NW business briefs: Cumbria Tourism; Switch CoffeeBar; Alternative Futures Group; Planned Future; Princes; MHA
A new campaign to showcase the Cumberland area’s food and businesses has launched.
Cumbria Tourism is working with Cumberland Council’s Destination Management team to run a new three-month campaign to shine a light on the businesses, from small producers, family-run cafes and fish and chip shops, through to fine dining restaurants, breweries and distilleries. The project, which will deliver marketing and business support, has received £75,000 from the Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is being supported by Cumberland Council and Sellafield. The main aim is to stimulate growth and innovation across Cumberland’s diverse food and drink sector.
Cumbria Tourism and Cumberland Council will work closely with a wide range of local businesses between now and the end of June to promote sustainability initiatives and support innovation. Another key activity will be encouraging food and drink businesses to source local produce and collaborate more with fellow operators across the Cumberland area.
The project will include a complementary marketing and PR campaign to encourage more foodie visitors. It will target a mix of local audiences, visitors with friends and family locally, and domestic audiences within a 1½-two hour drive time of Cumberland. A primary focus for these visitors will be to encourage sustainable and active travel – visiting by bus and rail and combining a love of local cuisine and enjoyment of the natural surroundings.
The campaign is free to join for any food and drink related business with the Cumberland Council area and Cumbria Tourism is actively welcoming participants – no matter how small, unusual or niche – to get involved contact campaigns@cumbriatourism.org
Cllr Anne Quilter, Cumberland Council’s Executive Member for Vibrant and Healthy Places, said: “Food and drink are an important part of our visitor economy and are an essential part of a day out and holiday stay. We want to celebrate local produce farm to fork, fresh fish landed on our coast – everything from fish and chips, local ice cream, best brew beer, tea, coffee and whiskey or even a simple sandwich with a bowl of homemade soup after a walk to high end fine dining.”
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Liverpool will welcome a new coffee bar this month with the opening of the new Switch CoffeeBar which is based in Wolstenholme Square and will seamlessly transition from day to night.
Serving up innovative coffee-based cocktails from its global-inspired list, Switch CoffeeBar will transform with upbeat music and an infectious atmosphere by night.
Created by entrepreneur Jon Dunnington, who is from Liverpool and now splits his time between his home town and New York City, Switch CoffeeBar responsibly sources its coffee beans, prioritises eco-friendly packaging, and is committed to waste reduction and energy efficiency.
Operations manager, Joe Jackson, said: “Switch CoffeeBar is forging the gap between day to night, from coffee to cocktails, it’ll be the perfect all day destination for grabbing your morning coffee, gathering with friends, business meetings, freelance and remote working, enjoying a date night or making a night of it with our carefully selected cocktail list.
“Our vision is for our community to visit us for their daily coffee where they can sit and relax, catch up with friends or take a minute out of their day for themselves. By 5pm, we’ll make quite the transition to amp up the atmosphere, taking our guests from day to night with an obvious ‘switch’ and the introduction of our coffee-based cocktails.”
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Kirsty Murphy
A North West-based charity says it will lead the way by raising pay for all of its social care workers in a multimillion-pound investment. Alternative Futures Group (AFG) has announced a significant pay increase to more than 1,800 health and social care workers at sites including Lancashire, Cheshire, Manchester and Liverpool City Region as part of a large scale investment in their workforce.
The investment of £4.6m has been committed by the Trustees of AFG to frontline staff who provide critical support to those most vulnerable in our communities. The latest pay rise, which will take AFG care workers’ hourly rate to £12 per hour, is in addition to a £3.6m living wage increase the charity made last year in response to the spiralling cost of living. Total investment over two years now stands at £7.9m.
Kirsty Murphy, CPO and COO for AFG said: “As part of AFG’s growth plans we must invest in our people and ensure our offer attracts new talent and retains the best. The industry is woefully underfunded and is consequently in crisis whereby carers are unable to afford to put food on the table. Councils do not pay enough to support payment of Real Living Wage and providers are having to call on reserves to support the social care workforce, ensuring it still exists to provide support to the most vulnerable. Our commitment to our hard-working staff, recognising they are critical to the success of the organisation and the sector is unwavering.”
