Support for people in self-employment examined by Government

Founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company and leading entrepreneur, Julie Deane OBE, is to undertake an independent review of self-employment in the UK, which will report to the Government on the challenges and opportunities by those people working for themselves.

The review will examine the reasons why people decide to be self employed, in addition to the different types of works they undertake, including freelancing professionals, sole traders and those who are employed but also work for themselves. The challenges and potential difficulties faced by the self-employed, particularly when establishing or developing their business will also be explored.

In addition, the review will seek out solutions as to how the UK can create a more flexible and supportive environment, for example women creating businesses alongside childcare commitments.

Julie Deane began The Cambridge Satchel Company from her Cambridgeshire kitchen in 2008 with just a £600 start-up fund. The company now turns over £10M per year, employing over 130 people, manufacturing its products from its UK based workshop and selling to over 100 counties, marking her out as one of the UK economy’s biggest success stories of recent years.

Speaking on leading the review, Mrs Deane said: “The business landscape has changed so much in the last 10 years and in such a way that self-employment is now a viable option for so many more people. I have first-hand experience of the immense opportunities starting your own business can bring, but also understand the challenges that can face those starting out on their own. Having grown my business to employ more than 130 people and selling to over 120 countries, I have a clear of idea of the way in which government can better support the self-employed. I hope this review will help others in the future to turn their ideas into successful businesses.”

Self-employment makes up over 25% of the growth seen in employment since 2010. ONS figure show that one in seven people in employment decide to work for themselves, making a total of 4.5 million people.

The Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I am delighted that Julie Deane has agreed to carry out this review, with her own extensive experience of starting out on her own. Her review will shine a light on self-employment, a key part of our long term economic plan, looking at what can be done to provide more security and peace of mind for people wanting to work for themselves.”

Sajid Javid, Business Secretary said: “The government is on the side of working people. As part of our aim to achieve full employment, we want to create an environment that supports people who want to work hard and strike out on their own and makes the UK the best place in Europe to start and grow a business.”

The Prime Minister’s self-employment ambassador, David Morris, said: “I am delighted the government is carrying out this independent review. The self-employed make an important contribution to the UK economy and this review will help us to support the nation’s entrepreneurs even further.”

The review is expected to be published in early 2016.

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Airports Commission Heathrow recommendation: Reaction

Delays have to be avoided so London doesn’t fall further behind in ‘global connectivity race’.

Yesterday saw the release by the Airports Commission of its final report, setting out its recommendations on the best way to expand air travel opportunities in London.

Sir Howard Davies set out the options and said that despite other options, the ‘clear and unanimous’ conclusion was to build a northwest runway at Heathrow Airport.

The choice of building a third runway at Heathrow was decided upon because although it is expensive, the costs can be covered and it represents the best way of expanding London’s offering of long-haul flights.

The report advised the Government to reject plans for a third runway, while the Commission rejected Gatwick Airport’s “plausible case for expansion” because of its lack of ability to deliver long-haul destinations in new markets.

In addition, a new airport in the Thames Estuary was ruled out because of cost, environment and disruption problems associated with its delivery.

But what do others think of the recommendations outlined by the Commission? UK Construction Media has gauged reaction of others to see if they feel this is the best decision for London and the country’s economy.

Mathew Riley is the Managing Director of Infrastructure and Environment at EC Harris, which is part of Acradis.

He believes that yesterday’s decision is only “one piece in the jigsaw” and he voiced concerns that one runway will not be enough to match the growing capacity of London.

He said: “It has taken 12 years to finally come to a verdict regarding building a new runway at Heathrow.

“However, this moment does not mean that the shape of London’s future connectivity is resolved. Far from it. A third runway at Heathrow is just one piece in the jigsaw that will aid the capital’s global connectivity.

“Even when the runway at Heathrow is built, we will need another one by 2030. The published capacity of the London airports is currently 148 million passengers per annum, but by the time Heathrow’s third runway opens, demand for London’s airports will be in excess of 200 million.”

Mathew added that two runways are needed “drive economic growth” and thinks that the same process of debating should not take as long to come to the next decisions and recommendations that will increase London’s airport capacity.

He added: “We simply cannot afford to spend another 15 years debating where the next new runway should go; the decision must be made in the next five years so that London has two new runways by 2030.

“The focus now should be on both delivering the capacity to secure the capital’s competitive advantage, and maximizing the impact of this investment to support future regeneration and to drive economic growth.”

