PRIME Initiative

Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 3:00 PM
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T h e O l d e r p r e n e u r
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News for older entrepreneurs from The PRIME Initiative

Welcome to PRIME Business Club’s March 2010 newsletter.

You are receiving this entirely free because you contacted PRIME, the charity set up by Prince Charles, about starting your own business.

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In this issue
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1. Get a FREE business check-up

2. FREE eight day course for over-45 Londoners

3. Could you become a PRIME online mentor?

4. Newsletter controls

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1. Get a FREE business check-up
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PRIME has teamed up with UK business set-up specialist Clever Gecko to offer our members a FREE health check for their businesses.

Business Doctor is predominately aimed at those people who have already started and would just like some advice on how they are doing. The check-up will give you an opportunity to discuss any concerns you may have but also for the Doctor to highlight issues that may not be obvious to you.

If you are still just contemplating starting your own business then Business Doctor can still help by assessing your business idea for viability

To find out more and to take up the offer go to:
www.primebusinessclub.co.uk/category/offers/

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2. FREE eight day course for over-45 Londoners
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The Centre for Micro Enterprise, a unit within London Metropolitan University has funding to support a small number of people over the age of 45 who want to go self-employed.

Places on the course will be offered on a first come-first served basis. You must have a London postcode to be eligible.

They are offering an eight day programme delivered one day a week over eight weeks. The course is designed to help you to develop your skills to enable you to set up your own business

To find out more go to:
www.primebusinessclub.co.uk/2010/02/26/free-eight-day-course-over-45-londoners/

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3. Could you become a PRIME online mentor?
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Have you already experienced the challenge of setting up your own business? Would you be prepared to share your experience as a PRIME mentor?

Mentoring online can be the perfect way to share your hard earned wisdom with those who can benefit from your experience and knowledge, all in an interesting online environment.

To find out more go to: www.primebusinessclub.co.uk/category/volunteer/

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Copyright (c) 2010, The PRIME Initiative
Astral House, 1268 London Road, London SW16 4ER

Could you be a volunteer PRIME online mentor?

Have you already experienced the challenge of setting up your own business? Would you be prepared to share your experience as a PRIME mentor?

Mentoring online can be the perfect way to share your hard-won wisdom with those who can benefit from your experience and knowledge, all in a supportive, safe and secure online environment.

PRIME mentors assist people in the early stages of starting a new business. The emphasis is on being a sounding board and talking through and clarifying options rather than giving prescriptive business advice.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering with the UK’s leading mentoring website please get in contact with Harri Harrison, PRIME Mentoring Manager, harri.harrison@ace.org.uk

PRIME, the charity founded by Prince Charles to help people over the age of 50 across the UK to get back into work by starting their own businesses, has appointed Richard Martin as Chairman Designate. He will take over from the existing Chair Pauline Norton in the summer.

Pauline says “I am delighted that Richard will be succeeding me as Chairman and believe he will lead the charity into its next exciting phase of development. Richard brings such a wealth of experience and contacts from the business, consulting and venture-capital worlds.”

Richard Martin started out on the London Stock Exchange before moving into marketing, working for the oil company Castrol and then the brewers Courage. Richard founded, grew and later sold his own consultancy business. He has since been involved with a series of start-ups in a variety of roles – investor, consultant and non-executive director.

Richard says “with the recession in full swing and the number of older unemployed people rising sharply, there is a greater need than ever for PRIME. My task is to ensure the charity continues to make a real impact on the problem and I look forward to building on the tremendous work carried out by Pauline and the PRIME team. But now we need to raise more money to support a growing number of over 50s move out of worklessness and into enterprise.”

PRIME (the Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise) is one of The Prince’s Charities, a group of twenty not-for-profit organisations of which HRH The Prince of Wales is President. PRIME offers a practical package of support for people who are over the age of 50 and out of work, including a Business Club and the Zopa-PRIME Olderpreneur Loan scheme.

The over 50s are particularly affected by unemployment and the recession, so setting up their own businesses is a vital way back into the labour market. In the UK as a whole some three million 50 to 65-year-olds have no paid employment, and the number is rising. The best thing anyone who finds themselves in this position can do is sign up for PRIME’s help at www.primebusinessclub.com.

