UKEF powers Peopleforce in wake of Coronavirus

About the transaction: Peopleforce
Region Brighton
Sector Recruitment
Export location Multiple
UKEF support Export Insurance Policy

Brighton-based Peopleforce Recruitment focusses on providing specialist contract workers to organisations in the aviation and healthcare sectors both in the UK and Europe. Peopleforce is an experienced exporter, placing close to 90% of its candidates with overseas companies looking for skilled recruits.

When placing candidates in contracts with companies, there is always a delay before Peopleforce get paid. Peopleforce therefore rely on advanced payment schemes to ensure its candidates get paid on time, which are protected by trade credit insurance in case its client cannot pay them.

Peopleforce contacted us for assistance after its credit insurer withdrew cover for a £2 million contract with an aircraft maintenance company in Estonia after the outbreak of COVID-19 and global travel restrictions had a significant impact on the aviation industry.

The company needed to ensure they had financial protection in place to cover advance payments to 50 contractors in Turkey and 100 contractors in Estonia worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. A bespoke Export Insurance Policy (EXIP) from UKEF helped bridge the financing gap, ensuring Peopleforce could continue to support their client and safeguard a significant revenue stream for the company.

Joe Brown, Peopleforce Director, said:

UKEF’s support has been invaluable at a time of great uncertainty and upheaval. Many of our clients have been significantly affected by the restrictions imposed due to the outbreak of coronavirus. UKEF’s cover allows us to maintain a much needed proportion of our exports and will help protect the future of the business.

Lisa Maddison Brown, UKEF Export Finance Manager for Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex, added:

Trade and exports will be vital as companies across the UK look to recover from the impact of the Coronavirus. I am delighted that UKEF’s export insurance was able to help Peopleforce retain this important contract.

Putting the right finance and insurance in place can give you the exporting edge, helping you to win contracts, fulfil orders and get paid.

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£230 million contract to bolster Royal Navy torpedoes

News story

Cutting-edge Spearfish and Sting Ray torpedoes carried by the Royal Navy are receiving a £230 million maintenance uplift.

Image depicts a man working on a Spearfish missile.

The Spearfish and Stingray torpedoes are cutting-edge capabilities, carried on a number of Royal Navy submarines. Crown copyright.

Spearfish torpedoes – which use sonar to home in on targets – are carried by the Royal Navy’s Astute class and Trafalgar class hunter-killer submarines and the nuclear deterrent Vanguard class to neutralise underwater and surface threats.

While Sting Ray torpedoes are deployed on Anti-Submarine Warfare mission, including frigates, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters. They provide a close attack capability which also automatically targets in on enemy threats.

Supporting over 100 skilled jobs at the BAE Systems Broad Oak facility in Portsmouth, the Torpedoes Repair and Maintenance (TRAM) contract will run for six years. TRAM supersedes the Torpedo Capability Contract (TCC) with BAE Systems which ran for 10 years.

Defence Minister Jeremy Quin said:

Our Royal Navy submarines require sophisticated defensive and offensive underwater weapons to deter a wide range of surface and subsurface threats.

This £230 million investment is crucial in safeguarding the availability and effectiveness of these highly capable weapon systems whilst supporting skilled British jobs.

The contract will help guarantee the Royal Navy’s inventory of Spearfish Heavyweight and Sting Ray Lightweight torpedoes. A full suite of maintenance activity is also included. This support ranges from technical repair, provision of spares, stock management, logistics and trials support.

Ensuring the torpedoes are safely stored is vital, so the contract also offers safety, environment and engineering advice to support the continued secure use of the weapons.

Dr Brooke Hoskins, Director of Products and Training Services for BAE Systems Maritime Services said:

BAE Systems’ teams have developed, manufactured, and supported the UK’s torpedoes since the 1970s. Torpedoes have a vital role in layered anti-submarine warfare. We are incredibly proud to continue delivering these critical support services to the Royal Navy through a combination of our agile and innovative forward thinking and our heritage and expertise.

