Bohunt School needs local business volunteers!

They are looking for employers to support their Careers Masterclasses in June 2024

Each MasterClass helps students construct a good CV and consider the skills and personal qualities employers value and how to evidence these skills. Let by a Young Enterprise Manager, volunteers use their real life experience to support students with activities.

Sessions needing support:

Monday 17th June 9am - 12pm

Monday 17th June 12.30 - 3.30pm

Wednesday 19th June 9am - 12pm

For more info or to offer your support please email careers@bohuntworthing.co.uk

Sussex Transport’s Very Own UK Lifting Expert Takes Expertise To Ghana

We’re pretty proud to announce that our Appointed Person for lifting operations, Andy Packham, has expanded his training expertise internationally. Andy was approached by Paterson Simons & Co (Africa) Ltd, the leading supplier of heavy lifting equipment in West Africa, to deliver a detailed training course in Tema, Ghana.

The course was held at Pasico Ghana, a subsidiary of Paterson Simons, and focused on the Appointed Person (Lifting Operations) certification. Despite the challenging heat and humidity of Ghana, the dedication and eagerness to learn from the participants was impressive. The course covered in-depth aspects of lifting operations, including the selection of appropriate mobile cranes (favouring brands like Manitowoc Grove and Franna), undertaking technical drawings, and calculating lifting accessories. The participants successfully completed their course, which included theoretical exams and practical scenarios requiring technical planning and execution of a lift, showcasing their newfound skills.

All participants met the high standards required and have since received their certification and photo ID cards, marking a significant achievement in their professional development.

Andy’s trip was not just a testament to his expertise but also highlighted the hospitality and professionalism at Pasico Ghana. The team’s helpfulness and politeness made the challenging task much smoother, and for that, a heartfelt thank you is extended to everyone involved.

This successful international venture not only broadens the scope of Sussex Transport’s training capabilities but also strengthens our commitment to advancing the skills of lifting professionals worldwide.  Take a peek at a few snaps below taken by Andy during his trip.

Visit Lancing Prep Worthing 2024

We offer parents a range of opportunities to find out more about the school from open mornings in October, February and May each year, and personal visits. 

Open Events and Visits

Our next Open Morning will take place on Saturday 11 May 2024. Please book your places on the link below. If you wish to visit the school before May, please make an appointment by contacting Mrs Catherine Fauvel, our Registrar, by phone 01903 201123 (term-time) or email worthing@lancing.org.uk

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/ZGfbhrwTQAzL

Are you  in the Creative Sector?

If so you can apply for funding of up to £30000 for innovation projects to grow your business

Innovate UK is providing a finance fund to help creative businesses in Create Growth Programme regions to explore new innovation projects that will stimulate growth and attract private investment. This fund will be made available through a grant competition.

The virtual briefing event on 10^th May 10am – 12pm will outline the programme further and provide attendees the chance to ask questions about what this opportunity can provide them.

UK registered micro and small businesses in the creative sector can apply for funding of up to £30,000 for innovation projects to grow their business.

Applicants must:

• be from the creative industries
• be from DCMS Create Growth Programme region
• focus on a clear growth opportunity and the proposed innovation to address it
• demonstrate the impact funding and support can have on the growth plan of  your business
• engage with the regional support if your application is successful

For more details visit https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/events/dcms-create-growth-fund-competition-3-briefing/

Join Guild Care in their Will Writing Month

Guild Care are working with four local practitioners in Worthing, Rustington and Lancing to give you the opportunity to have your will, or a single power of attorney written for a donation to Guild Care.

Practitioners will be generously waiving their usual fees and donating their time and expertise to help raise funds. In return you will be asked to make a suggested donation at your appointment. Of course, a higher donation is always welcome!

Every donation made will support older people, people living with dementia and children and adults with learning disabilities in our local community.

For more information and to book your appointment click here.

Top tips for tax and investments

Do your tax affairs and investments need a make-over? Sussex and South East accountants Carpenter Box surveyed the post-Budget landscape at an Investment & Tax seminar in Horsham, offering practical tax saving tips and insights on wealth management.

