Hello and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
There's big news around MACH 2021 this week, with the announcement that the Subcon exhibition will be co-locating with us at the the NEC in January. Having the two shows together makes great sense for visitors and, when you add in Drives and Controls, Air Tech, Fluid Power & Systems, The Engineer Expo, The Manufacturing Management Show, Plant & Asset Management and Smart Industry Expo it really adds up to a huge week for UK manufacturing. The highpoint of the week will be the MTA Annual Dinner which we will be holding at the Vox, onsite at the NEC, on Tuesday 26th January. Look out for details of how to reserve you places in the coming weeks.
From Tuesday, small and medium-sized employers, with fewer than 250 employees, will be able to apply, via an online service, to recover the costs of paying coronavirus-related Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) payments they have made to their employees. There are more details and a link to guidance below.
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, published this week, will put in place a series of measures to amend insolvency and company law to relieve the burden on businesses during the coronavirus outbreak. The Bill introduces new corporate restructuring tools to the insolvency and restructuring regime; temporarily suspends parts of insolvency law to support directors to continue trading through the emergency without the threat of personal liability; and amends Company Law to provide companies with temporary easements on company filing and annual general meetings. You can find out more below.
Also below, we have a series of links provided by the National Cyber Security Centre’s resources. As so much business activity has shifted online, so sadly has a lot of crime. There are some simple things you can do to keep your company safe and the links below are some good first steps.
This week saw the publication of the Tariff Schedules that the UK intends to levy after the end of the Transition period – 31st December - when it will leave the EU’s tariff architecture. This schedule replaces one hurriedly rushed out during the preparations for No Deal in the Autumn. Most manufacturing technology products are subject to relatively low Tariffs and in most cases the effects are simply to round down to the nearest whole number. You can access the schedules to check for your products in the story below.
One thing is clear, in post Brexit Britain, businesses will need a fuller understanding of how customs procedures operate, whether between the UK and mainland Europe or with new trading partners further afield. One way to get the expertise into your company is to engage with the courses run by the UK Customs Academy, run by our friends at the Institute of Export, which are online and fully fundable by government grants. You can find out more below.
Finally, MTA members should have received an email this week inviting them to log onto the members area of the MTA website to access the Spring Update to our Forecasts which are now posted on it. If you’re having difficulty logging on, please contact membership@mta.org.uk
That’s all for this week have a good long weekend.
