Foot Anstey are South & South West Regional Partners of Family Business United. What We Do Services Offered To Family Businesses Visit Our Website To Find out More "Family businesses are important because TBC Job

Buckles are Midlands & Central Regional Partners of Family Business United. What We Do Services Offered To Family Businesses Visit Our Website To Find out More "Family businesses are important because TBC Job

Brunel University are Academic Partners of Family Business United. What We Do Services Offered To Family Businesses Visit Our Website To Find out More "Family businesses are important because TBC Job

Vistage are National Partners of Family Business United. What We Do Services Offered To Family Businesses Visit Our Website To Find out More "Family businesses are important because TBC Job

Western Pension Solutions are National Partners of Family Business United. What We Do Services Offered To Family Businesses Visit Our Website To Find out More "Family businesses are important because Ben Fowler Managing Director, Western Pension Solutions

TWYD & Co are National Partners of Family Business United. TWYD & Co – Empowering Leadership in Family Businesses At TWYD & Co, we help family businesses build strong leadership for today and the future. Whether you’re planning for succession, preparing the rising generation, bringing in a non-family executive, or reviewing how your board operates, we provide clear, experienced support to help you make the right leadership decisions — and get them right first time. Our work spans executive search, leadership advisory, and board effectiveness — all tailored to the realities of running a family business. We understand the challenge of balancing commercial goals with family values, and we’re here to support you through the moments where people, legacy and strategy come together. What We Do Executive Search Leadership in a family business carries weight beyond the role itself — it’s about honouring the past while securing the future. We identify and appoint senior leaders who align with your culture and bring the expertise needed to drive long-term success. We support searches for: CEOs, CFOs and senior functional leaders Non-Executive Directors and Chairs Interim and fractional leadership during transitions Each search is shaped around your family’s values, your business goals, and your unique definition of what ‘the right fit’ really means. Advisory Services – Light Touch, High Impact For families who want clarity before committing to a full search or consulting project, we offer four quick, focused services. Each one is standalone, affordable, and delivered in 1–2 weeks: HIRE℠ – Executive Recruitment Readiness For families considering a senior hire but unsure how to get it right. We assess your readiness, shape the role, and give you tools to recruit with confidence — with or without a recruitment partner. BASE℠ – Board Effectiveness A light-touch review of your board’s structure, composition and performance. We help clarify whether the board is adding value and balancing the needs of the family and the business. PASS℠ – Succession Planning For families unsure where to begin. This structured diagnostic helps open up the conversation, align expectations, and map out next steps for a successful transition. APEX℠ – Executive Pay Benchmarking Provides clarity on whether your senior team’s reward is fair, competitive and aligned. We benchmark your pay structures against both market data and what other family businesses are doing — helping you make well-informed decisions. Why Families Work With Us We understand the family dynamic as well as the business challenge We bring a practical, experienced perspective to complex decisions We work with discretion, care, and an understanding of what’s at stake We focus on leadership that lasts — not just short-term fixes To learn more or explore how we might support your business, visit www.twyd.co or get in touch at hello@twyd.co. Visit Our Website To Find out More “TWYD was founded to give families in business the kind of support I wish more of them had — clear, honest advice around the big leadership decisions. Whether it’s thinking about succession, bringing someone in from outside, or making sure pay feels fair, our role is to help families get it right in a way that fits who they are.” David Twiddle Managing Partner, TWYD & Co E: dt@twyd.co T: 07738 649829

Axiom are National Partners of Family Business United. What We Do Services Offered To Family Businesses Visit Our Website To Find out More "Family businesses are important because Joe Oughtred Co-Founder & Director, Axiom

Brooks Macdonald are National Partners of Family Business United. What We Do Services Offered To Family Businesses Visit Our Website To Find out More "Family businesses are important because Name TBC, Brooks Macdonald

Arco , the UK and Ireland’s leading safety expert, opens its doors on a cutting-edge Customer Discovery Centre, marking a bold investment designed to transform customer experience and drive industry innovation. This state-of-the-art facility brings together product expertise, advanced safety training, and industry collaboration under one roof. Designed to engage with customers and suppliers, the Discovery Centre showcases Arco’s integrated safety solutions featuring its independent UKAS and SATRA accredited Product Assurance Lab with a dedicated space for product innovation. As part of this investment, Arco has also expanded its training offering with a brand-new practical training facility, broadening its national coverage of training centres for workers in the highest risk industries. Specialising in confined space and working at height ‘hands-on’ training alongside a multitude of classroom-based courses, this Safety Services centre of excellence increases accessibility to critical safety education. With three flexible learning spaces, innovative displays, and cutting-edge technology, the Discovery Centre is designed to adapt to the needs of customers and colleagues alike, making it a premier destination for training, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing. Now operational, customers can explore the latest advancements in safety, PPE and workwear, undertake training courses and receive expert guidance on product selection and development under one roof. CEO of Arco, Guy Bruce said: “We’re thrilled to open our new state of the art Customer Discovery Centre. It’s our way of giving customers fresh inspiration and ultimate safety confidence day in day out." “By investing in world-class facilities and smarter ways to engage with our customers, this is more than an upgrade to our services, it’s a strategic shift in how our customers interact with Arco and how our safety solutions are developed, shared, and experienced. The future of safety is here, and this immersive space truly demonstrates the value available to all customers when they have the best in the safety business at their side. We’re looking forward to hosting our customers and partners here for years to come.”

