Business leaders head from a series of expert speakers at Norfolk County Council’s ‘Brexit: Challenges and Opportunities’ event which was held at the Aviation Academy in Norwich today.
Expert speakers included: John Khan from Birketts, who outlined the impact of Brexit on VAT; Dr Avidan Kent, who gave an overview of commercial and trade law; Leszek Wysocki, for DIT, who provided an outline of the export opportunities and Mike Spicer, the Director of Research & Economics from the British Chambers of Commerce, who outlined the key aspects of the Chamber network’s Business Brexit Checklist.
Whilst the Government is still negotiation with the European Union, there is little in the way of detail available for businesses to work with. However the Chamber’s Business Brexit Checklist can help businesses consider the changes that Brexit may bring and will help with business planning at both operational and Board levels.
We have a big mission over the next few years of ‘Connecting, supporting and giving voice to every Norfolk business’. We also want to double the number of members in the next five years and be relevant in all regions and towns across Norfolk.
Norfolk Chamber of Commerce needs to transform its culture and behaviour from siloed and administrative towards invigorated, multi skilled and totally customer centric by creating a Customer Experience team.
We are currently recruiting for the following roles.
Customer Experience Team Member
Customer Experience Team Member
Customer Experience Team Member with Events
We are looking for candidates to actively engage either by phone, email or at events with a wide range of business customers to understand and support their needs and then be motivated, inspired and driven to always exceed the customer’s expectations.
Members of the team will bridge and connect our customer across all our business disciplines (finance, international, policy and membership) and work within and environment of complete, transparency and customer care.
Norfolk Chamber is a not for profit business membership organisation with over 900 members. We provide networking opportunities, share knowledge, offer business services, signpost to business opportunities and inspire innovative thinking to enable companies to do better business.
A firm is facing a fine of £10,000 after it failed to inform HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that it had changed its name – despite the fact that all it had done was change from a partnership to a limited company.
The unnamed firm had, according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB), an exemplary VAT-paying record and had always submitted its tax returns on time.
What is more, the change of name did not affect its VAT number and HMRC did not lose out on any tax payments. The firm simply failed to tell the VAT authorities that it now had “ltd” after its name.
This meant it fell foul of VAT notification liabilities contained in the Finance Act 1985, and later the VAT Act 1994, and landed the company with a £30,000 fine – since reduced following interventions by accountants and the FPB.
The Forum’s Tax Adviser Andrew Needham said: “It is important that all small businesses are aware they could face steep fines unless HMRC is kept fully updated.”
However, he went on, this heavy-handed approach is the very opposite of the support that is desperately needed at this difficult time and HMRC risks further alienating firms hit by its disproportionate, targeted business records checks regime and widely-reported poor levels of service.
Commenting on the MPC minutes published today by the Bank of England, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
“The decision to hold interest rates at 0.5% and to maintain QE at £375bn was taken unanimously, which was unsurprising. Existing QE is still being implemented, so it is understandable that the MPC wants to wait before another increase. However, the minutes reveal that some members think further stimulus will be needed, and the financial markets are expecting a QE increase around November time.
“Recent measures by the ECB, the US Fed and the Bank of Japan will probably reinforce pressures for an increase. But we still think the MPC should be cautious and refrain from adding to QE unless the UK financial system faces new threats due to developments in the eurozone. It is important that additional QE is not used to limit falls in inflation over the next year, as a temporary fall below the 2% target would support demand.
“Although QE was helpful in the early stages of the 2008/09 financial crisis, its benefits have diminished in recent years, mainly because the scheme has focused exclusively on purchasing gilts. A recovery in business lending will only be achieved if the MPC and the government relies on tools other than conventional QE. The Funding for Lending scheme could be effective, but the MPC could help by purchasing assets other than gilts, including securitised business loans. To ensure credit is reaching new and growing companies, the government should be moving towards the early creation of a state backed business bank.”
The International Trade Summit will give delegates practical advice, invaluable resources and the contacts needed to grow their business and begin the next step of their export journey.
Whatever stage of the export journey you are at, the BCC’s International Trade Summit is the event that will help you take your business to the next level.
There will be a choice of informative workshops, lively panel discussions with businesses with export experience from a range of sectors, stimulating speeches from policy makers, successful exporters and household names. And, of course, plenty of time for networking.
The themes for 2018 are: • Dealing with the practicalities of Brexit • The changing face of International Trade • Trading the world – be inspired!
This year’s International Trade Summit will take place at etc venues, Bishopsgate in London on 18th October.
