Member News

The Everline and Real Business Future 50 Awards celebrate the UK’s most disruptive businesses. The annually published list provides definitive analysis of game-changing UK companies and is a major programme to support disruptive organisations that are triggering change in their markets.

The 2014 entries were as diverse as they were brilliant, showcasing businesses poised to revolutionise the way we do just about everything: from the way we shop, to the way we communicate, the way we travel, the way we eat, and even the way we die!

The final 50, which included Norwich-based Liftshare, was announced in the heart of London’s start-up scene and was hosted by comedian Seann Walsh. Liftshare’s founder, Ali Clabburn, attended the event: “The Liftshare team has always maintained a start-up mentality that keeps our thinking fresh and our approach innovative. We established the UK’s sharing economy, which is fast becoming a mainstream movement – Forbes tipped it as the hottest trend for 2014 and the Government is also eager to lend its support. We are hugely proud to have remained at the forefront of this dynamic industry and this award is further recognition that Liftshare is setting trends for others to follow.”

Several other businesses from the East made it onto the prestigious list including Norwich-based Rainbird and ServiceTick, confirming the city’s position as a hub for talent and innovation.

The list was compiled by professor Julian Beer, pro-vice chancellor (regional enterprise) at Plymouth University; serial technology entrepreneur Shakil Khan; Anthony Eskinazi, founder and chairman of Parkatmyhouse; Darren Westlake, CEO of CrowdCube; Cate Trotter, founder of Insider Trends; Matthew Rock, former editor of Real Business and Russell Gould, managing director of Everline.

Russell Gould, managing director of Everline, said: “We had hundreds of high-calibre entries to this year’s Future 50, showing that small businesses are continuing to find innovative ways to drive the UK economy. The UK continues to prove itself as a hub of innovation and we’re really proud to support and celebrate the achievements of these businesses and wish them every success in the future.”

Can you help Break make a difference?

Do you want to join a dynamic and developing charity that has been changing the lives of young people for nearly 50 years?

Why not become a Break Trustee

Break is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee which has been providing a diverse range of specialist residential and community based services for vulnerable children, young people and families across East Anglia for nearly 50 years.

Break is seeking to appoint new Trustees to strengthen the Board and to work with us to achieve our mission to ‘Change Young Lives’ by providing services of the highest quality, working together to create stability and improve opportunities for a better future.

We are looking, in particular, for Trustees with commercial and financial expertise.

If you are interested, please contact Break CEO, Chris Hoddy on 01263 822161, email chris.hoddy@break-charity.org or visit the Break website www.break-charity.org/opportunities to download the advert and profile.

NORWICH, Monday 17th March 2014 – AIRPORT SECOND IN TOP 30 UK AIRPORTS FOR ANNUAL TRAFFIC GROWTH The positive trend for passenger traffic at Norwich International is confirmed in the latest CAA UK official UK airport annual traffic results released on 13th March 2014.

The report lists Norwich International as seventh in the UK for annual traffic growth 2013 compared to 2012 (for airport with annual traffic of twenty thousand passengers or more). Total passengers are listed at 463,401 versus 396,676 being a 17% increase in people from the region using the city’s airport year on year.

However, of the top 30 UK airports Norwich International growth is second overall for the percentage increase year on year.

The passenger boost was in a number of different sectors with the biggest increase being in the holidaymaker category which increased by 45% on 2012, with over 107,000 people enjoying the benefits of starting their holiday from their local airport.

Offshore helicopter traffic enjoyed yet another year of record growth with over 98,000 passengers travelling offshore, an increase of 18% on the previous year with Norwich now the UK’s second busiest offshore heliport after Aberdeen.

KLM’s hub feeder service to Amsterdam Schiphol had another strong year as a result of the addition of the fourth daily flight throughout the summer months. This service continues to play a key role in connecting the region’s economy to the rest of the world and the popularity of the service continues to grow with the region’s business and leisure travellers alike.

Andrew Bell, the airport’s Chief Executive commented, “Posting strong passenger growth is good news for the airport and the region, as ultimately the flights that are operated from the airport must be used by the travelling public if they are to remain on offer. We recognise that we still have a great deal to do in order to satisfy the demands of the region’s business and leisure travelers alike and we are working hard to bring back routes that proved popular in the past, and to identify new route opportunities. However, the CAA result, with Norwich second out of the top 30 UK airports, is testament to the hard work the airport has undertaken over the past few years and confirmation that Norwich Airport is moving in the right direction”.

