way to target 2019’s business graduates who are looking to work in the East Anglia region.

We’re inviting employers to sign up to this year’s GTMS – with no fees or obligations to recruit – by mid-February.

The programme is designed to help your organisation find talented graduates while saving time and recruitment costs. 

What is the graduate recruitment scheme?

• An innovative recruitment Service offered by UEA’s Norwich Business School.
• Matching talented and enthusiastic graduates to your business needs.
• Minimum nine-month contract, with a salary of £20,000 or above.
• The flexibility to retain the graduate as a permanent member of the team.

Why should our organisation get involved?

• Save money on recruitment and advertising costs.
• Full assessment centre process, delivered free of charge.
• As a leading UK business school, you can select students from accounting, finance, marketing, or general business management degrees.
• We can support you every step of the way, from drafting the job description to on-site support visits after appointment.
• Flexibility – you decide the role and contract length. There is no obligation to appoint. 

What skills do our graduates offer employers? Our undergraduate degrees equip graduates with knowledge across a range of business subjects:

• BSc Accounting and Finance
• BSc Accounting and Management
• BSc Business Finance and Management
• BSc Business Management
• BSc Marketing and Management

How does the scheme work?  The first stage is to identify the role you’d like to recruit to and the kind of person you are looking for – we are happy to discuss your requirements to ensure you recruit the right candidate to the post. We will then advertise the role to all our final year undergraduate business students. They will apply for the scheme and express their preferences for the roles on offer.  Successful applicants will be put forward for a comprehensive assessment centre – including psychometric tests, interviews and group exercises – held at the business school but facilitated by external business experts. Taking into account the applicant’s CV, assessment centre scores and preferences, we will provide you with a shortlist of students. You can select the candidates you’re interested in and interview them according to your organisation’s preferences (N.B. we can provide interview rooms on campus, if preferred). Timings January: Employer identifies suitable role(s) and submits job description February: Programme is launched to students; posts advertised and applications open March: Applications close and NBS assessment centre held April: Shortlisted CVs sent to employer May: Employer interviews July onwards: Employment commences (start date to be agreed between employee and graduate)          How much does it cost? There is no additional charge for the scheme – we run the programme solely to help match organisations’ requirements with our pool of graduate talent. What’s the first step? Contact us to discuss your needs on (01603) 591002 or email us at GTMS@uea.ac.uk.

As so many cases of graffiti go unrecorded, it is not possible to confirm the number of incidents in the past year, but the crime does seem to be on the increase. The question of whether or not it is art or just a case of criminal damage becomes somewhat irrelevant when it is plastered all over your business premises. Graffiti doesn’t just give a poor first impression to potential customers; it has the potential to damage your brand (particularly if it is explicit) and reduce the value of your property. Left for any length of time it is likely to attract further acts of vandalism which could prove to be very costly.

So, if it’s not an original Banksy, or of a similar ilk, chances are you will consider it to be an eyesore and want it removed quickly and effectively. To ensure compliance with health and safety requirements and to prevent further damage to the graffitied surface we recommend using the services of a professional cleaning company that specialises in the removal of graffiti.

At Monthind, we are specialists in the safe and efficient removal of graffiti from all types of surfaces and are able to provide anti-graffiti coatings to protect areas liable to suffer from this form of vandalism. Both permanent and sacrificial coatings can be applied. Call us on 01206 215300 to find out more.

According to an academic study carried out by Dr Lisa Ackerley, the Hygiene Doctor, the main cause of germs at the desk and keyboard is poor personal hygiene, with nearly 50 per cent of office workers responding to her survey admitting they do not wash their hands after going to the toilet. Bacteria and viruses that people bring back from the washroom multiply on the hard work surfaces of the desk and chair and remain infectious for 24 hours. There are a staggering 21,000 germs per square inch on chairs, desks and keyboards. In fact, the average office desk harbours 10 million bacteria. That’s 100 times more germs than a kitchen table and 400 times more than the average toilet seat. Stats that are scary enough in themselves, but when you add the current ‘hot-desking’ culture to the mix, it becomes even more alarming.

