Member News

Middlesex-based Khaliq Rahman runs his practice alongside daughters Sadia and Nabiha, son Sami and son-in-law Owais Saad.

Khaliq Rahman joined TaxAssist Accountants in 2001 and now works in the franchise alongside daughters Sadia and Nabiha, his son Sami and son-in-law Owais, who collectively look after the needs of more than 850 clients from four premises across Middlesex.

Khaliq opened his first shop on Bell Road, Hounslow in 2001, his Teddington office on Church Road in 2012, his Twickenham shop in 2016 and his latest shop at 29 Belmont Road in Uxbridge in January 2021.

Khaliq said: “I’m really proud of the level of service the team has provided to our clients over the years, but particularly during this pandemic. We have worked tremendously hard since last March to ensure every one of our clients was well looked after, and we’ve had some great feedback.

“We saw a gap in the market-place in Uxbridge for our services, and we’re looking forward to assisting the small businesses in the area through the economic recovery and beyond.

“The practice has continued to grow over the past two decades as we are a business based on relationships, expertise and offering jargon-free advice and support, so this growth has only been possible through the trust and confidence of our clients and I’d like to thank each and every one of them for their on-going support.

“I’d also like to thank the Norwich Support Centre for its 20th anniversary gift and guidance and assistance over the years. I’ve very much enjoyed my time with the franchise and am so pleased that the business has blossomed to enable me to bring both of my daughters and son into the practice too, which has enabled me to take more of a back seat in the business.”

If you share a passion to help your local small businesses, a TaxAssist franchise can provide the systems and support you need to be successful. Regular Virtual Discovery Days are being held, where you can find out more about the technical, marketing and business development support on offer. Call 0800 0188297 to register your interest.

After an extremely successful year with more garden centres stocking PlantGrow products than ever, we’re thrilled to announce that our first national TV campaign goes live!

In partnership with Happy Hour, an award-winning creative agency based in the heart of Bristol, we’ve come up with a creative and thoughtful TV campaign that highlights the importance of organic gardening.

“We’re very excited to bring PlantGrow to TV. It’s a quality, eco-friendly product and we’re proud to work with them on their first response TV campaign.” Says Tom George, Creative Director at Happy Hour. “PlantGrow came to us with a specific brief, to reach organic gardeners and land the important organic and ecological benefits of their product vs chemical and peat-based fertilisers.

“Working with Chase Media, the combined direct response media and creative strategy targets the eco-conscious gardener and provides cut-through in ad breaks, using silence to emphasise the natural characteristics of PlantGrow. Creatively, we felt the quality of the product speaks for itself, so we decided to use that to our advantage to communicate how quietly and naturally PlantGrow works in harmony with your garden.

Since we’re known for winning the Breaking Boundaries awards we wanted to create something unique that showed our innovation and dedication to an organic, plant-based future.

Laura Ruddock, Producer at Happy Hour, says “We had an opportunity to do something different for PlantGrow and we were happy to rise to that challenge. The heroes of the creative are really the sights and sounds of the garden, which speak to the enjoyment we get from our connection to the natural world and underscore the benefits of using PlantGrow to garden sustainably.”

We’re delighted that more and more people are going to see PlantGrow and how it can benefit their gardens, whether they have a small vegetable patch or a whole plot of land. 

Chartered accountants, M+A Partners, are delighted to announce the appointment of two new partners – Alice Lynch and Emma Hunt. Both Alice and Emma have significant experience within their respective areas of expertise, and these promotions further strengthen the firm’s audit and tax services.

Alice has been with the firm for over ten years, having joined as a graduate trainee in July 2010. She is a member of the audit team, specialising in the not-for-profit and education sectors. Alice’s professional knowledge of academies and their audit and accounts requirements are highly regarded, and she is part of the Academies User Group, a forum facilitated by Norfolk County Council to assist and advise academy trusts.

Alice commented “In the ten years I have worked at M+A Partners, I have built up strong client relationships with a focus on delivering a high-quality service. I look forward to using my experience and knowledge to continue to develop the firm over the next ten years and beyond.”

Emma joined M+A Partners in 2017 as a Private Client Tax Manager and has helped enhance the firm’s growing probate and estates specialism. She is highly respected within the firm for her expertise in managing the complex tax affairs of individuals, trusts and estates as well as running tax planning and advisory projects. She also plays an active role throughout the wider professional community in her role as a committee member for the East Anglian branch of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

Emma commented “We have a multi-talented group of individuals within our tax team, and as a newly appointed partner it is exciting to be in a position to help instigate our future growth and build-on our existing expertise to deliver an excellent level of client service.”

