This month we bring you a Brexit piece, or at least our intention is to maintain awareness and help members keep focused on certain key areas of the ongoing process of untangling ourselves from the EU. Since just before the referendum we have attempted to keep Brexit on the radar for you all in a way that has hopefully been at timely interjections.

From the initial member research and survey we did prior to the referendum in 2016, and the first Brexit led conference content (at the ESSA conference) in late 2016 by renowned economist Dominic Swords to the more recent session by Roger Martin Fagg at our AGM (those in attendance will surely remember that session!), it has been a really difficult topic for an association to gain any real mastery over.

The information that is available to all via various mediums (and often not from the government itself until recently) is fraught with danger for an association that only wants to present impartial and factually based information to members so we can fully appreciate that some member companies are feeling slightly at sea with it all.

What we had hoped to have been able to do over the summer was send out information to you all that could focus on a ‘single way’ forward with clear and concise information relating to key areas of your business. Alas, with 5 and half months remaining until we leave the EU at midnight on 29th March 2019, we are still unable to support members with the level of clarity we would like as we currently still sit in the position of negotiation as a country.

Earlier in the process of Brexit negotiations we brought you a free webinar hosted by KPMG which many members found very useful. Following our trend of trying to bring what we hope is useful, timely and thought provoking content on this topic, they have recently produced the Brexit Navigator, designed to help your organisation be ready for Brexit whatever the outcome or timescale and to endeavour to prioritise accordingly.

Once we have a clearer picture on the direction Brexit is taking (hopefully we are not long from knowing) we will look to act again at providing further information and support.

As an association we have regularly put our views on key Brexit topics to governmental groups and individuals. Most recently we wrote to the Brexit Secretary, the Prime Minister and Minister for Transport on behalf of members, adding to the already considerable weight of communication by other associations urging the speedy negotiation and smooth passage of several key areas that exist within Brexit negotiations. If you as individual companies wish to write independently then we are more than happy to provide you with the letter templates and process for doing so.

October 2018