Monthly Archives: October 2021

News, Property News

Three-storey homes in Cardington meet buyers’ changing needs

A new selection of homes have been released for sale at Linden Homes’ Falcons Lodge development in Cardington to meet the growing demand for three-storey properties.

The five-bedroom Ripley house type, which offers spacious accommodation across three floors, is now available to reserve, priced from £450,000.

Linden Homes, part of the Vistry Group, is delivering a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments, and two, three, four and five-bedroom houses at Falcons Lodge.

Hannah Dorner, Sales Manager for Falcons Lodge, said: “We are seeing high levels of interest in three-storey properties due to the growing need for designated work areas at home, without compromising on personal space and room for everyday living.

“The modern buyer is looking for a home where they can work, relax and entertain, and a larger home provides the space for all of these activities, as well as room to accommodate multi-generational living, if needed.

“The Ripley is a great example of the lifestyle that can be enjoyed in a three-storey home and the design is appealing to a wide range of buyers, from young people to growing families.”

There are currently two Ripley houses available to purchase at Falcons Lodge. The layout includes a large open-plan kitchen and dining room with French doors to the garden, which is great for everyday mealtimes and entertaining alike. There’s also a separate living room to the front of the home and a guest cloakroom off the hallway.

The first-floor landing leads to four bedrooms (one with an en suite shower room) and a family bathroom. With multiple bedrooms on this floor, there’s the option of using one for home-working or study if needed.

Meanwhile, the en suite master bedroom, with an attractive dormer window and roof light and extensive cupboard space in the eaves, occupies the top floor and is the perfect retreat at the end of the day.

Both properties, which are located opposite the development’s central green open space and play area, benefit from a garage and parking.

There’s also a choice of two and three-bedroom houses for sale at Falcons Lodge, with prices starting from £285,000.

For more information about Falcons Lodge, visit lindenhomes.co.uk/eastmidlands or call the sales team on 01234 430829.

Cybersecurity, News

Rethinking cybersecurity strategies to protect the anywhere workforce

Written by Rick McElroy, Principal Cybersecurity Strategist, VMware

It’s time for security teams to switch gears. We’ve reached a pivotal point in the history of cybersecurity where externally generated change has delivered a mandate for the industry to think differently and fundamentally alter our approach. The remote work environment is here to stay, so we need to assimilate what we’ve learned and devise a roadmap that will allow us to proactively protect the anywhere workforce. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity, so the question is, where should cybersecurity strategists focus as we set a course for the years ahead?

To answer that question, VMware surveyed more than 3,500 senior cybersecurity professionals to understand the current threat landscape and the impact of the past year. The insights we uncovered show a cybersecurity environment where malicious actors have thrived, and attack volume and sophistication have escalated. As entire industries pivoted to working remotely, breaches were the inevitable result. Here is what we learned, and what we believe security leaders need to do next.

Visibility is (still) everything – prioritise gaining oversight of the distributed network

The anywhere workforce has created a visibility problem. The volume of attacks has increased for three quarters of global organisations, and 78% say they saw more attacks due to increased remote working. However, the true scale of attacks is hard to discern as defenders can’t see into the corners where personal mobile devices and home networks have been grafted on to the corporate ecosystem. On top of this, the risk posed by third party apps and vendors has increased the number of blind spots.

Consequently, cybersecurity teams need contextual oversight and better visibility over data and applications – in fact, 63% of the professionals we surveyed said this was important. A key priority must be gaining visibility into all endpoints and workloads across the newly defined and highly distributed ‘work from anywhere’ network. This network looks and behaves differently to those of the past, so familiarising teams with its quirks and vulnerabilities is critical. Robust situational intelligence is needed so teams understand the context of what they’re looking at and have confidence that they are remediating the risks that matter.

Prepare for ransomware attacks

Familiar TTPs saw a resurgence last year and none more so than ransomware. It was the joint top cause of breaches among the organisations we surveyed, and our threat intelligence unit saw a 900% spike in attacks during the first half of 2020. Attacks have become multi-stage as attackers focus on gaining undetected access to networks, exfiltrating data and establishing back doors, before launching ransom demands.

To tackle this resurgent issue and avoid falling victim to repeated attacks, organisations need a dual approach that combines advanced ransomware protection with robust post-attack remediation to detect the continued presence of adversaries in their environment. This means committing resources to threat-hunting while also hardening the common attack channels, such as email, which remains the most common launch point for ransomware attacks.