Not washing their hands after going to the loo isn’t the only disgusting habits our colleagues have; a recent survey conducted by a global hygiene company, SCA, examined 1000 UK workers and their attitudes towards hygiene in the workplace. The results revealed that almost two-thirds of Brits wished their place of work was cleaner and more hygienic, with only one-quarter of workers rating it as very hygienic. The worst habits included:

• Sneezing without using a tissue – 42%
• Leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen or sink – 36%
• Not washing hands after using the bathroom – 36%
• People not flushing the loo – 33%
• Messy desks covered in rubbish – 23%
• Not emptying full bins – 18%
• Eating at a desk – 14%
• Leaving empty toilet tissue rolls in the washroom – 14%
• People not disposing of sanitary protection products properly – 13%
• Biting nails – 12%

Whilst education on hygiene could help to combat some of the problems, employing the services of a contract cleaning company is paramount to maintaining a healthy working environment. When you consider the loss of revenue a bout of norovirus could cause, the excellent ROI of handing over the responsibility of keeping your premises clean and germ-free becomes much clearer.

Reminding staff to flush the toilet and wash their hands with strategically placed signage, having a clear desk policy and providing employees with breakout areas to eat their snacks and lunch are all simple, yet proactive ways to tackle poor hygiene. Perhaps even a ‘tidiest team’ competition with a prize awarded monthly. Some habits are difficult to challenge, such as nail-biting and sneezing without a tissue, but could be mentioned in hygiene training sessions and damage limitation increased through a good cleaning regime.

Leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen or sink is often resolved through a washing-up rota, with a dash of peer pressure to ensure everyone takes their turn.

If you are looking to reduce hygiene related staff sickness absences and improve the cleanliness of your business premises, contact us for more details of our contract cleaning services and one-off deep cleans.

Funding is available to support UK video games development, aimed at helping smaller companies get concepts off the drawing board and into production.

The UK Games Fund is intended to support UK video games development. Aimed at helping smaller companies get concepts into production, the Fund provides additional support to the video games sector, helping to maximise the contribution to economic growth this sector is already delivering.

The Fund offers grants to support video games projects, as well as creating jobs, nurturing talent and furthering the growth of games clusters all around the UK.

Round 5 differs from previous rounds as it is targeted at applicants with early-stage projects, with funding provided to refine and improve pitching skills, whilst also developing a playable demo for showcasing at a consumer games show.

An initial support package will be provided to the value of £10,000, comprising:

• an award of £5,000 paid in two £2,500 instalments (the first in July, the second in September);
• involvement in a community of funded companies, along with pitch guidance and informative web-cast sessions;
• invitation to a Pitch Preparation Event in September to test and improve pitches in front of the UK Games Fund team (plus invited publishers, platform holders, and investors); and
• an opportunity to showcase projects at a large-scale consumer games show in the autumn.

Applicants selected to participate in the compulsory showcasing at the consumer games show will also be required to pitch for further funding from the UK Games Fund, where grants of up to £20,000 will be available. The money can be used to help create working prototype games and raise the private investment necessary to see a concept turned into a finished product.

The provider will normally accept applications from UK registered, early-stage games development companies employing fewer than 50 people.

The deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest is midday on Monday 28 January 2019.

For more information please click here

Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich & Central Norfolk Mind and Mid & North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50

Money raised through ticket sales to the Best Employers Eastern Region 2018 events has resulted in a donation of £5,250 to Mind, split equally between four regional offices of the mental health charity.

141 organisations and 15,000 people across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk took park in Best Employers Eastern Region 2018, co-founded by Pure and eras ltd and sponsored by Birketts and Archant. The charity donation was raised from 50% of the ticket sales for the employee engagement initiative’s launch event in January and awards event in October, attended by 298 local employers and HR professionals in total. The money will be split equally between four regional offices of Mind. Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich and Central Norfolk Mind and Mid and North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50.  

Lynn Walters, Executive Director at Pure and founder of Best Employers Eastern Region, said: “Best Employers Eastern Region supports and celebrates the organisations which are committed to creating workplaces which bring out the best in their people to achieve business success. We chose Mind as the charity to benefit from the 2018 events because supporting employees’ mental wellbeing is a key element of maintaining employee engagement, creating an inclusive workplace culture and being recognised as a best employer. Mind’s own research shows that work is the biggest cause of stress in people’s lives and that at least one in six workers experience common mental health problems, including anxiety and depression. Not only have we been able to come together to celebrate our region’s most inspiring employers and to discuss creative ways of increasing engagement,  we have also been able to raise a fantastic amount for a charity which has offices across our region providing dedicated support to people within our local communities.”

Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem as well as campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and to promote understanding; including through its Mental Health at Work initiative. The local Mind offices support people in the community with services including supported housing, crisis helplines, drop-in centres, employment and training schemes, counselling and befriending.

Since it was first founded by professional recruitment specialists Pure and psychometrics experts eras ltd in 2012, the biennial Best Employers Eastern Region initiative has given organisations the opportunity to actively evolve workplace culture as well as the chance to be crowned one of the region’s best employers.

