Member News

At Tudor Lodge Consultants, we are hugely proud to announce that we are now working with the brand new, regulated lending platform Stepstone Credit. Stepstone is an innovative way of using short term credit via online and mobile application use. Unlike traditional and existing payday and short-term credit options, Stepstone is a credit facility as opposed to a loan. This means that users of their service apply for a credit facility of up to £500 and are only required to pay back what is actually used.

Additionally, because they use bank scrape technology that, with the borrower’s permission lets Stepstone view 3 months of bank transactions, one’s financial past doesn’t dictate their future. Borrowers who are financially sound, but may have a CCJ or small grey area on their credit history are not automatically rejected as with other lenders, as Stepstone looks at overall affordability rather than rudimentary credit pasts.

Also, due to its nature, Stepstone can be used to improve credit ratings by demonstrating responsible borrowing; something looked upon very favourably by credit providers. However, Stepstone have previously had no online presence and have therefore not been found online at all.

What We Are Doing

Unique to Stepstone as a credit provider, is their use of ‘bank scrape’ technology, making for more accurate lending decisions. For example, someone may take out a facility of £500, yet only spend £200. In such cases, the borrower would only repay the £200 plus interest, with the remaining £300 there for as and when they need it. We have been working with the development team at Stepstone Credit to create a website that is fit for purpose and fully functional and discoverable by potential users online.

Initially, we carried out the ‘discovery’ phase of the project, researching what other short term lenders are around in the UK and which search terms are being targeted through Google Search. Having compiled a comprehensive list of terms and targets for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) targeting, our content team set about planning a range of landing pages; rich with content and engaging information for users and online customers.

Further to the landing pages produced, we have created and implemented a number of additional content pages; fully SEO-compliant to help increase Stepstone’s online rankings.

We have also updated the website code, including that of their Schema mark up to allow for efficient and accurate crawling of the Stepstone website by search engines. Fully optimised and Google friendly meta data has also been implemented throughout the website on all pages. We are also beginning a focused link building and online PR strategy to push out Stepstone’s product and brand to increased numbers of users.

We also continue to work very closely with Stepstone Credit’s development and online design teams to ensure the website in all areas is kept up to date and fully optimised for online and search engines alike.

What We Have Achieved

In the short time since commencing our work with Stepstone, we have seen them climb online for many terms including some highly competitive terms such as ‘short term loans’ and ‘payday loan alternative’ amongst other, hugely competitive terms. We are also seeing increased in brand related terms for Stepstone, allowing returning users to find and engage with this exciting product and brand.

We look forward to progressing further into 2018 with the team at Stepstone Credit.

