Member News

Parents in East of England are being urged to register the birth of their newborns, so HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can verify their Child Benefit claims.

Normally, a birth must be registered before claiming Child Benefit.  However, with some local register offices operating at reduced capacity and some parents unable to go to them because of COVID-19, HMRC announced in April that claims could be made without having to register the child’s birth first.

More than 100,000 parents across the UK have been able to take advantage of this temporary change, ensuring that they receive this vital form of financial support. But to ensure they continue to receive the benefit they should register the birth as soon as they can, if they have not done so already. Local register offices in England are Covid-secure and are all operating at full capacity.

HMRC will be contacting anyone who has claimed since April but has not yet registered their child’s birth so that the claim can be verified. Parents will receive an SMS text message or letter asking them to contact their local register office and make an appointment to register their child. If parents receive this letter or text but are currently unable to do this, they can contact HMRC to seek more time.

Karl Khan, Interim Director General for Customer Services, HMRC, said: “It’s really encouraging to see that parents have taken advantage of the change we put in place earlier this year to help ensure they can claim the financial support they’re entitled to.  “It is now crucial for parents who claimed Child Benefit without registering their child’s birth to do it now so that they continue to receive their benefit.”    

Child Benefit claims can only be backdated by up to three months, so it is important that new parents claim as soon as they can so that they receive the maximum financial support available. They should then make an appointment to register the birth at the earliest opportunity so that HMRC can verify the claim.

First time parents will need to fill in Child Benefit claim form CH2 which can be found online and send it to the Child Benefit Office. If they haven’t registered the birth because of COVID–19, they should add a note with their claim to let us know.

If parents already claim Child Benefit, they can complete the form or add their newborn’s details over the telephone on 0300 200 3100. They will need their National Insurance number or Child Benefit number.

Child Benefit payments increased from 6 April this year to a weekly rate of £21.05 for the first child and £13.95 for each additional child. Child Benefit is paid into your bank account, usually every four weeks.

Issued by HM Revenue & Customs Press Office

An exciting new joint initiative between the Norse Group and SaxonAir is set to equip aviation professionals with the skills for the future, through a range of training and development programmes.

Aviation grounds operatives, specialists and managers based at Norwich Airport will be among the 26 SaxonAir staff taking part in a wide array of apprenticeships, in what is a real boost to the local aviation industry.

As owners of the International Aviation Academy Norwich (IAAN), the Norse Group has been exploring opportunities to support local employers within the sector, which has been particularly hard hit by the current impacts of Covid-19, with many seeing large proportions of their workforce and fleets literally grounded.

With a clear focus on regeneration, the initiative, which is supported by utilising part of the Norse Group Apprenticeship Levy, will fund much needed training and development for staff at SaxonAir.

Alex Durand, Chief Executive of SaxonAir, is delighted with the initiative: “This is a perfect example of different organisations co-operating to create mutually beneficial opportunities they couldn’t achieve on their own,” he said.

“Business aviation has suffered from a lack of suitable accredited training, and it’s particularly pleasing to do this through the impressive local facility at IAAN.”

As a significant contributor to the Apprenticeship Levy, the Norse Group is keen to play an active role within the communities it serves and takes its role as a responsible employer in providing training and development to its staff very seriously.

Sam Massingham, Norse Group’s Head of Learning & Organisational Development, said the scheme outlines the Group’s continued commitment to providing valuable opportunities for people to learn and progress their careers.

“With 169 Norse Group staff members currently participating in a range of programmes covering a host of professions from finance, care and trades through to chartered surveyors and senior leaders, we are keen to continue to support individuals to grow and develop and make good use of the opportunities that apprenticeship programmes provide,” she said.

“Our programmes support both new and existing staff, so everyone can gain valuable skills and knowledge and reach their potential, with meaningful career and progression plans.”

If you have any queries, please contact the Norse Group Communications Team

Communications@norsegroup.co.uk

Pictured left to right: Alex Durand – CEO, SaxonAir Charter Limited, Danielle Cox – Apprenticeship Manager, Norse Group, Sam Massingham – Head of Learning & Organisational Development, Norse Group, and Jane Simpson – Cabin Services Manager

If you have a project that you are thinking about for 2021 or an area of your business that you feel isnt secure enough do get in touch so we can help take at least one trouble off your mind. We specialise in CCTV, Fire Detection, Intruder Alarms & Access Control.

