Loading...

A spotlight on… Stephen Allan

We’re welcoming Autumn as the clocks go back and we’re commuting in the dark, so let’s catch up with another BiP team member, Stephen Allan in our finance department. Stephen joined in 2018 as a Trainee Management Accountant

In what capacity did you join BiP?

I joined straight from university (well technically whilst still studying).

What does your role in Finance entail?

My main duties include producing the monthly accounts and other financial reports, presenting financials to the SMT & Board, collaborating with different areas of the business, various financial analysis, assisting in the yearly financial audit and lots of different ad-hoc finance related tasks. I spend a lot of time using Excel, Sage & Salesforce.

What do you like most about your job?

I like looking for trends or the reason why things have moved in a certain direction, so the problem-solving element.  

What do you like most about working at BiP?

I have had the opportunity to learn, grow and progress whilst working at BiP. Also, the people really do make BiP – everyone is very welcoming and friendly!

What does a great day at work look like?​​​​​​​

Day one of month end – big cup of coffee and a lot of excel, sage & salesforce reporting!

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

I am really into sim-racing… basically its virtual car racing using VR headsets, motion simulators, wind simulators, fancy steering wheels & pedals – it’s very immersive!

Quick fire, choose one option:

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog
  4. Hot or cold – Cold
  5. Salty or sweet – Sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – Not
  7. Night out or night in – Night in
  8. Email or meeting – Either or!
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? Video call
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Desko
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

Spring Budget 2021: Key Government Spending Plans

On 3rd March 2021, Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered the UK Budget in the House of Commons, outlining the Government’s spending plans in the coming months and years.

As the nation prepares to tentatively ease COVID restrictions over the coming months, this budget announcement was one of the most eagerly anticipated for many years. Perhaps the main takeaway for businesses across the UK is the extension of the job retention scheme until the end of September. Mr. Sunak said the scheme would continue to help millions through the challenging months ahead.

Delivering the budget in Parliament Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

“This Budget meets the moment with a three-part plan to protect the jobs and livelihoods of the British people.

“First, we will continue doing whatever it takes to support the British people and businesses through this moment of crisis.

“Second, once we are on the way to recovery, we will need to begin fixing the public finances – and I want to be honest today about our plans to do that.

“And, third, in today’s Budget we begin the work of building our future economy.”

COVID-19

Predictably, the initial focus of the budget announcement was around the ongoing support for those areas of the economy worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as the extension to the furlough scheme, the Chancellor also announced an extra £1.65 billion cash injection to ensure the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out in England continues to be a success. Mr. Sunak also announced £28 million to increase the UK’s capacity for vaccine testing, support for clinical trials and improve the UK’s ability to rapidly acquire samples of new variants of COVID-19.

Protecting jobs and livelihoods

As part of Government efforts to support, protect and create jobs, the Chancellor announced increasing support with £126 million of new money to enable 40,000 more traineeships, and doubling the cash incentive to firms who take on an apprentice to a £3,000 payment per hire. Also announced was £7 million for a new “flexi-job” apprenticeship programme in England, that will enable apprentices to work with a number of employers in one sector.

To balance the need to raise revenue with the objective of having an internationally competitive tax system, the rate of Corporation Tax will increase to 25%, which will remain the lowest rate in the G7. In order to support the recovery, the increase will not take effect until 2023. Businesses with profits of £50,000 or less, around 70% of actively trading companies, will continue to be taxed at 19% and a taper above £50,000 will be introduced so that only businesses with profits greater than £250,000 will be taxed at the full 25% rate.

UK Infrastructure Bank

Mr. Sunak announced the formation of a new UK Infrastructure Bank to be based in Leeds. It will see an initial £12 billion in capital, with the aim of funding £40 billion worth of projects. Local Authorities will gain access to £4Bn in loans, which can be tailored for projects around transport, storage and renewable energy. Speaking ahead of the budget announcement, the Chancellor said:

“We are backing this bank with the finance it needs to deliver modern infrastructure fit for the 21st century and create jobs.

“This shows how serious we are about levelling up the country so that everybody can benefit from our future prosperity.”

The Chancellor also reiterated the need for a commitment to green investment, which the Infrastructure Bank will help with.

Environment & Green Energy

He also announced a £20 million to fund UK-wide competition to develop floating offshore wind demonstrators and help support the Government’s aim to generate enough electricity from offshore wind to power every home by 2030.

Mr. Sunak also announced £68 million to fund a UK-wide competition to deliver a first-of-its-kind long-duration energy storage prototypes which will reduce the cost of net zero by storing excess low carbon energy over longer periods.