Leathes Prior are proud to announce that throughout 2018, we will be supporting not just one, but three local charities. The three chosen charities, elected after much deliberation and a staff vote, are Norwich & Central Norfolk Cruse Bereavement Care, Finnbar’s Force and Norwich Door to Door. Norwich & Central Norfolk Cruse Bereavement Care is an independent organisation of committed people who care about, and understand, the needs associated with bereavement. Cruse offer sympathetic, compassionate and confidential support and a place to turn to when someone has passed away.  Tracey from Norwich and Central Norfolk Cruse Bereavement Care said, “It is such a support to us that Leathes Prior has elected to work in partnership with Cruse Norwich and Central Norfolk as one of their chosen charities for 2018. We rely on our dedicated and hardworking volunteers to provide our services to bereaved adults in the city and beyond. The support of local businesses is a huge boost, allowing us to continue our work but also to build the profile of our charity so we can offer assistance to those who may not have heard about our services.” Finnbar’s Force is a charity set up to provide support and reduce suffering for children who receive the devastating diagnosis of a brain tumour. Finnbar’s Force was set up by Tristan and Claire Cork at the start of 2017 following the loss of their son to an aggressive brain tumour in August 2016. Their aims are to support children suffering from brain tumours, as well as their families, support and fund research into childhood brain cancer and potential treatments, and raise awareness of the disease and its debilitating effects. Tristan from Finnbar’s Force said, “We are absolutely delighted to have been picked as one of Leathes Prior Solicitors’ Charities of the Year 2018 and would like to thank the whole team for choosing to support us. We set up Finnbar’s Force after losing our son Finnbar to an aggressive brain tumour in 2016. We had a particularly difficult journey and want to do what we can to reduce the chances of other families going through what we have. The backing of our local community and the businesses within it is so important to us as we look to make a positive change to the care of local children diagnosed with brain tumours, as well as their families. The money raised for us by Leathes Prior staff will be used to directly support our local projects.” Norwich Door to Door work with the most severely disabled and older people on a low income in our community who need a specialist Door to Door service. Their mission is to enable social inclusion and enhance quality of life for people with severe mobility problems on low income in and around Norwich. They offer fully accessible mobility bus services with affordable fares for independence, equality, safety and security so that members of the public are empowered to make their own contribution to their community. Jill from Norwich Door to Door said, “We are thrilled to have been chosen by the Leathes Prior team as one of the local charities they will be working with and supporting in 2018. Our 10 fully accessible vehicles and their bus teams empower 450 people who have severe mobility problems and mainly live alone, to get out and about in our community. Our services relieve the effects that loneliness can have on our wellbeing. Recent research has proven that to feel socially connected is massively important for both our good health and longevity.”     Throughout 2017 Leathes Prior supported OPEN Youth Trust in Norwich and we have really enjoyed working with the team there, getting to know them better and learning about all of the excellent things the charity do to support young people in Norfolk, making a real difference to so many lives. OPEN is home to a multi-purpose venue providing live music and venue hire for conferences rooms, meetings and events as well as secure storage. The profit from these commercial activities enables the charity to offer a diverse range of different activities, most of which are free to attend, for young people aged 7 – 25. The charity relies on grant funding and donations to raise the remaining funds needed to support their work.  Leathes Prior’s Charity & Community Projects Committee thought that we may be able to extend our help further if we fundraised for more than one of the smaller charities in and around Norwich in 2018 and we hope we will be able to make a real difference to those charities throughout the year.

According to the latest report from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) 526,000 UK workers were suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2016/17 and 12.5 million working days were lost as a result.

Business in the Community’s Mental Health at Work Report 2016 collated the results gathered through both a public open survey and a YouGov panel survey of nearly 20,000 people currently in employment in the UK, and  found that 77% have experienced symptoms of poor mental health at some point in their lives, and 29% have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. 62% of employees attributed their symptoms of poor mental health to work or said that work was a contributing factor. The results from the open survey are even starker, with 84% having experienced physical, psychological or behavioural symptoms of poor mental health where work was a contributing factor.

35% of employees did not approach anyone for support the last time they experienced poor mental health and 9% of employees who experienced symptoms of poor mental health experienced disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.

Here at Monthind we recognise that we have a duty of care to respond to our employees’ mental health needs in the same way we do to physical conditions, and our Health and Safety Officer, Chris Brown has recently attended a Mental Health First Aider course to develop his knowledge and understanding of the stigmas around mental health in the workplace. Chris says: “The two day internationally recognised course teaches us how to recognise the crucial warning signs of mental ill health and to signpost to appropriate support. Embedding MHFA training within any organisation or community also encourages people to talk more freely about mental health, reducing stigma and creating a more positive culture.

“At Monthind our people are our greatest asset, and we treat them as such, so it is paramount that we are able to support them when they need it most. By discouraging an ethos of keeping quiet about mental health concerns we can promote early intervention and enable recovery. I’m not a therapist, but I can listen without judgement and let people know where they can get professional support and self-help strategies.

“Staff wellbeing is crucial to the success of any business, and particularly in the service industry, so empowering the management team to support employees and demonstrating to staff that they will be listened to and helped isn’t just a ‘nice to do’; it maximises performance, productivity and staff loyalty, all of which make Monthind a successful company and an excellent employer.”         