Established in 1989, Dragon Security Systems supplies and installs the very latest electronic safety & security systems in Norfolk, Suffolk and the surrounding areas for a wide variety of clients including domestic, public and commercial. 

We specialise in the design and installation of systems to suit any budget, and our work always comes with an extended and lifetime warranty. Our qualified engineers are available on a 24/7 basis to carry out emergency attendance and repairs; this service is also available for systems previously installed by others. As part of our complete service package, our team can also carry out preventative maintenance checks.

Enquiries: mail@dragonsecurity.co.uk

Tel: 01603 783958

Website: www.dragonsecurity.co.uk

Businesses across the Great Yarmouth borough are urged to take advantage of a Government-funded jobs scheme supporting young people who might otherwise struggle to enter the world of work. 

The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to create new six-month job placements for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment. Employers of all sizes and sectors can apply.

The total grant available for employers is £6,500, covering 100% of the National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant) for 25 hours per week, as well as on-costs and National Insurance contributions. Employers can choose to offer a higher wage and/or more hours from their own funds.

In addition, to help the young people get a job in the future, there is a further £1,500 payable to employers to provide wrap-around employability support. This can either be provided in-house or the employer can pay for the support to be delivered by a third-party trainer.

Whilst employers offering a minimum of 30 placements can apply directly to the scheme, smaller businesses can also apply via one of the three local Kickstart Gateways. Great Yarmouth Borough Council is working with East Coast College, Norfolk Chambers of Commerce and Norfolk County Council, who will collate placements on behalf of a group of employers.

Cllr Graham Plant, chairman of the economic development committee, said: “The Kickstart Scheme is part of the Government’s Plan for Jobs and is a great opportunity for businesses of all sizes and sectors to bolster their workforce with national financial support, whilst supporting the job prospects and aspirations of young people in their own community.

“As a council, we are helping to facilitate and promote the scheme, working with local partners, as part of supporting local economic recovery, and we will be leading the way by offering a number of new placement opportunities at the council. To qualify, you simply have to demonstrate that the role is additional, not replacing existing, and that you can provide sufficient employability support.”

Applications can be made through the Gateway organisations, with links and further information available on the council website at https://www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/kickstart Businesses will receive full support with their applications and be kept updated throughout the process

Espaze has launched the Procurement Audit – showing you the opportunities within your supply chain for cost savings.

It costs £1,250+VAT and it’s how you take control over your external spend and convert it into something that creates value and furthers your business goals.

The outcomes you receive are:

• Practical ways to make cost savings
• Ability to align your suppliers with your business goals
• Expert insight on how to streamline your buying processes
• How to get better value from technical engineering suppliers

We analyse your spend data and add a qualitative element with input from your key team members. This means that the recommendations are tailored to you, your team, and your processes.

All the recommendations are tailored to you and your industry and they’re designed to work for the long term.

At the end, you’ll receive a presentation with recommendations for how you can make cost savings, eliminate pain points, and highlight risk areas. These could include:

• Areas for spend consolidation
• Buying process improvements to reduce your spend
• Highlight areas of single sourcing that can be rectified
• Time saving opportunities

Call Beth at Espaze on 07588 071975 to book yours.

In this week’s episode, Mark and James talk about the pitfalls of cognitive biases and how they influence decisions in business. As usual they finish with 3 top tips, and along the way they refer to Richard Branson, Status Quo and Mark’s Mum!

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe on Listen here!

This December, BDH Tullford in Norwich revealed that it had recently made a brand new investment in a state-of-the-art flatbed applicator.

The printer and point-of-sale manufacturer made the investment in the new Bubble-Free Pro Flatbed Applicator to support its national signage project for Waves.

Easy to use and fast, it allows the company to produce the large-format outdoor signs and displays required by the project in a shorter time frame, ensuring that project meets its 2021 deadline. 

Thanks to the machine’s versatility, it enhances the company’s existing portfolio of services. It can be used on any flat surface up to 60mm giving a smooth, wrinkle-free finish, while also adding application tape for simple hanging. Thanks to the simplicity of its functionality, it can also be used by one member of staff, improving the team’s productivity levels. 

