Member News

Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s speech today outlining the government’s plans for a significant investment in the UK’s infrastructure, Lloyd Felton, CEO of Essex based rural broadband provider County Broadband which is building new networks in Norfolk, commented:

“We welcome today’s announcement of a multi-billion pound investment in the UK’s infrastructure to turbo charge economic growth, but note that there was no firm commitment to re-fuelling the pledge towards providing full-fibre connectivity to the whole of the UK by 2025.

“The COVID-19 lockdown has transformed almost every aspect of modern life and, creating an unexpected mass trial of working from home, video calling family and friends, virtual education for our children, online consultations and the move away from traditional TV to online streaming…

“The golden thread running through this is broadband and whilst the UK’s digital infrastructure has, by in large, been holding steady, the creaking at the seams is becoming noticeably louder. For too long we have relied on outdated copper cables to deliver this essential utility and the UK continues to lag behind our European neighbours.

“We must turbocharge the rollout of future-ready full-fibre broadband so businesses have the digital capacity for growth and households can keep connected to the ever-growing number of devices and services in the home. Nowhere is this more important than in rural parts of the country which have historically been left behind.

“We are continuing to drive forward the rollout of our Hyperfast full-fibre service to ‘often-forgotten’ rural communities across Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire following a multi-million private investment. A collaborative approach of private and public investment will mean the UK can stand tall in the digital sphere and compete on an international scale. Any failure to do so will ripple through generations to come. We must not delay.”

The Sainsbury Centre is delighted to announce the reopening of its building tomorrow following a period of temporary closure during the Covid-19 pandemic. From Tuesday 7 July visitors are invited to explore astonishing new exhibitions and the inspiring Sainsbury Collection, with refreshments available from the Modern Life Café, whilst stringent safety measures ensure public health guidelines are being followed at all times.

This announcement comes after the UK government updated its advice on 23 June for leisure facilities and tourist attractions, confirming that people in England will be permitted to visit museums and galleries that have implemented the necessary social distancing and hygiene practises from Saturday 4 July. The Sainsbury Centre is pleased to be among the first university art gallery and museums in the country able to reopen this summer, enabling members of the public to once again enjoy art and improve their wellbeing during this challenging time.

From Tuesday 7 July visitors to the Sainsbury Centre can expect a welcoming and inspiring experience, facilitated by new safety systems and procedures. These include all exhibition tickets being pre-booked for specific time slots, in order to reduce the number of people in the galleries and ensure social distancing can be adhered to. Signage will guide visitors around the building on new one-way routes, helped by staff and volunteers wearing the appropriate masks/visors. Rigorous cleaning will be undertaken at regular intervals.

On offer are two exhibitions looking at hugely popular movements and styles. Art Deco by the Sea opened in February to rave reviews and has been extended until 20 September 2020. It celebrates the glamour and innovation of the British coastline in the 1920s and 30s and is accompanied by a pop-up shop stocked with books, postcards and jewellery.

Coinciding with the Sainsbury Centre reopening is the launch of Art Nouveau: The Nature of Dreams, running until 31 December 2020. This new exhibition charts the lesser-known English origins of the Art Nouveau movement, featuring dazzling ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, paintings, posters and prints, sculptures and textiles.

The Sainsbury Collection, on permanent display at the heart of the building, will be free to explore with food and drink available to takeaway from the Modern Life Café. The Sculpture Park, which has remained open throughout lockdown, continues to provide 350 acres of attractive parkland open to everyone to enjoy art, architecture and the natural environment.

Ghislaine Wood, Acting Director, says, “While our Sculpture Park has remained open throughout lockdown, we are pleased to announce the reopening of the Sainsbury Centre from Tuesday 7 July. The remarkable open-plan architecture of the Sainsbury Centre has helped us move towards reopening safely and implementing social distancing. We hope our visitors will now come enjoy the galleries and exciting exhibitions programme planned for the summer.”

As more sectors of the economy prepare to reopen, Great Yarmouth Borough Council has expanded its local business grants scheme and is reminding companies that guidance about safe operations and other support is still available.