Published 27 January 2021



Sustainability agreements: CMA issues information for businesses

One of the ways in which businesses are striving to meet climate change targets or other environmental objectives is through ‘sustainability agreements’. These are arrangements between businesses to work together to do things such as reduce their carbon footprint or improve the environmental standards of their products.

It is important that competition law does not become an unnecessary obstacle to sustainable development, and that businesses are not deterred from taking part in lawful environmental initiatives for fear they may breach competition law. It is also important to make sure that markets remain competitive and open to innovation.

With this in mind, the CMA has issued an information document to help firms navigate competition law as it currently stands.

The document outlines the current framework for the self-assessment of competition law risk and sets out the key points that businesses and trade associations should consider when making sustainability agreements.

Stuart Hudson, CMA Senior Director for Strategy, said:

Supporting the transition to a low carbon economy is one of the CMA’s strategic objectives and we want to help businesses to achieve their sustainability goals without breaching competition rules.

That’s why we’ve published concise information and advice for firms and trade associations on how to stay on the right side of the law when producing sustainability agreements.

The CMA has also issued a short blog, outlining the current competition law debate on sustainability issues.

The CMA will also progress work in relation to its other climate change priorities, including its market study into electric vehicle charging and its investigation to tackle false or misleading environmental claims about products and services that affect consumers.

Notes to editors

  1. The information issued by the CMA should not be viewed as a substitute for legal advice or relied upon as a complete statement of the law. References to formal guidance on the application of competition law can be found on the CMA’s website.
  2. The CMA is engaged in the global discussion about competition rules and sustainability policy. For more details see our blog post.
  3. Read more about how the CMA is supporting the transition to a low carbon economy in its 2020/21 Annual Plan.
Published 27 January 2021
Last updated 27 January 2021 + show all updates

  1. First published.



Association of Chartered Certified Accountants application to cease as a recognised professional body for insolvency practitioners

News story

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has applied to the Secretary of State for Business to give up its status as a recognised professional body for insolvency practitioners.

Section 391N of the Insolvency Act 1986

Revocation of recognition at the request of body

Notice in accordance with section 391N(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

On 20 February 2019, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (formerly the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants) (‘ACCA’) asked the Secretary of State to consider a request, made by it under section 391N of the Insolvency Act 1986, that the ACCA should cease to be a Recognised Professional Body (“RPB”) for the purposes of section 391 of the Insolvency Act 1986. In October 2016, the ACCA entered into a collaboration agreement with another RPB, the Insolvency Practitioners Association (‘IPA’), pursuant to which the ACCA’s monitoring and complaints-handling arrangements for insolvency practitioners have been undertaken by the IPA since 1 January 2017. From 1 October 2018, the licensing of ACCA authorised insolvency practitioners was moved to the IPA. The ACCA considered that its continued recognition as an RPB was unviable and therefore requested the revocation of such recognition.

The ACCA has confirmed that:

  • It notified ACCA insolvency licence holders of its intention to request the revocation of its recognition as an RPB on 11 July 2019 and 17 October 2019.
  • It has completed its internal procedures to sanction and implement its decision to request the revocation of its recognition as an RPB.
  • It ceased to carry out (directly or indirectly) any regulatory activities after 31 December 2019.
  • Insolvency practitioners licensed by the ACCA up until 31 December 2019 are now licensed by other RPBs.

The Minister for Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility has considered this request and is satisfied that it is appropriate in all the circumstances to revoke this recognition in accordance with the procedure set out in section 391N of the Insolvency Act 1986.

Accordingly, the Secretary of State has decided to make the Insolvency Practitioners (Recognised Professional Bodies) (Revocation of Recognition) Order 2021. The Order takes effect from 1 March 2021.