Says Director David Hutchins: “We’re delighted with our new flat-bed applicator. The installation and set-up process was rapid and efficient, which meant we could produce high-quality client graphics right away. We’re looking forward to using the equipment on a wide range of projects in the future.”

Get in touch to find out how the new applicator could be used on your next signage project.

Of course, everyone wants to be happy, who doesn’t but it’s about so much more than this. Through the science of Positive Psychology we can use Happiness not only improve our lives, our businesses our productivity but also our health. This is a timely blog for me as I have been working with a health coach and improving my physical health alongside my more ‘mental health aspects’ and I have seen real crossover in both.

Traditionally psychology (and medical culture unfortunately) kind of focuses on a bit of lack mindset unfortunately, what is wrong with people, how do we fix them, what is wrong with situations. It is very much ingrained within our society. Its playing out very much at the moment, as well as lack and what’s not working there is also a lot of fear.

Fear is a very easy state for the human body because our brains have been designed in a way that protects us from harm, they are ready to look for danger and protect us from being attacked by that imaginary tiger. Yes, the brain doesn’t know the difference between real and imagined danger.

So as we sit and watch the news, scroll the news app on our phones or listen to recycled news from our friends and family…yep you guessed it, the fight or flight response reacts in the brain and guess what happens then? Because our resources are focused on fighting or run away, everything else shuts down, including our immune system, making us far more likely to be susceptible to illness.

So yes the news is making you sick, the fear in society at the moment is making you sick, people who trigger your fight/flight response are making you sick…

However there is a different way, we can absolutely do something about this and it all starts with turning this fear response around.

Positive Psychology flips this all on its head and is based on the latest neuroscience and research around when we focus on what is right rather than wrong. We look at how we can elevate our levels of positive emotion and this releases amazing happy chemicals in our brain, fuelling our brain and giving it energy, reducing our fight/flight mechanism and enabling us to be creative, innovative and productive as a result.

It also very importantly shuts down the fight/flight response, the brain cannot be happy and fearful at the same time, we are actually hacking our brains to move us away from the fear response and into really useful responses which give us the ability to strengthen our immune system as well as a whole host of other benefits.

In the past I have experienced this fear response first hand, I used to have such high levels of anxiety that my immune system was compromised, I used to get tonsillitis a few times a year and IBS. When I learned and applied Mindfulness and Positive Psychology to my life it all changed.

So with Mindfulness as we are building present moment awareness we can notice the first niggle of the fear response coming in (i.e tight chest, heart pounding) and we can stop and breathe and bring in self kindness, thinking about the mindful action step we may want to take to be kind to ourselves and give that fear response the chance to switch off and our bodies the chance to be well and healthy. We can also notice the first signs of feeling unwell, I know for me I will notice the first niggle of a sore throat and will head to the vitamin C very quickly!

So what are the practical ways you can bring these happiness habits into your life? (These will really shift you if you dedicate time to them, I promise!)

In TEDx I talk about these and they come from the research of Shawn Achor which I’ve completed my own research on and seen dramatic results.

So we are basically looking at ways to bring positive emotion into your life, tapping into joy, choosing joy every day. As we now know this is not just a self-care or nice thing to do there is a responsibility to do this for our friends, family, clients and the world and even just our health!

This could be as simple as flipping into gratitude every day, with gratitude thinking of 3 things you are grateful for every day has been shown to massively shift positive emotion and even be more powerful than antidepressants. This can be a big thing you are grateful for or a small thing such as a cup of tea! Its doesn’t matter, its getting into this thinking that’s important creating new brain pathways for happiness (a bit like the pathway through the woods I talk about in TEDx!). As we flood the brain with gratitude the fight/flight response shuts down and we give our immune system a chance without the increased cortisol.

With Mindfulness this can help to build our awareness of both positive and negative emotions and think about what we need to process or heal with the negative emotions.

I found in a recent Mindfulness programme it actually shifted the way people worked, improved their relationships and one client looking to lose weight actually cancelled her weight loss programme as Mindful eating had far more powerful results! This was because the body stores more fat when we are in a fear state and we eat when we are stressed. My transforming the mindful eating experience you not only lose weight potentially through processing food better but give your health a huge boost too!

