At the time of writing, coronavirus infections are continuing to decrease around the UK, fewer people are testing positive, the R number is falling and over a quarter of the UK population have had their first does of the COVID vaccine – including the most vulnerable. The Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to publish a roadmap for the easing of restrictions in the UK; and whilst most experts are warning against unlocking too rapidly, ministers are under pressure to re-open schools, shops and the hospitality and tourism industries. If all the analysis is correct, and the predictions are accurate,…

On Wednesday 24th February 2021, The Great British Expos invited business owners and entrepreneurs to the North West Expo Manchester to take the virtual stage and tell their inspiring stories to hundreds of SMEs. As well as listening to journeys of struggle and adversity, the audience of small and medium enterprises were able to pose questions and ask advice to the keynote speakers. Guests included Nyasha Gwatidzo, who explained how she built a £180 million business empire from nothing, and is now developing a billion-dollar fund for women in Africa. “If you are passionate, money will follow.” Also speaking was…

The return to school for all pupils is being prioritised due to the significant and proven impact caused by being out of school to the health and wellbeing of children and young people. The government has been clear that the return to face-to-face education is the national priority and that 2 weeks’ notice would be given ahead of any change. All students will begin to return to face-to-face education on 8th March with the following testing measures in place: All primary school children will return to school on Monday 8th March. Primary school staff will continue to take 2 rapid COVID-19 tests each week at home. All secondary school…

Referrals increase as more children require foster care across the UK. Since the COVID 19 pandemic hit the UK and subsequent lockdowns were imposed, the foster care sector has had a number of big challenges to manage. Many applications from potential carers were put on hold, with the number of people wanting to become foster carers reducing. For many reasons fostering agencies have seen increases in the number of children that require placements and are working hard to meet the increasing demand. These changes have caused big problems for agencies and have required constant adaption to the way they work,…

Boris Johnson has announced his roadmap for leaving lockdown, and praised the resolve of the British public in following the restrictions and assisting in the reduction of the COVID-19 spread. Each step of the plan will be assessed against four tests before the restrictions ease: The vaccine deployment programme continues successfully. Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated. Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS. New variants of the virus do not fundamentally change the risk of lifting lockdown. There will be a…

A Devon-based textiles manufacturer has proved that their parachute fabric is the “lightest, strongest and most resilient” by safely landing NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. On the 30th of July 2020, the Perseverance rover was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, to begin it’s momentous seven-month, 480-million-kilometre journey to the red planet. At 20:55 on Thursday 18th February, that journey ended as it’s wheels touched down successfully on the surface with aid from a British-made, heat-resistant parachute.  Heathcoat Fabrics, the producer of the revolutionary material which was transformed into the single parachute carried aboard the rover,…

The pressure facing SMEs this year is widely known, and they are looking for ways to improve their cash flow and payment decisions. Data analytics is a hidden gem that many SMEs are not tapping into. Smart data-driven decision-making could potentially be transformational for small businesses owners, writes Neo’s CEO, Laurent Descout. The ability to maintain positive cash flow is one of the biggest challenges SMEs struggling with during the COVID-19 pandemic. In times like these, the ability to monitor outgoings versus income, make payments to staff and suppliers, be paid on time and preserve a healthy order book of…

Allica Bank – the bank committed to empowering established small and medium-sized businesses – has announced it is increasing the maximum loan size for its commercial mortgages from £2 million to £3 million. It is hoped the move will help Allica Bank’s broker panel serve even more of their clients. The increase comes in response to the bank’s quarterly broker survey in January this year, which polled 131 of the bank’s broker panel on their experiences of using the bank. The SME bank, which won the 2020 NACFB Commercial Mortgage Lender of the Year Award, also announced a host of enhancements to its fee structure. The…