Close the gaps in legacy technology and processes

The switch to remote working exposed weaknesses in security technology and processes, which subsequently led to breaches. Organisations that had not yet implemented multi-factor authentication found that remote workers could not securely access corporate networks without introducing significant risk.

Now that remote working has become a permanent feature, security teams have a strong mandate to demand strategic investment to close those gaps between their current security environment and what is now needed to protect the anywhere workforce.

Re-think security and deliver it as a distributed service

The top cause of security breaches among our surveyed organisations was third party applications, underlining the endemic security risk in the extended enterprise ecosystem. This, together with the distributed environment, reinforces the need to rethink security approaches.

Fundamentally, the security problem has changed. While this change has been under way for some time, as demand for mobility and flexibility has fractured the corporate perimeter, the events of the past year have obliterated it entirely. Gone are the days when IT is focused on securing company-owned desktops for employees working on campus, connecting to corporate applications running on servers in a company-owned data centre. Today, remote workers are connecting to applications running on infrastructure that may or may not be managed, owned, or controlled by the company.

With so many new surfaces and different types of environments to defend, endpoint and network controls must be highly adaptable and flexible. This means organisations must deliver security that follows the assets being protected. For the majority, this means turning to the cloud.

Cloud-first security comes with a cautionary note

The shift to a cloud-first security strategy is universal in the drive to secure the cloud-first environment.  Nevertheless, this shift brings its own challenges. The cloud is not a security panacea and controls must be vetted by organisations because if adversaries want to attack at scale, the cloud is the place to do it. In fact, cloud-based attacks were the most commonly experienced attack type reported globally. Adversaries are prepared to piggyback on companies’ digital transformation, and it is certain that we’ll see more sophisticated cloud attacks over the coming year.

The last year has shown just how important cybersecurity is to the resilience and continuity of businesses worldwide. With this rise in profile, the industry is in a strong position to take this once-in-a-generation opportunity to move beyond the siloes of legacy approaches and roll out strategies where security is unified, context-centric and intrinsic.

For the data behind the insights, read the full VMware Global Security Insights report here.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Absence Management, News

Unlimited Holidays Prove a Huge Success for Preact During Seismic Shift in the Way People Work

An unlimited holidays scheme has been introduced by Microsoft Dynamics partner Preact as part of a range of new employee benefits, including a wellbeing allowance and flexible working to help with the stress of the pandemic.

The scheme has been introduced as part of a wide range of initiatives to reward the hard work of existing staff and attract the best calibre of new recruits.

“We’ve always wanted to differentiate ourselves as an employer and we’re in a very competitive space where there’s a huge skills shortage,” said Selom Bulla, Preact’s Managing Director.

“So we’ve not been afraid to introduce innovative modern policies as far as our employee wellbeing and work/life balance are concerned and to breed an organizational culture that really stands out.

“The unlimited leave policy is a great way to even up the work/life balance a little bit. We do push our team hard but in return we want to give them a lot.”

Selom, who began his career at Preact during a University work placement before quickly rising through the ranks and becoming the owner, said the policy was partly implemented as a result of the Covid pandemic which created “stress” among staff about when they would be able to take their holiday.

“Everyone thought it was too good to be true,” continued Selom.

“The only caveats are that provided it doesn’t disrupt our customers or the individual’s teams and provided they’re on target with their and the business’s objectives then we’re happy for them to take more than the standard amount of time off.

“We’re not putting a cap on this. It could be 30-40 days a year or even more. It’s based on merit and them displaying the values that we have as an organisation.”

Selom believes that in five years’ time unlimited holiday policies will be the norm among UK employers as people increasingly seek more flexible working conditions.

And it’s crucial for companies to be agile and adapt to new ways of working in order to stay competitive, he believes, especially when it comes to digital transformation.

“People are increasingly switched on to the benefits of digital transformation, especially post pandemic, having had their hands forced to a degree,” he said.

“That tidal wave has been coming, but as Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, said, we’ve probably seen about three years’ worth of progress in digital transformation in three months due to the pandemic.

“We’re essentially in the midst of a new industrial revolution.”

When it comes to attracting the right people to join the Preact team, Selom says that now more than ever companies must look at themselves and what they can offer.

“These days employment is just as much about the organisation making itself an appealing place for an individual to work as it is about the individual having the qualities and skills and the intellect required by the organisation,” he said.

