During the current coronavirus outbreak we asked one of our Keynote speakers at the forth coming SME Today Online Expo what advice he would give business owners during this time.  So, as we are all in lockdown we have time to reflect on the previous year. I can honestly tell you, for me, 2019 has been my favourite year since 2010. Lots went wrong, it did, that’s life, that’s business. But so much went right. Probably the best thing is I feel wonderfully content and happy in my own skin, with the person I am.  I’ve achieved more than a…

The government have introduced a new Kickstart Scheme in Great Britain, a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality 6-month work placements aimed at those aged 16-24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment. Funding available for each job will cover 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus the associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions. The new scheme will see hundreds of thousands of state-funded jobs created for 16-to-24-year-olds who are currently claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment. Those…

The Government is urging shoppers to visit their local high street and support businesses during Shop Local Week (10-16 August), an incentive designed to help local businesses rebuild from the coronavirus pandemic. Shop Local Week is part of the government’s Enjoy Summer Safely campaign, and is encouraging more people to return to shopping locally, in a way that is safe and gives them confidence. The British high street is confronting seismic changes, which have been accelerated by Covid-19. Shopping local helps support the local economy, creates jobs and boosts local communities. Local businesses have brought in a wide range of…

Highways England has today announced a £240 million contract with Amey to maintain its major structures in the south-west – the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge, M48 Severn Bridge and M5 Avonmouth Bridge. Following an 18-month procurement and tender process, Highways England has awarded a 15-year Specialist Bridge Inspection and Maintenance (SBIM) contract to infrastructure, highways and public services provider Amey. The contract, worth £16 million per year, will see Amey maintain the three major structures from the end of November, and this will include structural inspections, routine maintenance and major renewal schemes. The three structures are vital to the…

John Lewis & Partners has announced that, following a successful trial, it is rolling out a new progressive supplier engagement programme called ‘Better Jobs’ to all of its 120 UK manufacturing suppliers. The aim of the Better Jobs Programme, is to create more rewarding and enriching jobs for the people who make John Lewis own brand products.  The ethos of the programme is based upon a key principle which the Partnership was founded upon: ‘the purpose of the business is the happiness of all partners through their worthwhile and satisfying employment in a successful business’. John Lewis developed the new…

Sir Cary Cooper is Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at the Manchester Business School and President of the CIPD. He is the author of more than 120 books relating to workplace health and few people have more pertinent insights into the post-Covid 19 working world than him. Join us to discuss what the “new normal” at work will look like, and what will change as a result of this health crisis and the ensuing recession. TeamDoctor is delighted to welcome Professor Cooper and we look forward to exploring the ways in which change will be forced upon us. Following…

New package of measures and ‘Better Health’ campaign announced to help people lose weight. Obesity is one of the biggest health crises the country faces. Almost two-thirds (63%) of adults in England are overweight or living with obesity – and 1 in 3 children leave primary school overweight or obese, with obesity-related illnesses costing the NHS £6 billion a year. The urgency of tackling the obesity time bomb has been brought to the fore by evidence of the link to an increased risk from COVID-19. Living with excess weight puts people at greater risk of serious illness or death from…

Spain was removed from the travel corridor list from midnight on the 25th July. All travellers arriving into England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from Spain will need now need to self-isolate. People currently on holiday in Spain are encouraged to follow the local rules, return home as normal and check the FCO’s travel advice pages on GOV.UK for further information. FCO is advising against all but essential travel to mainland Spain – this advice was updated on Monday 27th July to also cover the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. The Joint Biosecurity Centre, together with Public Health England, have updated their coronavirus…

GKN Aerospace has taken ownership of its new Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Bristol after the keys were officially handed over by developers St Francis Group. The new GTC – funded by a £17m commitment from GKN Aerospace and £15m commitment from the UK Government, through the Aerospace Technology Institute. The facility will be fully open and home to 300 engineers in H2 2021. The new GTC will be GKN Aerospace’s UK technology hub and represents a major commitment to developing the sustainable aerospace technology of the future. The centre will focus on additive manufacturing (AM), advanced composites, assembly and industry 4.0 processes to enable the high rate production of aircraft…

Over the last few months, Cotswold Wildlife Park has welcomed many new arrivals but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, they were born when the Park was temporarily closed to the public. Now the Park has re-opened, visitors can now see the youngsters for the first time. Back in March, keepers discovered Porcupines babies (also known as Porcupettes) running and squeaking at each other on their daily morning checks. This is only the third time in the Park’s fifty-year history this species have successfully bred. The twins share their enclosure with an ever-growing group of inquisitive Dwarf Mongooses, who…

Millions of people could be vaccinated against coronavirus as the UK secures early access to 90 million doses of promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Announced by Business Secretary Alok Sharma today (Monday 20 July), the government has agreed significant partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and vaccine companies BioNTech/Pfizer and Valneva that are developing innovative new vaccines to protect people against coronavirus. The government has also secured access to treatments containing COVID-19-neutralising antibodies from AstraZeneca to protect those who cannot receive vaccines such as cancer and immunocompromised patients. As a result of these partnerships, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could have access to enough…

People using pubs, restaurants and cafes will soon have greater freedom to choose non-smoking outdoor areas following Government plans announced last week. More and more people are eating outside as lockdown eases, & the Government wants non-smokers to be better protected. Under the Business and Planning Bill, the Government had already set out a range of measures to help vital hospitality businesses safely reopen and get staff back to work by making it quicker, easier and cheaper to operate outside. The Government will not ban outdoor smoking. Since the existing ban was introduced, businesses have invested heavily in their outdoor…

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released a new report which has revealed the number of people in the UK who are now unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has risen to 649,000. The data is from March to June, and with further job cuts being announced every day in a wide range of sectors – most significantly, across the retail industry the effects of COVID-19 are being felt in the job market. As a result, the number of people claiming work-related benefits rose to more than 2.6 million in the same time period. With many businesses…

With businesses across the country now being being encouraged to reopen workplaces to employees who cannot work from home, HR will be required to manage the needs of employees with particular circumstances that make it difficult or impossible for them to return to work, such as health concerns, childcare or transport issues. Applying a blanket approach to all employees will not be appropriate, and a return to work challenge for HR managers will need to be addressed and reassure a possible anxious workforce of the new “norm”.  To top it all off, HR Managers will be expected to forecast and…

While the UK Government has stated that those who can work from home should continue to do so for as long as possible, it has also reinforced the message that if people are unable to work from home, they should be encouraged to go to work – provided they can follow the now familiar health and social distancing guidelines which have been drummed into us all from March. It is time to plan for when things start returning back to normal – whatever normal will be. Returning to work after Covid-19 will be different and will take some adapting to…

The Government announced today that it is to relax planning legislation to make it easier to construct large batteries to store renewable energy from solar and wind farms across the UK. Removing barriers for energy storage projects, which are discouraging bolder investment decisions in larger battery facilities, could treble the number of batteries serving the electricity grid. It will help bring about storage cells that are 5 times bigger than those currently available. The UK has the largest installed capacity of offshore wind farms in the world, however, because the availability and speed of the wind is not constant, energy…