This year we have received 20 complimentary tickets to the event for exporters or businesses looking to export. When booking your place, if you are a member of the Norfolk Chamber please use the code NOR18 to receive your complimentary ticket. These will be delivered on a first come first served basis. Once all 20 complimentary tickets have been claimed, the code will stop working. This offer expires on Monday 10th September 2018.
To find out more information about the International Trade Summit and to get your tickets, please visit https://www.bccexport.co.uk/
– Public sector net borrowing was £14.4bn in August 2012, equal to the net borrowing in August 2011
Commenting on the public sector finance figures for August 2012, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
“The deficit in August was slightly smaller than the markets expected. But taking the entire period from April to August 2012 and removing the effect of one-off transactions, total borrowing so far this financial year was almost £13bn higher than in the same period in 2011. Unless present trends are reversed in the next few months, we now expect total borrowing in 2012/13 as a whole to exceed the total predicted by the OBR at the time of the Budget by more than £20bn. This situation is worrying, and is largely due to the continued stagnation in economic activity.
“To maintain credibility, the government should persevere with a realistic plan to reduce the deficit, but if persistently weak growth causes borrowing to overshoot, the UK’s credit rating may be endangered. Given these difficult circumstances, it is important to continue with spending cuts in areas such as welfare, pensions and the size of the civil service. These cuts should be supplemented with policies to boost growth such as more infrastructure spending, a reduction in NICs and support for business lending. Such measures will stimulate the productive potential of the economy and help businesses to create jobs.
“As long as the Chancellor can persuade the financial markets that he is determined to tackle the deficit, he should be able to preserve confidence and avoid threatening the UK’s credit rating.”
We are pleased to announce that Norfolk Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its very own stand at this year’s Royal Norfolk Show on Weds 27 & Thurs 28 June 2018.
Held at the Norfolk Showground, the event is one of the largest in the county calendar and celebrates not just agriculture, but the wider business community.
We are delighted to be taking 9m x 9m marquee to have a big presence at this year’s show.
Come and visit the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce marquee on Stand 74 to learn about why Norfolk is a great place to do business; as well as how you can get involved in growing and developing our county.
The Norfolk show is a great place to do business. We have a dedicated business lounge on our stand where you can meet with other businesses and build relationships. Or come and talk to our team to see how we can help you and your business. We can support anything from networking to exporting abroad. Our stand is not just for businesses, bring your family with fun activities and learning.
In addition, we’ve put together a programme of activities for you to enjoy below:
9.30 AM – Business Breakfast Members are invited to join us for a business breakfast in our marquee on both days at 9.30 am with plenty of coffee, bacon baps and pastries to get your morning started the right way.
1 PM – Network Hour Make use of our business lounge and treat yourself a well-deserved break with coffee and biscuits. 3 PM – Gin O’Clock (Wednesday only) Don’t fancy getting up early, come along to Gin O’Clock from 3-5pm on Wednesday and enjoy informal networking and cocktails made by St Giles Gin.
We look forward to meeting with as many businesses and members over the two days. For more information about our stand at the show contact Philippa Bindley, Events Manager on 01603 729703 or email [email protected]
We have just been informed that on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr the Arab British Chamber of Commerce will be closed on Friday 15 June 2018 and will return for business as usual on Monday 18 June 2018.
Please also note that the Embassy of Saudi Arabia will be closed from 13 June 2018 returning to business as usual on Monday 25 June 2018. Most other embassies will be closed for several days during this week.
We would just like to pre-warn you that you should expect some delay with your legalised documentation. We usually advise 3-4 weeks for the documents to be returned, but during this period it could take up to 6 weeks.
Leaving aside any transition period, the UK will withdraw from its membership of the EU on 29 March 2019.
At that point – or on whatever date is finally agreed between the two sides – it will become what the EU calls a “third country” (a non-member).
One of the consequences of that new status will be that UK businesses will no longer benefit from preferential trade arrangements agreed by the EU with other countries, as it presently does.
In particular, both importers and exporters will have to get to grips with Rules of Origin (ROO) requirements, explained by the European Commission in a recent notice.
Among the points made by the Commission are that UK materials or processing operations (aka “inputs”) will be considered as “non-originating” under a preferential trade arrangement for the purpose of determining whether the goods incorporating them are entitled to preferential tariff treatment.
For goods exported from the EU, an EU free trade agreement (FTA) partner country might consider that goods having an EU preferential origin before the UK’s withdrawal date no longer qualify, due to UK inputs no longer being considered as EU content.
Similarly, for goods imported into the EU, UK inputs incorporated in goods obtained in third countries with which the EU has preferential trade arrangements and imported into the EU as of the withdrawal date will be considered non-originating.