The reasons for making the Order in relation to the ACCA are:

  • The ACCA considers that its continued recognition as an RPB is not commercially viable.
  • The ACCA has completed all internal procedures necessary for it to request the revocation of its recognition as an RPB and ceased all regulatory activities after 31 December 2019.
  • Any insolvency practitioners that were licenced by the ACCA as at 31 December 2019 and wished to continue to practise are now licensed by other RPBs.

A print version of the notice is available from the Insolvency Service, 16th Floor, 1 Westfield Avenue, Stratford, London, E20 1HZ.

Lord Callanan, Secretary of State for Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility

Date: 27 January 2021

Published 27 January 2021



Spacewalk to fit ground-breaking British kit to International Space Station

Two astronauts will today undertake a spacewalk to install a revolutionary piece of government-funded technology on the International Space Station (ISS), marking the UK’s first major industrial contribution to the spacecraft.

Called ColKa for ‘Columbus Ka-band Terminal’, the UK Space Agency-funded system will revolutionise scientists’ ability in the UK and Europe to access the results of their space-based experiments, from investigations into the effects of radiation on seeds to biomining research. The results will help unlock benefits for all of us, from understanding how our bodies and muscles age to furthering our understanding of illnesses like cancer and Parkinson’s Disease.

This giant leap forward for research carried out in the Columbus module will allow astronauts and researchers to benefit from a dedicated link back to Earth at home broadband speeds. Currently, results are returned to Earth on a hard drive, which could take months to receive, with data sometimes being lost in transit. The new terminal will enable results to be delivered to scientists just a day or two after the data is recorded – allowing scientists to process information much more quickly and adjust experiments if they see any problems with the data, such as an unclear image.

NASA’s Victor Glover and Michael Hopkins will venture outside the space station for 6 hours to mount the UK-built large suitcase-sized device to the European Space Agency’s Columbus module on the ISS.

Science Minister Amanda Solloway said:

This mission to install pioneering UK-built technology in space exemplifies how government backing is helping our most innovative companies push the boundaries of what we can achieve in space as well as back home on Earth.

Strengthening the speed at which data can be transmitted from space will bring enormous benefits to scientists and researchers across Europe, helping them progress vital research faster, while opening up numerous commercial opportunities for UK firms as we build back better.

The ColKa antenna during testing. Credit: ESA – M. Cowan

Tethered to the ISS by a retractable steel cable, the astronauts face challenging conditions as they work to install the terminal, orbiting Earth at an altitude of 250 miles.

The astronauts will go without food for hours as they work in the harsh thermal vacuum of space, where the temperature can be as hot as 120 degrees Celsius in the sunlight, down to minus 160C when the Sun is out of sight.

The data will be transmitted to a ground station at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire, near ESA’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications, and from there it will be transferred to the Columbus Control Centre and user centres across Europe.

Columbus was conceived and designed over 20 years ago, when the internet was in its infancy. The laboratory was launched to the Station in 2008 and uses the Station’s network and NASA’s infrastructure for communications with the Columbus Control Centre.

David Kenyon, Managing Director at MDA UK based in Harwell, which designed and built ColKa using the RAL Space clean rooms on the Harwell Campus, said:

We are extremely excited that ColKa is being brought into service. This system is our first flight system developed through MDA UK, and we now have equipment for another seven flight missions, including four lunar systems, under development in Harwell. ColKa will bring tremendous benefit to all our ESA astronauts, scientists and projects.

The contract was awarded to MDA UK following the UK Space Agency’s investment of £40m in ESA’s space exploration programme in 2012. In November 2019 the UK committed £180 million to the European Space Agency’s global exploration programme, which, along with the lunar gateway and lunar communications, will include bringing back the first samples from Mars and support the US ambition to have a sustainable presence on the Moon.

To date, UK scientists have been involved in 17 cutting-edge experiments that have taken place on the ISS and 33 others that are currently being developed and readied for future flight. In total, more than 2,700 investigations from researchers in 108 countries have been accomplished aboard the orbiting facility.

The UK’s space sector is going from strength to strength, employing around 42,000 people and carrying out world-class science while growing the economy.