Managing Partner, Jeremy Robson commented “The ongoing professional development of our team at M+A Partners continues to be a priority for the firm. I am delighted that we have developed a framework that enables us to identify the potential of high-calibre candidates like Alice and Emma, ultimately resulting in promotion to partner. Both Alice and Emma have the personal and professional attributes needed to support our clients and contribute positively towards the long-term growth of the firm and the team within it.”

This episode can best be summed up by the word’s ‘inspiration’ and ‘perspiration’! James and Mark chat to special guest, and professional adventurer, Freddie Bennett. Listen to how Freddie uses the lessons he’s learnt in life to advise and inspire businesses on how to motivate their teams and embrace change. 

Freddie worked for many years in management consultancy, in London, but felt like an imposter in the corporate world. His talent was socialising!  He grew to understand that it’s important for businesses to nurture and support their people. He’s  worked with companies such as Coca Cola, Heineken, BT and Microsoft; advising on building confidence, changing behaviors, and how they do business. Freddie describes his work with teams as, “Helping everyday people do extraordinary things”. His personal achievements include ultra runner; iron man; Spartan; fire walker and Guinness world record holder for world’s fastest runner dressed as a fisherman!

Freddie’s back story makes for a fascinating listen. Coming from an insecure upbringing, with a grandfather who sold horses to the Peaky Blinders and a father who worked with Steve Jobs, his experiences have taught him that change is the only ‘permanent’. In this in-depth conversation, Freddie talks about how to overcome self-doubt and eliminate negative self-beliefs. Businesses and teams need to learn how to build inner strength, go the distance, and perfect decision making or, as he sums up, “Dream, disrupt and deliver”.

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Whilst you are there, please like us, and leave a comment. We would love to hear what you are enjoying about the podcast, and it helps others to find us!

Listen here!

This year has clearly been a difficult one for many businesses, and many organisations have had to make significant changes in order to survive and prosper.

With changes to business operating models such as more remote working and increasing reliance on technology to support working practices and digital sales channels, sometimes implemented quickly through necessity, come new and increased risks.  It’s evident to us that more and more businesses are understanding the need for additional focus on Cyber Security & Resilience, and the value of specialist security advice and support from companies such as ourselves.

As this need increases, our role at CyberScale is to ensure that:

• Organisations that need help know that we’re here, and how to find us
• We offer the best portfolio of services to help businesses reduce risk, increase resilience and continually improve
• We continue to have the expertise and capacity to meet the needs of our clients

In order to ensure that we can meet these challenges of our current and future clients, CyberScale have made a number of strategic investments. 

Earlier this year we moved our HQ to a new, larger office based at the Royal Norfolk Showground to allow us to accommodate a larger team, and we are now delighted to announce a number of key hires.

Firstly, Graham Duckworth, former MD and co-founder of Suffolk based IT company Green Duck and security company Labsec, joins the Senior Leadership team as Commercial Director.  Graham has a proven track record having grown Green Duck from a small start-up to a well-established and respected multi service IT and Security provider.

Graham will help shape our commercial offerings and go to market strategy, build Alliances with key partners and provide us with the benefit of his many years of experience building a customer focused business.

Jane Clements, who has been with CyberScale since 2019 in a Consultant capacity joins us on a permanent basis. Jane has proven to be a key asset to CyberScale and has been particularly instrumental with our policy frameworks, as well as Cyber Security Assessments and other consulting engagements.

In addition to Jane, Elliot Kemp joins CyberScale on a permanent basis following the successful completion of his Internship where he has helped spearhead development of our Security Policy Automation platform, further details of which will be released over the latter part of this year.  Elliot will work alongside Jane as a Junior Cyber & Information Security Consultant.  Elliot has recently graduated from UEA with a MSc in Cyber Security with distinction, a fantastic achievement, and is a great addition to the team.

These strategic investments will enable us to continue to provide our clients, existing and new, with critical security advice, training and a superior level of service.

Howes Percival has been ranked ninth in Planning Magazine’s 2021 Planning Law Survey. The prestigious survey of the UK’s leading planning law firms and barristers also places Howes Percival’s Jay Mehta as the sixth highest rated planning solicitor in the UK.

The Planning Law Survey is an in-depth report highlighting the solicitors, law firms and barristers that are considered the leading planning law specialists in the UK. The results of the survey are based on responses from consultants, developers and local authorities that were asked to identify individuals and firms they regard as exemplifying best practice in planning law.

Howes Percival, which has offices across East Anglia and the East Midlands, has seen its ranking rise dramatically over the last two years. Its 2021 ninth place ranking is a rise of 7 places from its 2020 position at sixteenth and, 21 places from its 2019 position at thirtieth.

