“A four-day working week six-month pilot programme has been launched in the UK. Participating companies and organisations will trial a four-day week with no loss in pay for employees based on the principle of the 100:80:100 model. This entails 100 per cent of the pay for 80 per cent of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain at least 100 per cent productivity.” Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/358xqI4 What do you think about flexible working? Do you currently work a 5-day week? Do you think it would make any difference to your productivity if you worked 4 days a week?
Tiger Eye are delighted to announce that Norfolk and Waveney Mind has been selected as the organisation’s charity of the year for 2022. Following a staff vote, Norfolk and Waveney Mind was selected for its vital work in the local community, providing advice and support for those experiencing problems related to mental health. Norwich-based IT specialists Tiger Eye are passionate about supporting positive work-place mental health and wellbeing and have received a number of awards and accreditations for their internal wellbeing scheme. The organisation hopes to make a difference to the lives of people within Norfolk and Waveney by supporting the charity with their vital work. Whilst part of the Mind network, Norfolk and Waveney Mind are an independent charity who raise their own funds. Tiger Eye will fundraise for the local mental health charity throughout the calendar year through a number of events and activities and look forward to generating crucial funds for the cause where possible. Julie Wilson, Admin Services Director at Tiger Eye, added: “As a business, we aim to create an environment where staff feel able to talk openly about mental health, encouraging positive mental health through the appointment of our mental health champions team, as well as the delivery of awareness training and workshops. It is no surprise that Norfolk and Waveney Mind was chosen as our charity of the year, as the business’s values are shared by our staff, and we are all looking forward to supporting this charity over the coming months.’ Norfolk and Waveney Mind support those within the community with their mental health and wellbeing from prevention support to crisis support. The charity offers an extensive range of mental health services, along with associated training, advice, and information, working to reduce the stigma associated with mental health, support people in recovery, and champion better services for all. To learn more about Norfolk and Waveney Mind click here. To learn more about Tiger Eye click here.
Ignite your workforce and start a community engagement project this year! Community engagement takes a strategic approach to the interactions and relationships between your business and the local community to try to influence outcomes for both. When you engage with your local community, it can help you develop a more socially responsible business and make more informed decisions. Get in touch to arrange a call to explore further: sarah@ignitepeoplesolutions.co.uk
Greater Anglia is adding more weekday services from Monday 7 February in anticipation of more people travelling to work in the wake of Plan B restrictions being lifted. More trains will run on all the main routes into London Liverpool Street from Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford, Southend Victoria, Cambridge, Bishop’s Stortford and Hertford East. The intercity service between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London Liverpool Street will become half hourly for most of the day, only operating hourly for parts of the evening. A normal regional weekday service will operate, including four additional peak services on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth line, which will be reinstated. The Stansted Express service between London and Stansted Airport will continue with mostly two trains an hour but with three trains an hour at certain times. The company has seen a steady increase in passenger numbers since the Government lifted Plan B restrictions – including removing work from home guidance – with numbers expected to grow in coming weeks as companies prepare to welcome workers back into offices. Greater Anglia’s commuter numbers are expected to reflect widely reported changes to working patterns, with people doing a mixture of working from home and going into the office, and mid-week days being the most popular for travel. Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We’re pleased to be to welcoming customers back, whether they’re travelling to work or school and college, or for a fun leisure trip. We’re aiming to match the number of services we run to the number of passengers using them. “We want to provide a safe, reliable and punctual service for our customers, but we also want to provide the best possible value for taxpayers as we are now funded entirely by the government and so ultimately taxpayers. “Throughout the pandemic, we have altered our services depending on passenger numbers and government guidance. “Although like everyone we hope the pandemic is nearing an end and that we are approaching a more normal period, we will continue to monitor passenger numbers and make any further adjustments to our services if necessary. “It’s safe to travel on our trains, even when it’s busy, as we have good ventilation on board and we will continue with our enhanced cleaning and sanitisation. “We’re asking passengers to continue to wear face coverings on our trains and stations, following government advice to wear them in busy places. “We look forward to seeing more and more people travelling by train again over the months ahead and to providing the best possible service for them.” Greater Anglia’s weekend timetable remains unchanged. Passengers can check train times on the Greater Anglia website. Anyone who has tickets for a train which is no longer running as a result of these timetable changes can catch the service either immediately before or after it or can apply for a refund free of charge.
