The Office for National Statistics inflation figures for June 2022 were published earlier this week showing a rise in Consumer Prices Index inflation of 10.1%, the tenth consecutive monthly increase and another record high.

This higher-than-expected inflation increase, alongside eye-watering energy prices, confirms the severity of the cost of doing business crisis.

This squeeze on businesses’ operating costs is also reflected in the latest Producer Price Inflation figures which show a 22.6% rise in the year to July 2022, which remains among the highest levels since records began in 1985.

The difference between input and output inflation illustrates that many firms are absorbing as much of these additional costs as they can. However, there is a limit to how much additional cost firms can absorb, and it is also limiting growth and investment.

British Chambers of Commerce research shows that two out of three firms expect to raise their own prices in the coming months, with utilities, labour costs, and raw materials all cited as the main drivers of costs. Staffordshire firms have been telling us about this inflation shock for almost two years.

Businesses want to support their people, they want to invest and grow, and they don’t want to put prices up for their customers – but they are left with little choice.

The Government should act and has levers to pull to give vital support to businesses now.

The two immediate and impactful choices would be to review and reform the Shortage Occupations List to help fill the 1.3 million job vacancies and bring businesses’ energy costs down by lowering the VAT rate from 20% to 5%.

Staffordshire Chambers through the BCC are telling the Government that it’s time for action and we’re offering solutions. It’s time for Government to listen.

More information on the ONS inflation data can be found here.

And whilst we are talking filling job vacancies, I would like to talk about our Positive Pathways scheme which is geared towards getting refugees into work and helping to ease the current skills and vacancies crisis.

I would urge all employers in Staffordshire to consider taking on refugees, many of whom have the vital skills much in demand by employers.

Positive Pathways is a business start-up and employability skills programme based here at the Chambers, specifically designed to support refugees across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. Participants can access training in employability skills such as CV writing and interview skills ready to be matched to local employers.

We currently have around 150 skilled refugees desperately wanting employment who would like to make a positive contribution to their host country.

For example, we have a marketing director, a cookery teacher who worked on a TV show, a dentist who has practiced for 20 years in Ukraine and a leading economist from a bank. Other skillsets available include medical staff, including a pharmacist, a psychologist, banking, administration, purchasing, catering, warehouse staff, accounting, transport & logistics, graphic design, and marketing.

With lots of employers struggling to fill job vacancies impacting firms’ ability to operate normally and retain skills in the business, we can offer a solution as we have contact with refugees locally with the skillsets that local employers need.

We are looking to engage with employers who would consider interviewing a refugee for the vacancies they are currently finding difficulty filling.

The Positive Pathways team assist with all the hard work such as selection, application and help with arranging interview. All you need to do is call or email us with your vacancies.

If you would like to find out more about how Positive Pathways could benefit your business, please contact Julie Priestnall: julie.priestnall@staffordshirechambers.co.uk  or call 01782 202222

If you want to talk to us about any business issues, including funding, you can call our switchboard on 01782 202222 or call the Stoke and Staffs Growth Hub Helpline on 0300 111 8002 or email: info@staffordshirechambers.co.uk

Across the UK there is an urgent need for foster carers and sadly the situation is set to worsen as the cost-of-living crisis bites harder over the coming months.

In Stoke-on-Trent alone, there are currently over 1,000 children in care. This is the highest figure on record and double the number from five years ago.

It can cost thousands of pounds a month to place a child in a care home whereas fostering costs are much lower and more likely to provide an environment which gives a child a better chance of future stability.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council are desperately trying to recruit more foster carers, not just in the city but from the surrounding areas. They have a particularly urgent need for their emergency placements, often one or two days, and respite care where foster families may have holidays or other commitments.

Staffordshire Chambers has recently been awarded Foster Friendly status – the national Fostering Network’s programme to encourage employers to support fostering, and in particular, foster carers.