The team act for major housebuilders, land promoters, developers and local authorities and in the past year work includes advising Breckland District Council on a planning application for a 4,000 dwelling mixed use urban extension in Norfolk; advising Turnstone Estates on two £50 million leisure developments in Colchester and Southend respectively; advising Code Students in relation to a 40 storey student scheme which will be the tallest building in Nottingham and probably the East Midlands and acting for Hampton Brook in relation to a two million square foot strategic employment site to the south of Milton Keynes, with planning permission secured following a public inquiry.

Paul Wootton, Partner and Head of Howes Percival’s Planning Team, commented, 

“We are delighted to be recognised as one of the top 10 planning law firms in the UK. London-based firms usually dominate the Planning Law Survey – so we’re punching well above our weight. The fact that the rankings are based on peer-led interviews and feedback makes our ninth place ranking especially pleasing. We are also thrilled that Jay’s skills and expertise have been acknowledged with his ranking as one of the UK’s highest rated planning solicitors.

“The commercial property sector is at the heart of Howes Percival’s business strategy. Over the last few years, we’ve expanded our offering, recruiting senior level experts to ensure we have the specialisms and depth of expertise to service the planning law requirements of our clients and, to attract high-quality work. We now have specialist Planning Partners in our Leicester and Norwich offices, servicing all of our client needs across the East Midlands, East Anglia and beyond.

“The rankings are testament to the tremendous amount of hard work the team puts in, their breadth and depth of knowledge, as well as the fantastic clients we have.”

Paul Wootton continued, 

“Working as a single, cohesive team, we offer developers a comprehensive ‘cradle to grave’ commercial property proposition. As well as securing repeat work from existing clients, we receive many referrals from planning consultants because of the strength of our profile and reputation in the market. Despite the upheaval caused by the pandemic, workloads have held-up well during the last year. We made sure our clients knew that we were here to support them and embraced new ways of working smarter and closer with clients.”

Howes Percival’s property experts act for major housebuilders, retailers, construction companies, landowners, housing associations, developers, and public authorities as well as private individuals and businesses. The firm’s comprehensive commercial property service covers planning and environmental law, minerals and waste, compulsory purchase, village greens, development including strategic land acquisitions, the management of real estate portfolios, property finance, leases and other landlord and tenant matters, property litigation and construction contracts and disputes. 

Howes Percival is ranked as a top-tier firm for Planning and Environment in the UK’s leading guide to law firms, the Legal 500.

For more information on Howes Percival’s planning team visit: https://www.howespercival.com/services/planning/

Ashtons Legal has recruited a further four new lawyers to its 50-strong regional Personal Injury Team and made an internal promotion to partnership in the Medical Negligence Team. This is a move which clearly signals the firm’s intention to remain one of the leading firms providing injury law services in East Anglia. The new recruits, joining from a range of firms across the region and beyond, are Andrew Wilson, Graham Heywood, Paul Sadler and Sophie Robson. Meanwhile, home-grown talent Ben Ward becomes a partner in the firm’s Medical Negligence team.

Ben, who is from Norwich, joined Ashtons as a trainee in 2008 and quickly made his mark within the firm. He is a former national winner of LawNet’s Young Lawyer of the Year, has held roles in the Norfolk and Norwich Law Society and the local Medico-Legal society, and has engaged with medics throughout his career locally to provide training on avoiding the pitfalls that lead to litigation having a clear focus on patient safety. He has regularly appeared on regional television and radio discussing the failings in regional mental health provision following the untimely death of those let down by the system.  He now specialises in catastrophic injury claims, in particular cerebral palsy and other birth injury claims.

Andrew, Graham, Paul and Sophie have between them many years’ experience of personal injury claims at all levels – including everything from brain injury, spinal injury and amputation to broken limbs and soft tissue injuries. Andrew also has a niche in asbestos-related and other occupational disease claims and is a regular contributor to technical journals on personal injury law. 

Michael Wangermann, who heads the firm’s Injury Services Group, says: “Ashtons has been a go-to firm for many years for those in East Anglia needing legal help with any type of injury claim and is recognised as such by independent reviewers at Chambers UK and the Legal 500. The most recent Chambers UK accolade described the firm as having ‘Impressive strength handling catastrophic injury claims, including a focus on brain and spinal injuries. Notable expertise in claims resulting from RTAs involving motorcycles, pedestrians and passengers. Active on claims arising from fatal accidents and amputations. Further strengthened by its specialist Court of Protection team.”

