EOW Reflections: Here’s to 2025
With 5 days to go until Christmas day this is the last ‘reflections’ of 2024. And what a year it’s been.
The biggest temperature raiser has been the Fair Payment Code. We’re up to our oxsters (Scottish for armpits) in expressions of interest and applications from businesses wanting to win an Award from the Code. We want you to join and get an award whether that’s at gold, silver or bronze. The more firms that show they are doing the right thing and working to improve payment practices and times, the better and the more the message will spread.
It took longer than we expected to get the Fair Payment Code launched because the Government had a lot of announcements to fit in. We launched a month later than we’d hoped which means that we’ve bumped into Christmas holidays which might cause a few delays with processing applications. It also means we’ve bumped into the financial year end for many of the bigger firms especially in the construction sector. They aren’t likely to get their applications ready until they’ve got all the financials ready. Apologies all but we’ll work to get as many Awards decided by the middle of February as possible.
Most of the year has involved work on the Code. We’d hoped originally to get it approved by the last Government in the spring but got overtaken by an election announcement. We carried on tuning the fine detail without knowing whether it would ever see the light of day. We got it over the line and now we’re in the middle of a series of webinars to help would-be applicants to understand the new Code’s requirements. The Code team has been inundated with expressions of interest and applications.
The other highlight was recruiting the missing members of the team. For various reasons we’ve had 3 years when we’ve not been able to recruit to replace people moving on. 2024 has been recruitment joy and we still have a couple of people to bring into the team in the new year. It’s amazing what you can achieve with a full compliment of talent. Productivity is through the roof, everyone is working at full pelt and working effectively together. The PM wants the civil service rewired. We’ve already rewired and it’s a joy to watch the power of co-operation and collaboration in action. The scene is set nicely for a hugely productive 2025 and I can’t thank my team members enough. I’m like a proud clucking hen.
We couldn’t do what we do without all our friends and stakeholders: the businesses big and small, the business organisations, trade bodies and associations, the small business membership and representative groups, the people who deliver advice and support to small and micro businesses, the business schools, research groups and think tanks, banks and other lenders and everyone else we’ve had the pleasure of working with over 2024. Thank you to you all for your support and assistance in getting our messages out and feeding in your insight and expertise. And of course there’s special thanks to our wonderful Department of Business and Trade colleagues on the sponsorship, finance, HR, legal and research teams. We’re delighted to be working closely with you all. It all adds up to better outcomes for small businesses.
The stage is set for 2025. We’ll be building on what we’ve achieved. We wish you a merry Christmas and see you in the New Year.