Exporters in third countries might, therefore, have to prove the EU preferential origin of the goods they wish to send to the EU.
Is that a problem? This may sound very technical but the Dutch Government has already advised its manufacturers who buy components from the UK that they might want to start looking at suppliers from within the EU27 to ensure that they do not fall foul of ROO rules after Brexit.
In a useful article on Rules of Origin (ROO), Professor Catherine Barnard and Emilija Leinarte of the University of Cambridge suggest that the rules seem to place a big question mark next to the UK Government’s “frictionless trade” objective.
“Every exporter – small or large – will have to determine whether their goods originate in the UK or abroad according to the complex technical and legal rules,” they write.
Customs delays are likely to appear as the application of ROO will require checks – something that could become a hurdle to manufacturers who often work on a precise, and often last minute, schedule to avoid storage.
UK ports do not currently have technical infrastructure to ensure an efficient application of ROO, they warn, and the requirement will also impact on the Ireland/Northern Ireland border issue.
The Family business, once a staple of British industry, is disappearing. Although two thirds of UK industry is made up of family business, fewer than 13% survive beyond the second generation.
A generation ago, family firms were thriving and the heirs were jumping at the chance of income, job security and ultimately the sense of pride of taking over the family legacy. But nowadays the future of family businesses is not so certain, children are choosing to follow their own career paths and are more reluctant to carry on the legacy and tradition of the family business.
Each year 30,000 businesses close because they can’t find someone to take over. With the help of leading business expert Alex Polizzi, the second series of this hugely successful programme, will guide and advise family businesses through some of the trials and tribulations a family run company can face – whether it’s how best to plan for the future and preserve the legacy of previous generations, or looking at ways to improve profitability and diversification and developing the business to make sure it’s a success for years to come.
Twofour want to hear from struggling family businesses who are finding it tough in the current economic climate and who are uncertain about the future of their business. To find out more please contact Celia 0207 438 1918 or email [email protected]
Norfolk Chamber holds a regular series of evening networking where we like to take Norfolk businesses to new and upcoming venues in the Norwich area. On Thursday 14 June we took a trip to the Bowling House, which opened its doors in March this year. Our delegates joined us after work, grabbed their bowling shoes and commenced the evening with drinks and networking. The evening got into full swing as we took over the 5 intimate lanes at the Bowling House, perfect for building relationships with teammates and competitors. There were some interesting bowling techniques on the lanes, but at least one player from each team made a strike, with plenty of cheering and celebration. Our high scorer for the evening was Ross Taylor from Towergate Insurance who scored 157 with 3 strikes from his 10 bowls! This was followed closely by Alexandra Lynch from the UEA with a score of 155. Following the bowling, all delegates sat together to enjoy the amazing food served by the Bowling House. We were spoilt for choice with so many delicious dishes, including their famous nachos and crispy jalapeños. Our next evening networking event is Cocktails & Pizza! We’ll be taking you to the hottest new cocktail bar in Norwich: Chambers Cocktail Company! You can enjoy making a cocktail with one of their expert barmen, as well as enjoying a fresh pizza delivery from Brick Pizza! More details.
Six in ten businesses (59%) tell BCC that they would feel more confident in securing finance if Britain had a government-backed business bank or finance agency
Announcement of £1bn funding by Vince Cable an important step in journey toward a fully-fledged British Business Bank
Significant achievement for BCC campaign for creation of a business bank similar to those in other countries
Responding to the news that Vince Cable will announce a £1bn government commitment toward the creation of a business bank, Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, said:
“The government has taken a decisive step toward the creation of a British Business Bank by committing real money to get it off the ground.
“We are pleased that ministers are heeding the Chamber Network’s call to create a business bank that goes well beyond a re-badging of existing schemes. The funding announced by Vince Cable is the first step in a journey toward a British Business Bank that enables new and growing companies to get access to capital in the same way that they do in Germany, South Korea, and the USA.
“Six in ten Chamber members*, including those from Norfolk, told us just last week that they would feel more confident in securing finance if Britain had a government-backed business bank. So many companies will be encouraged by today’s news.
“However, there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the business bank can support the real economy. At least initially, the business bank will have to work through existing lenders, which could put off some companies who still do not believe that the high-street banks will help them access the capital they need to grow. We also need to better understand how taxpayers’ cash will be used to unlock additional funds for business lending from the markets. And given the fact that growing companies need access to capital for the long term, the funding announced today must be the first, not the last, sum destined to support business lending at this new institution.”