For more information about Best Employers Eastern Region visit www.best-employers.co.uk or for more information on Mind’s Mental Health in the Workplace gateway visit www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk

MARKETING & ADMIN ASSISTANT

(Closing Date 4th Feb 2019)

JOB TYPE:

Permanent Full-time / Part-time

SALARY:

Dependent on experience and hours

THE ROLE:

You will assist our MD and external consultants in driving-forward the next-generation marketing strategy of this respected, national TV Commercials Production Company, and work alongside our Production Manager in the daily operations of the Production Department. Our marketing effectiveness depends on you acquiring a full and detailed understanding of the TV production process, so you will become an integral part of our creative team, and your activities will go well beyond telesales or database management.

Primarily office-based at the JMS group in Hethersett just outside Norwich. Hours Monday to Friday 09.00 – 17.30 but part-time will be considered.

MARKETING:

• Carry out market research, monitor marketing performance, maintain CRM database and report progress.
• Maintain the MD’s marketing diary, contacts list, and organise calls, pitches, and events.
• Manage news stories, blogs and PR releases.
• Collaborate in creating innovative high quality business proposals.
• Make direct contact with existing and prospective clients.

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT:

• Assist Production Manager in scheduling, casting, crewing or budgeting productions.
• Schedule projects into the video edit or sound suites.
• Provide progress reports to clients, freelancers or suppliers
• Upload or traffic completed projects to broadcasters.

KEY SKILLS:

• Organisation, forward planning, calmness under pressure, clear communication.
• Experienced with Microsoft Office, CRM systems.
• Able to represent the company authoritatively and deal confidently with prospective clients, suppliers and colleagues.
• Experience in telemarketing, events management or ad agency useful.
• Please state your preferred working hours and salary expectations when applying.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply, please email your CV to francesca.delacey@jms-group.com by Monday 4th February 2019.

Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich & Central Norfolk Mind and Mid & North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50 –

Money raised through ticket sales to the Best Employers Eastern Region 2018 events has resulted in a donation of £5,250 to Mind, split equally between four regional offices of the mental health charity.

141 organisations and 15,000 people across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk took park in Best Employers Eastern Region 2018, co-founded by Pure and eras ltd and sponsored by Birketts and Archant.

The charity donation was raised from 50% of the ticket sales for the employee engagement initiative’s launch event in January and awards event in October, attended by 298 local employers and HR professionals in total.

They money will be split equally between four regional offices of Mind. Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich and Central Norfolk Mind and Mid and North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50.  

Lynn Walters, Executive Director at Pure and founder of Best Employers Eastern Region, said: “Best Employers Eastern Region supports and celebrates the organisations which are committed to creating workplaces which bring out the best in their people to achieve business success.

We chose Mind as the charity to benefit from the 2018 events because supporting employees’ mental wellbeing is a key element of maintaining employee engagement, creating an inclusive workplace culture and being recognised as a best employer.

Mind’s own research shows that work is the biggest cause of stress in people’s lives and that at least one in six workers experience common mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.

Not only have we been able to come together to celebrate our region’s most inspiring employers and to discuss creative ways of increasing engagement, we have also been able to raise a fantastic amount for a charity which has offices across our region providing dedicated support to people within our local communities.”

Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem as well as campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and to promote understanding; including through its Mental Health at Work initiative. The local Mind offices support people in the community with services including supported housing, crisis helplines, drop-in centres, employment and training schemes, counselling and befriending.

Since it was first founded by professional recruitment specialists Pure and psychometrics experts eras ltd in 2012, the biennial Best Employers Eastern Region initiative has given organisations the opportunity to actively evolve workplace culture as well as the chance to be crowned one of the region’s best employers.

For more information about Best Employers Eastern Region visit www.best-employers.co.uk or for more information on Mind’s Mental Health in the Workplace gateway visit www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk

MENTA has announced that its charity partner for 2019 is Break, a children’s charity which has been supporting children, young people and families across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire for over 50 years. The charity works to help children in care and moving on, children with disabilities and families who need support. During the summer of 2018, Break in partnership with Wild in Art delivered the hugely popular GoGoHares trail in Norfolk. The trail attracted more than one million visitors and consisted of 50 city hares in Norwich with a further 18 county hares displayed in towns across Norfolk. MENTA has invited Break to its networking events, Coffee Means Business in Woodbridge, Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill during the year and the charity will exhibit at the MENTA Business Show on Tuesday 1st October at The Apex, Bury St Edmunds. CEO of MENTA, Alex Till said, “I’m delighted MENTA will be partnering with Break during 2019. They are providing vital services and support to those who really need it.” Michael Rooney, Head of Commercial Services at Break said, “We are thrilled to be working with MENTA as their charity partner for 2019. We look forward to raising awareness of how businesses, their staff and individuals can make a difference to vulnerable children’s lives by volunteering and fundraising for Break.”