Following the launch of the recent Unfair to Care Report it was revealed that charity care workers are paid almost £8,000 less than their direct equivalents in both the public and private sectors. The pay gap poses a real challenge to the sector with more than 152,000 vacancies in the North West unfilled and a 28.3% workforce turnover. The industry has experienced significant underfunding for several years, leading to a stark challenge across the whole of the UK.
AFG cares for 800 people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions and aims to increase the provision of care to more than 1,000 people by 2026.
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Chester-based financial and mental wellbeing education provider, Planned Future, has achieved B Corp certification.
The Watergate Row-based business joins a group of less than 2,000 UK companies that are B Corp certified, committing to making business a force for good. Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
Planned Future operates from a paperless office, runs a hybrid 4.5-day week-working schedule and delivers mainly online training to reduce carbon emissions.
Managing director, John Chadwick, has more than 30 years’ experience as a financial adviser having established and run a Chartered Firm of Independent Financial Advisers. He believes financial literacy is important to all and not just the wealthy, saying: “Trustworthy and reliable training and education backed by decades of professional experience forms the backbone of our service delivery.
“We are proud to have attained B-Corp Status in line with our social mission to improve wellbeing across all communities.”
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The Royal Liver Building
Liverpool-based international food and drink group, Princes, is to go further than the UK requirement after the new Carers’ Leave Act comes into force on April 6. The Act entitles employees to one week of unpaid leave every 12 months, typically the equivalent of five days. This can be taken as individual or half days across the year or all at once.
Princes, based in the Royal Liver Building, has decided to provide carers with a more generous package – two weeks of leave annually, one week unpaid and one week paid. The policy being introduced by Princes follows consultation with colleagues who act as carers within their own families. This only applies to Princes colleagues in the UK. Colleagues at sites in Holland, Mauritius and Italy already have statutory provisions in place.
Jennifer Gallagher, Senior Human Resources Business Partner, said: “The introduction of the Carers’ Leave Act is an important step forward that recognises unpaid carers in the workplace for the first time. We know that many of our colleagues will benefit from this ground breaking legislation, but as a business we felt that we should go further. Our stated ambition is to be an Employer of Choice and this means seeking ways to go further than the industry norm.”
Under the Act, the right to take carers’ leave begins from day one of employment and can be taken by the employee to ‘provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need’. The Act covers dependants who require care for an illness or injury that means they are likely to need care for more than three months, or for a disability, or those who require care because of old age.
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Rakesh Shaunak and Graham Gordon
Following notification of the intention earlier this year, MHA and MHA Moore and Smalley have announced the successful completion of their merger.
MHA Moore and Smalley is a firm of Chartered Accountants and business advisers employing more than 400 staff with offices in Preston, Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool, Kendal, Lancaster and Nottingham. In what signifies as a pivotal transaction which singularly surpasses the combined value of the firm’s previous deals, MHA continues its upward trajectory of exponential growth across the UK, which most recently has included new offices in Scotland and Wales.
Rakesh Shaunak, managing partner and chairman of MHA, said: “We are incredibly pleased to complete what is a significant deal for MHA, allowing us to further strengthen our technical and geographical offering in the UK. Both firms have grown significantly in the last 12 years and MHA’s synergy with MHA Moore and Smalley has been an exceptional showcase of the alignment of ethos and values within our firms.”
Graham Gordon, managing partner at MHA Moore and Smalley, said: “This merger represents the natural next step for us, having worked closely together since 2010 and being branded as MHA Moore and Smalley since 2017. We are excited about the opportunities that our joint approach presents for our people, our clients, and stakeholders alike, and anticipate continued success going forward.”
The deal brings MHA’s headcount to just over 1,745 people and 22 offices. Being the fourth deal that MHA, the UK member of Baker Tiller International, has completed in the past year alone, the accountancy and advisory firm, is poised to further solidify its standing in the market in the months ahead, it said.