“We are delighted that while a number of other firms in the region have recently chosen to give up providing this type of legal advice, we continue to have this as a core area of our business and attract experienced additional talent into our team. It is also always rewarding to be able to promote from within and Ben, who has been instrumental in the firm’s Medical Negligence Team’s success and growth, will be an excellent addition to the Ashtons’ partnership.  His appointment comes close on the heels of another recent key internal promotion, when Sharon Allison stepped up to the role of Business Unit Director of the Medical Negligence Team.”

The Challenge

Protecting young people from inappropriate content is vital in today’s world. So, when a youth camp in Suffolk needed the internet providing for up to 600 students, they required that their students stayed safe online. The University of the First Age contacted FreeClix to advise them on a bespoke connectivity solution that could satisfy these needs.

University of the First Age provide various forms of training for young people to become confident and successful leaders. Their summer youth camp has 600 students attend over a period of six weeks. The academy’s participants were young adults and their welfare was of prime importance. The University of the First Age wanted students to be able to communicate with family and use social media but ensure that inappropriate content was blocked.

Provide the internet.

As the youth camp was in a very rural location in Suffolk. The SimRush Core product was recommended as it delivers high speed broadband using 4G LTE technology. As SimRush is easily adaptable to a pop up environment, installation was quick and easy. To prevent overspend, the SimRush Core was loaded with a data SIM which was topped up as and when required.

Protect the students.

We ensured the WiFi had two SSID’s (service set identifiers). The first SSID was a portal with unrestricted web access with a password for the camp guardians. We provided a specialised content filtering system. This system had a static public IP address so that the router could recognise where the WiFi traffic is coming from. The guardians were able to login to the content filtering system using their WiFi password and approve or disapprove certain keywords or websites using the content filtering system. The second SSID was a poral for guest-based access that was accessed securely by the students.

The Solution

The SimRush Core provided a temporary safe and secure internet solution during the six-week period successfully. As SimRush has a static IP address, this made it the perfect solution for ensuring the content filtering system could be provided. During the academy students were able to keep in touch with family and friends online safely and securely.

The Result

“Working with FreeClix was simple and straight forward. I had a problem, I explained this to FreeClix. They were solution focused and came up with a hassle-free solution which worked well. I would recommend working with FreeClix, an understanding company which can help with bespoke issues.”

– David Coyle, Head of Operational Effectiveness at UFA

North Walsham is an expanding market town situated in North Norfolk. The town council are implementing a regeneration project known as ‘Regenerate North Walsham’ in a bid to support this growing town. One of the main provisions of the project was to provide utilities which are fundamental to growth, this included town WiFi.  

The Challenge

The aim was to provide a public WiFi system for North Walsham town centre. The town has a population of around 11,000.  

The Solution

Having implemented the town WiFi in Great Yarmouth, FreeClix were thrilled to put their previous learnings into practise and play a vital part in the Regenerate North Walsham project.  

FreeClix knew that using certain WiFi frequencies(5Ghz) on a large scale could affect the WiFi quality, as it would likely cause large amounts of local interference. Therefore, our recommendation was to invest in 60Ghz radio links for the core network and keep 2.4Ghz frequencies for local WiFi access.  

FreeClix recommended using a 60Ghz frequency for the following reasons:  

• It is a full duplex radio that provides incredibly high speeds and is rated to a Gbit per second, just like fibre ethernet.  
• It is highly directional. 
• The signal is absorbed by oxygen in the air; therefore it is only capable of transmission over relatively short distances before the signal dissipates. This means there is little or no interference for the frequency.  

Once the 60GHz frequency was confirmed, the next design step was to maintain a fully routed network rather than a single broadcast domain. If a network spans a large distance, as you add more devices the amount of broadcast traffic is increased. This is unnecessary, adds load, depletes capacity and makes the network inefficient. By operating a fully routed network, the amount of broadcast traffic can be kept locally to the nearest access point. This keeps the backbone of the network free of unnecessary traffic, increasing efficiency and overall speed.  

At each access node, the wireless access point is centrally managed by a single controller based at the core of the network. This provides a single guest portal where public users can register and gain access to the internet. This image below displays the location of each access point. The location for each access point was carefully determined using Google Earth, every access point has to have a power source which is instrumental in planning where the access points are located.  

Technical network design tip: 

The 60HGz transmitter can connect multiple stations into separate networks, which provided FreeClix with the ability to run two independent sub nets and operate OSPF between all three nodes independently. (Between the 60GHz point to multipoint transmitter node three and the two subsequent receiving 60GHZ stations at nodes 4 and 5.) The bridge for the two networks was then linked to independent VLAN’s and handed back to the core router at node 3. This then prevented OSPF broadcast storm on the point to multi point 60GHz service.  