The council has so far handed out around £30m in Government grants to eligible businesses. Grants are still available under both the Government’s original scheme as well as a newer local scheme supporting businesses which were not eligible for the other support but can prove they have suffered hardship due to Covid-19.

The local scheme is aimed at businesses with ongoing fixed property overheads, and businesses are encouraged to check online guidance to see if they could be eligible. Visit www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/coronavirus-advice-businesses for the link to the application form, eligibility criteria and further business advice. In addition, the council’s business helpline 0808 196 2240 will still be available until July 13, when applications close.

Under the expanded local grants scheme, eligible businesses within the retail, hospitality or tourism sectors can now apply for up to £25,000 if they meet certain criteria. Grants of either £2,000, £5,000 and £10,000 are still available, with one grant award per business/property.

The amount available for charity properties has doubled to £10,000. In addition, home-based businesses can also now apply for a grant if they can demonstrate they have fixed home costs that are attributable to business costs.

Those prioritised for the scheme are small businesses in shared offices and regular market traders who do not have their own business rates assessments, bed and breakfasts which pay council tax instead of business rate and charity properties that are in receipt of charitable business rates relief.

New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership is also offering a number of grant opportunities for businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk. This includes capital grants of £25,000 to £50,000 to support short-term business resilience projects and longer-term recovery and diversification projects, covering up to 50 per cent of eligible costs, which could include premises, plant and machinery, commercial vehicles, or fixtures and fittings.  

The council continues to update its website with the latest guidance and support for businesses, including funding opportunities, application forms and eligibility criteria, plus advice on reopening and operating safely, along with a downloadable pack of useful materials including safety posters.

The council is planning to hold a free webinar on business grant opportunities. To register an interest, or to arrange to speak with the council’s business advisor Paul Gardner, email econdev@great-yarmouth.gov.uk For further business advice, plus guidance on the LEP’s grants, contact the Growth Hub on 0300 333 6536 or visit www.newanglia.co.uk/funding

Cllr Carl Smith, the council leader, and Cllr Trevor Wainwright, the Labour group leader, said: “The further reopening of the economy is very welcome although we know the coming months will continue to be challenging for businesses. We therefore want to ensure that as many local businesses as possible are aware of the opportunities and access the funding and support to which they might be entitled.

“We have already handed out significant Government funding in grants, and we’re really pleased to be in a position to expand the local scheme to provide further support to eligible businesses impacted by Covid-19.

“Our website is a useful starting point for businesses to explore what help might be available and to find advice and guidance to meet their responsibilities around reopening and operating safely. 

“Council officers are continuing to check in with businesses in the borough’s busiest tourism and shopping areas, including this weekend, to address any issues or questions, signpost them to further support and offer support packs containing an advice leaflet with essential tips for safe operations, safety posters and floor stickers.”

Reliability and customer satisfaction are the foundations of our family run business, and one of our core values is our absolute focus on customer relationships. It’s important to us to know each and every one of our clients on a first name basis, offering a personal service with a smile, so we couldn’t be prouder to be Finalists in the 2020 H&V News Awards. We will be joining an outstanding group of finalists in the category of Best Small Company Achievement.

Whilst the awards event has been postponed until November 4th due to Covid 19, we look forward to celebrating with the other incredible finalists who have been shortlisted for awards. 

• Data Energy, Data Energy – Metering & Billing Agent
• Cosgroves and Drew Engineering Services
• Woodford Heating and Energy, A Selfless Act of Succession Planning
• Heatlink Services, Heatlink Services
• Greengauge Building Energy Consultants, Goldsmith Street, Norwich

We have officially launched a new arm to our IT services. Meet the new-look Source Code Studio – Experts in Websites, ECommerce, Apps & Software.

Introducing  Source Code Studio

Located in our Bury St Edmunds Green Duck headquarters, the welcoming of Source Code Studio into the Green Duck family sees creative website designers and expert app developers working alongside experienced IT engineers, software pioneers and security experts. 

This means we can offer our customers a single point of contact for all IT support through Green Duck IT, web, app and software development through Source Code Studio and cyber security services through Labsec.

What we offer

With over 60+ years of experience in website and app design and development, Source Code Studio are by no means new kids on the block.

