The economic round table discussion, at a recent meeting of the Norwich Chamber Council, highlighted that business are still finding it tough, with many business playing safe and being cautious. However there are some signs of improvement. Broom Boats advised that they have orders for two new hire boats for next year and will be re-launching their own hire boats. WLP also advised that some of their clients are becoming more optimistic, particularly those who have managed to adapt to the changeable economic conditions.
The group also heard about the proposed plans for the former RAF Coltishall from Mike Britch, Group Managing Director, NPS Property Consultants. Mr Britch highlighted that 400 acres of the 600 acre site would be returned to agricultural use. Some of the remaining 200 acres would be used for allotments, self build and community projects, whilst the rest would be for commercial use, which could include options for storage facilities, manufacturing etc. The heritage of the site would also be preserved and Mr Britch confirmed that once details had been finalised, business open days would be held to launch the site, possibly in October
Recent revelations by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about the possible cost of customs checks after Brexit (see It will cost you) have done little to settle business nerves about what lies ahead.
Nor will any export directors be feeling any more relaxed after leading accountancy firm RSM calculated that the additional costs arising from post-Brexit customs changes could be even higher than the £20 billion mentioned by the chief executive of HMRC to the Treasury Select Committee.
Brad Ashton, indirect tax partner at RSM, said: “Whilst HMRC has taken a rough median cost of £32.50 for a customs declaration, the actual cost is more likely closer to £40 – costs for similar customs declarations in the EU tend to be higher.”
He also highlighted that the lead time required for both solutions currently under consideration by the Cabinet would probably require an extension to the transition period, as they tend to rely on technology which is not yet in place or on co-operation with the EU that has not yet been agreed.
One of those alternatives – the so-called Max Fac option – has been totally dismissed by the manufacturers’ organisation, EEF, with the idea that it could be implemented by 2020 described as “naïve” and “wholly unrealistic”.
EEF Chief Executive Stephen Phipson has written to Business Secretary Greg Clark describing a recent visit during which he was able to see at first-hand how technology operates across the USA/Canada border.
Mr Phipson revealed that, despite a decade of substantial investment on both sides of the border by two willing partners, only 100 of the most trusted Canadian companies are able to use a “fast track” system across the border.
The vast majority of goods are, he warned, still subject to normal customs checks.
His comments were reinforced by Eurotunnel which has warned that UK businesses and consumers will face serious economic costs if the Government adopts either of the post-Brexit customs models being considered by the Cabinet.
Nothing can be done until the Government and the EU decide which system they want to use, Eurotunnel’s Director of Public Affairs John Keefe said, and it could then take several years to build the system, develop the necessary infrastructure, recruit and train new staff and educate transporters from across Europe in its use.
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]