The minimum amount of time to benefit from Mindfulness is 6 minutes and Marines were shown to have dramatic impacts on their focus in the field after 12 minutes of Mindfulness. Where do you have 6 minutes in your day? Where could you fit this in?

What could you achieve with more brain fuel? If this resonates with you and you would like to incorporate happiness habits into your life and business and really start to make this shifts in your own life please get in touch.

P.s Please stop watching the news! Go to reputable sources to find out information and stop feeding your fear response, do it at least for your health!

If you have any questions or want to know more please get in touch www.thehappinessbranch.com

“Are you listening? Your Big dream here”

What’s your big dream and vision?

When we look at our big vision and dream its really important to face into and do the work around any blocks that are preventing you from achieving that dream. This has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in building a business as a Highly Sensitive Person for me and my clients. For me this was social anxiety, I used to have anxiety so bad I couldn’t speak to a room of 10 people let alone the thousands I spoke to doing my TEDx.

A really key thing is a lot of the time we can lose track of our big dream and vision, we start to to focus on what’s wrong, what’s not working, the problems. By tuning back into this big dream and vision, it becomes that lighthouse in the dark for where we are heading, it helps to guide us back to where we should be going, bring us back into flow. If we can also add gratitude into the equation this gives an even bigger boost and it helps us to course-correct and go back to what we need.

When I first set up The Happiness Branch I was doing it as a side hustle on top of my corporate job and I didn’t have much energy to give to it. I’d heard that its good to network, so I spent most of my non-corporate time networking and meeting people for coffee. My 1 day a week I had for my business quickly filled up. Those coffee chats ended up being people who wanted to sell to me or those who wanted free coaching, soon I was drained with nothing left to give and nothing to show for it.

When I stopped and tuned into my big dream and listened to my body it made me stop. I could see the bigger picture and I could see I was heading for burnout. See as highly sensitives the ‘general’ way doesn’t always work for us, yes it will get us so far but it will never be ground-breaking. We continue to push and in this state we are telling our bodies we are in fear state and we need to shut down anything remotely useful and just survive. This has all sorts of knock on effects on us such as physical illness, weight gain (I used to get a really dry mouth when I pushed myself to work in London regularly, it was my body freaking out!).

This also enables you to tap into your intuition. Your intuition usually knows the way but we cloud it with so much pushing through its hard to hear it through the noise as the body is simply at breaking point. By knowing your bodies ‘yes’ and ‘no’s when you tap into intuition can really help here too (Have a think about a decision that turned out to be a)a right one and b) a wrong one, can you feel in your body where you feel those?).

By listening I was able to stop and this stopping helped to recharge me and then bam….the business became a success because I was allowing it to happen and I had energy, great energy I could put into my work. Its as simple as asking yourself what do you need right now? Stopping and listening and Mindfulness can help with this too…

So Long term – What’s my goal and vision and how can I get there?

Short term – What does my body need right now in this moment?

Sometimes for me this means being in nature, taking my laptop to a café, working with just my notebook on the beach, hiding in the car and meditating before TEDx (That’s a story for another time!). I used to struggle with the push/pull all the time, feeling like when I took care of myself I was pulling back and wasn’t getting anything done but the reality was I was doing so much more in this way, I was giving out great energy and clearing my own blocks. This is a real responsibility if you work with clients, so stop and clear so you can be that clear channel to help others.

This also comes into boundaries – how, when and who you work with, what you say no to. Tune in, your body knows what decision to make.

Yes I do feel like I’ve spent significant time hiding but sometimes we need to retreat and pull back, we are far from lazy and we are usually giving ourselves a hard time, its time to give your body a chance to stop fighting and getting ready to run and reset back to a peaceful still point one where you can see clearly and listen to what you really need as this is what is going to tune you back into your big dream.

In The Shine Academy, we work with this first, giving you ways to process and clear before moving onto the techniques to work with clients, its super important to take this responsibility first for making sure you are in a high vibrational place before moving forward, scientifically (think fight/flight), energetically (hello blocked chakras) and just from a place of self love and love for your friends and family and service to your clients.

What will you do to honour your big dream/vision and your body?