An investment led recovery

The chancellor also spoke about Freeports, something which he said ‘could only be done now we have left the European Union.’ He announced that eight new English Freeports will be based in East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside and will be special economic zones with different rules to make it easier and cheaper to do business.

Beginning in April 2021, a new super-deduction will cut companies’ tax bill by 25p for every pound they invest in new equipment meaning they can reduce their taxable profits by 130% of the cost. This is worth £25 billion to companies over the two-year period the super-deduction will be in full effect.

Support for the whole UK

In addition to the announcements which apply to the whole of the UK, this budget also provides an additional £2.4 billion to the devolved administrations in 2021-22 through the Barnett formula.

  • £1.2 billion funding to the Scottish government
  • £740 million funding to the Welsh government
  • £410 million funding to the Northern Ireland Executive

Grahame Steed, BiP Solutions’ Content, Research and Communications Director said:

“Given the experience of the past 12 months, it is encouraging to see continued and increasing investment into public service delivery and particularly areas such as infrastructure and sustainable energy. This, and the exciting changes heralded by the Transforming Public Procurement Green Paper, make it a time of opportunity for all engaged in the public sector supply chain – and we look forward to supporting buyers and suppliers as we navigate our way through this period.”

BiP’s apprentices: where are they now?

Image result for national apprentice week

Here at BiP, we are strong supporters of the Modern Apprenticeship Programme. We have a proud history of developing apprentices throughout the business and have certainly reaped the benefits of doing so.

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, we want to take this opportunity to reflect on the successes of our employees who joined the business through the programme.

Our apprentices – where are they now?

Scott McKechnie

Joined Business: September 2007

Apprenticeship programme: SVQ Level 3 Business Administration

Current role: Scott came into BiP as a Business Administrator and after completing his apprenticeship, moved to a role within our Helpdesk team. In 2012, Scott moved to our Public Sector Sales Team as a Customer Relationship Manager and progressed tremendously within the team. After spending a number of years as a Business Development Manager travelling all around the country to promote our services, Scott is now Sales Manager for the Public Sector Sales Team. What a success story!

Rory Denny

Joined business: November 2012

Apprenticeship programme: MVQ Level 3 marketing

Current role: After moving into the sales team of our Market Engagement division, Rory has now progressed to the role of Key Account Manager, driving revenue and managing strategic relationships with some of BiP Solutions’ key customer accounts.

Jodie Pratt

Joined business: January 2013

Apprenticeship programme: SVQ Level 3 Business Administration

Current role: Jodie currently works in our Accounts department as a Credit Controller and is undertaking training to become an accredited member of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM).

Heather Cooper

Joined business: April 2014

Apprenticeship programme: Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship

Current role: Having moved into the role of an Editorial Assistant after her apprenticeship, Heather has now been a Senior Client Services Executive for the past two years, particularly overseeing our client research survey projects.

Kyle Dearie

Joined business: August 2014

Apprenticeship programme: SVQ Level 3 Business Administration

Current role: Kyle now works in our Accounts department as a Business Administrator. In 2018, Kyle also completed the Digital Applications Advanced Modern Apprenticeship programme to further develop his digital skillset.

Robert Gough

Joined business: November 2016

Apprenticeship programme: SVQ Level 3 Business Administration

Current role: Robert originally joined the business as a Credit Controller. After receiving his Business Administration qualification, Robert also completed the Digital Applications Advanced Modern Apprenticeship programme and has since progressed to the role of Data Analyst.

Laure McGill

Joined business: April 2017

Apprenticeship programme: SCQF 6 – Digital Applications Advanced Modern Apprenticeship

Current role: Laure now works in our Research team as a Content Researcher where she is responsible for producing and editing content for a number of our business intelligence solutions.

Paul Docherty

Joined business: July 2017

Apprenticeship programme: SCQF 6 – Digital Applications Advanced Modern Apprenticeship

Current role: After 18 months of working in our Research team, Paul has now progressed to the role of Technical Helpdesk Advisor with responsibility for first line user support on our portfolio of products and services.

Christopher Doolan

Joined business: April 2018

Apprenticeship programme: SCQF 6 – Digital Applications Advanced Modern Apprenticeship

Current role: Chris, whilst working in our Accounts team as a Business Administrator, is currently in the process of completing the programme with one more module to go – nearly there Chris!

Each of these individuals demonstrate the importance, contribution and value of the Modern Apprentice model within the business. We look forward to the continued development of these employees as they develop their career within BiP!

To learn more about our business, roles that are currently available and apprenticeship opportunities, visit our Careers page.

Select a page to copy this section to:

Select where in the level you want it inserted: