Hillier’s Headlines

My light hearted take on the week gone by and the week ahead.

Another week of lockdown done. Hopefully there is some light at the end of the tunnel now with careful steps to get our world moving again.

The government yesterday published full guidance on the new measures letting us know what we can and can’t do. You can read it all here if you’ve got a spare couple of days! To be fair, it’s pretty easy to navigate to the sections that are relevant to you.

Industry update

The past week has seen plenty of activity regarding the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), with a number of umbrella companies now making furlough payments to workers based on updated guidance. There are still plenty out there who are not. And some that are staying with 80% of NMW. While many have done the right thing, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the barrel so the ramifications for the umbrella industry as a whole could be quite detrimental.

On that note, we’ve just released a new Insight today which looks at the implications for the umbrella industry of events over the past two months. It’s worth a read when you have a minute: Have Umbrellas sacrificed their future to survive the lockdown?

CJRS at People Group

The work going on behind the scenes to keep furlough payments going, while updating status of individuals and monitoring updated guidance on a daily basis is phenomenal. I’ve thanked the team here already and continue to. For any contractors registered with People Group who are unsure of their status, please point them to get in touch and we’ll investigate. Likewise, any of our agencies where messages aren’t getting to you, please get in touch.

Help for furloughed workers in and around Bristol

One real positive of the current pandemic has been seeing people come together to help each other. After all, we are all in this together. Right across the country neighbors have made new friendships and people have been going the extra mile for each other. Highlighted recently and most notably perhaps by the now Colonel Tom Moore

Anyway, to the point…I stay in touch with many business owners throughout the industry, with some of these quite naturally closer to home. I was speaking to Julian, MD of 24-7 Staffing yesterday who mentioned some current vacancies in our region, so I said I’d share the details where possible. I’ve shared on LinkedIn and people are engaging and sharing onwards.

There’s also a link to the job details below for full details. A great opportunity for job seekers in general, but also those who are currently furloughed through People Group. This won’t affect their furlough status with us and gives an opportunity to help the NHS and earn some money.

https://www.24-7staffing.co.uk/jobs/care-package-picker-and-packer

Please do share the information with your relevant contacts.

VE Day Celebrations

I hope you all enjoyed celebrations of one kind or another for VE Day 75. I caught various bits of coverage over the weekend, all of which I found interesting and often moving. As a family we marked the occasion with the 2 minute silence, a sing along and watching Her Majesty’s broadcast.

I know from our zoom coffee morning catch up with all staff yesterday that everyone did something to pay their respects to those who gave so much. We do all salute you.

Keep up to date

As always I urge you to keep an eye on both our news and insights pages on the People Group Website. We refresh content regularly with a range of different articles and stories.

If you have any questions for me please do feel free to get in touch.

Terry Hillier, CEO, People Group Services