At Source Code Studio the primary focus is to tailor the user experience through our design and development process to meet the goals of your industry and clients.

We believe we can deliver you a better digital product through our tried and tested approach gained from years of experience. Our aim is to create a tailored goal-driven user experience which is easy and enjoyable to use and converts for your business needs.

Our team know the questions to ask to understand exactly what your business wants to achieve and exactly what your customers want to experience.

To celebrate, we are offering all businesses a free downloadable UI UX Checklist including valuable insights and recommendations. This is certainly a guide not to be missed!

Download your FREE guide here https://sourcecodestudio.co.uk/ui-ux-ebook/

Sounds good? Call us on 01284 717279

With its initial training course now running virtually, TaxAssist Accountants is pleased to offer a cash back deal to new franchisees.

Due to social distancing measures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, TaxAssist Accountants is running a modified initial training course online, making use of technology to provide an engaging and interactive course that will still fully prepare franchisees for opening their practices.

Karl Sandall, Group Chief Executive Director said: “Our first virtual training course started on June 15th with two new franchisees, who having done their research and obtained their funding, are keen to get started on their journey with TaxAssist Accountants.

“Obviously these are unprecedented times, so we are pleased to be able to offer the £4,000 cash back on our franchise fee, in recognition of the change in setting for the training course. This offering will be available for as long as we choose to run the course virtually. We do, however, look forward to welcoming any new joiners back to the Support Centre for a face-to-face follow up as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Samantha Skyring, Senior Training and Communications Manager at the TaxAssist Accountants Support Centre, explained what new franchisees can expect from the course.

“We have had to completely overhaul the training course,” said Samantha. “which has been quite an undertaking, but vital, as we want to make sure we are able to stay engaged with each new franchisee and establish a good rapport as we would normally on our face-to-face course.

“This is important so our new franchisees get to know us all well and feel comfortable to ask us questions throughout the course. We will be using video calls, telephone, emails, instant chat features, live and recorded videos, as well as software such as Sway, Teams and Zoom to alternate our communication channels, as we introduce different members of the team and new topics. We obviously also want to make the course as enjoyable as possible, so we have designed it so that our delegates will not be sitting in front of their computer for hours on end.”

If you are interested in joining TaxAssist Accountants, monthly Virtual Discovery Days are being held, where you can spend a day with the team to find out more about the business opportunity and support on offer. Visit the TaxAssist Accountants website www.taxassistfranchise.co.uk for more information.

More than two thirds of legal firms will review their business processes and well over half are planning a major change in strategy following the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s according to a survey of more than 100 UK law firms of all sizes conducted by MHA, a UK-wide association of independent accountants and business advisors.

The survey, carried out during lockdown, showed that 85% of firms said the pandemic would have a ‘moderate’ or ‘major’ impact on fee income. Almost one in five (19%) of those surveyed have seen fees drop by more than 30%.

However, 59% of firms said they will use the opportunity to change their business strategy with a focus on better IT, review of specialisms, and improving profitability.

Firms are ready to embrace more agile working, 63% of firms surveyed said they found the transition to homeworking during the pandemic ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’, and 81% said they expect to allow staff to work part of the week from home in future.

Jon Woolston, head of the Professional Practices team at MHA Larking Gowen, said: “Like many other sectors, legal firms will be hit financially in the short term by the pandemic, however, there’s also a huge opportunity to use this as a catalyst for modernisation and achieving longer term financial stability.

“When it comes to business strategy, many firms have been telling us that the pandemic has encouraged them to take action to remove high-risk areas of work and to change their focus from increasing fee income to increasing profitability.

“There’s clearly a huge opportunity around staff recruitment and retention due to the agile working practices we’ve all become used to in a very short space of time. This may enable some firms to staff the business and attract new work without geographic restriction.”