“Over 50s who are out of paid employment for six months after being made redundant only stand a one-in-ten chance of being an employee again”, says Laurie South, Chief Executive of PRIME. “It’s never been more important to provide opportunities for over 50s who want to work.

“But opportunities are hard to come by at the moment. As a result many people are now seriously considering self-employment. New businesses started by the over 50s will be a big factor in the economic recovery”, says Laurie.

1. Source of figures
The figures are derived from the Annual Population Survey and Labour Force Survey published by the Office of National Statistics, available at www.nomisweb.co.uk and from the PRIME report Olderpreneur Outcomes - more details here.

2. Interview Opportunities
PRIME’s Chief Executive Laurie South is available. Ring 0800 783 1904 to arrange a time.

3. What PRIME does
PRIME provides three levels of service, all delivered free to the unemployed people aged 50 and over who need them. At the first level there is “ Universal Offer” consisting of an information pack delivered by post, a web site with invaluable business content, and weekly (PRIME Business Update) and monthly (The Olderpreneur) email newsletters.

PRIME’s “Intermediate Offer”, available in selected parts of the UK, consists of PRIME’s own events and workshops plus seminars we deliver at other people’s events; a new mentoring scheme starting off in three cities (Bristol, Belfast and Newcastle); and an innovative Olderpreneur loan fund, available across the UK and delivered in conjunction with specialist on-line lender Zopa.com.

Finally the “Enhanced Offer” consists of a more intensive training and tailored one-to-one support. This is only available in the locations where PRIME is able to secure special funding. In 2009/10 PRIME had such funding in Sheffield (Sheffield City Council) and Doncaster (Doncaster Council), both in Yorkshire, in North-East Derbyshire (Department of Work and Pensions), and in the Black Country in the West Midlands (sponsored by Microsoft).

In 2009 PRIME gave practical advice and help to over 4,000 people who were thinking of starting there own businesses, and over 40 per cent achieved a successful business launch.

4. Further information
For more information about PRIME visit www.primebusinessclub.com
Media inquiries to Faye Banerjee or Ian Stobie via 0800 783 1904 or prime@ace.org.uk

The PRIME Initiative is a registered charity (No. 261794-2) linked to the National Council on Ageing and a company registered in England (No. 4184314). Registered address: Astral House, 1268 London Road, London SW16 4ER. President: HRH The Prince of Wales.

Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 4:23 PM

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T h e O l d e r p r e n e u r
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News for older entrepreneurs from The PRIME Initiative

Welcome to PRIME Business Club’s February 2010
newsletter. You are receiving this entirely free
because you contacted PRIME, the charity set up
by Prince Charles, about starting your own
business.

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In this issue
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1. Successful applicant gets Zopa-PRIME loan

2. Become a PRIME case study

3. Newsletter controls

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1. Successful applicant gets Zopa-PRIME loan
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Colin Bicknell, 50, from Northampton has
successfully secured a Zopa-PRIME loan of 7,120 pounds
at an interest rate of 7.88% to help start up
his energy assessment business.

PRIME has teamed up with Zopa Ltd and Bank of
America to create a peer-to-peer loan scheme to
help people aged over 50 to raise the capital to
start a business. The scheme is designed for
people over 50 who are finding it difficult to
raise money directly from a bank. It allows
someone to borrow anything from 1,000 up to
15,000 pounds - as long as they have a strong, viable
business plan.

To find out more about the scheme and to request
an information pack go to:

www.primebusinessclub.co.uk/loan-fund

To see Colin’s listing go to the Zopa website:
http://bit.ly/d3ZrSx

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2. Become a PRIME case study
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We are looking for people over 50 who have got a
successful business up and running - to be case
studies on our website. We would ask you a few
questions, and put your photograph, biography,
and a link to your business on our website.

If you would like the chance to be a PRIME case
study, please click on the link below and
complete the online application form.

www.primebusinessclub.co.uk/2010/01/29/te
ll-us-your-start-up-story-become-an-inspiration-
to-olderpreneurs

Good candidates will be confident and
charismatic, and we are particularly looking for
businesses of an unusual nature. The form gives
us a good idea of what you do, and what sort of
person you are, but don’t feel the need to write
lengthy replies. This will come later, if you
are selected for interview.