“Interviews used to be very one way but nowadays the employee has choice, and they choose to exercise this very often when an alternative employer is a click away.”

The pandemic has seen huge changes in the way people work, something Selom has been keen to embrace as part of the company’s forward-thinking and progressive culture.

“At the beginning of the pandemic we made it our primary objective to ensure that our team all still had jobs when we came out of the other end.

“We were happy to accept that this may be at the expense of the organisation’s profitability.

“With that in mind we gave our staff assurances that our number one objective going into the pandemic was to ensure they all still had their jobs, and they could support their families and pay their mortgages.

“This engendered an awful lot of trust on the part of the team. We doubled down and all worked hard to do what was required to see our way through that period.

“As a result, we ended up by growing by in excess of 20%.”

The need for flexibility in the working day is at the heart of Preact’s culture, with team members able to choose whether to work from home in the office, or a mix of both.

Other perks include a newly launched ‘wellbeing allowance’ which employees can use to support their physical or mental health through a wide range of activities.

This sits alongside a ‘wellbeing day’ scheme which gives anyone who’s struggling the chance to take a day off at short notice.

Leanne Mennie, Preact’s HR & Operations Director, said: “As a company we’re really passionate about supporting our team in any way we can, and the wellbeing allowance is another way of doing this.

“The allowance is a catch-all. People get to choose what to spend it on so it’s completely unique to them and their individual needs.

“They could use it for whatever helps with their physical and mental wellness. It could be used to contribute to a gym membership or classes, or to buy books, magazines or a podcast subscription, or even a massage!”

“It could even be spent on a National Trust membership to help people get out and enjoy the countryside and support their mental and physical wellbeing in this way.”

Selom says this has the added advantage of helping to identify individuals who may need some additional support.

“We really do want to be an employer who puts our people at the forefront of our thinking,” he said.

“We genuinely believe that if we look after our people, they will in turn do a great job for us and look after our customers.

“That in turn will enhance customer loyalty and ultimately reflect on our bottom line.

“It might be unusual, but we believe that being an organisation with a greater sense of purpose is something that will help us attract the right people.

“We want to be a leader in our field, but we want to do that whilst putting people and purpose and values at the forefront of everything we do.

“Also central to what we do is understanding the needs of our customers and solving their problems while provide the best value.

“It’s not about making the most profit – our customers should feel that at the end of an engagement with us that we’ve provided value for them.

“I want to look back in five years’ or ten years’ time and really think that we made a difference.

“A difference in lives of employees, to the planet, to our customers and if we can look back and smile and think yes, we did do all of those things then we would have achieved a degree of success as far as I’m concerned.”

Preact helps clients improve customer relationships, accelerate digital transformation and increase productivity through Dynamics 365 and solutions built on the Microsoft Power Platform.

By collaborating with the teams at Microsoft, Preact maintains a strong expertise across the Microsoft platform to provide innovative solutions and drive customer success.

To find out more about Preact visit: https://www.preact.co.uk/

Climate, News

UK Deathcare sector urged to face up to its part in the environmental emergency

Medical advancements and better living standards have contributed to people living much longer, but with around 1% of the populace dying each year, for many years, the death care sector along with most of society has been unknowingly contributing to Global Warming and Climate Change.

As COP26 approaches and sustainability is brought to the top of the global agenda, industry experts are urging the deathcare sector to face up to the role it is playing in the escalating environmental emergency.

New information has emerged about the toxicity of materials involved in body disposal, from the ecological effects of embalming fluids and coffins, through to the effects of natural body composition and even the release of mercury from tooth fillings. What is clear is that the sector as a whole is facing a significant challenge when it comes to addressing and reversing its contribution to the Climate Crisis. 

The pressure to implement change is no longer coming from the smaller, eco-conscious subsections of the community alone.  As of 24th February, it was reported that 300 out of a total of 404 District, County, Unitary and Metropolitan Councils had so far declared a Climate Emergency. This includes 8 combined Authorities and City Regions.  As part of the declaration, aggressive timelines and plans are being put into place to address all of the areas under their control, including death care services. Time is of the essence too, with the vast majority of these plans set to be implemented by 2030. 

“Many death care professionals think that it is impossible to avoid the negative impacts on the environment completely, regardless of whether customers are opting for burials or cremations,” explains Scott Storey, Head of European Operations for OpusXenta, a global technology company serving the death care profession and its suppliers.