Norfolk Blood Bikes is the 100% volunteer out-of-hours urgent transport service to the NHS in Norfolk. One of the most important but less well-known aspects of our work is the collection and delivery of Donated Human Milk for poorly babies which we do in partnership with the Human Milk Foundation (HMF). Often, we will visit donating mums in the community and deliver the precious cargo to the HMF storage Hubs in Norwich or Harpenden, we also deliver direct to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) when the need is urgent. We need help The 22 special boxes we have for this task are no longer fit for purpose. We need to replace these with Clinically safe and approved boxes to continue this vital work. Each new box will cost £100. Like so many charities, our fundraising has been massively hit by the Pandemic and we are only just getting back on our feet with this, we are still using up our reserves to stay on the road. Our appeal Is there an organisation out there that would consider sponsoring the purchase of the new boxes? Thank you for any help you can give. Contact Bill Farrow, Chair, Norfolk Blood Bikes: chairman@norfolkbloodbikes.org.uk 0300 365 1909
Norwich-based print and point-of-sale firm BDH Tullford has announced plans to suggest sustainable material options as standard on all new quotations.
As a family-owned business, BDH Tullford is passionate about protecting the environment so it can be enjoyed by future generations. Its facilities on Europa Way in Norwich already hold ISO:14001 accreditation for its environmental credentials, while the team constantly searches the market for high-quality, sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics and harsh chemicals.
Plus, thanks to strong relationships with manufacturers and suppliers around the world, they’re always in the know about innovative new developments, which means they can offer these as soon as they become available.
As a result, from January 2022, they will give customers the option of a sustainable alternative when quoting for work. In doing so, the company hopes to help customers to understand the options available and the cost implications for their businesses.
BDH Tullford works with leading suppliers and can already provide alternatives to many single-use plastics. For instance, plastic foam boards (such as foam PVC) can be replaced by recycled or recyclable alternatives, while PVC banners can be replaced by recyclable polypropylene or polyester banners.
Plus, the company regularly invests in the latest technologies to ensure that it has a minimal impact on the environment. Its curing machines, for instance, now use low-energy LED lights, while lithographic processes have been water and chemical-free for more than a decade.
In order to offer a truly holistic service, the company can also provide advice on the disposal of products. If you’re unsure whether an item can be recycled, or what the different symbols mean, the team is on hand to answer your questions.
Director James Fox says: “Sustainability is more than a buzzword to us. We believe that everyone has a part to play in protecting the environment and by providing our clients with a range of alternatives, we can help them do just that.”
Speak to BDH Tullford about sustainable printing today
Give the team a call on 01603 620780 to find out more or email hello@bdhtullford.co.uk to arrange a call.
