Credit Management issue April 2021

NEWS ROUNDUP
Appetite for homeworking has
increased since pandemic
HOMEWORKING will be
one of the major and
lasting outcomes of the
COVID-19 pandemic,
a Cardiff University
academic predicts.
Professor Alan Felstead was
commissioned by the Senedd’s Economy,
Infrastructure and Skills Committee to
compile a report for their inquiry into
remote working.
His findings have fed into their
concluding report, which has come up
with a series of recommendations for
the Welsh Government as it develops its
remote working policy. Last year, it set a
long-term target that 30 percent of Welsh
workers would be working from home or
near to home in the future.
Professor Felstead’s most recent
analysis of data from the UK-wide
Understanding Society COVID-19 Study
shows the appetite for working at home
has increased over time. Nine out of ten
(88 percent) employees who worked at
home in June 2020 reported that they
would like to continue working at home in
some capacity. The same question asked
in September 2020 showed a rise to 93
percent.
Two-fifths (41 percent) of homeworkers
reported in June 2020 that they were able
to get as much work done as they had six
months earlier and more than quarter
(29 percent) said they got more done.
The September 2020 data suggests that
85 percent of employees who continued
to work at home were just as productive,
if not more, than they were before the
pandemic. The equivalent figure in June
2020 was 70 percent.
CSA ratifies appointment of two
non-executive directors at AGM
THE Credit Services Association, the trade
association for the debt collection industry,
has confirmed the appointment of two new
non-executive directors to its Board: James
Appleby from Arrow Global and Kathryn
Morgan of Lowell Financial.
Both new directors have extensive
experience in the financial services sector:
James is currently Managing Director
Northern Europe of Arrow Global Group and
has held senior positions within Barclays
Bank, Chetwood Bank, and Vanquis
Bank; Kathryn has held similar senior
executive roles with the NatWest Group and
Virgin Money and is presently Customer
Operations Director for Lowell Financial.
But the report also shows homeworkers
found it more difficult to reconcile home
and work life, were working longer
hours than they used to, and were more
frequently feeling drained and isolated.
Professor Alan Felstead, based at Cardiff
University's School of Social Sciences,
says Coronavirus will have a long-lasting
effect on the way we work: “Even when
social restrictions are fully lifted, it is
unlikely there will be a full return to
the traditional office setting. Instead,
the last twelve months has revealed a
strong appetite for homeworking among
employees and has proved to employers
that flexible working can bring business
benefits.
“However, these changes are not going
to be straightforward. We will need to
rethink and reimage our notions of home
and work, the nature of our towns and
cities, and assess whether our transport
and telecommunications infrastructure is
fit for purpose.”
Tom Chandos, CSA Chair of the Board,
welcomed the new members and thanked
the former CSA Board directors for their
service: “In welcoming Kathryn and James
as new non-executive directors to the CSA,
I want to pay tribute to David Sheridan, Dr
David Hutchinson and Stewart Hamilton
for their time and service as they leave the
Association Board. As the trade body for
the collections and debt purchase sector
we are fortunate to have such a breadth
of representation to ensure that we can
promote excellence in standards and
culture across the industry, share best
practice and make our voice heard across
stakeholders and policy-makers.”
>NEWS
IN BRIEF
Saving Grace
THE Bank of England’s Money and
Credit report showed that £18.5bn was
put into savings accounts in January,
almost four times the average monthly
deposit figure before the pandemic.
Savings rates have remained at
historical lows. Some of this cash may
have been from £3.5bn of withdrawals
from National Savings and Investment
(NS&I) accounts in January, after NS&I
cut rates across its range of savings
accounts. NS&I deposits are not
counted as ‘household deposits’ in the
Money and Credit report but can be
an alternative home for consumers’
savings. As well as contributing to
savings, people also paid down debts
in January, with individuals making
net repayments of £2.4bn. Most of
this was repaid on credit cards, with
the balance repaid on other forms of
consumer credit.
Climbing the ladder
THE CICM Wessex Branch is looking
forward to welcoming delegates to
a late afternoon online event with
Debbie Nolan FCICM, the Chair of
the Executive Board of the CICM, in
association with Creative Huddle.
Brenda Linger FCICM, CICM Vice
President Branch Chair, says there
is very little Debbie has not seen
spanning thousands of customers and
situations: “Debbie has seen much
change over her 35-year career, so
please do join us, benefit from her
experience, and glean her predictions
for the future changes and challenges
credit professionals are likely to
encounter.”
The event is taking place at 4:30pm on
Wednesday 12 May. For details go to https://
www.cicm.com/event/climbing-creditcareer-ladder-insights-debbie-nolan/
Allica performance
ALLICA Bank has published figures to
show it has supported SMEs across
the UK with £71m of completed loans
and a further c.£120m of committed
lending offers currently in the
process of completion. The majority
(85 percent) of this lending is to
businesses outside of London. The
bank says it is on track to complete
as much lending in the first quarter
of 2021, as in the whole of 2020, and
anticipates it will make over £500m in
committed lending offers in 2021.
Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / April 2021 / PAGE 7