Among the other key findings of the survey were:

• 68% are reviewing their current premises requirements or considering smaller offices
• 87% of firms have made use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and 31% accessed the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to date
• 68% have deferred VAT payments and 31% have used the HMRC Time to Pay arrangement
• 66% are changing their plans for investment in IT systems and procedures to allow more homeworking
• 61% have changed their recruitment plans
• 40% said they are changing their plans to focus on credit control and tightening up requests for advance payments on account from clients

Jon added: “This has been a big reset moment for the legal sector and there’s definitely opportunities for those firms who can move quickly to take advantage of new profitable business generated online or from non-traditional routes or regions. Those firms who are looking forwards, taking positive lessons from lockdown, and making decisions to change, based upon a modern IT infrastructure, will be those to profit not just survive.”

An infographic summarising the main findings of the MHA Legal Sector Covid-19 survey is available here on the MHA website

With lockdown restrictions easing and many business premises getting ready to open after being inactive for many weeks, it is important to recognise the threat of legionella bacteria.  The team at Heatlink Services are here to help with any questions you may have.  Legionella which can thrive in certain conditions, eg when buildings have become low in occupancy or shut completely (mothballed). In such cases the chances of Legionella surviving can increase as a direct result of low turnover of water within systems that are not being used as frequently.

What is Legionnaires Disease? Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia contracted by inhaling aerosols contaminated with legionella bacteria. The bacteria multiplies in stagnant water, poorly designed water systems and in water temperatures between 20 degrees C and 45 degrees C.

What are the symptoms? The symptoms of Legionnaires disease are similar to the symptoms of Covid 19;

• high temperature • feverishness and chills • coughingwith the potential to lead to pneumonia. • muscle pains • headache • diarrhoea

Who is at risk? Everyone is susceptible to infection; the risk increases with age, but some people are at higher risk including: • people aged over 45 • smokers and heavy drinkers • people suffering from chronic respiratory or kidney disease, diabetes, lung and heart disease • anyone with an impaired immune system

Ideal Environment for Legionella • Water temperatures of between 20ᵒC – 45ᵒC • Stagnantwater • Systems containing nutrients for bacterial growth e.g. rust, sludge, sediment, scale, organic matter and biofilms

Recommissioning your water systems

It is essential that water systems are not simply put back in to use. It is sensible to put together a re-commissioning plan for each water system within the building, to provide reassurance to people returning to work that the water systems are safe for normal use. To ensure the safety of employees throughout the business, the following control measures are recommended:

• A chemical disinfection of all Cold water storage tanks, storage vessels & header tanks, where possible including their associated water systems. • A thermal disinfection/ pasteurisation or all hot water heaters, where possible including their associated water systems. • Ensure all outlets and associated systems are flushed thoroughly. • Expansion vessel are purged and drained. • Where possible samples of the water should be taken ensure all control measures implemented were successful in reducing the proliferation of bacteria. • Shower heads, hoses & spray heads where fitted should be dismantled, cleaned and chlorinated. • Limescale should be removed from outlets. • Check water softening equipment where fitted is fit for use

If you have any questions please do contact us on 01603 980950 or email us at Heatlink Services and we will be very happy to help you!

Additional advice So the advice is :- Take careful note as you reopen your business as the safety, health and wellbeing of your employees and members of the public using your premises is paramount when it comes to Legionnaires disease and the fact many of the symptoms are similar to those of Covid 19 could make it hard to differentiate between the two. Hot supplies should be minimum of 50 °C within one minute (55 °C in healthcare environments) & cold supplies should be below 20 °C within two minutes of running the cold tap.

John Thompson, CEO of the Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors organisation said “Landlords and employers have a legal duty to assess and control the risk of exposure to Legionella bacteria. Risk assessments, precautionary actions and remedial work can be implemented to protect against Legionnaires’ disease. However, we believe the vast majority of landlords and employers are unaware of their legal duty and of the actions that need to be taken.

These are unprecedented times and never have so many buildings been closed for so long without any thought for bringing these buildings back into use, which if not facilitated correctly could lead to a serious outbreak of Legionnaires disease just as the country and the NHS recover from COVID-19.”

The association has advised landlords, property owners and employers to take action now by contacting a suitably qualified plumbing and heating engineer in order to carry out a risk assessment, advise on precautionary measures and, if required, implement remedial work.

