Having lagged manufacturing in the speed of its recovery from the impact of the pandemic, British services showed signs of a recovery last month in June.
Yesterday’s IHS Markit/CIPS UK Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that productivity amongst services firms rose over the month, registering a 62.4 score (any figure above 50 indicates growth).
However, although the loosening of Covid-19 restrictions is undoubtedly helping the sector to pick up again, staff shortages and inflation fears continue to hamper its growth prospects – as the IOE&IT Daily Update reported yesterday.
Brexit challenges
On top of this, firms will increasingly be faced with the need to adapt to new rules for doing business in the EU as a result of the UK completing its split from the bloc and signing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with it at the end of last year.
For instance, businesses that provide services – including manufacturing firms who travel to complete work in the EU – will now need to fully understand new travel restrictions and visa requirements which can differ between EU member states.
Services webinar
To address these challenges, the IOE&IT is partnering with International Employment and Mobility (IEM) Consultancy to run a one-hour webinar tomorrow afternoon for its members about the rules for providing services and travelling for business in the EU following Brexit.
The webinar will cover:
- Impact of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement on services trade
- Rules for business travel and service providers travelling to the EU
- Intellectual property rights and how to protect them in the EU
- How professional and vocational qualifications can be recognised in the EU
- Rules for ecommerce and digital trade
Members of the IOE&IT can sign up to the webinar, which is taking place at 1pm on Wednesday 7 July, here.
Presenters
The webinar will include presentations from IEM Consultancy’s Tim Thomas and the IOE&IT’s Kevin Shakespeare.
Tim is a British lawyer who has specialised in the trade of services between the UK and EU for more than 10 years.
Kevin is the director of the IOE&IT Academy and a regular speaker on the IOE&IT’s webinar programme. He is also the dean of the UK Customs Academy and the Northern Ireland Customs and Trade Academy.