Spire Solicitors LLP announces the promotion of Susan Ward from Associate to Senior Associate within the New Build Department, continuing to strengthen their achievements in the 2017.

Susan Ward joined the firm in 2015 and has been instrumental in forming the foundations of the New Build Department, having moved from Ashtons Legal in July 2016. This latest promotion continues on from a successful year at Spire Solicitors, growing their core team, continuing to commit to their legal expertise for the region.

Further accolades for this year include the hire of Matthew Downing, Partner, who joined the firm in October 2017, as well as Spire Solicitors LLP winning the accredited Law Firm of the Year title in November 2017.

Susan Ward commented: “I am thrilled with becoming a Senior Associate at Spire Solicitors LLP.  I joined the firm 18 months ago and have enjoyed building up a New Build Department along side working with the Social Housing team.”

Susan continued: “Since joining Spire Solicitors, I have seen first-hand the dedication from all members of the staff in making a unique service for the market. It is truly wonderful to be recognised in a business, which, from week-to-week strengthens in position in the legal market.  

Spire Solicitors LLP offers specialist legal knowledge in all services. A true Norfolk business from the beginning, its doors are open across all 8 offices for approachable expert advice, on every matter. 

There are some very exciting things starting to take shape for Leathes Prior and our GoGoHare, and we can’t wait to be able to reveal our design on the streets of Norwich in just over six months’ time. Summer 2018 brings a city trail of Hares and Leathes Prior are sponsoring one of just 50 to celebrate Break Charity’s 50th birthday. Leathes Prior have started preparations and secured their design, working with the extremely talented Paul Jackson; sculptor and story teller.   Representatives from Leathes Prior attended Break’s Design Viewing evening back in September, which consisted of 205 spectacular designs, where sponsors had to narrow their choices down to their favourite two. Since then, there has been some negotiating going on behind the scenes with our first choice also being that of our friends at Loveday & Partners. To settle the matter, Break ended up organising a live Facebook coin toss with Loveday choosing tails and Leathes Prior going with heads. Leathes Prior won the coin toss and we have our first choice hare; Professor Hare and his Magic Library, which will be on display outside of our head office on the green in the Cathedral Close. After the success of GoGoMosaic in 2016, the bar has been set quite high and Leathes Prior have their work cut out to make this year’s Hare better than ever. Leathes Prior’s Marketing Team have plenty of ideas for the magical hare with inspiration in abundance from Paul Jackson on how to bring our Hare’s ‘magic library’ to life. The team at Break have teamed up with Wild in Art once again to deliver the fantastic trail that sees the sculptures on the streets of Norwich from June to September next year. Leathes Prior’s support of the GoGoHare trail follows on from the firm’s sponsorship of a GoGoDragon in 2015. The firm worked with Carolyn Ash of Mosaic Memories in Castle Acre to create GoGoMosaic, a sculpture decorated using recycled materials including broken pieces of mirror, brooches, jewellery, cutlery, crockery, house signs and commemorative pieces. Leathes Prior were thrilled when the firm’s dragon went for more than any other at the auction, raising an incredible £25,000 for Break. The firm really hopes to be able to raise as much, if not more, with Professor Hare. The hare has been chosen for the 2018 trail due to its popularity as a subject amongst artists and can regularly be seen in the countryside of East Anglia. There will be three different sculpture designs. As well as the 50 GoGoHares in the city centre, there will also be a group of moongazer hare sculptures scattered around the wider county for GoGo fans to find, and all of the colourful characters will be sponsored by local organisations and designed by artists. All 50 city hares now have sponsors but there is still time to sponsor a moongazer hare sculpture. Running alongside the city and county trails there is also a GoGoCreate learning programme which is giving schools, clubs and organisations the chance to create their own GoGoHares that will form another city centre trail. Leathes Prior cannot wait to reveal Professor Hare and his Magic Library when the trail goes live in June. Follow Professor Hare on twitter and we will keep you posted as he comes to life. For more details about how you can get involved in the project, including how organisations can still sponsor the moongazer county hares, visit www.gogohares.co.uk. For more information about Norfolk children’s charity Break and the work the charity does to support children, young people and families in need, visit www.break-charity.org.