Earlier this year, Scott conducted a webinar ‘The Climate Emergency: What Changes Can Crematoria, Funeral Homes and Cemeteries Make to Protect Our Environment?, alongside  Executive Officer for the FBCA, Brendan Day and guests from the sector. In it they discussed the steps that Funeral Directors, Crematoria and Cemeteries can take to help limit their impact on the environment. 

These included:

  • Pollution reduction – a single cremation generates NOx (greenhouse gas) emissions equivalent to a car travelling 2,280 miles. Burials are also problematic, due to toxic chemicals which leach into the soil and have been detected in groundwater around cemeteries, posing a risk to public health.
  • Preserving Ecological Habitats – the intensive maintenance of lawns  and memorial plots in cemeteries and gardens of remembrance continues to damage the environment and the local ecology.
  • Recycling – there is more to be done than just composting of floral tributes or the reuse of plastic, including rainwater harvesting solar panels and even electrical car charging ports.
  • Energy Consumption – crematoria consume significant amounts of energy which often just escapes directly into the atmosphere, however there are ways in which some of this energy can be captured and reused.

Scott believes that the death care sector as a whole must accept the role it continues to play in the climate crisis. “Despite providing much needed and valued services to the communities they operate in, their impact on the environment continues to be damaging and unsustainable. By taking practical steps to fully assess the operation, identifying areas for improvement and actively seeking out solutions which benefit the environment, bereavement service professionals can ensure that the future death care sector delivers far more than it takes away,” he says.

“What is clear is that the most fundamental shift needs to come in mindset, outlook and company culture. It is only by changing your perspective and considering the environmental impact of all activities undertaken can we truly start to make the necessary changes, and see them permeate the entire death care sector,” concludes Scott. 

Executive Officer of the Federation, Brendan Day, said ‘the need for education across the sector and amongst the public is central to ensuring we can reduce the impact of funerals on the environment. To encourage this shift we now provide our members with a free Environmental Awareness Report when we carry out Compliance Inspections and we encourage them to adopt an Environmental policy to support their efforts to be more sustainable’. 

Marketing, PR and SEO, News, North of England

Yorkshire’s best! My Cloud Media wins the title of Best Corporate Website Building Company in Yorkshire

My Cloud Media is delighted to have won the title of Best Corporate Website Building Company in Yorkshire at the 2021 Corporate Vision Media Innovator Awards.

My Cloud Media builds corporate websites and online shops that enable manufacturers and tech companies to succeed online. Founded in 2011 by Tim Bennett, their Huddersfield-based team works with manufacturers, engineering and energy companies, trade associations, tech businesses, retailers, schools and colleges, charities, SMEs, regional councils, as well as lots of small local businesses. My Cloud Media has also worked with several well-known organisations including LucasFilm, Kodak, IWS and numerous Premier League Football Clubs.

Tim Bennett said, “I am delighted that My Cloud Media has been recognised in these prestigious industry awards. As a business, we are passionate about supporting businesses here in Yorkshire and helping them to thrive online. Particularly over the past 18 months, many companies have been forced to embrace digital marketing, whether they wanted to or not. We pride ourselves on working in partnership with our clients to deliver the support they need, building long-term customer relationships and becoming a fundamental part of their organisation. By providing ongoing support and helping them to recognise the benefits of e-commerce, content marketing, SEO, PPC, email marketing and social media, we can ensure that digital marketing becomes a real asset for their business.”

The Media Innovator Awards 2021 aim to acknowledge those prestigious businesses, and individuals who have excelled within the media industry, recognising those who keep up with the pace of change. Their research team carefully judge nominees based on a variety of criteria including evidence of innovation, business growth, business longevity, online reputation, business performance and client dedication.

To learn more, visit https://www.mycloudmedia.co.uk/

Investment News, News, Social Housing

SASC invests £2.65 million into Hull and East Yorkshire Mind to expand their accommodation services

Hull and East Yorkshire Mind (HEYM), a mental health charity and a Registered Provider of supported housing, has received its first social investment loan from Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC). The loan of £2.65 million will be used to purchase properties and improve the accommodation it provides for adults and young people experiencing poor mental health.

Founded in 1976, HEYM operates as part of the wider Mind Federation, supporting adults and young people locally across Hull and East Yorkshire. They provide a range of support to people experiencing mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and more complex needs, like bipolar disorder and psychosis.