The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading fostering charity and are the essential network for fostering, bringing together everyone who is involved in the lives of fostered children.  They champion fostering and seek to create vital change so that foster care is the very best it can be. As part of that they have the Fostering Friendly programme which has been developed to encourage employers to support fostering, and in particular, foster carers.

To be recognised as a Fostering Friendly employer we’ve had to demonstrate our support for employees, making the workplace friendlier for foster carers to benefit the children in their care and making it easier for people to consider fostering.

Members of the scheme agree to put in place a fostering-friendly HR policy for all foster carers and we now have a new fostering-friendly policy for all our employees. It sets out the benefits for any staff member who decides to come forward to become a foster carer including flexible working arrangements and paid time off for training and settling a new child into their home.

We are urging organisations and businesses across Staffordshire to become Fostering Friendly. Also, Stoke-on-Trent is aiming to become the first Fostering Friendly city in the UK, and I know many of our fabulous socially responsible businesses will be keen to sign up to this most worthy cause.

You can meet the Stoke-on-Trent fostering team at Let’s do Business at Uttoxeter Racecourse on 20^th October: Let’s Do Business – Staffordshire Chambers

To learn how you can become a Fostering Friendly employer click the links here:

Fostering friendly | Fostering friendly | Stoke-on-Trent

Fostering Friendly | The Fostering Network

Or contact Kate Bailey at Soke-on-Trent City Council: kate.bailey@stoke.gov.uk

If you want to talk to us about any business issues, including funding, you can call our switchboard on 01782 202222 or call the Stoke and Staffs Growth Hub Helpline on 0300 111 8002 or email: info@staffordshirechambers.co.uk

With a background in software development, working for start-ups, large corporates, the public sector and one of the world’s largest online betting companies – it’s no surprise that Matt Hegarty has found success that focuses on his experiences.

Back in late 2018, it all started in Matt’s own words “by speaking with compliance professionals in the gambling sector, to try to understand the kinds of issues they were facing”.

He soon saw that Player Protection was becoming an important issue for gambling companies as they were coming under increasingly closer scrutiny to ensure that they took steps to prevent their customers losing more than they could afford.

Matt’s research led him to conclude that there was a gap in the commercially available software market for something designed to help the Safer Gaming teams fulfil their responsibilities for player safety. Hence, the arrival of Playervis just over two and a half years ago.

Short for Player Visibility, Playervis is a web-based app designed to enable Safer Gaming teams to manage their player protection. Easy to ingrate with existing systems, not only does it take pressure off a company’s compliance staff, it also saves time and effort in tracking problem gaming – something that’s been in the spotlight in recent times.

“It all started by me producing a demo” states Matt, “and then a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and I was able to gain interest and on-board the first customers in Spring 2020.”

With a varied role, including being the lead developer on the product, as well as speaking to potential customers and following -up with sales and on-boarding, it is clear that Matt was determined to make Playervis work.

“It’s fair to say that Playervis is a very niche product, so there are a relatively small number of companies operating in this space at present. The product is well-suited to making the Safer Gaming teams manage their workloads and become more efficient.

“I work closely with the customers to make sure that the product is the right fit for them.”

What sets Playervis and Matt apart from many competitors is his use of the Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce’s Let’s Do Mentoring programme. Matt had already met his soon-to-be mentor Jeremy Stinton at a previous company, who knew that Matt was starting a software business and offered to mentor him.

“It was a pretty easy decision to make”, admits Matt.

“I knew that Jeremy had been successful in running his own business, and that he had a lot of experience in sales with B2B products, so I jumped at the chance of having Jeremy as my mentor.”

With a track record in helping businesses grow, Jeremy’s experience ranges from co-founding a successful digital video marketing agency taking it to acquisition before working for enterprise technology platforms looking to grow and scale. Currently, he is driving UK market growth for webinars/video marketing platform, Twenty Three.

With particular expertise in sales, customer success and marketing, complemented by experience in operations and product, Jeremy himself experienced mentoring that he himself calls “invaluable”. Therefore, Jeremy was very keen to ‘give back’ to others through mentoring.