David Crowter, Partner & Head of Private Client Services at Carpenter Box, outlined how ‘fiscal drag’ was increasing the tax burden, despite the recent NI cut, and suggested adopting a family approach to tax affairs to utilise available allowances, optimise efficiencies, build pension pots and shelter the value of estates.

Roy Thompson, Partner & Head of Carpenter Box Financial Advisers, said that while political uncertainty and inflation were weighing on confidence, the returns delivered by a balanced approach to investing in pensions, and utilising tax-free investments such as stocks and shares ISAs, has historically beaten money markets over the longer term.

“While it’s not possible to ‘time the market’, history shows us that the earlier people can start investing their hard earned money, the better the outcome over the longer term, thanks to the effect of compound returns,” he said.

Adam Burniston, from investment specialists LGT Wealth Management, provided an overview of global equity markets and opportunities, with a trend towards rebalancing towards Asia, emerging markets and pockets of value globally, due to high valuations associated with US technology companies. At the same time, bonds look set to become a more attractive asset class as interest rates start to ease.

Commented Roy: “It was good to see such a healthy number of attendees at our event and, hopefully, we gave some useful pointers to help businesses and individuals make the most of their hard earned wealth and available tax incentives, albeit in a somewhat volatile climate.”

Carpenter Box is an award-winning firm of chartered accountants, tax specialists, business advisers and independent financial advisers with a reputation for innovation and excellence. The practice, with a team of 240 people, continues to expand across the south and in London, helping businesses grow in a profitable, sustainable and tax-efficient way.

www.carpenterbox.com

Flexible AI Upskilling Fund Pilot - Expression of Interest

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) recently announced a £7.4 million pilot scheme to subsidise the cost of AI skills training for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Professional Business Services (PBS) sector. £6.4 million of grant funding is available. 

Through this pilot programme, eligible business can apply for funding for up to 50% of the cost of AI skills training. This refers to training which supports employees to develop their technical skills and/or understanding of AI to be able to develop, deploy, or use AI in their role.

This pilot scheme is funded through the £37.5 million Labour Market Evaluations and Pilots fund, announced by the Chancellor at Spring Budget 2023 to continue to build the evidence base on the effectiveness of policies to improve labour market outcomes. Departments could bid for funding to carry out a variety of projects to either better understand the impact of recently implemented interventions on labour market outcomes, or to trial new and innovative policies.

Objectives of the fund

The flexible AI upskilling fund pilot aims to increase AI adoption and productivity by incentivising greater employer-led investment in skills and training. Evidence shows that a lack of AI skills in businesses is hindering AI adoption, in part due to low investment in AI upskilling in UK businesses, particularly in smaller companies^{[footnote 1]}.   

Guidance

£6.4 million of grant funding is available in the financial year 2024-2025. Funding will be allocated through a competitive application exercise to be run in May 2024. Depending on demand, a second competitive application exercise may be run later in the year. 

Funding is for the procurement of AI skills training only, and not for the cost of: 

• Purchasing AI technologies
• Business advice or consulting
• Recruitment activity
• Salaries, including work placement or internship salaries
• Capital expenditure^{[footnote 2]}

Grant funding will be provided to successful applicants for use only in the financial year 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025. All funding allocated through this competition must be spent by 31 March 2025 and in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the grant funding letter and scheme guidance. Please note, Cabinet Office (CO) Government Grants Managed Service (GGMS) will be the Delivery Partner for the scheme’s administration.

This scheme is being independently evaluated in accordance with best practice. The evaluation of the scheme may continue beyond 31 March 2025. 

Please note that we are likely to award funding to successful applications via lottery. This is provided that applications otherwise meet eligibility criteria and achieve a minimum pass mark on their grant application. This is especially likely in the case that the fund is over-subscribed. This does not apply to applications that are not eligible or do not achieve a minimum pass mark on their grant application.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply, a business must: 

• Be registered and operate in the UK
• Employ between 1-249 employees in the UK
• Be defined as an SME per the SME Action Plan^{[footnote 3]}
• Have been operating for at least 1 year
• Be able to match-fund 50% of the cost of the training
• Operate in the Professional and Business Services sector (PBS) as defined by the following Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes:

Table 1: Eligible SIC codes

Register for the pre-launch information Q&A on the 16th April through Eventbrite here 

Submit an Expression of Interest here

Award Winning Advice from Emerald Finance!

