In today's economic climate, managing finances can be challenging and traditional pay cycles often leave individuals strapped for cash, especially as the pay cycle is ending.
This can often lead to many resorting to high-cost credit options to make ends meet. These high-cost credit facilities often impose extreme interest rates and fees, exploiting individuals in vulnerable financial situations. These predatory practices are known to exacerbate financial hardship and contribute to a cycle of debt that can be difficult to escape.
- Topic:
- Payments
Every time food spoils in your fridge or too large a portion of a side dish is prepped, you're not just throwing away products – you're throwing away potential profit.
The average restaurant sees a significant chunk of its revenue disappear due to food waste. In fact, a staggering 21% of that waste comes directly from spoilage, while another 45% results from preparation inefficiencies, as reported by WRAP. These are areas where smart inventory management can make a massive difference.
It's something we hear a lot at Access as a familiar challenge for many businesses in the hospitality industry. With the right tools and strategies, restaurants can streamline their inventory, gain control over waste, and unlock hidden profits, which is what we will focus on in this article.
- Topic:
- Hospitality
The importance of GDPR compliance has never been more relevant, but it can be tricky to know where to start.
Assigning data privacy training throughout your organisation is crucial for maintaining GDPR compliance and ensuring that employees grasp the policies, procedures, and general best practices.
In this article we are going to talk about how to be GDPR compliant no matter the business size, discuss accountability and answer the question ‘what is a data protection impact assessment?'
The dream of a bustling restaurant that fuels many aspiring restaurateurs usually consists of happy customers, delicious food, and a thriving business. Yet, focusing solely on the big picture can lead to overlooking essential components, such as a well-designed menu, efficient inventory systems, staff training, and a well-managed kitchen.
Restaurant kitchens are notoriously demanding, and a recent study found that 25% of UK chefs cite poor kitchen management as a major contributor to burnout and high turnover. Since the industry is already plagued with staff shortages, operators must focus on keeping and hiring skilled kitchen managers to ensure the well-being of their staff and the success of their business.
At Access, we've spent more than thirty years helping hospitality businesses improve their workflows and achieve their full potential and we understand that effective management is a core pillar of success.
Kitchen management is a skill that can be learned and mastered, and in this article, we'll dive into the essential strategies to optimise your kitchen and achieve your business goals.
- Topic:
- Hospitality
Social care consultancy, or write policies and procedures yourself, use template services, or use fully digital solutions. There are now more options than to create, manage and maintain policies and procedures in your care service, but you’re probably wondering which one is best for you?
Many care providers have find themselves in a similar situation, and there are now more options than ever to develop and manage your policies and procedures. So to help, I’ve written this article.
Care policies and procedures are essential to registering and operating a care service anywhere in the UK. You need to keep your policies and procedures up to date; with regulations, legislation, best practice and the manner in which your service operates. Failing to do so could land you in hot water with your regulator, and could even impact the quality and safety of the care you provide.
Reducing hospital admissions and the dependency on primary, secondary, and emergency care is a huge priority for health and social care professionals. Many organisations, hospitals, and NHS Trusts are looking to find new ways to reduce admissions as well as reduce re-admission after discharge.
With over 500,000 patients experiencing emergency admissions last year and over 42,000 of them waiting over 12 hours to be admitted, more action is needed to find better methods to prevent hospital admissions and re-admissions, including unnecessary admissions.
Shifting from reactive care models to preventative ones is one method that is being used more frequently. Many different preventative and early intervention methods can be used, but which are the most effective?
At The Access Group, we want to help local authorities, primary care, secondary care, and NHS Trusts to reduce the increasing demand by using effective population health management to reduce health inequalities and deliver more targeted support for at-risk patients of continuous re-admission.
This article will review why admissions are on the rise and the impact this has on the individual as well as the wider health and social care market. Ways to prevent hospital admissions will also be discussed to help you deliver better coordinated, person-centred, and preventative care that always concentrates on the individual.
In their recently published Compass Research Report, BESA (British Educational Suppliers Association) revealed that over 70% of schools report issues in teaching and learning for MFL. With that in mind, it seems that the imminent changes to the Modern Foreign Language GCSEs could be coming at just the right time.
- Topic:
- Education
One of the growing priorities that law firms face when considering a legal technology provider is cyber and data security. As such, during our recent Legal IT Clinic webinar, we asked our customers (law firms) their top questions when it comes to choosing a legal cloud managed service provider (MSP) or legal technology provider and the majority were concerned with these three key areas: The responsibilities of an MSP or legal technology provider, Cyber incidents including mitigation and response strategies and Cyber essentials compliance and best practices.
- Topic:
- Legal
In recognition of the increasingly flexible way in which people are now working – hybrid working, reduced hours, compressed hours, to name but a few, and the benefits flexible working can offer to employers and the economy at large, the government has introduced new legislation which aims to enable even more workers to benefit from flexible working arrangements which took effect from 06.04.2024.
With the changes now placing more of the burden of dealing with flexible working requests on the employer, who will need to engage more with employees and make quicker decisions, it is vital that law firm leaders become familiar with and take steps to adapt to the changes.
So, what exactly are the changes, what do they mean for law firms and what action do you need to take?
- Topic:
- Legal
Working out the right staff to resident ratio is a common and pressing concern for both care homes and nursing homes. It’s a trickly balancing act involving both financial and ethical considerations. You want to run your home as efficiently as possible while still safeguarding the safety and wellbeing of your residents.
The CQC’s official position on staff ratios is set out in Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 18.
In the guidance to Regulation 18, the CQC states:
“Providers must deploy sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to make sure that they can meet people's care and treatment needs and therefore meet the requirements of Section 2 of these regulations (the fundamental standards).”
If you’re wondering “How many carers for 30 residents?” or “How many carers should be on a night shift?” or any other similar questions, the regulations do not offer one-size-fits-all answers that can apply across all services.
As set out in the CQC’s guidance, the correct approach is to learn how to answer these questions in a way that is unique to your service. This article will show you the most effective methods and tools to use to determine the right staff ratio for your needs.