March 2014

Local Children’s Hospices EACH Selected as Focus for Bidwells’ Norwich Office’s 175th Anniversary Celebrations

Bidwells, one of the UKs oldest property firms, today announced that its Norwich office has selected East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) as the focal point of its celebratory 175th year. Not only will all members of the Norwich office be fundraising for Quidenham’s EACH hospice, but they will also be using their official volunteering days to help local charities, organisations and initiatives. The Firm has gifted every employee two fully paid Volunteer Days, which can be deployed for any good cause of their choosing. EACH supports children, young people and their families address the challenges which having a life-threatening condition brings. Services are provided either in the family home, the community or one of their hospices. Camilla Haycock, EACH “We are delighted that Bidwells has chosen EACH to support in their 175th Anniversary year. We see the partnership as a great way to engage their staff in exciting fundraising initiatives whilst helping them to celebrate their anniversary in a positive and meaningful way. Many of the Bidwells offices, including their headquarters, are based in East Anglia and their fundraising will help EACH to continue with its work to support and care for children and young people with a life-threatening condition, as well as their families in the same region.” “The work EACH does is absolutely critical to every community it serves because it steps in when parents, families and children are at their most vulnerable and in greatest need for support and guidance” said Paul Clarke, Head of Norwich Bidwells. “Having personally visited the EACH hospice in Quidenham, I am twice as determined to help them with the great work that they do. “Please help us make a difference in any way you can.”

About Bidwells Established 175 years ago, today Bidwells is one of the UK’s leading property consultancies. We employ almost 500 people in 12 offices across England and Scotland and provide a full range of services across the Commercial, Residential and Rural sectors. Bidwells celebratory year will run from 1 March 2014 to 28 February 2015.

A Consent Order is the legal document recording the financial division upon, or following, divorce. A Consent Order is made by the Court and must be adhered to by both parties. However, occasionally the situation arises where one party attempts to try and avoid implementation of the Consent Order.

Until recently there was not a great deal of case law on this topic, however, two recent law reports have dealt with this issue. Both cases involved applications for breach of financial orders:

The case of Hope v Krejci [2014] EWHC B5 (Fam) was an application by the wife against the husband for breach of a consent order made in July 2012, requiring him to transfer to her two cars and a motorbike. By the time the wife’s committal application was heard in January 2014, the husband had failed to transfer the vehicles to the wife. The Judge was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the husband was in contempt of court for failing to transfer the vehicles to the wife, as required by the order of the Court. To ensure the money was paid, the Judge made an order committing the husband to prison for two months, suspended so long as the husband pay the sum of £16,000 to the wife’s solicitors by 15 March 2014. If the money is paid, then the committal order will be discharged but if it is not paid by that date, the husband will be sent to prison.

The case of Pocock v Pocock [2013] EW Misc 26 (CC) concerned a consent order reached between the parties on 22 August 2011, under which the husband had agreed to transfer the former matrimonial home to the wife, to pay the mortgage repayments and to redeem the mortgage on or before 9 September 2011. The redemption of the mortgage had not happened and the mortgage payments had only been made sporadically. This caused considerable stress to the wife, who had to return to the Court repeatedly. The wife applied for the husband’s committal to prison for breach of the order. The Judge made a fourteen day order of imprisonment against the husband. The order was suspended, so long as the husband paid the mortgage (he had brought it up to date just prior to the hearing) but the Judge warned him that it would be activated if there was any further breach of the consent order.

Emma Alfieri, from Steeles Law’s family team, commented: “These cases provide a stern warning of the possible consequences of failure to comply with court orders and the importance of ensuring they are efficiently implemented”. For further information contact the family team at Steeles Law.

The new Centrum building, on Norwich Research Park, is making excellent progress.

Centrum, located at the heart of the Park, will offer laboratory and office space on flexible lease terms, with a restaurant and drop-in café for networking and events. Informal meeting areas will create a good environment for stimulating collaboration and information sharing. Additional features include board and meeting rooms for hire and a link to the international conference centre at the John Innes Centre. Exhibition space and informal meeting areas in the large ground floor atrium will create a great environment for networking events and the sharing of ideas.

Companies located on the Park will benefit from investment in state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. This includes superfast broadband, site-wide WiFi, integrated telecoms and the ability to link into academic networks.

Matthew Jones, Chief Operating Officer for Norwich Research Park says the Centrum is set to become the hub of the Park.

