Postal workers walked out last year throwing the UK postal service into chaos and threatening the future of the mail service that businesses and the general public have relied upon for many years.

It now appears that talks between the CWU and Royal Mail have achieved their purpose and the deal which gives postal workers greater job security, a shorter working week and a 6.9% pay rise over three years has been accepted by both parties.

There has also been agreement to plans by the Royal Mail to substantially transform the business and services over this three year period.

The CWU said workers will also receive lump sums of about £2,500 as well as weekly pay supplements and other improvements such as extra maternity and paternity pay, through the agreement.

Royal Mail boss Adam Crozier said: “This agreement is good for the business as it allows Royal Mail to get on with its modernisation, it’s a good and fair deal for our people, and it’s a good deal for our customers as it ensures stability over the next three years.”

karen birch

On Monday March 1st the UK’s first online journal aimed at women in business was launched by the brother and sister team of Karen and Phil Birch, themselves serial entrepreneurs.

The name 3rdi derives from that ‘extra’ intuition that women have; their intrinsic ability to empathise, communicate, share, spread their ideas and “network.”

The magazine has been ‘beta’ testing over the last six months and is now available live online at the 3rdi website. The publication is offered as an inspiration to its readers rather than a marketplace or networking site.  It is a magazine with high editorial standards using new technology and the internet to deliver its content.

The magazine will be available on a regular monthly basis on the first Monday of each month.

“Our aim is to challenge the norm, to encourage our readers to think and act. Intelligence is too readily associated with tests and measurement; typical in a male-oriented business world but we feel that intelligence is far wider reaching. Business intelligence, market intelligence, social intelligence, relationship intelligence, communication intelligence, emotional intelligence are not the sole domain of the male ego,” explains co-founder Karen Birch.

Brother Phil Birch adds; “I have no issues whatsoever in stating that we’re primarily a journal for women – women ARE more intuitive. In my business experience it’s important to value this intuition and I hope The3rdi encourages more women to take advantage of their “sixth-sense”.

Every month a range of experts and regular columnists contribute to the magazine on a variety of subjects covering business, lifestyle, self development, family and contribution (charity and volunteering).

“We are an ethically-driven team of professionals, with the united goal of passing on our knowledge, experience and, hopefully, wisdom to our readers. We hope that they will benefit from this information and use it to make their own business and private lives as rewarding as possible,” said Managing Editor Karen Birch.

Sub titled The Cost to British Business of Complying with the UK Tax System, the authors claim that tax related red tape costs UK business £20 billion a year.

The book reveals that the UK has the longest tax code in the developed world, running to 8,300 pages of primary legislation compared with 1,700 in Germany and 1,300 in France.

The report also reveals that the average Finance Act in the 2000’s has been three times as long as the average Finance Act in the 1980’s – a damningindictment of New Labour’s record on red tape. The UK is one of only 3 out of 43 most advanced economies where the cost of tax collection is not falling.

It is suggested that the impact on small businesses is particularly devestating, with the costs of tax collection bearingaround sixteen times more heavily on the smallest business than on the largest.

The authors consider that this acts as an impediment to competetion and to the expansion of employment among small firms.

The report calls for a radical reform of the tax system and the book contains examples of how this could be achieved. Examples of this would be:

• Definitions and procedures should be consistent across all taxes
• Taxable and accounting profits should be aligned
• Special tax reliefs on company investment should be abolished
• Investments returns that are disguised as capital gains should be taxed in the same way that income is taxed
• Taxes generating minimal revenue with high compliance costs (eg inheritance tax) should be scrapped

The report further argues for the abolition of the annual Finance Act to reduce the political pressure on Chancellors to complicate further the tax sysyem with headline – grabbing measures in eacj Budget.

Director General of the IEA, Mark Littlewood comments:

“Often debate focuses on the overall level of taxation, but this report clearly shows that merely complying with tax laws is an enormous burden on the British business. Not only do we need to slash tax, we need to simplify it to allow enterprise ro thrive.”

The publication Taxation and Red Tape is available in PDF format here.

This year, as in 2009, the list includes four major law firms.

The Law Society’s Diversity Champion Stephen Ward welcomed the results. The Director of Communications, Inclusion & Corporate Responsibility at the Law Society says:

“It is great news that four firms are in the Stonewall Top 100 again this year as we know there was huge competition from other sectors.

We have seen a dramatic change in the environment in law firms for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) employees in the past couple of years.

The Interlaw Forum for LGBT Networks particularly has made a huge impact and the Law Society is proud to be working closely with Daniel Winterfeldt (corporate partner at Simmons & Simmons and founder of InterLaw) and colleagues to promote diversity across the profession.

Agenda for action

We start the new decade knowing there is still a lot to do as the soon-to-be published report on a joint Law Society and Interlaw survey of LGB lawyers will reveal. That report will help us set an agenda for action,” he said.

The Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter provides a clear framework for progress on diversity and inclusion across the legal sector. More and more practices are signing up and taking advantage of the support available from the Law Society.  In March we will be launching an associated toolkit that is structured to help practices of every type and size achieve their diversity goals.

Further evidence of our commitment to inclusion is the Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme, supported by the Law Society Charity and designed to support promising entrants to the solicitors’ profession who also face exceptional social, educational, financial or personal obstacles to qualification.

Over 4,500 passengers are said to be stranded by the airlines sudden collapse, with most in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt, the Civil Aviation Authority will repatriate around 1,100 of those stranded overseas.