You can read case studies of fellow
Olderpreneurs here:

www.primebusinessclub.co.uk/category/prim
e-case-studies/

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Copyright (c) 2010, The PRIME Initiative
Astral House, 1268 London Road, London SW16 4ER

Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 5:58 PM

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T h e O l d e r p r e n e u r
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News for older entrepreneurs from The PRIME Initiative

Seasons Greetings. Welcome to PRIME Business Club’s
January 2010 newsletter. You are receiving this entirely
free because you contacted PRIME, the charity set up by
Prince Charles, about starting your own business.

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In this issue
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1. Create-your-own-web-site in the New Year

2. VAT is going up - try our calculator

3. Read older entrepreneur success stories

4. Loads of new business, accounting and tax info

5. Newsletter controls

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1. Create-your-own-web-site in the New Year
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The New Year is a great time to try something new.
So if you have not got a website yet, now is a good time
to start thinking about it.

PRIME has teamed up with UK web-site specialist Mr Site
to offer a discount of up to 40 per cent on the
company’s simple all-in-one web-site creation
packages.

Read on…

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2. VAT is going up - try our new calculator
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With the VAT rate going up to 17.5 per cent if your
business is VAT registered you will need to change your
published prices.

The government has announced that businesses have four
weeks to amend their shelf and product labels following
the reversion to the 17.5 per cent standard rate of VAT
at midnight on 31 December 2009.

Try our free online calculator.
Read on…

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3. Read older entrepreneur success stories
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We have put up new case studies on the PRIME website
where you can read about the experiences of other
olderpreneurs who have gone ahead and started a
business.

Read on…

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4. Loads of new business, accounting and tax info
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We have completed adding over 700 pages of detailed
information especially written by the accounting and tax
experts at Practice Web. This is all free at the PRIME
Business Club website.

Among these are:

The Business start-up area

The Tax system for the self-employed

Understand what your customers want

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5. Newsletter controls
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This email was sent by prime@ace.org.uk.
To no longer receive our emails, just
send an email to prime@ace.org.uk with
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To ensure that you continue to receive emails from
us, add prime@ace.org.uk to your email program’s address
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Copyright (c) 2009, The PRIME Initiative
Astral House, 1268 London Road, London SW16 4ER

Over 50s considering self-employment, or wanting to start their own business, can come along to PRIME’s Olderpreneur Roadshow which kicks off in Bristol on 23 September.

Between the ages of 50 and 65 almost 1 in 3 people are without work and almost 60% have no pension, other than the state pension to look forward to.

“With the looming pensions crisis the shrinking numbers of people in younger age groups paying for welfare and health services and the need to prevent older people being plunged into poverty in their later years, it’s never been more important to provide opportunities for over 50’s who want to work. Yet over three-quarters of a million 50+ in the UK who want to work still face age discrimination in the job market” says Laurie South, Chief Executive of PRIME.

PRIME’s Olderpreneur Roadshow is part of a practical package of support the charity offers over 50s including a Business Club, Olderpreneur Loans Scheme and Mentoring.

At the FREE roadshow anyone over 50 who wants to find out whether self-employment or setting up their own business might be for them, can come along. They will hear from local ‘olderpreneurs’ about their experiences, and inspirational business speaker Tom Edge author of Age Is No Barrier. They will also be able to quiz local business support organisations and network with other 50s wanting to start up on their own.

After Bristol, the roadshow will be moving onto Leeds on the 14th October, Birmingham on the 4th November, and Manchester on 9th December. A London date is soon to be confirmed.

“The over 50s are an increasingly important part of our economy. Yet in many cases their energy, creativity, experience and sheer ingenuity is being unfairly discarded. At least 3.5 million 50 to 65-year-olds have no work. Over 50s who are out of work for six months after being made redundant only stand a one in ten chance of ever having the chance to be an employee again”, says Laurie.

“The potential for economic growth partly driven by the over 50s could be a big factor in the success of the UK’s businesses and in our future. However, they need better targeted support and guidance. Many have care responsibilities. A significant number have a health condition or a disability. Nevertheless, flexible working and a good work-life balance can be key to the over 50s remaining in work, which is why self-employment or setting up their own business is such a good option”, says Laurie.

