Are you managing your staff sickness absence effectively? Applications to the Digital Innovation Fund for SMEs are now open. Latest updates on the IPO’s Transformation programme. Plus, will the new bans and restrictions on polluting single-use plastics affect your business?
Welcome to today’s blog post which discusses the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!
1 in 4 Employers Have Seen an Increase in Staff Sickness
A new survey from Acas has found that one in four employers have seen an increase in staff being off sick compared to a year ago. Acas commissioned YouGov to ask employers at the end of August if they had seen any changes to the number of employees being off sick compared to 12 months ago. The poll found that:
- 26% of employers had seen an increase in sickness absence;
- Almost 1 in ten (9%) had seen a decrease;
- Over half (59%) said that the number of staff being off sick had roughly stayed the same; and
- 6% didn’t know or were not sure.
Acas advice is that businesses that effectively address sickness can improve staff morale and wellbeing, boost productivity, reduce absence levels as well as save money. Steps that can help to reduce sickness absence include:
- Having an absence policy that is clear on what is expected of managers and their staff if they need time off work;
- Create a culture at work where staff feel supported and comfortable raising problems that they trust will be taken seriously; and
- Deal with the causes of absence such as work-related stress or workers struggling to balance work and caring responsibilities.
Acas advises that a good work-life balance can lead to lower levels of sickness absence. To help staff, employers should:
- Encourage staff to speak up if they feel they’re under too much pressure at work;
- Train managers to spot signs of a poor work-life balance;
- Offer flexible working where possible;
- Encourage breaks from work, including during the day and making sure employees take holidays;
- Regularly review workloads; and
- Lead by example – if managers and senior leaders have a good work-life balance, this will create a culture for employees to follow.
See: Reducing sickness absence: Recording and reducing sickness absence – Acas
Digital Innovation Fund opens for applications
The Made Smarter Innovation – Smart Manufacturing Data Hub (SMDH) is now accepting applications for funded projects that will support manufacturing small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) on their smart manufacturing journey.
The fund aims to support the development of concepts into a market-ready solution for deployment and dissemination to SMEs.
There are three different funding opportunities based on the needs of the company:
- Lighthouses – aims to develop already proven digital products and processes into readily accessible solutions which meet the needs of manufacturing SMEs. Grant funding of up to £315,000 is available per project.
- Virtual Testbeds – aims to provide financial support and opportunities to bring pre-existing testbeds to the SMDH community and enable SMEs to utilise them. Grant funding of up to £100,000 is available per project.
- Rapid Demonstrators – aims to support SMEs with sensor installation, data analysis or similar to enable levelling-up the opportunities for SMEs to exceed and expand. Grant funding of up to £50,000 per project is available.
The fund is open to any UK-based industrial or professional sector organisation which can provide skills, support or solutions for manufacturing SMEs.
The deadline for applications is 31 October 2023.
See: Apply for Digital Innovation Funding (smdh.uk)
IPO Transformation: Second consultation
The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is seeking views on a package of changes to improve their digital services
The IPO’s Transformation programme is designed to modernise and improve the IPO’s services. By the end of 2025, it aims to replace the IPO’s existing processes with a digital system for all registered IP rights (patents, trademarks and designs).
In 2022, the IPO ran a first public consultation, which mainly focused on changes related the launch of the new digital patents service in 2024. The government response to that consultation was published on 1 August 2023. This will inform some of the potential legal and practice changes to enable transformation and the build of the service.
A second consultation is now necessary to inform and support the next phase of the programme, which is chiefly concerned with trademarks, designs and IPO tribunal services.
See: IPO Transformation: Second consultation (nibusinessinfo.co.uk)
Content Fund for high potential games studios
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has announced £5 million for the UK Games Fund as part of the Creative Industries Sector Vision, a joint plan between Government and industry to drive growth, build talent and develop skills across the creative sectors.
The Content Fund is offering £50,000 to £150,000 commercial games-for-entertainment content grants. The aim of the funding is to support a mix of existing and/or new employees, alongside a lesser proportion of contracted staff.
Applicant companies must be UK registered SMEs with PAYE employees engaged in games development work in the UK and have a prototype in place.
Overall project costs must be at least double the requested grant, and the funding must make a demonstrable difference in terms of unlocking additional resources, new relationships, platform or audience access.
There is a rolling deadline for this programme, however the application portal may be closed periodically for ten to fourteen days whilst batches of applications are reviewed, re-opening as soon as possible.
There are also fixed allocations of funding to administer within different financial years so early applications are encouraged, in particular for financial year 2023/24.
See: Home – Content Fund (ukgamesfund.com)
New bans and restrictions on polluting single-use plastics
Government action to tackle the scourge of litter and protect the environment from plastic pollution came into force on the 1 October, with bans and restrictions on a range of polluting single-use plastic items.
No business – whether retailer, takeaway, food vendor or part of the hospitality industry – will now be able to sell single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks nor polystyrene cups and food containers in England. The supply of single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls has also been restricted. The new regulations were announced in January and extensive work has taken place throughout 2023 to provide further guidance on the ban for businesses.
Plastic pollution takes hundreds of years to break down and inflicts serious damage on our ocean, rivers and land. It is also a source of greenhouse gas emissions, from its production and manufacture to the way it is disposed.
Research shows people across England use 2.7 billion items of mostly plastic single-use cutlery and 721 million single-use plates every year, but only 10% of these are recycled. If 2.7 billion pieces of cutlery were lined up, they would go round the world more than eight-and-a-half times.
See: New bans and restrictions on polluting single-use plastics come into force – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)