Britain’s economic and productivity crisis can only be solved if we have a highly skilled workforce, embedded in the latest technologies and equipped with the skills to use them effectively. For that to happen, Government and industry providers must come together to deliver a dynamic knowledgeable workforce if we are to compete competitively on the world stage, attract inward investment into the UK and deliver a robust industrial strategy. For the last five months, Make UK’s Industrial Strategy and Skills Commission has brought together business, employers, educators and policy makers to create a blueprint to train new and existing industry talent effectively. Key Findings: Existing unspent £800 million from employer contributions to the Growth and Skills Levy - currently spent by HM Treasury elsewhere - and the £650m from the Immigration Skills Charge should be ringfenced for skills investment This would fund 40,000 new engineers And Industry and Government should sign up to a Skills Covenant committing to increased training and upskilling investment on both sides Employers should have access to a tax rebate for investment in accredited skills training in key sectors and occupations And Britain needs a long-term strategy for skills which embeds AI and cutting-edge technologies at its heart The UK has the 6th largest economy in the world, but we languish at 24th in the world robot density rankings because we lack the workforce skills to adopt and apply these cutting-edge technologies. Yet none of this can be turned around in the current climate. Manufacturing is in crisis with a dramatic demand for upskilling at the same time as the pipeline for workers and teachers declines. Companies face a bleak landscape – an ageing workforce with early retirement on the rise, coinciding with a dramatic drop in apprenticeship starts – down 42% since the apprenticeship levy was introduced nearly eight years ago. To begin to turn this around, Government and industry should agree a formal ‘Skills Covenant’, committing to increased investment on both sides in training and upskilling both the existing and future workforce. This must include short term measures such as ringfencing skills funding. All revenue from the Growth and Skills Levy should be guaranteed for skills investment – including the £800 million the Treasury currently spends elsewhere. Government should also ensure that all revenue from the Immigration skills Charge – which was more than £650m last year – is spent on skills provision as was intended when the charge was first introduced. This £1.4bn combined could fund 40,000 new engineers, going a long way to filling the 55,000 skills gap in the sector which is currently costing the UK economy £6bn in revenue each year. In turn, manufacturers will commit to helping boost training availability through a workforce exchange, where companies will second staff to education providers. The sector will also commit to developing an electronic work skills passport, which will travel with employees to different roles and will keep a record of all qualifications gathered through their career. And businesses will commit to using the Careers and Enterprise Company Employer Standards to further develop their schools. Extra pressure on the system comes from a dramatic decline in the number of education providers offering high-value courses, many of which have become financially unsustainable to run. Urgent legislation is needed to revise funding bands - including the level 3 engineers and technician apprentice position - from £27,000 currently to £35,000. This would reflect the real cost of delivering courses in engineering and highly skilled technical manufacturing. Rules should also be amended to allow training providers to draw on levy funds for capital investment in machinery and equipment, making it easier to set up capital-intensive subjects like engineering. This lack of training availability is also hampering the sharp need for upskilling across the sector. Make UK research shows that over 50% of manufacturers intend spending more on upskilling and retraining their employees in the next five years, essential to growth and making inroads in the 55,000 skills gap in manufacturing. To boost essential retraining, employers should have access to a tax rebate for investment in accredited skills training in key sectors and occupations identified by the Industrial Strategy Skills Council. The Commission has also seen an urgent need to refocus careers guidance in schools and colleges to include information on apprenticeships and technical training. Alongside this, the University Technical College (UTC) model should be expanded to offer more technical routes to young people which would dramatically increase the sector’s talent pipeline. Robert Halfon, Co-Chair of Make UK’s Industrial Strategy Skills Commission said: “Modern manufacturing and engineering are major drivers of the innovation needed to capitalise on the AI revolution and deliver on the Government’s growth agenda across new green skills technologies and opportunities. Yet all of this is at risk if we do not urgently ensure our skills system is properly fit for the 21st Century." “It is critical that we remove the barriers for Britain’s innovative companies from offering skills and apprenticeships, so that the new Growth and Skills Levy provides enough quality apprenticeship opportunities that lead to progression and good employment outcomes. That is why financial incentives through a skills tax rebate, cutting bureaucracy and ringfenced skills funding will make a huge difference. The skills covenant will put skills and apprenticeships first and foremost in the minds of government and business." Stephen Phipson CBE, CEO Make UK added: “The Apprenticeship Levy in its current form has been nothing short of a disaster. Apprenticeship starts in manufacturing have fallen by 42% meaning tens of thousands of learners have gone without invaluable training in the last eight years." “Government is sitting on a pot of cash that should immediately be ringfenced and spent on skills training. The first priority is properly funding courses, so colleges and training providers aren’t put off delivering higher cost courses such as engineering. There also needs to be targeted efforts to recruit experienced tutors to train up the next generation in the skills we need now and in the future."

