The Board of Directors of Somerset Chamber of Commerce would like to announce that CEO Stephen Henagulph has left the Chamber by mutual consent, with effect from April 30, 2021. Stephen has been CEO since September 2018 and we would like to thank him for his significant contribution to the Chamber through this most challenging of periods. As usual, any enquiries about Chamber business or events s...

A major new report is calling for a root and branch reform of the UK’s training system to help businesses access the skills they need to boost productivity.  The final report from the Workplace Training and Development Commission (WTDC), set up by the British Chambers of Commerce in partnership with Indeed, follows an 18-month in-depth study of what businesses want from adult skill...

The British Chambers of Commerce and Barclays LifeSkills have today released a new report entitled ‘The Next Normal: Future-proofing the Workforce for a Post-Pandemic World’.  The report seeks to tackle questions around the workforce challenges faced by businesses during the pandemic, and how companies can support their staff in the future.  It also highlights the need for emp...

The UK jobs market remains subdued and further action will need to be taken when the furlough scheme ends, according to Suren Thiru, the British Chambers of Commerce Head of Economics. Commenting on the latest job market figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Mr Thiru said: “Unemployment remains on course to peak towards the end of 2021, once the furlough scheme expires and thos...

The British Chambers of Commerce has announced the publication of new research which shows a rising number of firms expecting their prices to increase significantly in the coming months. The figures also document growing concern among businesses over rising inflation. The data, drawn from responses from more than 5,800 firms, shows 2 in 5 businesses (38%) in Q1 2021 expect to see their prices inc...

Trade between the UK and EU partially recovered in February, after a steep drop in January following Brexit, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. Exports to the EU jumped by 46.6% following January's 42% slump when firms struggled with new trade rules, but were still below last year's levels and imports from the EU had seen a weaker recovery. Meanwhile, the UK...

The British Chambers of Commerce’s Trade Confidence Outlook for Q1, released today, has revealed the stark issues facing UK exporters in the first months of this year. The survey of more than 2,900 UK exporters revealed that the percentage of firms reporting decreased export sales had increased to 41%, up from 38% in the previous quarter. The percentage of businesses reporting increased e...

The British Chambers of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) – the UK’s largest independent survey of business sentiment and a leading indicator of UK GDP growth – found that business conditions remained historically poor in the first quarter of 2021 as the third lockdown severely limited activity.  However, the bellwether survey of 6,103 firms, who employ almost a mill...

It is little over two months since the Brexit transition period came to an end, and businesses across the South West have been feeling the effect of higher trade barriers, according to a British Chambers of Commerce South West (BCCSW) survey. Of the over 500 businesses that responded, more than half (53%) of exporters said they had been impacted by the new UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (...

The British Chamber of Commerce has today signed the Armed Forces Covenant in a virtual signing event attended by the Assistant Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Simon Brooks-Ward CVO OBE TD VR. The British Chamber of Commerce has pledged to the Armed Forces Covenant – a promise that those who serve or have served, and their families, are treated with fairness and respect in their communi...

The winners of the 2021 Somerset Business Awards were announced this afternoon in the first virtual awards ceremony (Friday, March 26) hosted by BBC journalist and presenter, Claire Carter. A record number of businesses once again entered the awards and around 1,000 people logged-in to watch the ceremony live online.The 2021 finalists came from all corners of the county, including Cheddar, La...

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is urging the Government to give businesses much greater clarity on its roadmap out of lockdown as firms continue to suffer.  The business organisation, which represents tens of thousands of companies of all shapes and sizes across the UK, has written to the Government seeking updates on a number of vital issues.  In particular, it says firms need to know...

The jobs crisis caused by the pandemic may be easing, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. The number of workers on company payrolls in the UK climbed by 200,000 in the three months to February – although that is still 693,000 lower than last February, before COVID lockdown measures began. People aged under 25 continue to bear the brunt of the job losses, al...

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the UK economy shrank by 2.9% in January as the third lockdown came into force. UK goods exports to the European Union slumped by 40.7% in January, while imports dropped 28.8%. The economy is now 9% smaller than it was before the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. Suren Thiru, the British Chambers of Commerce Head of E...

Commenting on the announcement of the temporary postponement of import checks, Adam Marshall, Director General of the BCC, said: “This is a positive step as it recognises what everyone in business has known for weeks now: UK-EU trade has faced, and continues to face, significant disruption and difficulty.      “Ministers are right to delay the implementation of import checks...