An exciting new transport initiative for Breckland from Kickstart Norfolk in partnership with the Department of Work & Pensions, Breckland Council and New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The Need –

At present, there are many hard to reach, unemployed individuals residing across the Breckland area who are unable to advance towards employment. When asked, clients stated that the main reasons for this are:

• a lack of transport
• rural isolation
• disabilities
• homelessness or criminal convictions
• Poor Health

Because of the above, hard to reach individuals reported that this was causing them to experience poor health, low motivation and self-esteem, and a belief that they would spend the rest of their lives on benefits.

The idea –

Building on the vision of the recent launch of Breckland for Jobs, Kickstart Norfolk, together with their partners the Department of Work & Pensions, Breckland Council and New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), want to help these hard to reach individuals to unlock their potential to gain meaningful training, work experience and/or employment.

The Solution –

With funding provided by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP), Breckland Council & Kickstart Norfolk, Tripstart Breckland will provide a 7-Seater Minibus Service and IAG Support Worker for individuals across the Breckland area to engage with for a pilot period of 1-year.

Working in partnership with the individuals Jobcentre Work Coach, Tripstart Breckland’s dedicated IAG Support worker will provide, where applicable, the service user with the relevant 1-2-1 support to help them address and overcome their complex barriers to employment, build their self-esteem, confidence and motivation so they have every opportunity of moving forward with their lives.

Service users will be provided with a transport service until they are confident enough to plan their own route to their place of provision. Thereafter, support will be provided by both the IAG 

Support Worker and Communication Officer via telephone, however, face to face support will be offered where and when required.

The Tripstart Breckland Transport Scheme will be made available to everyone aged 18 and above, who reside in the Breckland area and are either unemployed or economically inactive.

The Tripstart Transport Scheme will compliment the transport services already provided by local government, it is in no way a replacement.

TRIPSTART Breckland is a transport provision for hard to reach residents of Breckland to use to move forward with their life.

All referrals received must be sent to the relevant Jobcentre for vetting before any individual is accepted on to the scheme.

Tripstart Breckland – Referral Process

Client Identified –

Once a potential client has been identified there are 4 referral routes that can be used to access Tripstart Breckland:

1. Self-Referral or Multi Agency Referral sent directly to Tripstart Breckland
2. Kickstart Norfolk refers individuals to Tripstart Breckland
3. Jobcentre Work Coach refers the indivual to Tripstart Breckland
4. Self-Referral or Multi Agency Referral sent to Jobcentre for referral to Tripstart Breckland

Vetting –

On receipt, all referrals to Tripstart Breckland must first be sent to the relevant Jobcentre for vetting, the aim of this is to:

1. Understand the reason as to why the individual has been referred to Tripstart Breckland

2. Ensure the individual meets the criteria for Tripstart Breckland

3. Make sure the individual is in receipt of the correct benefits

4. Deal with any benefit issues that may have arisen

Once vetting has been completed, referrals will be sent directly to the Tripstart Breckland, IAG Support Worker who will make contact with the client.  

Information, Advice, Guidance & Support (IAG) –

Individuals referred to Tripstart Breckland requiring IAG Support will be taken through a detailed induction, allowing the IAG Support Worker to compile, discuss and agree an Individual Action Plan with the client. The Action Plan will provide clear details of how the individuals barriers to employment will be addressed. All Action Plans will be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bound and will be in line with the Individual Action Plan implemented by the clients Jobcentre Work Coach.

Communication & Support Plan –

Each client will participate in daily, weekly and monthly communication with the IAG Worker to ensure that progress can be monitored and reported.

Should any issues be identified or arise during the supporting period, with agreement from the individuals Jobcentre Work Coach, referrals will be made to multi-agencies for them to provide additional support to the individual.

When the individual is confident enough to plan their own route, communication with will be moved from weekly to bi-weekly unless the situation dictates that the individual remains on a weekly plan. Bi-weekly communication will last for a period of up to 2-years.

To ensure continuity of support and communication, the IAG Worker will send weekly reports to the individuals Jobcentre Work Coach and regular face to face meetings will be held.

See PDF below for more information;