Good quality housing is essential for good mental health and the charity provides a range of specialist housing services to meet an individual’s needs. HEYM housing services include short and long term housing options, a service for young people at risk of homelessness and a specialist provision for individuals leaving hospital.

Using the investment from SASC’s Social and Sustainable Housing (SASH) fund, the charity will purchase 21 two, three and four bed properties. This will increase its portfolio of rented and owned properties by 20%. With these additional beds, HEYM can support more people and respond more quickly to those in need of accommodation at short notice.

Some properties will be used by Wellington Care, a wholly owned subsidiary of the charity that provides tailored support for adults with severe, long-term mental health needs, and/or people who have additional needs alongside their mental health such as a learning disability, autism, or a physical health problem.

HEYM is the 11th charity to receive funding from SASH, which is a unique financial product designed with and for the social sector. It is neither a mortgage nor a lease but enables social sector organisations to own their own properties, giving them the flexibility to allow them to best serve their clients.

Emma Dallimore, Chief Executive, HEYM said: “Working with SASC and taking on social investment for the first time will be a game changer. We will own our own properties, have greater control and not be so beholden to landlords. This also means we can provide the standard and quality of accommodation our beneficiaries deserve and have more flexibility to offer bed spaces immediately to those in urgent need. Another benefit is that we will own these assets which will make us more financially secure and sustainable too.”

Ben Rick, Co-Founder and CEO of SASC said, “Since the pandemic there has been a growing demand placed on mental health charities like Mind. We are pleased to be supporting HEYM with finance to buy properties, allowing them to help more people with mental health issues. We hope to work with other charities is this space and enable them to provide safe, stable and appropriate housing in a financially sustainable way.”

For more information about Hull and East Yorkshire Mind visit www.heymind.org.uk.

For more information on SASC visit www.socialandsustainable.com

News

News from Stonewood: Celebrating Award Wins & Expansion Plans

The fast expanding Cotswolds-based construction group, Stonewood, is celebrating winning a host of industry awards as well as rapid expansion despite challenging economic times. With almost 50 years of construction expertise, family firm Stonewood comprises construction, development and design led businesses and employs 350 staff with a £70m turnover.

 

Award-Winning

Stonewood Builders has been crowned the Federation of Master Builders’ British Master Builder of the Year 2021 for its restoration of Codrington Court, a medieval hall house in South Gloucestershire. In addition to this, Stonewood Design, the associate architectural practice, has this year won a RIBA National Award as well as a RIBA South West Sustainability Award for the Story of Gardening Museum at The Newt In Somerset.

 

Housing Growth Partnership Funding

Stonewood Partnerships has been made one of only five partner developers across the UK in the Housing Growth Partnership’s new Regional Growth Initiative, giving the company access to a £300 million government-backed equity fund. New projects will meet a pre-agreed set of criteria, including build quality, type of land, sustainability and number of units, the Regional Growth Initiative will provide equity funding which will boost the company’s plans for expansion.

 

Earthstone Construction Success

The Stonewood Group’s own groundworks arm was started in 2020 during lockdown as a direct response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the company’s construction projects. Already Earthstone’s projected turnover is set to be £12m for 2021/22.

 

The Sunday Times’ 2021 Profit Track 100 List

The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 List ranks Britain’s top performing private companies with the fastest growing operating profits. Stonewood is listed at number 26 and references the launch of Earthstone Construction, hiring of 100 new staff since March 2020, the opening of a new office in Oxfordshire as well as the business’ focus on heritage and conservation covering construction, refurbishment, conservation projects and sustainable housing development.

 

Cirencester Sustainable Development Launch

This autumn, work has commenced on Orchard Field, a selection of 88 sustainable new homes south of Cirencester in the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside. Located in the village of Siddington, the sustainable development includes a mixture of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom homes with the first homes due to be released for sale before Christmas. The energy efficient homes have been designed using individual sealed timber panels filled with recycled glass fibre insulation to ensure the properties are draught free and means that the energy efficient air source heating and mechanical ventilation heat recovery systems will cut energy bills by up to 70% compared to standard new build homes.

 

Stonewood Chief Operating Officer Ben Lang comments: “Despite the most challenging economic time, we have been able to continue to grow the business without tempering our ambitions since lockdown. With a strong heritage and culture of family values, our well established, yet young, ambitious, and motivated team has been working collaboratively to forge strong long-term relationships and come up with solutions to problems together and that’s the bedrock of our company. These award wins really are testament to our honest, straightforward approach and, most importantly, on the results delivered.”