Welcome to the Farms and Landed Estates review of the year 2021. This year the team discuss the challenges of 2021, climate change and taking back control, with insights into 2022 and beyond. Download the Farms and Landed Estates Review of the year here
Barnham Broom will be supporting, local mental health charity, Norfolk and Waveney Mind throughout 2022, as they name them as their charity of the year. Norfolk and Waveney Mind offer an extensive range of mental health services, along with associated training, advice, and information. They work to reduce the stigma associated with mental health, support people in recovery, and champion better services for all. Health and wellbeing have been a strong focus at Barnham Broom, particularly with their recent campaign Time For You, which invited individuals to the resort to relax, feel at ease and prioritise themself and their own time. This strong focus on wellbeing was one of the many reasons Barnham Broom wanted to support Norfolk and Waveney Mind. Time to Talk – coffee and cake at Barnham Broom On Thursday 3rd February 10am-1pm, Barnham Broom will be supporting Norfolk and Waveney Mind by hosting a bake sale and coffee morning in their Sports Bar. Guests and members are invited along to purchase a slice of cake, cupcake, or sweet treat, along with a hot beverage, and have open conversations about mental health. Mental health affects a lot of people and it’s important to take Time to Talk about this. Every penny raised from the bake sale will go to Norfolk and Waveney Mind, along with 10% from hot drink sales in The Sports Bar. For more information about Norfolk and Waveney Mind and how they can help to support, please visit: www.norfolkandwaveneymind.org.uk/ Or, for more information about Barnham Broom visit: www.barnham-broom.co.uk
Greater Anglia took hundreds of thousands of customers to work, home and leisure destinations in 2021 – but which routes were the most punctual? Over the past 12 months, Greater Anglia has seen record-breaking punctuality across all of its routes – recording its best ever annual average punctuality of 94.81 per cent. The company runs a wide variety of routes and services from London Liverpool Street to Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. These range from the busy London Liverpool Street to Norwich, Cambridge North and Southend Victoria services to more rural lines such as Ipswich to Lowestoft or Norwich to Great Yarmouth. Greater Anglia can now reveal which were the top ten most punctual routes in 2021. PositionRoutePercentage of trains arriving on time (annual average) 1 Norwich to Great Yarmouth 98.35 per cent 2 Marks Tey to Sudbury 97.48 per cent 3 Norwich to Lowestoft 97.33 per cent 4 Norwich to Sheringham 97.16 per cent 5 Ipswich to Felixstowe 96.28 per cent 6 London Liverpool Street to Southend Wickford to Southminster 95.67 per cent 7 London Liverpool Street to Harwich Town 95.56 per cent 8 Norwich to Cambridge / Stansted Airport 95.48 per cent 9 London Liverpool Street to Ipswich / Norwich 94.76 per cent 10 Ipswich to Lowestoft 94.65 per cent Other routes also saw high percentages of punctuality, including London Liverpool Street to Hertford East and Stratford to Meridian Water attaining 94.67 per cent along with Ipswich to Cambridge and Peterborough at 93.77 per cent. The London Liverpool Street to Colchester, Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton routes, meanwhile, achieved 94.54 per cent. The London Liverpool Street to Cambridge and Ely along with Stratford to Bishop’s Stortford services had 93.35 per cent punctuality while London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport came in at 92.02 per cent. Overall, punctuality on the West Anglia routes – Cambridge/Bishops Stortford/Hertford East to London Liverpool Street was 94.01 per cent, while on Great Eastern routes – Norwich/Ipswich, Colchester/Clacton/Southend/Harwich/Braintree to London Liverpool Street – it was 95.16 per cent, Norwich- London Liverpool Street Intercity performance 94.82 per cent and overall rural route performance was 96.09 per cent. Jay Thompson, Greater Anglia’s train service delivery director, said: “These fantastic punctuality results are a reflection of the huge amount of hard work that has been put in from all at Greater Anglia, alongside our colleagues from Network Rail, to keep performance high “We are continually refining our processes and thinking about how we can reduce delay to our customers, never resting on our laurels to ensure that our trains are always as on time as possible.” Greater Anglia continues to work hand-in-hand on a joint punctuality drive with Network Rail, as they have for many years. This ensures the focus on driving down delays remains high with joint performance initiatives being introduced, including continuing weekly meetings to analyse even the smallest of delays to see how the company can avoid them in the future. There have also been added benefits from the impact of Greater Anglia’s new trains, which offer both performance and service resilience improvements, as well as further work from Network Rail on infrastructure reliability. Brand new regional bi-mode, intercity electric and Stansted Express electric trains were all already in service by the start of 2021. Meanwhile, 2021 also saw more new five-carriage commuter trains, built by Alstom, introduced onto the network that come with fast Wi-Fi, air conditioning, underfloor heating and a wheelchair area and accessible toilet on every train. The trains also come with space for bikes and new improved passenger information screens. The trains and their modern systems will lead to greater reliability improvements as more are gradually introduced and the older trains from the 1980s are removed from service. In its continual drive for improved performance, Greater Anglia and the rest of the rail industry will also be reporting more stringent ‘on time’ punctuality measurements in the future, based on punctuality at all stations along a route rather than the end destination These provide a tougher and even broader measure than the PPM figure which measures a train arriving at its final destination within five minutes of the scheduled time or ten minutes for long distance services. Greater Anglia has a range of measures in place to keep people safe while travelling including good ventilation with either air conditioning which sucks in fresh air every six to nine minutes or opening windows in its older trains, as well as doors which open at stations. The company is continuing with enhanced cleaning and sanitisation paying particular attention to high touch areas such as push buttons and grab handles. The company is thanking the high number of customers who are wearing face coverings on trains and stations, which is once again mandatory.