PRIME’s founder Prince Charles says. “The experience and skills which people build up over a lifetime are an invaluable resource”, he says. “It is madness for society not to make use of this.”

PRIME is able to offer the roadshow programme free to people over 50 thanks to the generous support of its key corporate sponsor Bank of America.

Upward Curve PR has chosen PRIME as its Charity of the Year 2009 to 2010. “We are so pleased to be able to offer PRIME PR support”, says Helen Ashley of Upward Curve. “We chose them because we felt that with our aging population and the current recession, the charity’s focus is particularly relevant.”

“The over-50s face huge problems of unemployment and age discrimination in the job market. It’s great that we’ll be able to work with PRIME to help them raise awareness of these issues and let over 50s know how PRIME can help them set up on their own.”

Laurie South, PRIME’s chief executive, said “Upward Curve has exactly the right sort of experience that PRIME needs. We are now better able to help more people over 50 start in business than at any time in our history. But we need to get the message of what we can do out there and in front of people. We also need to keep support coming in, so we can scale up our services and make them available more consistently across the whole UK.”

Upward Curve PR is an award-winning PR and communications agency working mainly with clients in the public and not-for-profit sector. Based in Kingston near London it has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, and brings this experience plus a strong ethical stance to the advice it offers.

Parents for Children (now part of TACT), an adoption charity specialising in finding homes for ‘harder-to-place’ children, was the Agency’s Charity of the Year in 2008. Edwina Brocklesby, Director of Parents for Children, said “I could not speak more highly of Upward Curve. They have transformed the potential of this agency and raised our profile beyond our wildest dreams.”

PRIME was one of 100 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups applying for the honour this year.

Prince Charles describes the work of his charity PRIME and welcomes new sponsorship deal

Click on the right arrow button above to start video

I am delighted to speak to you today as the President of PRIME - the Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise.

I founded PRIME over eight years ago after receiving large numbers of letters from people aged 50 and over telling me they were workless - had been made redundant or despite their best efforts were simply unable to find employment. Many of the letters referred to the Prince’s Trust, which offers practical solutions to change young lives. Some of them had even been active supporters of the organisation. But in one form or another, they all highlighted a lack of support available to help them when they needed it most.

This seemed to me to be a tragic waste of experience, of knowledge and skill. Here were people with at least a third of their lives in front of them, left feeling excluded from mainstream employment. People who had often already contributed so much to society, and learnt so much along the way. People who simply wanted to continue giving, and to develop and achieve as economically active adults.

In response to this I felt there was something I might be able to do to help, if I brought the right people together to examine the issue.

I truly believe everyone should have the opportunity to fulfill their potential and contribute to our communities. So that is why I founded PRIME.

PRIME therefore helps people aged over 50 to get back into the labour market, re-gaining the dignity of financial independence and the satisfaction of self-fulfillment by starting their own businesses. I have been delighted to meet some of the people PRIME has helped and know at first hand there are marvellous businesses out there. PRIME currently works across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and I hope it will shortly be active in Scotland.

Now I knew when I founded PRIME that there were a large number of over 50s who were workless, but was shocked when I discovered the true scale of the issue and challenge. Standing at 2.8 million - a simply huge figure, this number is growing all the time as our society ages. This means almost one person in three between fifty and the state pension age is workless. Yet almost a million people in this age group want to work.

If just five per cent of this group started a business, we would have 50,000 new enterprises, employing goodness knows how many more people. What an enormous contribution that would be to our communities and to the United Kingdom economy,.

I cannot tell you how delighted and grateful I was therefore to hear that Bank of America has made such an admirable commitment in becoming PRIME’s key corporate partner.

The unique approach adopted by the Bank of America, that includes supporting PRIME as a whole - from back office functions right through to client facing services, means the organisation  has a secure and firm foundation for future growth. This will enable PRIME to help even greater numbers of older people establish their own businesses, and also highlight and overcome some of the issues and stereotypes working against those over 50. It will also help PRIME expand its reach across the United Kingdom, which is something I am very much looking forward to.