When asked what he thought Matt’s strengths were, Jeremy said: “Well, Matt comes with first-hand insider experience of the online gambling world in which he is operating. He is one of those rare people who is both very strong technically, with a senior software development background, but he also has the ability to build rapport and talk the client’s language.

“As a result, he has executed a text-book product development: He has created a valuable, scalable technology solution to a genuine and widespread problem within his market. As we know, starting a business is extremely tough, but Matt has the drive and perseverance necessary to keep going and continually evolve his sales and commercial skills.”

Through their Let’s Do Mentoring sessions, Matt has set key targets. Founding a business can be a lonely experience and so both agreed early on that the most helpful forum for Matt would be a series of informal chats, in which Jeremy acted as a sounding board for his ideas, concerns and barriers.

“Jeremy and I tend to meet on an ad-hoc basis. Pre-COVID, we were able to meet in a coffee shop for an hour or so and I would send Jeremy a summary of any developments”, states Matt, “and during the meeting, we’d chat about strategy, and what to focus on next. Obviously that has changed, as has so much since the pandemic started. Our meetings have become less strategic and more specific over time. This is because the product and company have been maturing as we’ve gone on.

“The initial main focus was based on driving revenue and keeping pushing forward to secure the crucial early recurring revenue sales that would underpin Playervis and ensure its financial viability.”

As the product matured, Jeremy was able to help Matt with specific questions related to onboarding the first customers, and now he has secured valuable contracts which will secure the business going forward.

“Developing a software business is a tricky process, so having Jeremy’s help early on was very valuable. He was someone who I could bounce ideas off, and he would set me straight if I was misguided about something.

“It was vital to be able to speak with someone who has trod the same path before.”

Luckily, the pandemic has not affected Matt and the company too much, as all dealings with customers have been remote. Indeed, as Matt says, “the product has been beneficial for the customers during the pandemic, because it has made it easier for their teams to work remotely.

“At present, our focus is on continuing to develop the product and to ensure that it gives value to our customers.”

It’s clear that Matt’s expertise and drive allied to Jeremy’s experience and business acumen has ensured that Playervis has made considerable strides since they teamed up for Let’s Do Mentoring.

Explaining the support that the programme provides to Staffordshire companies, Jeremy said: “Well, there is a large failure rate for start-ups in the first year, so the odds are almost always stacked against small business owners from the start.

“There are so many demands on new business founders. It’s rare that people come equipped with all of these skills to succeed. The Let’s Do Mentoring scheme gives founders free-of-charge access to a wealth of business experience to help plug knowledge gaps and provide an often needed sounding board. Even when a business owner has vast experience, mentoring can still be valuable in increasing their odds of success.”

Are you an SME based in Staffordshire that is looking to grow your business? Or is your business facing certain problems, issues or challenges? The Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce’s Let’s Do Mentoring programme provides Staffordshire businesses with fully-funded mentoring from experienced business Professionals to help businesses grow and succeed.

Interested in Let’s Do Mentoring?
For further information please email tom.nadin@staffordshirechambers.co.uk or call 01782 202222

Businesses that import goods are being urged to move to the new Customs Declaration Service – or face being unable to import goods to the UK from 1 October.

Last year, HMRC announced that the Customs Handling of Import & Export Freight Computer system (CHIEF ) will be fully replaced by a new system called the Customs Declaration Service (CDS).

A handy five-step guide has been issued to help you make the change. Find the guide, here.

The following urgent actions should be taken:
• Subscribe to the Customs Declaration Service
• Choose a payment method
• Manage your standing authority
• Issue customs clearance instructions

Staffordshire Chambers were proud to become the first organisation in the UK to complete an Export Declaration using the new Customs Declaration Service (CDS) software in February this year.

If you have any concerns about your customs clearances or any other international trade question, please give us a call on 01782 202222. Alternatively you can send an email to chambercustoms@staffordshirechambers.co.uk