We are pleased to announce that the content and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) teams at Tudor Lodge Consultants are working with Dicendum Group. An exciting company comprising two core businesses; Capital Advisory Services and Martin Tiano & Co accountants, Dicendum are already proving to be an exciting client and partner.

A logical combination, at Dicendum’s core is the corporate finance side of the group that works hand in hand with the other half; established accountants in Edgware, North London. These are two services which are hugely popular and regularly work in tandem across the UK. Dicendum have combined the availabilities of both, working across a plethora of customers and clients of all sizes and from all around the world.

The Challenges of Their Website

Uniquely, the Dicendum Group website contains both businesses under their own section. This means that each side of the business needs to be properly and strongly focused on whilst paying attention to the overall domain and its authority and strength. Positively though, this has also meant that positive SEO actions on one side of the website filters through to the other and the overarching domain.

The Dicendum Group website is also a new website which has meant facing the challenges of having what is for all intents and purposes, a blank canvas with which to work. More established websites have an increased degree of website and domain authority whereas newer sites need to find their feet and establish themselves from scratch.

This has meant that our teams are required to work with the in-house development team at Dicendum Group to update both the build of the site as well as the user engagement factors such as calls to action and otherwise.

What we are Doing for Dicendum

As part of this ongoing campaign of work with the team at Dicendum Group, we have undertaken in-depth and detailed keyword research to identify targets and new as well opportunities for both sides of the group. This has meant looking online at both respective industries and which terms drive the most and highest value website and online traffic. We are also working on a comprehensive content strategy across the website as the content offering at present is fairly bare.

Subsequent to the keyword research, we have also applied fully optimised meta data (comprising meta titles and meta descriptions) to all website pages, auditing each on their merit and targets. This has already had a very positive and beneficial effect on the website as a whole. Additionally, on site is the work we are carrying out to optimise the speed and performance of their website. Speed and performance are one of the key factors in on site SEO with users spending longer and engaging more with sites which perform faster and better. Those with slower speeds see increased bounce rates and reduced overall numbers of website users.

Further to this we are working on a range of online PR opportunities. This has already helped Dicendum Group climb up the Google rankings for various brand terms and searches in a short period of time. We are continuing to work with partners and relevant websites and publications to get the Dicendum Group name out there. This has also helped us improve their domain authority with various PR pieces providing follow links as well as some no follows to the Dicendum website.

Looking Ahead

Moving forward, our teams are continuing to work with the development team at Dicendum to continue this path of progress. We will be continuing to increase and improve the on-site content, website performance factors and off site PR opportunities to maximise the exposure of this truly exciting company online. Having already moved up Google by more than 5 pages for some terms, we look forward to continuing our work with all of the team at Dicendum.

A team of PhD students from the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) School of Pharmacy has won both the Biotechnology YES Prize and People’s Choice Award at the national Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES) competition final hosted at the Royal Society on Tuesday 12 December. 

YES is designed to develop business awareness and an understanding of entrepreneurship in UK postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers. This goal is achieved through a competition where the participants prepare a business plan for a hypothetical company in one of three categories, Biotechnology, Engineering and Environment. 

The UEA winning team CryoThaw, made up of NRP Bioscience DTP students Lučka Bibič, Mahmoud Abdelhamid, Oliver Cartwright and Samuel Walpole, came up with a solution which allows a donated heart to be cryopreserved, stored/transported and then reanimated back to a fully functional state. Cryopreservation is a technique which involves rapidly freezing the organ, without damage to the tissue, hence extending the time it remains viable outside of the body. This would allow for more heart transplants to be carried out and also improved post-transplantation outcomes.