James Stamp, Global Head of Aviation at KPMG, echoed the urgency in avoiding further delay because London is falling behind other cities in the ‘global connectivity race’.

He said: “A significant amount of time, effort and energy has been spent at arriving at the conclusions. Strong account has been taken with the need to meet EU air pollution limits, address noise pollution concerns and move most ground traffic from road to rail.

“What must happen is action by politicians; further delay would significantly damage UK plc.

“In context, the UK has not built a full-length runway in the south east since World War Two. Our neighbours in the EU have overtaken us; Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam already have much more runway capacity.

“What this means is that we’re losing out in the global connectivity race. Paris already offers 50% more flights to China than London, for example. This is significant, because by 2025 there will be 7,000 new $1Bn companies globally, and nearly seven in ten will be in emerging economies. If we want to connect with these, we have to act.

“With the world’s biggest cities planning 50 new runways by 2036, allowing for one billion new passenger journeys, we simply can’t afford any further political delay.

“Given that Dubai will soon have more capacity than all of London’s airports combined, it is clear that expansion of airport capacity in the south east is a must.

“The world is watching to see if London and the UK has the ambition to maintain its position as a global trading hub – we’re losing ground to our competitors and further political delay would be acceptable.”

As a result of the need for further runways and airport capacity, KPMG believe that extension of Gatwick Airport will also “play a very important role.”

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The Price of a Timely Application

A recent decision in the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) by Edwards-Stuart J in the case of Leeds City Council v Waco UK Limited [2015] EWHC 1400 should serve as a wake-up call for contractors in the trade who fail to recognise the importance of applying for interim payment on the exact contract date which has been agreed to.

This decision from the courts has the potential to influence the validity of interim payment applications sent on any date other than the exact date specified in the contract.

Leeds City Council (LCC) contracted with Waco UK Limited (Waco) under an amended JCT Design and Build Contract 2005 (Rev 2 2009 edition) to carry out the design, manufacture and installation of new factory-assembled modular classroom buildings at Roundhay Primary School in Leeds.

This may seem nothing out of the ordinary, as detailed (and as some contractors regularly tell us – overtly complex) payment provisions are nothing new, however in practise how many contractors adhere to the exact contract date on which interim applications are to be submitted?

Whilst this may be a generalisation on our behalf, most contractors (like Waco in this instance) often submit their interim payment applications around the time period that the application is due in accordance with the contract, but more often than not this can be a couple of days early or similarly a couple of days late. In practise, it is very rare that the paperwork trail is accurate on a monthly basis to the exact specified date as stipulated in the contract.

Back to the case of LCC v Waco, where Waco submitted an interim application on 22nd of September 2014 for the sum of nearly £500k, however this application was made and received a full six days before the bi-monthly required date as specified by clause 4.9.2 of the contract being the date of 28th of September 2014.

LCC in response didn’t serve a payment notice, or a pay less notice and did not make a payment. As one might expect, adjudication followed and Waco succeeded in this matter, and in due course a payment was made by LCC.

This matter was then taken to the Technology and Construction Court, where LCC submitted that there was never any entitlement under the contract provisions for applications for interim payments to be made on any dates other than those stipulated by the contract.

Edwards-Stuart J decided that an interim application was required to be made on the relevant date agreed, and had to include the total value of the work properly executed up to that date, and whilst a degree of flexibility was inferred from the parties conduct in terms of when a valid application could be submitted after the due date, the judge concluded that an application could not be made before the relevant due date – on the basis that an application made early could obviously not cover work between the date of the early application and the later valuation date.

But is this correct?
Don’t all contractors in the main when quantifying their work to date, work on an accrual basis of ‘projecting’ the amount of work to the end of the relevant period? – we think so, and it certainly makes sense to do so – but the moral of this story is that if you plan to rely on the opposing parties default in terms of a Payment Certificate or Pay Less Notices, then there can be no substitute for making those applications on the exact date that you agreed to make them on.

Applied for on any other date, and an application for payment may just find the decision of LCC v Waco to be a substantial hurdle.

Joseph Bond, Managing Director, Kenzie Group Limited

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Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI released for June

Latest PMI remains over the 50.0 mark

The latest Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing figures were released this morning with the seasonally adjusted number falling to 51.4 in June, from May’s revised figure of 51.9.

While the second quarter of the year was somewhat disappointing as a whole, and growth has slowed in June, the PMI is still above the neutral 50.0 mark, extending the run to a 27^th month in succession.