Marketing, PR and SEO, Sport

Marketing for small sports clubs: tools to help you raise awareness and gain followers online

When it comes to big sports clubs you are likely to have a paid, qualified Marketing Manager, a PR agency (or even your own in house PR) and a loyal army of responsive fans on social media, making it easy to raise funds, support local causes and of course, keep your followers up to date with what’s happening at the club.

For smaller sports clubs, it’s often a lot harder.  For a start, when working with volunteers, they may or may not have marketing skills and experience, they may or may not be familiar with social media and technology and you may not have the skills to draft a press release, keep a website up to date and engage your social audience.

However, whether you want to teach followers how to play bowling online, share golf swing tips with members when the weather is too grim to play, or just raise awareness of a new menu in the rugby club, just like small businesses, sports clubs can harness the power of digital marketing, you just need to learn the skills and take advantage of the free tools that are out there to help

Here’s our guide to some free resources that will help you engage current members and fans, as well as recruiting new ones:

Images

Before we talk about tools, it’s worth mentioning that your club should never just search for a pic on Google and just re-use it online. You won’t have the licence to use it and could face a massive demand for payment further down the line (requests for £3500 for a post-usage copyright fee are common, whereas buying the image in the first place would have been £40!).

We recommend using your own images or choosing free sources like Pixabay, Unsplash and  Pexels – these are completely free to use and often the images are great.

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all free and allow you to create an online presence for your club.  However, don’t sell 24/7- keep it sociable and fun, share relevant, interesting content that your followers want to read. You can share links to what’s happening in your sport at a higher level as well as club news, and share tips for players and fans.    If you want to add video to the mix, such as training tips and demonstrations, think about setting up a You Tube Channel or even Tiktok.

Canva

Like those ‘professional’ looking social media posts?

A great little tool called Canva is increasingly used to create them, and they offer a free version.  It makes it easy for even a novice to create perfect results, and it integrates with Buffer.  The image sizes for each platform are built in.

Buffer

If you don’t have much time, tool called Buffer makes it really easy to post to all your social networks at the same time.  There is a paid tier too, but you can you share content for up to three networks at the same time and they even have an app you can use on your phone!  It’s perfect for snapping and sharing pics and videos from training practice and sharing with your followers.

 Mailchimp / Constant Contact for Newsletters

Most sports clubs have a database of members and supporters.  However, if you want to send emails to them regularly, you legally now need to follow GDPR when contacting them.  This can present a challenge for small, untrained volunteers who may not have access to best practice legal advice.

Tools like Mailchimp and Constant Contact have GDPR policies built in, they usually offer a free tier (for example, Mailchimp lets you store up to 2000 emails and send once a month free of charge) and also will help you create a really attractive newsletter that your members will love.

A professional marketing and PR will always deliver the best results – but until your sports club can afford one, your volunteers can do a reasonable job with the help of these tools.

News

Supply chain crisis, Rising Business Costs, Highest Ever Fuel Prices, Minimum Wage increases and a shortage of talent – can tomorrow’s budget deliver support to the UK’s struggling SMEs?

Ahead of tomorrow’s budget, a new report in yesterday’s Financial Times reveals that the UK’s supply chain crisis is likely to continue into 2023 and beyond, according to a broad coalition of business groups, who warned that the UK’s 6 million SMEs would bear the brunt of a triple whammy of ongoing talent shortages, supply chain issues and wholesale price rises, alongside materials costs rising rapidly, freight costs up tenfold compared to pre-pandemic levels and rapidly rising inflation, most notably in the food and drink sectors.

Businesses will also be hit with an increase to their staffing budget, with new Minimum Wage Rises – but with rising costs across the board, what does the UK need from the Chancellor tomorrow?

Minimum wage increases set to rise from 1 April:

National Living Wage for over-23s: From £8.91 to £9.50 an hour
National Minimum Wage for those aged 21-22: From £8.36 to £9.18
National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds: From £6.56 to £6.83
National Minimum Wage for under-18s: From £4.62 to £4.81
The Apprentice Rate: From £4.30 to £4.81

“Treasury Wallowing in a £1bn VAT Bonanza from Drivers”

The FairFuel Campaign has called for more support for drivers in tomorrow’s budget, noting that increase in fuel prices means the Chancellor could cut Fuel Duty by 3p per litre and still benefit from extra VAT pouring in. A spokesman called for a fuel duty cut tomorrow:

“Pump prices have increased by 28p in the last 12 months giving an extra 4.66p per litre to the Exchequer. With 40bn litres of petrol and diesel sold each year that means an extra £1.86bn of VAT based on current pump prices. But by extrapolation the gradual increase in pump prices, and because businesses can reclaim VAT costs, we have calculated the extra VAT windfall to the Treasury is closer to £1bn.