Dispatch manager Alan Smedley has retired after an impressive 50 years of working at Luke Evans Bakery in Derbyshire. He started working at the Riddings-based company as a van lad at the age of 16 in March 1975 – getting up at 2.30am to start his shifts. After passing his driving test at 17, Alan was later given his own van round, in and around the Matlock and Wirksworth areas, before moving to the position of dispatch manager, covering the night shift, about 25 years ago. Now aged 66, he has retired after exactly 50 years with Luke Evans. And, after his stints as a van driver starting work in the early hours and also being the night shift dispatch manager working from 7pm to 3.30am, Alan truly has worked around the clock for Luke Evans Bakery. “It’s been a lovely job. I will miss the people. I have had some very, very happy times at Luke Evans,” said Alan. “I have met with many different people from all different backgrounds, it’s unbelievable. I have spent all my life there. It’s all I have ever known. It’s been a lovely place to work.” He has seen so many changes in his 50 years with the company. “When I first started, we were delivering to little village corner shops – sometimes four or five in a village. Most of those have now gone,” he added. He praised the way that the current owners of the historic bakery – David and Helen Yates – had moved with the times, finding new outlets and developing the business so that it continues to thrive. Alan’s favourite Luke Evans Bakery products are the bread and cobs, and he’s also partial to an Eccles cake and the custards. “Luke Evans is a quality product. Out of everything, the bread and the cobs are my favourite. It’s a different product to mass-produced bread,” he added. Now that he has retired, Alan, who lives in Ironville, Derbyshire, with his wife Carol, a midday supervisor at a Riddings Infant and Nursery School, plans to spend more time on his hobby of collecting wood for storing and burning, which he enjoys with his brother Malcolm. “We’re obsessed with wood. Over the last four weeks we have fetched six tonne of weight in wood,” he added. “We have seven massive log stores.” Chairman of Luke Evans Bakery David Yates said: “Alan was always a very conscientious driver, and many of his van lads went on to have their own career with Luke Evans. He was famous for his level of customer care, visiting some of his best accounts twice a day, rather than the normal once." “He has always been a valuable member of the team, and will be greatly missed by all those who worked alongside him. We wish him well in his retirement.” Alan was presented with a Montblanc pen and a corporate hospitality day at Doncaster Races to mark his retirement. Luke Evans Bakery has been a family bakers since 1804, and supplies both retail and catering customers across the East Midlands. It is one of the oldest family bakers in the country and operates 24 hours a day, producing high quality bread and cakes.

St Austell Brewery has launched its first low-alcohol IPA in cans, following the success of its launch in bottle six months ago. Proper Job 0.5% IPA, which made its debut in October 2024, is the result of over two years of careful development and taste testing. Led by Brewing Director Georgina Young, the team worked tirelessly to create an authentic low-alcohol version of its flagship Proper Job IPA. The result is a crisp, refreshing beer brewed with the same hops – Cascade, Willamette, and Chinook – as the original Proper Job, delivering the signature citrus, grapefruit, and pineapple notes that have made it a favourite among beer lovers. The canned version of the beer - which scooped a gold award in the Taste of the West awards earlier this year - makes it ideal for on-the-go drinking at festivals, events, and social gatherings. Georgina said: "Low and no-alcohol beers have been around for decades, but demand has surged over the past five years. More people are looking for a beer that still has great flavour but without the alcohol, especially for events and occasions on the go." “After such a successful launch six months ago and with the product already having won a gold award for its taste and top ratings from beer aficionados, now felt like the right time to make Proper Job 0.5% available to a wider audience.” As demand for low-alcohol beer continues to rise, Proper Job 0.5% IPA in cans is the convenient on-the-go choice for those looking for a full-flavoured, sessionable drink that doesn’t compromise on taste. Proper Job 0.5% IPA 4x440ml can pack will retail for £5.00 in Tesco stores across the South West from 31 March 2025, with a limited-time Clubcard promotion at £4.50.