‘Divorce Day’: Top family lawyer welcomes biggest shake-up in divorce laws for 50 years
Removing conflict will make it simpler and quicker to agree financial settlements and arrangements for children.
‘Divorce Day’ this year may well turn out to be 6 April, when no-fault divorce law comes into force, rather than 10th January.
A top divorce lawyer has welcomed changes in the law that will make no-fault divorces a reality this year, saying it will make it easier to agree lasting and fair financial settlements and arrangements for children, and reduce costs for couples. The long-awaited Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will come into force on 6 April 2022, introducing no-fault divorce in England and Wales. The new legislation brings the law up to date, enabling divorce to be granted without any requirement to apportion blame for the breakdown of the marriage, thereby making proceedings far less contentious. The Act is the biggest shake up of divorce laws in England and Wales for nearly 50 years. Currently divorcing couples must rely on one of five options if they wish to prove to the Court their marriage has broken down. Most couples are left relying on adultery or the other party’s unreasonable behaviour unless they have been prepared to wait two years to divorce by consent or desertion or alternatively after a period of separation of five years. This system of ‘blame’ often leads to a further deterioration of relations in already difficult circumstances, which then adversely impacts the chances of divorcing parties amicably agreeing on other matters such as financial negotiations and arrangements for their children. Under the new legislation, couples will have the option to submit a joint application for divorce, this should also lead to a more constructive process. The option for a respondent to oppose a divorce will be removed. This will put an end to lengthy and costly proceedings that often result in increased acrimony. As a result, the traditional ‘Divorce Day’ (the first working Monday in January every year), may well be usurped this year as ‘the busiest day for family lawyers’, as couples wait for the new framework on 6th April. Changes introduced by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will also apply to the dissolution of civil partnerships. Sally Harris, family law expert at Howes Percival explained, “Current divorce legislation came into force in 1973 when society was very different than today. Family law professionals have long been campaigning for a simpler, less acrimonious route to divorce. “The much-needed new no-fault system removes conflict in the divorce process at the very earliest point. Lawyers will no longer be required to negotiate and draft allegations to go into a divorce petition. Hopefully, this will provide couples with the ability to be more conciliatory and maintain a positive relationship for the future as far as possible. “Financial settlements and arrangements for children will probably be unaltered, but the way forward may be easier without the parties being potentially involved in unpleasant and often hotly disputed allegations of blame. A no-fault system is also likely to speed the process for divorcing couples and reduce costs compared with the current approach. Divorcing and separating is never easy, therefore shortening the length of time it takes is likely to be beneficial for divorcing couples and their families.” Sally Harris concluded, “Whether couples should wait to divorce until the new rules come into force in the Spring is entirely dependent on their current situation. Those who don’t need to divorce immediately have the option of waiting to proceed under the new rules. Their divorce can then avoid the need to apportion blame. However, there may be circumstances where it is not possible either for practical or legal reasons to wait. Those couples have little option other than to navigate their way through the current blame-based system.” Howes Percival’s Family Law team provides a fully integrated and comprehensive service for high-net-worth individuals and family businesses. The team works closely with other legal experts within the firm to advise on all aspects of relationships and family matters, including those relating to children, property, family and farming businesses, estates, wills, probate, trusts and tax. All Howes Percival family lawyers are members of Resolution, a national organisation of family lawyers and other professionals committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes. While the team will strive to get the best result for clients by agreement, they are also experienced litigators and will represent clients’ interests in Court robustly when necessary. For more details on Howes Percival’s Family Law team: https://www.howespercival.com/services/family-services/