GlobeSpan were put into administration yesterday putting 800 jobs under threat and causing untold misery to the many passengers and staff that have been stranded abroad.

Customers who booked directly through flyglobespan.com website are unprotected and will not get a refund, but they may qualify for a reduced rate repatriation fare, although some may also have credit card protection or personal travel insurance in place.

Earlier this year FlyGlobeSpan announced profits of £1.2 million, following a disastrous £19 million loss in the previous year.

'inspiring' simon cowell

The Labour Finance and Industry Group, the Labour party’s link to business since 1972, have invited music entrepreneur and X Factor founder Simon Cowell to address and inspire the younger members within their ranks.

Chairman of the Labour Finance and Industry Group Dr. Peter Slowe said, “Simon Cowell is the greatest example of a British Entrepreneur who has made his mark in the Creative Industries, which to my mind is the future for our economy. Less emphasis must now be placed on the Financial Services sector, which is clearly shrinking, and much more emphasis placed on the Creative and Knowledge industries and Technology, which are our future.

No one has proven the influence of the media and the Creative Industries in our lives more than Simon Cowell. He has shown admirable drive and ambition, and we welcome him to motivate our young people, who are thirsty to take up the mantle.”

Culture Secretary, the Rt Hon. Ben Bradshaw is the guest of honour at the Labour Finance and Industry Group Annual Dinner and is expected to speak about the Digital Economy Bill.

The Labour Finance & Industry Group’s Annual Dinner will be held on Tuesday 15 December 2009, at the Reform Rooms in Pall Mall, London.

Darling said that the government would scrap taxes on electric company cars for the next five years and announced 100% first year capital allowances for businesses using electric vans.

Company cars account for around 1.1million of the vehicles on the UK roads, only around fifty of those are electric and the new proposals will encourage businesses to look at the options available.

Companies currently pay National Insurance contributions and employees pay income tax based on the cost of the car and the CO2 emissions, electric cars attract a 9% tax while fossil fuelled vehicles range from 10 to 35%.

Darling also announced extra funding for low carbon industries, pledging an investment of £160 million across a range of low carbon public and private projects through existing schemes — along with 90 million pounds earmarked for green European infrastructure schemes.

He also said the government would double its commitment to carbon capture and storage, by supporting four new projects with technology that captures CO2 and stores it underground.

Darling also outlined plans to introduce a scheme to replace 125,000 old and inefficient central heating boilers in homes across the UK with a cash back scheme similar in principle to the car scrappage scheme.

With the current exchange rate it would be worth arguing the case for joining now, but that would only serve to devalue sterling even further than it already is and of course there are far deeper reaching problems to be resolved before it would even be worth considering.

If ever there was a time that I have personally wished for a single currency it has been when conducting business transactions with other countries in Europe, most often dealing with companies in Germany.

When we started out importing goods it was secondary to our main business and my partner and I were content to let our company bank deal with the transactions. While it is hard to find fault the bank have in the past been very slow to transfer money and always with a substantial fee involved.

Something I learned recently is that it is possible to reduce risk against constant fluctuations in exchange rates by using a foreign exchange hedging strategy that enables you to guarantee a worse case rate when purchasing from overseas on a regular basis

There are other options available through foreign exchange brokers that you might consider and one would be to ‘fix’ the rate with a forward contract over an agreed period of time. This would protect you against adverse rate changes but would offer no benefit from improvements in the rate.

As well as making international payments, foreign exchange brokers can also accept payments from customers that you have exported goods to, and in the case of World First they would guarantee the best exchange rate, with a fast and efficient CHAPS payment to your account.

Payment to these overseas companies is now under review as I am convinced that a foreign exchange broker would not only speed up transfers but would save my company money too, with the possibility of further savings through one of the many specialist products.

wetherspoons pub peterborough

There have been many reports relating to the decline in standards of Public Houses across the UK this year and coupled with a fall in trade aided by the financial crisis it has been no surprise to see so many establishments calling time and closing down for good.

Things are slightly different at J D Wetherspoon where the pub operator has announced that it will step up its expansion programme, with the opening of 250 pubs over the next five years.

Along with the new premises Wetherspoon are hoping to create over 10,000 jobs in the UK with new pubs being earmarked in Sheffield, Livingston, Leominster, Otley, New Malden, Liverpool, Haverfordwest and Newcastle.

Wetherspoon reported record sales in the year ending July 2009 and say that they will be investing £250 million to realise their expansion plans in the UK. The group opened 39 pubs in the year to July and is on course for 40 more openings by the same time next year.

Tim Martin, chairman of J D Wetherspoon says: “Our pubs are extremely popular and we wish to build on their success by opening more,”

the co-op

Mutual retailer, the Co-operative Group has today announced that it is prepared to fight like for like with the UK’s top supermarket chains for a share of the public festive season spend, by introducing price cuts and savings that they say are worth £200 million customers.

As the silly season is practically upon us the Co-op has stepped out of the shadows of some of its bigger rivals following recent proposals from Tesco to offer customers savings of £250 million over the Christmas period and rival Asda predicting the most competitive Christmas for a decade.

As well as cutting prices Co-op has another string to its bow for customers by including their first ever triple dividend payment.

Normally Co-op members earn one point for every pound spent in food stores and each year the value of a membership point is determined by how much profit the group makes.

For the last annual payment, the value of a point was set at 2 pence. On this basis, a triple dividend would be worth 6 pence in the pound.