Furthermore WRAS (Water Regulations Advisory Scheme) has also encouraged business and property owners to consider the risks as stagnant water can encourage the growth of micro-organisms including Legionella and unless steps are taken before a building is reoccupied, there is potential risks to health

Where a building has been unoccupied for more than 30 days it is important to refer to buildings water management plan as flushing, disinfection and other measures may be required

Julie Spinks, MD of WRAS said “Stagnant water can pose a risk for the users and residents of any kind of building, so it is vital that the water system is prepared and refreshed before access resume”

When stagnant, water is prone to microbiological contamination and poses a significant risk to building occupants on their return, if not treated correctly

Microbiological contamination includes algae and bacteria such as pseudomonas and Legionella – and these can cause serious health issues if they enter the human body. For example, if inhaled (usually from water droplets dispersed from outlets such as taps (see video detailed in the link below for more info), showers, hot tubs and air-conditioning units), Legionella bacterium can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a serious and potentially fatal type of pneumonia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LskeGezlHBg

Welcome to our quarterly newsletter. We at Drive Alive are hoping you are keeping safe and well during these testing times. We are pleased to share with you that the team has been busy behind the scenes developing our online services to ensure continued legal compliance for all our customers. We are also pleased to announce and welcome a new member to the team; Andrew Bunn, who joined us in early April as our new Sales Executive. We hope you find this newsletter informative. Stay safe and take care from us all at Drive Alive.

E-ASSESSMENT A convenient way to risk assess your drivers and maintain legal compliance. https://www.drivealive.co.uk/fleet-risk-management-driver-e-asse

ONINE DEFENSIVE DRIVING Defensive driving techniques reduce the likelihood of a collision or incident and can even save costs related to vehicle maintenance and fuel consumption. https://www.drivealive.co.uk/online-defensive-driving

DEEP VEHICLE CLEAN We have put together a simple checklist on how to ensure your vehicle is thoroughly clean during the Pandemic. https://c1a104d8-9e6f-4e52-a368-f2e4a7d49a75.usrfiles.com/ugd/c1a104_fe1534e1444348e9be7795c877574d0e.pdf

FRENCH BREATHALYSER – GOOD NEWS for drivers travelling to France in the future, it appears that the French government have dispensed with the law requiring you to carry Breathalyser kits in your vehicle!

In a recent survey, 74% of employees stated they would be more likely to take a job if the prospective employer had a good benefits package, and 75% of employees said they were more likely to stay in their job for the same reason.*

Leading mortgage and protection broker, Mortgage Advice Bureau, can give your employees access to fee-free mortgage and protection advice from a professional adviser, either in your workplace or at a time that’s convenient for them.

How Mortgage Advice Bureau can help you

We offer a dedicated employee benefits service to ensure your staff not only have access to fee-free mortgage and protection advice when they need it, but also help with education to support them with their overall financial well-being. Our fully qualified mortgage specialists can support your staff no matter what their circumstances. For instance, they could be planning to take their first step onto the property ladder, upsizing to a bigger home for their growing family, or perhaps they’d just like to see if they could save money on their current mortgage. Whatever their circumstances, we can give you peace of mind that your employees are being looked after, and that those with money worries will have one less thing to worry about.

Our mortgage service offering

• Advice drop-in sessions at your premises
• Mortgage and protection ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions
• Face to face or telephone mortgage and protection appointments at a time to suit
• Access to information, tips and calculators
• Dual branded mortgage portal to easily arrange appointments
• Financial well-being emails to be sent at a frequency to suit you.

Get in touch

If you’d like to speak to us about our dedicated employee benefits service, feel free to get in touch.

Telephone: 07436 236841

Email: hannah.littlechild@mab.org.uk

*Salary Finance.com – Employers Guide to Financial Wellbeing 

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Fee-free advice is only available from the above contact details.

The Maids Head Hotel in Tombland, Norwich, one of the oldest hotels in the UK, will emerge from lockdown on Saturday, July 4. It is believed that this is the first time that the hotel has been closed since it started trading as the Murtel Fish Inn during the 13th century.

