Money, metrics and visas

Written by Alison Price

 

2021 November’s policy blog provides some key resources to keep you updated on several themes, so take a look:

In support of COP26: Building on the UN Sustainability Goals EEUK members will find the QAA (2021) Guidance on Sustainable Development to be a great companion guide to the QAA (2018) Enterprise and Entrepreneurship guidance that already complements your own QAA subject benchmark.   EEUK Honorary Fellow Professor Andy Penaluna makes the case for bringing these agendas together in your work here whilst the views of students are clear in this report from the summer, as students declare it to be their no.1 issue.

In addition, lessons for social enterprise can be found in a new report here and ideas for institutional change can be found here.

Social Enterprise: The launch of the latest Social Enterprise report highlighted the role of social enterprises during the pandemic as well as their role as environmental champions and a space which sees female founders flourishing. Take a look at their quick stats which are focused around economic, societal and environmental impact.

HM Government Budget (Nov 2021): featured a couple of changes relating to business growth/exit :

  • ‘Entrepreneurs Relief’ might not be a familiar tax term, as it is part of the dissolution of a business rather than the start-up arena where many of our members work, however you can find the latest on this capital gains tax here, under Business Asset Disposal Relief
  • New visa scheme to help start-ups and rapidly growing tech firms source talent from overseas was highlighted. These of the three new routes originally formed part of Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s UK Innovation Strategy (July 2021) and will be of interest to growth business.

Female Founders: The latest Barometer on women’s enterprise (2021) continues the themes from last year with finance (difficulty in securing finance, limited business contacts and difficult in obtaining support from enterprise agencies) as  the key challenge. Respondents asked for support on financial management/cost control, business planning and fundraising/investor relations.

Understanding Graduate Outcomes: You can track these issues within English HEs, including female founders, by understanding Graduate Outcomes. Start by reading our latest EEUK Blog from Gareth Trainer and Matt Clarke, and then sign up for more information from the JISC data analytics, indicating the EEUK Blog in your response (and /or you might be interested in this January 2022 JISC free event )

Recent EEUK Fellowship awards have provided new additions to the ETCToolkit library of support.  Search here to find their submissions and check our the latest work from Poltava University of Economics and Trade and the University of Portsmouth (supported  by Ukrainian  Cultural Fund and the British Council as a part of Culture For Change programme) which asks if creatives are creative?

Visas: Following on from the Newcastle University’s overview visa video we are currently asking for your visa questions, as the UK Government recently set out plans to revitalise the Innovator route with new arrangements to go live in the Autumn 2022. In answer to the queries we raised, they have confirmed that they are reviewing the need for the Start-up route, given the introduction of the graduate route and the end of £50k requirement under the innovator route, to determine if there is sufficient flexibility for international entrepreneurs starting up in UK.   If you have anything to add to this process or would like to get in touch with your questions, EEUK will collate and share those with the Home Office. Write to alison@enterprise.ac.uk to raise your points.

Alison Price, Head of Policy and Professional Development

Enterprise Educators UK