Becoming a Mindfulness Teacher and feeling the need for intense periods of meditation and reflection, practicing what I preach is what sparked my interest in retreats. Each retreat I go on I end up by chance working on something different in myself and never what I expect. From judgement and acceptance in Sussex when I got food poisoning, from inner child work on anxiety from the retreat in Suffolk, a wake up call about self care in Essex. This time I followed a calling…

Glastonbury first came to me in a meditation, it was never somewhere I had thought about going. I always associated it with the festival but it kept popping into my head and there was a calling. I have learned over the years it is best to follow these intuitive hits, they mean something, they are not there by chance but linked to something bigger.

For example leaving my corporate job, it didn’t make logical sense but the intuitive hits became physical illness until I was brought to my knees and had to make the leap. Sometimes it easier to follow the intuitive hit!

I had been learning about masculine and feminine energy in business for a few months and I hadn’t realised the connection. I had already re-shifted the way I worked from an over working, over pushing masculine energy (where I was triggering my own anxiety and not taking care of my body) to a business where the masculine structures allow the feminine flow, creativity and care. I had allowed my intuition coming back after so long (it had been dulled down with anxiety and over stimulation).

When I arrived in Glastonbury, I knew it was a special place. Without Google Maps I definitely would have struggled to find it, there were no road signs signposting it, in fact I only saw one when I was about 2 miles away through tiny winding roads. I arrived at the little barn I was staying in full on anticipation and excitement, I was tired from the drive but excited to get out on my first mission which was the Tor.

Reaching the top of the mound and tower of the Tor I was breathless but I felt a sense of calm and serenity, the majority of the people at the top, men and women were meditating, some were meditating in the Tor itself, I felt comfortable, accepted and at home as I sat down to meditate.

As my curiosity unfolded over the next few days and I visited Chalice Well Springs, The White Spring, the quirky shops and the Abbey this sense of being accepted continued as I balanced my explorations with deep meditation, reiki, journaling and I even wrote and sang my own song (my creativity came out when I gave it time!).

Two days before I had left for my trip, I’d seen an online event pop up on Facebook, no idea how Facebook knew I was going to Glastonbury (but that’s probably a privacy discussion for another time!). It was an Equinox event, I decided to just go not knowing anything about it. Little did I know the connection between this event and why I had been called to Glastonbury.

On the second day I was walking down the high street when a little courtyard caught my eye as a man was singing with a guitar on the corner, I saw a sign that said ‘Goddess’ and so I followed it, within this little courtyard was the Glastonbury Goddess Temple. I felt pulled to go in, I had no idea what to expect, the lady inside asked me to take off my shoes and as I walked through there was an alter with a picture of a goddess, candles and everything was decorated in orange and autumnal theme to honour the equinox. A lady was sat down meditating so I sat down too and joined her. The energy in the temple was serene and calming, as I sat for a few minutes tears started to stream down my face and it all clicked into place.

For so many years our world has been led by patriarchy, traditional religion in this country was about sacrifice, I very much felt this visiting the Abbey earlier this day too, your body didn’t matter, it was something outside of you that you worshipped. Especially with the reign of Henry VIII churches were stripped bare and religion became basic and starchy, monks were allowed one piece of bread a day. Societies, cultures, for so many years Women were silenced, were killed even for not following the patriarchal traditions, for being healers, for honouring the earth.

With the Goddess and the tradition of the Goddess being kept alive in Glastonbury it did not appear sacrificial to me, it was honoring, nourishing, an honoring of your body and also of mother earth. A honouring of the seasons.

It was the same for the online event, there was about 60 of us, men and women and there were 5-6 Priestesses of Avalon who each shared a story, a song or a blessing. The priestesses train in Glastonbury and were from all over the world, they train in the ways of the Goddess and keep her alive from the traditions and legends of Avalon (The mystical land which honoured the Goddess which legend suggests was where the Tor is now, it was surrounded by lakes at the time before the Somerset Levels were drained for farming. At this time the God and the Goddess was worshipped across the land).

This all fits in well with everything I have learned on my journey and work with clients on, Mindfulness is a way of connecting back to your body and focusing on those nourishing self care practices. It links with Kindfulness, Love resonance and Gratitude too, the honoring of autumn and the land is a kind of gratitude, a thankfulness, a simpleness. The Goddess tradition feels like a self worship, a deep self love and a nourishment for the body.