“We are hearing that Fuel Duty is to be frozen in the October 27 Budget, for the 11th year in succession. That will be a relief, not a celebration. Drivers being attacked by Clean Air Zones, LTNs, notably in London, the threat of the 2030 fossil fuel ban, the painful level of pump prices and being blamed for the environmental ills of the planet warrants a cut in Fuel Duty.”

How Heavily are UK Drivers Taxed compared to other nations?

 Image source: FairFuelUK Campaign

A spokesman for The FairFuel Campaign continued:

“In the last few days, over 40,000 FairFuelUK supporters have emailed the Chancellor and his Treasury Ministers calling for a significant cut in Fuel Duty. With the shock increase in National Insurance, the loss of £20 Universal Credit, the massive increase in energy prices, oil smashing past $86 and pump prices at their highest ever, any increase in Fuel Duty would be economically irresponsible, needless and a huge betrayal of newly won Tory converts outside of London.”

“The Treasury knows full well that cutting Fuel Duty stimulates the Economy. In 2014 they said: “…. cutting duty will increase GDP in the long-term, business profits, wages, and consumption. And as such, all these positive fiscal stimuli will add to higher tax revenues….” In other words, cutting Fuel Duty is an economic stimulus!”

“Rishi, please don’t be conned by your urban based well paid special advisors, who see their fashionable green propaganda to justify a fuel tax hike, and to subsidise EV sales. Have the leadership mettle and wisdom to help the world’s already highest taxed motorists, give them a break, at least maintain the freeze, but even better use the extra VAT you’ve enjoyed cutting Fuel Duty big.”

What do businesses want to hear tomorrow?

Ahead of tomorrow’s budget we spoke to prominent business leader, Steve Herbert who is Head of Benefits Strategy at Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing to gauge his feelings on what the chancellor could offer in addition to the already reported above-average increase in the National Minimum Wage – to support the businesses already hard hit.   Steve said:

“The above inflation increase to minimum wage requirements will be rightly welcomed by employees, and for those on Universal Credit will help offset the loss of the temporary £20 per week uplift which ended earlier this month.  It will also help many low-paid households meet the rapidly increasing cost of domestic fuel and petrol prices.

“But from an employer’s perspective this announcement adds to the business and employment costs at what is likely to be an uncertain period for many businesses post-pandemic.

 “Employers were already braced for a significant increase in employer National Insurance contributions from next April, and those in low-paying industry sectors will now also have to absorb an above inflation increase to salary roll at exactly the same time. 

 “This may hit hard those sectors that have been struggling the most during the pandemic, including agriculture and hospitality.  Many in these sectors have yet to return to  pre-pandemic levels of output, and some will also be working with more limited cash reserves and debt costs as a result of the last 18 months of on-off pandemic restrictions too.  And of course businesses of all sizes are facing sharp increases in other areas, and most notably the cost of fuel.

“So it will be interesting to see if these additional business and employment costs are offset by other measures announced by the Chancellor on Wednesday.”

News

HelpSystems Continues Cybersecurity Portfolio Acceleration with PhishLabs Acquisition

HelpSystems continues its recent cybersecurity portfolio evolution with the acquisition of Charleston headquartered Digital Risk Protection company, PhishLabs.

Citing that the PhishLabs team and solutions would join HelpSystems’ growing cybersecurity offering and pair well with its email security, vulnerability management and data protection solutions, Kate Bolseth, CEO at HelpSystems stated “PhishLabs’ ongoing intelligence collection, curation, and threat mitigation safeguards organisations’ critical digital assets and provides peace of mind for customers across the globe. We are thrilled to be welcoming the PhishLabs team and their expertise into the HelpSystems family.”

HelpSystems’ 5th acquisition in the data security and cybersecurity sectors in 2021 shows the organisation is fast becoming a major player in the space. With these new technologies being complementary of the incumbent products in the HelpSystems portfolio, it presents a very attractive proposition for current and future customers.