We are delighted to have won our category at the Equity Release Awards 2024, held at the Hilton Bankside in London on Thursday 25th January.

These highly prestigious awards recognise companies and individuals across the Equity Release market throughout the UK.

Our directors Matt Sutton and Matt Piper were in attendance to receive the award for Best Adviser with fewer than 5 advisers.

We are extremely proud to receive this honour as the awards are testament to the outstanding Equity Release service we provide to our clients nationwide.

A big thank you to all our clients and colleagues who voted for us and have supported us on our journey.

Our two directors, Matt Sutton and Matt Piper, collecting the prestigious Equity Release Award for Best Adviser with less than 5 advisers.

We are also extremely pleased to announce that we have made the shortlist for the 2024 Mortgage Strategy Awards in the Best Broker for Equity Release category.  The awards will be held on Wednesday 22^nd May at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House so watch this space for more information!

Be part of Durrington High's Career Week!

Durrington Careers Week is set to take place w/c 10th June. If you’re an employer we want you to meet the talent of the future and if you’re an education centre we want you to meet your future students. In both cases you have an opportunity to inspire young people by sharing what you do and the amazing directions it could take them. It’s always an exciting week!

The three activities we have available this year are…

Lunchtime stands 

Your business or the sector you are representing will be assigned a table in our main mall which you can set-up to showcase what you do. You can arrive from 1:00pm and you should be out by 2:15pm. The students will be with you for around 30-35 minutes. School staff will be present throughout.

Classroom spotlights 

You choose which curriculum areas you would like to visit - It can bean area that your sector  targets or a broader lesson that you value. Alternatively you canleave the choice to us. We will take you into classrooms for you to give a 5 minute talk about who you are, the sector you represent and what your area could offer them. This will be followed by a 5 minute opportunity for a Q&A. You will be accompanied as you go round and interactivity is welcomed.

Focussed talks  This is an area we will explore. Potentially a chance for you to meet with a larger targeted audience in our brand new auditorium. We would love to put together a few employers or colleges to run a Healthcare or Engineering based session for example. No commitment yet but if there is interest we will do it.

A word on interactivity - For the stands and classroom visits we encourage interactive activities. Past years have featured competitions, giveaways, quizzes, robots, small animals, dancing, demonstrations, VR, cocktail making, dress up and more, but of course you being there and connecting with the students is the most important thing. Even bringing some props or items from your industry can be a real conversation starter. We encourage businesses to take part on multiple days so that students don’t miss out but of course if only one day is possible that is still amazing.

Timings - Monday 10th - Friday 14th June 2024

Lunchtime stands - 1:35pm for 30 minutes Monday -Thursday
Lunchtime stands - 1:25pm for 30 minutes Friday
Classroom spotlights - Throughout the day with a focus before and after lunchtimes
Focussed talks - To be discussed on an individual basis

Our students are looking forward to meeting you. Thank you for your interest in supporting
our school and in inspiring our students.

Booking your place
Please book your place by using this google form. It’s very quick and presents all the
options for you. It should take no more than 3 minutes. All you need to do then is add it to
your diary and we will get in touch with you later to discuss details.

If you need to you can also call Jane Davis directly to book your place. You can reach Jane
on 01903 705 635 or email jdavis@durring.com. I can also be contacted on 01903 705 605
and at thenry@durring.com  - Toby Henry (Careers Lead)

Ickle Pickles Children's Charity when you do your food shop!

From April until the end of June 2024, please help to support the work of Ickle Pickles children's charity by shopping at any of the 10 Tesco's stores across our region and putting one of their blue tokens into the Ickle Pickles box.

The project with the highest number of votes are in with a chance of winning £1500 (first place), £1,000 (second place) or £500 (third place)  through Tesco's Stronger Starts campaign.   All money raised will go towards the Special Care Baby Unit at Worthing Hospital.

www.icklepickles.org