The Result

A public WiFi guest portal has successfully been designed and installed throughout the centre of North Walsham. The project has only just begun but now the town has WiFi North Walsham are well on their way to reaching their aim of becoming one of the best places to live in the UK.  

The following technology was used:  

• 60Ghz Point to point and point to multi point wireless networks.  
• 802.11 AB,G,N,AC (Standards for the wireless access points.) 
• MikroTik CAPsMAN – wireless controller.
• OSPF.
• DHCP.
• Leased line access.
• MikroTik Gigabit PoE network router.
• FreeClix Social-I WiFi guest portal system.

FreeClix designs, builds and implement secure networks for a range of individuals and businesses. If you are looking to set up a network the contact us today.  

If you are working on a project, we also offer a network consultancy service. Contact us to find out how we can help you achieve your networking goals.  

Regional accountancy and business advisory firm, Larking Gowen, has appointed a new partner to its Corporate Transactions team based in its Norwich office.

Jack Minns qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2011, and joined Larking Gowen in 2013, working his way up to become a Director in 2020. He will become Partner on 1 April.

Jack, who grew up in Beccles on the Norfolk/Suffolk border and studied in Norwich, has wide experience of corporate transactions including business sales, acquisitions and management buy-outs with deal values ranging between £500k and £20m.

He says it was an interest in the idea of what makes things sell that attracted him to Corporate Transactions. “It’s interesting and exciting work. Whether it’s buying or selling, these are landmark transactions, and you’re dealing directly with the business owners and decision-makers,” he said.

Jack continued, “Primarily, our aim is to help businesses in East Anglia with their growth and succession plans.”

Larking Gowen was a natural choice for Jack as a sound base to pursue his chosen career. He says the firm has “an open and empowering culture.”

“Teamwork is very strong at Larking Gowen, and the Partners are very accessible and happy to speak to people on all levels within the business. The firm is ahead of the curve in employee wellbeing and engagement,” he explained.

As well as his role in Corporate Transactions, Jack says he is looking to contribute to the firm’s expert witness and forensic accountancy work, and has been working towards this under the guidance of former Managing Partner, Jon Woolston.

Corporate Transactions and Business Advisory Partner, James Lay, said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Jack into the Larking Gowen partnership. Having worked closely with him for many years, I know first-hand how he puts the delivery of great client service at the front and centre of everything he does.

“Jack has earned a well-deserved reputation for advising numerous business owners on buying, selling and valuing private businesses. We’re proud to have Jack in our firm, and I’m sure he will continue to advise on many more successful deals in the years to come.”

In this months blog article we showcase three current interior design trends that highlight the ways in which employers can help their teams successfully return to the workplace. We explore how updated approaches embrace the positives of home working and eliminate drawbacks in ways that nurture employee well-being, collaboration and engagement.

Read the full article here – 3 post-lockdown design trends all workplaces should consider

Challenge

Oyster Pier are residential moorings that offer the same luxury you would expect from a five-star hotel, all whilst floating on the South Bank of the river Thames. This unique community is made up of custom-designed barges that have access to a wide range of facilities.  

Oyster Pier wanted to add reliable high-speed internet to this list by improving the resilience of their existing bonded FTTC service. They also needed a solution that would support their CCTV system that is required for the security of the barge residents and the Thames Clipper river services at Plantation Wharf.   

The solution required would have to present the same public IP address for each tenant, including the CCTV system, regardless of which resilient internet service connection was providing access at any given time. 

The Solution

To solve the problem, we carried out our first 5G installation!

We programmed a 5G router to mimic one of our SimRush outdoor units and paired it with a standard SimRush controller. The SimRush controller enabled us to setup a Static Public IP address service for the existing MikroTik router, to build a tunnel to our London Datacentre.

Adding in the Static IP service enabled remote access to the network, meaning Oyster Pier can view their CCTV footage from anywhere.

Both the existing bonded FTTC service and the new 5G service run a protocol OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) for the routing back to our London Datacentre, providing a fault-tolerant internet service with the same Public IP addresses to the site, should a failure in the primary circuit occur.

With the 5G installation acting as backup failover, Oyster Pier never have to worry about their tenants going offline.

The Result

Implementing this bespoke SimRush configuration has meant that Oyster Pier can now offer reliable broadband to residents living on the barges. Not only that but they can also achieve blistering internet speeds of 150mbps download and 50mbps upload. 

Being able to remotely view their CCTV footage, has also provided them with further peace of mind as they can constantly monitor onsite activity.

“You can’t improve on perfection”

– Mike Barnes, Oyster Pier