At the final, CyroThaw had to pitch their idea and the business plan to a panel of investors. The pitch had to address all areas of the business including financial strategy, IP strategy and marketing. They won £2,500, trophies and invitations to the BioIndustry Association’s gala dinner. For the people’s choice award they will receive corporate training provided by Indigo Business solutions.

Lucka Bibic, CEO at CryoThaw, said: “I am so delighted for the whole team, the success of CryoThaw was definitely down to our team effort. YES17 was a fantastic chance to network and a great opportunity to learn how to think like an entrepreneur. Now we can hopefully apply and further develop these skills in our future career paths.”

The Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Partnership contributed to the financial costs, which enabled the students to participate. 

Another UEA team, Active Plant Protection, were also successful at the final as team member Sophie Harrington won the Best Presenter Award. Sophie Harrington is a John Innes Centre (JIC) student who was funded through the Rotation Programme.  

Brown & Co are delighted to announce that all nine candidates who sat the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV) examinations this autumn have passed and are now Fellows of the CAAV. The two-day examination process held each autumn sees candidates thoroughly tested on their practical, written and oral knowledge of valuation and professional work related to rural business. Managing Partner, Charles Whitaker said “We are very proud to announce the formal qualification successes of this group of chartered surveyors. It reflects excellence of our staff and those that contribute to our innovation, training and development effort internally and externally to seek to be at the forefront of the provision of services to add value to our clients’ property and businesses”. Charles Birch, head of Land Agency added “I am delighted that we have such talent within the firm and that all nine taking these difficult exams have passed. It demonstrates the candidates’ commitment to the exams themselves and is encouraging for their continuing careers within Brown & Co, which we are keen to develop for the future. The success of our business revolves around enthusiastic and excellent staff to look after clients in what is an increasingly specialist rural environment, so an expanding group can only help”. Personal congratulations for all their hard work and achievement to: Sarah Barker – Melton Mowbray Anita Riggall – Brigg Emma Houghton – Grantham Tom Phillips – King’s Lynn Rowley Barclay – King’s Lynn Felicity Thornett – Norwich Jamie Seaman – Norwich Sophie Hardy – Spalding John Smithson Whitehead – Spalding A number of candidates also sat their RICS APC qualifications this autumn, with the following achieving MRICS status: Anita Riggall – Brigg Land Agency Emma Houghton – Grantham Land Agency Jon Clampin – Huntingdon Land Agency Anna Smith – Norwich Commercial

On Friday East Anglian Recruitment specialists, Cooper Lomaz Recruitment announced its exciting plans to expand their office network with a third office location which will see them open in Colchester on 5th March 2018.

The new location in Colchester will work alongside their existing office network in Bury St Edmunds and Norwich.  Cooper Lomaz Recruitment have confirmed that they will be opening the new office with four new to the business staff who will exclusively recruit across the Engineering and Manufacturing sectors throughout the Essex region.

Cooper Lomaz Recruitment currently recruits in technical and professional sectors across Essex from their existing offices.  However based on the success of these existing teams and increased demand from clients in Essex the business decided to take the step and open a physical office in the region. 

Whilst the new office settles into the business and focuses on Engineering and Manufacturing Cooper Lomaz Recruitment will continue to recruit Finance, Food, IT, Sales & Marketing, and Supply Chain roles from their Norwich & Bury St Edmunds offices.

Simon Brown Managing Director for Cooper Lomaz who announced the news to the business on Friday said: 

“We are really excited to be opening a third office, especially into such a great region of East Anglia in Colchester.  Opening the third office at this time in a new location is an important step to helping to grow our brand presence in the Essex area.  I am pleased we will be hiring four new people in Essex into our business, a number which I am sure will grow further before the end of 2018.”  

The office itself will follow the same direction as their other two offices by being in a central location with great transport links, and plenty of activity around it. Naturally, it will also be fully equipped with the latest technology to allow the consultants based there to help recruit top candidates for the Essex area.

Sales Manager Donna West says “I’m absolutely thrilled to be asked to launch & manage the new Essex office and create a new branch of our already successful Engineering Recruitment team.  I have worked across Essex throughout my recruitment career and can’t wait to get back there and work with the great clients and candidates the region has.”