For further information please contact: Gordon or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845 Howes Percival has offices in Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Norwich. It has 51 partners and 169 lawyers in total. The firm is recommended in The Legal 500 – the authoritative guide to the UK’s leading law firms. In the 2022 guide, no fewer than 11 different departments achieved the guide’s highest possible ranking (Tier 1): Corporate and Commercial; Dispute Resolution – Commercial Litigation; Dispute Resolution – Debt Recovery; Finance – Insolvency and Corporate Recovery; Human Resources – Employment Law; Private Client – Agriculture and Estates; Private Client – Tax, Trusts and Probate; Real Estate – Commercial Property; Real Estate – Property litigation; Real Estate – Environment & Planning; Intellectual Property.
Submitted on Mon, 24/01/2022 Leading law firm Howes Percival has appointed social housing expert, Estelle Corner, as a Partner. Estelle joins the firm’s Norwich office from Spire Solicitors LLP. Estelle, a specialist social housing solicitor, advises registered providers, housing associations, their subsidiaries, local authorities, and developers on all aspects of affordable housing acquisition, development, and disposal. With over 20 years’ experience, she is an extremely experienced commercial property lawyer. Her practice includes acting for institutional landlords, real estate funds, Transport for London, NHS trusts, and national retailers before specialising more recently in social housing. Estelle acts on land-led and S106 acquisitions, advises on planning agreements and variations, easements, shared ownership, site set-up and sales. Estelle is ranked as a ‘Leading Individual’ in the Legal 500. She delivers training on topical issues in social housing and has co-hosted a Lexis-Nexis webinar on shared ownership. Commenting on Estelle’s appointment, Tessa Haskey, a Partner at Howes Percival said, “I am delighted to welcome Estelle to Howes Percival. She is a very highly regarded professional within the sector and across the Eastern region. Her appointment is an important part of our strategy to grow our social housing specialism and further demonstrates our commitment to the commercial property sector. Estelle brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge that will further strengthen our offering to new and existing clients. “In addition to the challenges presented by the pandemic, the real estate market is facing several key issues. Nationally, clients are facing challenges in providing much needed, affordable housing in a constantly changing legislative and regulatory environment. Specialist advice in property, planning, construction, and finance from lawyers who understand the issues faced by the sector is essential. “On a local level, we’re seeing issues in respect of the rural supply of affordable housing, pressures on supply in tourist hot spots and second homes. In growing employment areas such as Cambridge, supply and cost are also key factors.” Howes Percival has a strong reputation for its commercial property work – receiving top-ranking for three different Real Estate categories in the most recent Legal 500 guide. For more information on Howes Percival’s commercial property services visit: https://www.howespercival.com/services/commercial-property/For further information please contact: Gordon or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845
Leading law firm Howes Percival has highlighted the seven key areas of employment law that employers need to be prepared for in 2022. Paula Bailey, Partner and employment law expert at Howes Percival explains, “2022 promises to be another very interesting year for employment law. The coronavirus pandemic is set to continue to dominate the agenda, with mandatory vaccinations for certain professions a hot topic. We also expect new legislation to reflect changes set out in a promised new Employment Act, including the possibility of flexible working becoming the default position, and new rights for carers and neonatal leave.” The seven key employment law changes expected in 2022 are summarised below: Mandatory COVID vaccination Debate on mandatory vaccination for certain professions has been ongoing for some time. The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 require anyone (unless medically exempt) working in a care home to be fully vaccinated, including those simply entering a care home to provide a service. The government has also confirmed new regulations to ensure providers of CQC-regulated activities can only deploy individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 to roles where they interact with patients. This means that employees working in other health