So, I didn’t expect to come to Glastonbury on the equinox on a quest to learn about the Goddess Energy, and to start a mission with bringing forth the Divine Feminine but it appears this is now even further ingrained in the work I am here to do, for the work you are here to do.

Its time to shift the balance, in all of us, to balance that masculine and feminine energy, to honour our bodies, honour the land, take care of our Earth. Its about balancing the masculine and feminine, letting the masculine structures guide the feminine flow, this is where the magic happens in your life and business.

I strongly believe through this slowing down and connecting in too we can create so much magic in our life and business especially as highly sensitive people. This is about wellbeing, this is about living, this is about love, this is about changing the world…

What will you do?

If you need some support on balancing your masculine and feminine energy and honouring yourself we cover this in the incredible Shine Academy, my 4 month coaching programme on using your Sensitivities as Superpowers working with me as an ICF accredited Coach, further details here

https://www.thehappinessbranch.com/shineacademy

Almost 70 potential franchisees have attended virtual Discovery Days in 2020.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, and the need for social distancing measures, TaxAssist Accountants converted its popular monthly Discovery Days to a virtual format.

This new format held over Zoom has provided an opportunity for interested parties to find out more about the successful business model, the support provided, and to meet the award-winning support team. Attending a Discovery Day is the first step for those interested in joining the franchise.

Seth Brown, Senior Manager UK Recruitment, said: “We have now hosted nine virtual Discovery Days this year, and while we miss not being able to host prospective franchisees in Norwich, the virtual format has allowed those interested in the franchise to continue to fully explore the TaxAssist opportunity. The response to our virtual Discovery Days has been overwhelmingly positive with feedback from delegates praising their content, format and smooth operation.

“Enquiries have increased throughout the year, with a 51% increase on 2019 in the second half of the year. Driving interest in particular, is the wish to work closer to home, take control of your own destiny and build an asset for the future, as people mull their future due to redundancy and career uncertainty.

“I’m pleased to say that we’ve continued to recruit well too, with 13 joining as new franchisees, two joining as franchise resales and two as new franchisee partners, bringing us up to 244 franchised areas in the UK. We also already have our first sign up to the February 2021 course.

“With the Initial Training Course also fully adapted for online delivery, we now have a seamless online journey to becoming a franchisee. We will continue to offer a £4,000 cash back on our franchise fee to reflect the change of setting, and this offering will be available for as long as we choose to run the course virtually.”

If you are interested in attending a TaxAssist Accountants virtual Discovery Day, give Nikki Haythorne, UK Franchise Recruitment Manager, a call on 0800 0188297 or for more information, visit our website here.

A new grant scheme launching on Monday will enable micro, small and medium-sized businesses to make better use of digital technology through funding and one to one support.

Go Digital is being launched by Norfolk County Council to help businesses based in the county identify digital opportunities. It will provide expert one-to-one consultancy and the ability to apply for grants of up to £500.

Digital opportunities could include how to sell products and services online, reach new customers using social media, build customer databases, develop new or existing websites and attract new visitors, or how to work out the best homeworking options for teams.

Successful Go Digital applicants will be assigned an experienced business advisor who will conduct a ‘digital audit’ and provide a comprehensive report to identify digital opportunities. The advisor will help the business put together an action plan and then businesses will have the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to £500 to help them deliver projects using this plan.

The launch of Go Digital comes during a year of lockdowns, which has left many businesses facing the challenge of reaching their customers remotely by utilising digital services in new ways.

Cllr Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Growing the Economy, said: “We’ve carried out research and found that there is untapped potential for Norfolk businesses using more digital technology. Launching our Go Digital business support scheme is just one of the ways we’re helping businesses adapt and continue providing services for their communities through the Coronavirus pandemic.

“I’d urge business owners to apply as soon as possible, whether you’re looking to make use of more digital devices and tech, tap into the power of social media, or improve your online presence.”

Businesses can find out more and apply on the Norfolk County Council website at 

But for many business leaders, there is still uncertainty about how digital technology can benefit their business, as well as an upfront cost which for many is harder than ever to square financially.