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LANCASHIRE BUSINESS DAY


Lucia Arnone Continued from Page 63


DD: The national insurance impact hit us quite hard. It was a big chunk of money when you’re not in the business of making money but in the business of supporting people. It was a tricky one to manoeuvre and move forward through. But we did that, and it’s been a good year for us.


We have had to think differently and start to think more commercially than perhaps we would want to, just to make sure we’re sustaining the services that we’re offering.


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The fundraising climate is challenging and costs are increasing at the same time while the need for our services is growing alongside that.


There’s a huge amount of system change going on at the minute: losing NHS England and devolution in the county. There is a lot of distraction. People are trying their best to navigate quite difficult systems to get the support the need and a lot of people don’t, so we have to go to them.


SM: We’ve had quite a lot of our team on long- term leave over the past year for a variety of reasons. We have a family feel, a lot of them have worked together for 20 years or so, and if something impacts one person there is a ripple effect across the whole team.


Helen Binns


Curriculum and Assessment Review report and its recommendations.


And we have changes coming in Lancashire itself and there are questions about how that is going to affect us. So, coping with change and challenge is key.


We launched a new strategy last year to keep ourselves aligned to need and we have a new brand reflecting that growth journey we’re looking to go on.


It was bold and it was ambitious, and we have to bring everybody with us - employers, learners, parents, stakeholders, funders, competition, our civic partners. But sometimes bold and ambitious is the only thing you can do.


HB: Internally we have been working on our merger with Menzies LLP which has obviously been very demanding, dealing with the transition and integration. That brings challenges because some people don’t like change and it is about making people feel comfortable with everything that’s going on.


You have got to be the one piloting it and being positive and trying to get the message across.


There has also been change externally when it comes to what clients want. People have been holding back and haven’t been investing.


Change and challenge is the constant now and the


successful people around any table are those with the coping mechanisms, strategy and purpose to cope


They have needed to be resilient so that doesn’t have an impact on our clients. We’ve had to put more check-ins with staff in place to make sure they are alright.


AD: Change and challenge is the constant now and the successful people around any table are those with the coping mechanisms, strategy and purpose to cope with that challenge and change.


In terms of our need for resilience and tenacity, we face hugely challenging funding circumstances. We’re fighting with every other voice in the public sector – the police and the NHS, education – all fighting for every last penny.


We have a constantly evolving skills need in terms of what our partners and employers need today, tomorrow, and in five or seven-years’ time, in terms of workforce and workforce planning.


We’ve got changes in education strategy, with a recently published White Paper and the


We’ve seen a lot more change in ownership transactions and people looking for exit strategies. Also, people have been looking to change how they do things, rather than investing more.


The conversations have been more around tax and cutting costs rather than in investing and growth.


LA: We have carried out a whole rebrand in 2025. Our managing director, a plumber, started 20 years ago as a man in a van. Now he has a team of more than 50 people and more than 90 subcontractors.


We needed to show that we have transitioned into mechanical, electrical, fire safety. So we rolled out the rebrand and that was very successful.


Unfortunately, we have then had to adapt with market uncertainty. A lot of our clients were requesting more energy savings, and asking


Andrew Dewhurst


where they could save more money. Schools were nervous about funding.


We had to continue to roll these projects out and deal with the increase in the price of steel, which went up by 500 per cent. We also had to deal with our suppliers who were struggling, as well as coping with longer lead times and more tax.


We have to ride this wave and hope we can get through it and it is about supporting the staff on that change curve. The staff are feeling uncertain and we have had to reach out to Lancashire Mind. We’re having to help families that have young children. It’s a huge whirlwind at the minute, but we’re riding it.


Personally, you have to be the strong one and keep going and you have to say to people, ‘This is the plan, this is how we want to deal with it’ although you may have to change things last minute.


What was your greatest achievement of 2025?


LA: I’d say there were several. The rebrand definitely. We’ve managed to align everything and actually showcase that were a full turnkey office service, from consulting to design to installation to facilities management. And we are dealing with those people that want to future-proof their estates. Again, it’s focused on project delivery.


DW: One of our clients lost their biggest client and a huge amount of revenue. But they backed us and said, ‘This is what we need to do, let’s go hard at it, let’s turn this around’.


They then reported a record October and told us they were on for a record November. The CEO has told us ‘Let’s keep going.’ We’ve also just signed two new clients.


On top of that we have had more than £350m of business carried out through our software. We’ve developed our own technology, which we’ve been developing over the last few years, and we are currently in negotiations for significant funding. It was a challenging year but we did bounce back through our resilience.


HB: I’d have to say the merger. It has gone really well. Our industry is changing so much and a lot of accountancy firms are being bought out by PE-backed businesses.


We wanted to remain independent, and it’s enabled us to have that growth and remain independent at the same time, so we can still service our clients in the way we want to. There are great opportunities for the team as well, and the team is our business.


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