“Collaboration is vital for successful research and development and the Centrum will offer space for informal networking and bookable meeting rooms in addition to the dedicated laboratory and office suites.

“It is always useful to have space for adhoc meetings. However, smaller businesses try to keep their overheads down and often have to compromise on this. The Centrum offers informal meeting areas as part of the wider working environment and this will make the building very conducive to business.”

If you would like to see plans for the Centrum please contact Jonathan Barnard, Estates Manager on 01603 274411, jonathan.barnard@norwichresearchpark.com

To find out more about the accomodation available click on the link below https://www.norwichresearchpark.com/businessandaccommodation.aspx

Same-sex couples in England and Wales who want to get married on the day that gay marriage becomes legal – 29 March 2014 – can register to do so from today.

Couples have to give 15 days’ notice of their intention to marry at a register office, and need to do so today if they want to be among the first to benefit from the passing of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.

The Act received Royal Assent in July 2013 and media reports suggest that many gay couples are planning to celebrate their new right by tying the knot just after midnight on 29 March 2014.

The Government is also hopeful that couples who want to convert their civil partnerships into marriages and married people who want to change their legal gender, whilst remaining married, will be able to do so before the end of the 2014.

Same sex couples who married abroad under foreign law are currently treated as civil partners in England and Wales, but they will be recognised as being married from today.

Emma Alfieri, family practitioner, commented that today marks an important step forward for gay couples up and down the country. Further news about when existing civil partnerships may be converted into marriage is eagerly awaited from the Government.

For further information please contact Steeles Law’s family team.

Norwich digital marketing agency, Bigfork, have completed the new website for the Norwich based charity, Asperger East Anglia.

The charity does a huge amount of work in the region to help people with Asperger syndrome and their friends and family. As with all small charities they need your support so please visit the new website at www.asperger.org.uk/

The new website has an improved navigation system making it easier for visitors to find their way around a content rich website. The design follows their branding guidelines and has a SilverStripe content management system to allow them to manage content inhouse.

Bigfork – we make websites standout

01603 513080

www.bigfork.co.uk

We still have a couple of places left at this month’s seminar which will take place on Wednesday 19th March.

Early Retirement – turning the dream into a reality…

Wednesday 19th March – Henderson Business Centre, Norwich

8.15am for 8.30am start (Refreshments and a light Breakfast available)

12.15pm for 12.30pm start (Refreshments and a light lunch available)

The choices you make as you approach retirement could have lasting effects. This session will take you through pensions in a clear and straightforward manner. We will also look at alternative income sources, showing how a combined approach can make the most of tax reliefs, alongside the concept of a two-stage retirement to stretch limited income further.

With annuity rates at historically low levels a better understanding of your options is an essential first step towards effective planning. The session will be useful to anyone advising clients on pension issues or income generating portfolios or approaching retirement themselves.

Each seminar will qualify for 1.5hours of SRA accredited CPD.

We expect each seminar to last around an hour and a half with a further 30 minutes for questions and discussion.

A light lunch or breakfast will be available.

The seminar is free of charge but places are limited.

For more information and to register visit www.chadwicks.co.uk or call me on 01603 251687.

If you employ apprentices, then National Apprenticeship Week is your chance to celebrate all that is wonderful about your own young professionals! Or if you’re considering of taking on apprentices, the week can be a great source of information and inspiration.

This week the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) is calling on businesses around the country to help promote the positive impact apprentices have on individuals, businesses and the country.

For example, Cambridge Regional College, Lowestoft College, West Suffolk College and Essex County Council are all getting involved with a variety of activities. From an exhibition to a dinner cooked by professional cookery apprentices, it’s all happening!

With vacancies across the East of England listed on the NAS website increasing by 23% between August and October last year, it seems that more and more of our fellow employers are seeing just what a fantastic addition to their teams an apprentice really is.

Also according to NAS, 96% of employers working with apprentices see benefits to their business. And we at Pure can vouch for these advantages – we employ five hard-working young professionals who took on apprenticeships after joining us. And we are very proud to be helping them take their first steps in a career in recruitment at our offices in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich and Norwich.

We’ve rustled together some examples of the kind of positives an apprentice can bring to your own organisation. By the time you’ve read them, you could well find yourself wondering why you haven’t already signed up some of your staff to an apprenticeship scheme!