and social care settings, including hospitals and GP practices, will need to be vaccinated. These rules will apply to anyone who has direct, face-to-face contact with patients (agency workers, volunteers, trainees or contracted through another provider). Workers will be required to provide evidence of vaccination before being allowed to undertake work. Exceptions to these rules will be very limited. Sexual harassment in the workplace A new duty on employers will be introduced to prevent sexual harassment and will support further protections from third-party harassment in the work environment. There is also a suggestion that the time limit to bring a claim for sexual harassment at work under the Equality Act may be extended from three months to six months, allowing more victims to bring their claims. Alongside this the government has pledged to increase support to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (the statutory body responsible for enforcing equality legislation) by enabling it to take further action against employers who fail to comply with their current obligations. It is anticipated that a new statutory Code of Practice will be published in the coming year, along with accessible guidance for employers on what they need to do to ensure the safety of their employees. Tipping in the hospitality sector The government is bringing in new laws to make it illegal for employers to withhold tips from workers. The rules are designed so workers retain their tips on a “fair and transparent basis”. Employers will be required to have a written policy on how tips are distributed, and to keep a record of how previously received tips were dealt with. A new statutory Code of Practice covering this is expected to be introduced in 2022, replacing the existing voluntary Code. This could potentially enable around two million people working in the 190,000 business across the hospitality, leisure and services sectors in the UK to retain their tips rather than handing them over to their employers. New employment bill In the two years since the Queen’s Speech announced a restructuring of employment law with a new Employment Bill, the commitment to see it through has been reiterated numerous times. The proposed Bill would contain changes anticipated by the Good Work Plan, which was drafted in December 2018 in response to the 2017 Taylor Review. Three of the most important aspects of the suggested legislation concern flexible working, carer’s leave, and neonatal leave. Flexible working Currently employees must have 26 weeks’ service to be eligible to request flexible working. It is expected that this right will be made the default position from ‘day one’ of employment. However, the government has said that it is conscious that employers should always be able to turn down flexible working requests where appropriate, so the new legislation will have to protect this employer right. Carer’s leave According to the government’s consultation published in September 2021, legislation will be introduced giving a right to leave for employees with long-term caring responsibilities, consisting of up to five working days of unpaid leave per year. This right would be from ‘day one’ of employment. However, to take the new carer’s leave, it has been suggested that employees will be required to give notice of at least twice the length of the notice requested, plus one day. Neonatal leave This new type of leave would take the form of an additional week away from work for every week that a parent’s baby is in neonatal care (the definition of which is yet to be decided), with a maximum of 12 weeks’ leave being permitted. Employees would be entitled to neonatal leave from day one of employment. Statutory neonatal leave pay would be permitted for those with 26 weeks’ continuous service who earn above the minimum pay threshold. For more information on employment law visit: https://www.howespercival.com/services/employment-and-hr/For further information please contact: Gordon or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845 Howes Percival has offices in Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Norwich. It has 51 partners and 169 lawyers in total. The firm is recommended in The Legal 500 – the authoritative guide to the UK’s leading law firms. In the 2022 guide, no fewer than 11 different departments achieved the guide’s highest possible ranking (Tier 1): Corporate and Commercial; Dispute Resolution – Commercial Litigation; Dispute Resolution – Debt Recovery; Finance – Insolvency and Corporate Recovery; Human Resources – Employment Law; Private Client – Agriculture and Estates; Private Client – Tax, Trusts and Probate; Real Estate – Commercial Property; Real Estate – Property litigation; Real Estate – Environment & Planning; Intellectual Property.