In addition, although companies reported a fall in new export orders – mainly because the exchange rate meant subdued demand from Europe – the domestic market held up in June, which subsequently resulted in higher inflows of new business.

There was a slowdown in UK manufacturing, with investment goods sector suffering, but intermediate goods producers reported that the level of manufacturing remained stagnant.

Consumer goods output has also continued to expand solidly and there was good news in manufacturing employment which has gone up for the 26^th consecutive month in June.

Companies ranging from SMEs to larger organisations benefited from the increase in staffing levels, with the intermediate, consumer and investment goods sectors all faring well.

Input cost averages went up in June for the first time in ten months, while selling prices reduced – continuing a trend that has been seen for five of the last six months. Generally, SMEs benefited from lower output charges.

David Noble, Group Chief Executive Officer for the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, commented on the indifferent figures, which “failed to dampen optimism.”

He said: “Manufacturing delivered a sluggish but steady set of results this month compared to more upbeat activity at the start of year, but still remained on terra firma.

“Supported by domestic demand, purchasing managers reported gentler inflows of new orders and continuing business, as interest from export markets had lost much of its energy.

“Procurement activity also fell at the fastest rate since April 2013 as new orders saw a modest slowdown giving the opportunity to catch-up on backlogs as employment continued to rise.

“As increasing oil prices impacted on marginally higher output charges, they failed to dampen optimism in the sector as the headline PMI index remained above its no-change mark.”

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Highways England to spend £600M improving roads in the North East

Highways England has today unveiled over £600M of major road improvements that will take place in the North East by 2020.

The government-owned company announced its plans at a launch event held at the Great North Museum in Newcastle earlier today and has an £11Bn budget over the next five years to invest in England’s motorways and major A roads.

Within the next five years, two major road improvements on the A1 and A19 will be completed:

The £61M A1 Coal House to Metro Centre scheme commenced in August 2014 and will see an extra lane created on a 4-mile stretch of the A1 between junction 67 Coal House, and junction 71 Metro Centre, giving three lanes in each direction. Also, a third-of-a-mile section of the A1 between junction 68 at Lobley Hill and junction 69 at Gateshead Quays will see the number of lanes increased from two to five. This will provide a link for local road users and aid traffic flow on the A1.

The £100M A19 Coast Road scheme is scheduled to start in spring 2016. The A19 gives access to Port of Tyne and to major employment areas. Highways England plans to improve the A19/A1058 Coast Road junction by upgrading the existing roundabout to a three level interchange. It is envisaged that the scheme will aid regeneration in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, reduce congestion, increase capacity and speed up journey times at the junction.

Work will also start on four other schemes:

The £70M A19 Testos junction improvement scheme is due to commence in 2017/18 and will see a flyover constructed to take the A19 over the Testos junction. Entry and exit slip roads will connect the A19 to the new larger roundabout.

The A19 Down Hill Lane will undergo a £30M junction improvement scheme also due to start in 2017/18.

The A1 and A19 £140M technology improvements are currently undergoing scheme design, with work is set to begin in 2016.

Options are also being assessed for the A19 Norton to Wynyard road widening project. This £140 – £220M scheme will help to relieve congestion in the area.

Further to this investment, Highways England will be moving forward and delivering solutions to the feasibility study conducted for the A1 North of Newcastle. Traffic and environmental surveys and consultation with key stakeholders will start this year, with construction of the A1 North of Ellingham enhancements in advance of the dualling scheme, which is expected to start in 2018.

Work on the development of three future schemes on the A1 also continues. These being the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham dualling, A1 Scotswood to North Brunton and A1 Birtley to Coal House widening.

Speaking at the launch, Highways England’s Director of Major Projects in the North, Jeremy Bloom, said: “Drivers in the North East will see significant investment in major A roads and motorways across the region over the next five years. We’re investing £600m on delivering major improvements to the North East, starting or completing 6 major road schemes and carrying out further development of further 4 major schemes.

“These schemes will bring significant benefits to the users of the Strategic Road Network in the North East. Construction will, of course, bring some necessary disruption in the short term and we will ensure that we keep this to a minimum to keep traffic flowing”.

Highways England Yorkshire and North East Divisional Director, Vanessa Gilbert also commented: “In addition to the £600m of major improvements across the region it is vital that we continue to improve the existing road network as well, which is why across Yorkshire and the North East we will be spending £130m a year for the next 5 years on maintenance and smaller scale improvement schemes. Motorways and trunk roads form the backbone of the region’s economy and this huge investment will ensure they remain healthy for many years to come.”

