Business Professional Services

The region has many strengths ranging from its location and skills base to the facilities on offer, making the Heart of England an excellent place for Business Professional Services.

The UK's call and contact centre sector is Europe's largest and the world's second largest. Birmingham has the 2nd largest financial services hub in the UK, after London. Uniquely in Europe, the UK has a specific quality assurance standard for call centres, and a national Career and Skills Framework supports recruitment and training.  The region has around 450 Contact centres, with c.85,000 individuals employed in them. Well known names such as E.ON, NTL, Capita, Severn Trent and Barclaycard are among them, together with the National Express call centre in Birmingham which was named as one of the UK’s top 50 call centres for customer service in 2008.

Birmingham is also very highly ranked for cost of staff in Europe and the region has the lowest staff turnover rate in the UK.

There is also a wide range of property available across the region, ranging in value from £10 to £26 per sq ft. Every commercial building in the region has direct access to fibre-optic cable, and there is a wide range of good value office locations, good public transport and road networks, and an excellent quality of life for employees. When combined with the fact that some of our city centre locations attract grants, this really sets our region apart.

The Heart of England has a population of 7 million people within 1 hour of the centre of Birmingham. The region has 13 Universities, as well as several colleges of higher education, which between them have 183,120 enrolled students producing 35,555 graduates and 14,780 postgraduates annually; the future and potential for BPS is the region is excellent.

Within the region is the Birmingham College of Law - the UK’s leading provider of legal education and training. It has state-of-the-art facilities, a large library and spacious study rooms, all of which have been enhanced by the centre’s recent multi-million pound extension.

Government statistics show that there are 20,100 accountants and 13,200 Human Resources professionals in the region and there are 2,200 people studying accountancy at degree level, and 1,500 people studying human resources management at degree level in the region too.

A number of universities and business schools within the region have been recognised for their excellence. Aston University has one of the top six Business School in the UK, which is one of the very few Institutions to be triple-accredited by EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA. Warwick Business School is another highly rated Business School in the region. Located on Warwick University Campus, 3 miles south of Coventry, Warwick Business School is one of the largest in Europe and ranks in the top 1 per cent worldwide.

There is a unique set of support packages available to assist businesses in the West Midlands. The support ranges from business set up through to introductions to specialist networking organisations:

• Graduate Advantage assists companies seeking to recruit graduates in the region with free front-end recruitment services; a flexible, low cost recruitment solution lasting from 4 weeks to 12 months, full or part-time; a subsidy to pay your new recruit (subject to application); and free management and leadership training.

• Bridge to Growth offers an efficient, low risk and low cost entry route to the UK market via the Heart of England. It takes care of the nuts and bolts of setting up a UK Limited company for free which can take as little as five days. It also helps you set up a UK bank account, and register for VAT. It also offers free tax and financial advice, free legal advice and free market data.
  

• Personal Support is available through Advantage West Midlands’ dedicated foreign investment team who are committed to helping you find the ideal business location in the strategic heart of the UK. All of their services are confidential and free of charge and they can also assist you to expand and develop new collaborations. Specific help can be provided through regional tours and visits, property and site searches, through to introduction to government and private sector companies in the region and identification of potential sources of business opportunities.

There are also several networking organisations in the region:

• Birmingham Forward represents the city’s professional, financial and business support services sector

• Birmingham Future facilitates networking opportunities to encourage leadership and entrepreneurship in young people

• Coventry First is a network which brings together the business and professional services sector in Coventry

• Business Voice West Midlands provides a powerful business voice on key regional issues for businesses in any sector

The Heart of England Inward Investment team offers the following range of free and confidential services to international and UK based companies that are considering investing, expanding or pursuing other business opportunities within the region;

• Land and property searches and advice

• Tailored investment proposals addressing specific information requirements

• Regional visit programmes

• Introductions to providers of business and professional services

• Introductions to universities and research and technology providers

• Information on potential sources of financial assistance and other forms of support

Find out how well connected the Heart of England is.

Find out why the Heart of England is a great place to move your company.

Find out what else the Heart of England has to offer.

Find out more about Business Professional Services and how easy it is to move your business here - call us on +44 (0)121 380 3500 or email.

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