1. Fresh ideas, new perspectives

Apprentices can bring with them a fresh perspective- from the latest digital trends to new suggestions on expanding your offering. Their enthusiasm to learn on the job can help generate ideas among your workforce that otherwise may not have cropped up. This can lead to enhanced and improved products and services, and a rise in income and renewed customer interest.

2. Helping you keep talent

The expectation that there will be an increase in people moving jobs as we enter economic recovery has been well documented. As apprentices receive work-based training, their skills and drive to complete nationally recognised qualifications such as NVQs, means they may prefer to stay with you and continue to build on what they’ve learned. As they train and develop, and share ideas with others, your longer term employees may feel more engaged, as well as motivated to sign up to more training themselves. All of this can contribute to low staff turnover.

3. Solving skill shortages

With the country’s ageing population, valuable industry skills could be lost. Apprentices learn these skills right from the beginning of their careers, and continue to develop their expertise as your organisation evolves. By investing in these young workers you are likely to also be investing in your own business. It’s good business sense!

4. Boost in productivity

The average employee completing an apprenticeship programme increases productivity by a whopping £214 week- while giving their businesses an injection of fresh talent.

5. Great for your reputation

As you invest in apprentices and give them opportunities to learn, and eventually move up through the company, you are showing a serious commitment to your staff’s professional development. You want to keep them on board and give them skills, and it’s excellent for existing staff and potential new recruits to see this too.

Whether you’re quietly congratulating yourself on making the brilliant decision to employ apprentices, or whether you’re currently building a case to recruit them, it’s certainly worth visiting the National Apprenticeship Week website.

To talk to us about our experiences of the apprenticeship scheme, please get in touch with Anna Hill, Marketing Manage, anna.hill@prs.uk.com

Some tips for turning those valuable interviews into contracts with new clients. Just follow the acronymUPPERand you will be in with a winning chance.

U– USP – what is it and what exactly do you offer – make sure you can describe yourself in the equivalent of a tweet. For example ” I presented BBC TV’s Tomorrow’s World and now offer communications training, ensuring that any media encounter you have is an opportunity not an ordeal.”

P– problems and concerns. make sure you have researched their needs and concerns before you go to the meeting. Can you solve the problem or need? Are they most concerned about price, quality, timescale or safety for instance. Make sure your offer takes these concerns into account.

P– prioritise – you only have 10 mins!! Make your most important points first – think what is the one thing you want them to remember if they remember nothing else, and start with it. If they digress bring them back.

E– examples, testimonials. People are not convinced by what you say – credibility comes with what you DO, so give brief examples of your experience and track record.

R– result, solution. Explain how you can help them. Be clear, concise and demonstrate your competence. Your testimonials and evidence of experience will cement this.

Su Ingle Mediawww.suingle.co.ukInfo@suingle.co.uk 07789 430642

Karl Sandall, Chief Executive, said a firm focus on its core small business market has helped propel its success nationally, and now they are fostering global ambitions after successfully taking the business into the Canadian market.

Common sense and hard work have been hailed as the key to the success of a Norfolk-based accountancy business which is harbouring global ambitions.

Started in 1995 the TaxAssist Accountants network has more than 195 franchised practices across the UK servicing almost 50,000 small business clients with collective gross annual recurring fees at the end of 2013 of £31.5m.

It recently opened its 160th shop in Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire, and it is now the 26th largest accountancy practice in the UK.

Karl Sandall, Chief Executive, said a firm focus on its core small business market has helped propel its success nationally, and now they are fostering global ambitions after successfully taking the business into the Canadian market.

“The expansion globally has started,” he said. “We have nearly 50,000 small business clients, we have 35 staff in Norwich and another 600 across the UK working across franchises.”

TaxAssist Accountants, an EDP Business Awards winner in 2011, launched its first international operation in Ireland in 2009, which has since grown to 24 franchisees supported by a master franchisee in Dublin.

The business has now signed the master franchise agreement for the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada with further overseas operations planned for Canada, Australia and New Zealand with the US to follow.

It is also looking at entering new EU markets via its Ireland operation.

“We look at one shop per 100,000 people,” Mr Sandall added. “In the States that could be enormous and there are not many franchises that have successfully taken a UK franchise to these countries.”

The firm has won industry accolades for its work, including an Accountancy Firm of the Year award from the Association of International Accountants, beating global groups and industry giants, and it is bringing in three new recruits to join its technical support team in Norwich.

To read the full article on the EPD website click here.