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Airports Commission recommends new Heathrow Airport runway

Northwest runway recommended by Commission who say fourth runway should be rejected.

The Airports Commission’s final report has been published today and it has unanimously recommended that a new northwest runway at Heathrow Airport is the best option to serve future economic benefits.

This report is the result of three years of consultation and analysis to find the most viable option for airport expansion following concerns previously raised by various politicians and communities close to Heathrow Airport.

Heathrow Airport is seen as the best option because it is expected to deliver nearly double the amount of economic benefit that would be available from Gatwick, while another 40 new long-haul connections would be made to emerging growth markets.

In the report, Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of the Airports Commission, went through the different options that will help to solve a capacity problem that “has perplexed governments for over 50 years.”

Expansion is needed because Heathrow is already operating at capacity and Gatwick is not far away from the same point. Although capacity is available in the south east for low cost flights, this is not the case for its main hub airport, and the worry is that new long-haul flight routes are being set up in Europe, rather than London.

If things continue the way they are, London’s airport system will be full by 2040.

Therefore, the Commission has assessed the reasons for airport expansion, with it being described as vital for the UK economy.

Sir Howard Davies said: “The service sector, whether the City, the media industry or universities, depends heavily on prompt face-to-face contact.

“There is strong evidence that good transport links, and especially aviation connectivity, make an important contribution to enhancing productivity, which is an important national challenge.”

The ‘clear and unanimous’ conclusion is to expand the runway capacity at Heathrow Airport.

In the report, the Commission has explained the reasons for this, with a new airport in the Thames Estuary ruled out because of cost, environmental concerns and disruption to businesses and communities.

Gatwick’s “plausible case for expansion” was considered but ultimately rejected because it could not add significant capacity to long-haul destinations in new markets.

The northwest runway scheme was chosen because Heathrow is capable of providing capacity quickly and is feasible.

Sir Howard Davies added: “The costs are high, but financeable by the private sector, in our judgement and that of investors.”

The Commission is mindful of the fact that expansion at Heathrow has been advised before and rejected by concerned communities, but the report has set out ways in which the expansion will be acceptable to people living locally and to those in London.

As a result, there will be a ban on night flights from 11.30pm to 6.00am, there will be a ‘noise envelope’ that will limit the noise created, an independent aviation noise authority, and a noise levy to fund a stronger set of compensation and mitigation schemes.

The Commission has said that the Government should also rule out the creation of a fourth runway.

Local people will benefit through training and apprenticeship opportunities that will be made available to help the job and economy in the area prosper.

John Holland-Kaye is Chief Executive of Heathrow Airport, and he believes the scheme will result in economic growth.

He said: “Our new plans have been designed around the needs of local communities and will meet carbon, air quality and noise targets, and provides the greatest benefit to the UK’s connectivity and its long-term economic growth.

“We will create the world’s best connected, most efficient and most environmentally responsible hub airport at the heart of an integrated transport system.

“The Commission has backed a positive and ambitious vision for Britain. We will now work with Government to deliver it.”

The Government will now consider the advice given in the report and Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLaughlin, will make a statement in Parliament later today.

 

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“The Kier Effect” wins international film award

Leading property, residential, construction and services company, Kier Group, has won a prestigious Summit International Award (SIA) in the ‘Corporate Image’ category.

The SIA has a 21-year history in celebrating excellence in the marketing communications industry, with jury panels made up of judges from around the world. It administers three advertising and marketing award competitions throughout the year with the intention of raising awareness of companies and individuals who have the creative and marketing talent to go beyond the norm.

All submissions are judged on strength of concept, quality of execution and ability to persuade.

The entrants aren’t judged by comparison to an arbitrary standard but rather judged in competition with other entries within their category. This generates a competitive environment and results in winners not only meeting a minimum standard but producing something that is truly eye catching.

‘The Kier Effect’ was commissioned by Kier’s marketing team and and produced by external agency TechTV.

Kier Group’s Head of Marketing, Claire Savage, said: “We are delighted that our film has been recognised as truly representative of our new brand strategy.

“Using this and our increasing range of new films we have been able to highlight the best of Kier and measure the impact of different types of content. As a result of this we are bringing the Kier brand to life and are beginning to get talked about and noticed in a positive light more than ever before.”

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