Following on from the success of a technology trial at 10 Flagship properties earlier this year, Phase 2 of the project benefitting hundreds of customers has launched this week (Tuesday 5 December). The second phase aims to reduce fuel poverty and rent arrears, prevent damp and mould, increase digital usage and improve boiler maintenance at 493 properties across 11 towns in Norfolk and Suffolk. It is anticipated the technology will also have a significant impact on Flagship’s housing and asset management costs in the long-term. Smart technology company Switchee are providing smart thermostats, installed by Gasway Services Ltd. The pilot first phase involved Flagship and a number of local companies working together to demonstrate that the technology works and gauge the potential benefits of using smart technologies in the ‘real world’. The pilot resulted in the following main benefits: – Income generation as the new technology allowed for faster housing benefits to be claimed leading to earlier payments – Allowed for digital payment reminders to be used, leading to quicker collection of missed payments – Preventative action could be taken where the devices showed a high risk of mould/damp, poor insulation and faulty boilers – Positive customer feedback as they found it easier and more convenient to contact Flagship and felt more secure in their homes – An increase in the number of ‘Log A Repair’ requests online resulting in a reduction in calls to Flagship’s Contact Centre Marie-Claire Delbrouque, Director of Housing and Customer Insight at Flagship said: “We’re really pleased with how the pilot was received by our customers and it’s fantastic we’re now rolling out the project to more people. “There are lots of potential benefits including helping our customers tackle fuel poverty. A worrying number of families across the UK, including our own customers, suffer as a result of rising fuel costs. We anticipate this project will create cheaper fuel bills, helping people to pay their rent and ultimately keep them in their homes.” Matt Brazier, Director of IT at Flagship said: “It’s exciting to be at the forefront of using technology in such a pioneering way. The pilot has already demonstrated that this technology can work so we anticipate the wider rollout will make a huge difference to us as a business, our customers, as well as the housing sector as a whole.” Ian Napier is Commercial Director at Switchee, which helps families reduce their energy bills with their Smart Thermostat for social housing. Ian said: “We are thrilled that Flagship are rolling Switchee out on a much larger scale following the success of the initial pilot. Phase 2 of this project will result in a material reduction in fuel poverty across the 493 selected homes and help Flagship to better diagnose repair issues in their housing stock, continuing the shift from reactive to pre-emptive maintenance. Switchee data will lead to quicker and better repair outcomes for residents and significant efficiencies for Flagship.”

Take part in our anuual Owner managed Business Survey and be in with a chance of winning a Jarrold Christmas Hamper for you or one of your clients.

Many thanks to those businesses that have taken part in the survey so far. We are confident that the results will prove to be very beneficial and allow us to provide you with future help and advice.

For those that haven’t yet been able to participate, we hope that you can find a few minutes of your time to complete this simple survey.

The survey will take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and will close on Wednesday, 13 December 2017.

If you’d like to see a copy of the survey report from last year please click here.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Workplace Pension: Do you need to consult employees on contribution changes?

Ryan Oates, Corporate Financial Adviser, SG Corporate Services says

“Changing a pension scheme’s rules or terms and conditions to increase member contributions normally requires employers to consult with the scheme members. ” Consultation is only necessary if: • An employer has 50 or more employees, which is determined by calculating the average number of employees in the previous 12 months. • An employer wishes to amend the scheme rules to increase member contributions at a different time or rate than originally set out. The consultation period must not be less than 60 days. However, where the scheme rules are already set to increase contributions to the minimum levels, either in April 2018 and 2019 or earlier, the employer will not need to consult members. You should still notify them that increased contributions are due to be taken. If the change is being made to ensure the scheme remains qualifying – that the rules or terms and conditions are being amended purely to reflect the minimum increases set out in law – the employer will not need to consult.” Further information can be found here: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/employer-duty-to-consult-on-scheme-changes.pdf