The clothing will be distributed through local Home-Starts across ten key locations in the UK, where many vulnerable communities have been affected most during the pandemic. Fuel poverty has become a growing issue for struggling families in recent months. With many people forced to stay at home during lockdown, this has led to an inevitable increase in heating costs, which many simply cannot afford. John Lewis will donate clothing from its babywear, childrenswear, womenswear and menswear product ranges to help keep families stay warm during the third and coldest lockdown. The support is part of the John Lewis Partnership’s Give…

The West of England Combined Authority is bidding to host a Great Western Freeport that could create up to 50,000 jobs in the region and 90,000 nationally. The Combined Authority has put together the bid – which submitted to Government on Friday 5 February – working with public and private sector partners, including large-scale businesses across the aerospace and nuclear sector, the region’s universities and colleges, innovation centres, local authorities and business networks. A Great Western Freeport would be based around Bristol Port, the UK’s most centrally located deep water port, with additional tax and customs sites at Avonmouth and…

London, UK, ZEDRA, the fast-growing global specialist in Active Wealth, Global Expansion and Fund Services, today announces the acquisition of Inside Pensions, the UK’s leading independent occupational pension scheme governance support provider. The transaction is in line with the firm’s aim to diversify its service offering and expand its presence in the pension services space. Established in 2008, Inside Pensions provides a dedicated and experienced resource to assist trustee boards of pension trusts to run their schemes efficiently and effectively by ensuring compliant board administration and best practice governance. The firm has a portfolio of blue-chip clients and operates from St.…

Qualified nutritional therapist Caroline Peyton of Peyton Principles has pledged to support community charity The Churn Project for the rest of 2021.  Caroline, who has run clinics in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire for 11 years will be undertaking a series of activities to support the work carried out by The Churn team who provide services for hundreds of local people in the Cirencester area, reducing isolation, promoting wellbeing and creating opportunities to learn and achieve. “This year I wanted to give something back to the community,” Caroline said. “In what has been a very challenging year for all of us, I’m…

UK nutrition and ‘free-from’ brand, Creative Nature, has welcomed Trudi Austin to the team to spearhead sales and to embrace new markets in 2021 and beyond. Trudi (48) has an impressive 26 year career across the food and drinks industry, specialising in the growth and development of brands including Birds Eye, Britvic and Lucozade. In recent years Trudi has moved into the SME business area to utilise her strong FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) background and skills to develop both UK and overseas business across numerous channels.  “Julianne Ponan, the CEO of Creative Nature, is inspirational not only in developing…

Commenting on Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement of new ‘pay-as-you-grow’ repayment terms for Bounce Bank loans scheme, Rob Straathof, CEO of embedded business finance platform Liberis, stated: “We support Chancellor Sunak’s move towards providing SMEs with more flexible loan repayment terms for the Bounce Back loans scheme. This move will surely be received positively by those SMEs struggling to start repayment whilst the UK economy remains in lockdown. While this is a welcome announcement, the Chancellor should consider further support for SMEs with flexible payments based on SME revenues. Based on Liberis’ data over more than a decade providing SME financing…

Grandfather Tony Campbell has taken his 20-year-old maths toolkit which has helped Special Needs Education professionals nationwide, and adapted it for home-schooling. The new “Maths Home Schooling Kit” which can be ordered online contains flexible tables allowing primary school children up to Year 7 to grasp the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication and fractions. Like many parents and grandparents, Tony, who lives in Northampton, is concerned about how the closure of schools will impact on children’s education. “I’m seeing the challenges home-schooling is having for parents and children – even with my own grandchildren. My grown-up daughter, Jemma, is dyslexic and she…

The British Business Bank, the UK’s economic development bank, today announces further details of Pay As You Grow, which helps UK smaller businesses that have taken out a Covid-19 emergency Bounce Back Loan to manage their cashflow and have a better chance of getting back to growth. Originally announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in September 2020, Pay As You Grow (PAYG) will enable businesses who have started repaying their Bounce Back Loans to: request an extension of their loan term to 10 years from six years, at the same fixed interest rate of 2.5% reduce their monthly repayments…