Christine Malcolm, General Manager said: “We are all looking forward to welcoming guests to the hotel after this three month closure. It will also be very good to see our staff return from furlough. They have been keeping their spirits up with a whole range of activities from a baking competition, to a Zoom lunch and a virtual run between the Maids Head and our sister hotels, The Gonville in Cambridge and The Ship at Brancaster. We recently delivered a lockdown gift of Norfolk strawberries, clotted cream and chilled rose wine to our 90 staff who live across the county, from Norwich to Wymondham, Reepham and Gorleston. This resulted in some great feedback, Dawn said: ‘Lovely surpirise today, thank you Christine and the team, miss you all…’ “

“We have also been working very hard behind the scenes to ensure the wellbeing and safety of our guests and staff when we re-open. We have minimised touch points and brought in a range of measures to help reassure everyone that they will have a safe visit to the Maids Head.”

To contact the Maids Head Hotel t. 01603 209955, email reservations@maidsheadhotel.co.uk or see www.maidsheadhotel.co.uk.

Preparations for Opening

The Yard Bar, with its magnificent 15th century fireplace, has been fully refurbished and will now be the main bar, with social distancing measures in place.

Thoughtful social distancing measures are also in place in all public areas including the lounges, the open air courtyard and the Wine Press Restaurant and conference and event rooms.

A customer journey video is being produced to help guests prepare for their visit.

In and out routes are in place and automatic entrance doors are being installed.

A thermal imaging camera will check guests’ and staff temperatures.

A new app will be available to ease the check in and check out process.

Infra red hand sanitiser units in place at all entrances and throughout the hotel.

Ongoing meticulous deep cleaning of all areas of the hotel: an electrostatic cleaning system has been purchased to deep cleanse all rooms and public areas every day. Bedroom doors will

be sealed after cleaning. Bedding will be rested for 72 hours.

A knock and drop service will be available for all meals.

Health and safety champions appointed in each department.

Branded masks produced for staff to wear.

Work place assessments written and available on request for all areas of the hotel.

Running maps, picnic maps and Norwich maps offered for guests so they can explore the city.

Drophead Bentley available for trips in the city on sunny days.

Flexible cancellation terms.

The Maids Head Goes Dog Friendly

Three of the hotel’s executive bedrooms are now available for guests with a maximum of two dogs per room. Dogs are not allowed in the public areas, other than the courtyard.

Norfolk and Waveney MIND, Charity of the Year

Norfolk and Waveney MIND is the hotel’s charity of the year. The Hotel is offering 105 classic double rooms in July from as little as £105 bed and breakfast for two people, with £5 going towards MIND.

Team Maids Head

The Maids Head staff have been very supportive of each other during during lockdown and set up their own FaceBook page and challenged themselves to a weekly bake off, running goals, Monday quiz nights and had a staff celebratory lunch on Zoom. Head Chef Magic devised a Mexican bean enchiladas recipe for the Zoom lunch.

We are excited to announce that our keynote speaker for our upcoming Cyber Security Conference is well-known ethical hacker and social engineer, FC (also known as Freaky Clown).

FC has been working in the information security field for over 20 years and excels at circumventing access controls. As an ethical hacker and social engineer, FC ‘breaks into’ hundreds of banks, offices and government facilities around the world. His work demonstrating weaknesses in physical, personnel and digital controls assists organisations to improve their security.  FC will be highlighting the change in mindset when working from home compared to an office or more secure location. He will be focusing on the type of attacks your business should be paying attention to, as well and how you protect yourself and your business. The annual conference, previously held in December, has been brought forward this year in response to the dramatic changes to our working environments due to COVID-19.  As a result of the pandemic, businesses have had to adapt to employees working from home. In April 2020 the UK’s Office for National Statistics released data showing that 49.2% of adults in employment were working from home. It is expected that many businesses will continue allowing staff to work from home or adopt a more flexible approach. With this comes a range of cyber threats, meaning security is not something to be overlooked.  The agenda will also include talks from Breakwater IT Managing Director, John Gostling, and a guest from Mimecast.  The conference is open to all businesses with no knowledge of security or IT needed. The aim of the event is to support businesses in their awareness of potential threats, and the steps that can be taken to prevent them.  For full details or to book your place: click here