Now more than ever, our economy and society needs the skills and knowledge built up over so many years that older people have to offer.

I therefore hope everyone watching this will think about their friends, their relatives, neighbours and colleagues over 50 who may be

• Workless or worried about their jobs
• Living on an inadequate wage
• Or nurturing an as yet unfulfilled dream, not knowing where to go for help.

Because you too can help us to help them. You can contribute to the leadership already shown by PRIME as a volunteer, as an advocate, as a mentor or as a donor.

Please remember, those over 50 have enormous potential and a huge amount to give. I hope you will work with PRIME, Bank of America and myself to turn this potential and promise into enterprise.

(( ENDS ))

HRH The Prince of Wales recorded at St. James’s Palace, London on the 19th November 2008 describing the work of his charity PRIME.

See also:

Bank of America backs PRIME’s mission

Joint PRIME / Bank of America News Release: 27 November 2007
Embargoed until: 00.01am 1 December 2008

Bank of America and PRIME - Working Together to Support the Over 50s to Find Opportunity in Enterprise

LONDON - Research published today, commissioned by Bank of America on behalf of The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise (PRIME), provides new insights into the realities faced by older entrepreneurs in the UK.

The research was commissioned to mark the launch of a groundbreaking £2 million three-year partnership between the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and PRIME. It aims to unlock entrepreneurialism in the over 50s in the UK by helping this group get back into employment through setting up their own businesses. The partnership will focus on helping those over 50 realise their potential, challenge direct discrimination and enable more people to capitalise on their talents.

Bank of America’s partnership with PRIME forms part of the company’s new approach to community investment in the UK, myPotential myCommunity myEnvironment^TM, that focuses on building skills, unlocking and nurturing talent and increasing entrepreneurialism in marginalised communities.

The research shows that 16 per cent of those aged 55 to 64 have considered, but not realised, their ambition of establishing their own business, with 23 per cent wanting more relevant support to help them do so.

Older entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly important to the UK economy. The number of businesses launched by people aged over 50 has increased by half over a period of 10 years and this age group now accounts for 15 per cent of all business start-ups in England and Wales¹.

“We need to see a fundamental shift in attitudes towards older people …”

Laurie South, PRIME

Laurie South, Chief Executive of PRIME said: “We need to see a fundamental shift in attitudes towards older people and society needs to be more open to the talents and invaluable experience older people can provide to the UK. Through our new strategic partnership with Bank of America, we can continue to build our organisation to provide practical and financial support to even more over 50s throughout the UK.”

As the economic downturn continues to threaten employment opportunities for older people² the need for increased support remains critical. 54 per cent of the 50+ age group currently seeking work feel that the current challenging financial environment will have a detrimental effect on their employment prospects.

The benefits of investing in the 50+ age group is underlined by research showing that 70 per cent of businesses started by people over 55 are on average still operating after six years, compared to just 19 per cent overall³.

“We are delighted to be partnering with PRIME …”

Dennis Arnum, Bank of America

“We are delighted to be partnering with PRIME on such an innovative and significant platform in the UK,” said Dennis Arnum, Bank of America Chief Operating Officer for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.  “The ageing demographic across Western Europe, and globally, brings with it significant challenges for society, governments and businesses alike. Our partnership with PRIME will create opportunities by unlocking the barriers to enterprise and releasing the entrepreneurial talent and wealth of experience within our community.”

As part of the partnership, Bank of America will also provide counselling through its employee business mentoring programme.

Each business that PRIME helps establish will provide a host of other comprehensive socio-economic benefits for the UK - including greater levels of wealth and job creation and a reduction in dependence on state benefits. Transferring one per cent of the economically inactive over 50s into self employment creates at least 25,000 new jobs and results in savings in welfare payments of £175 million⁴.

PRIME is strongly supported by the government who are working alongside the charity to realise the above benefits.

“There is no age limit on entrepreneurial spirit.”

Peter Mandelson, BERR

Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson said: “There is no age limit on entrepreneurial spirit. During the current economic climate it is even more vital that older people have the confidence to make their business ideas a reality.”

“We are currently working with PRIME, Business Link, Enterprise Insight and the Regional Development Agencies to make clear the business support available for older people, be it in starting a business or becoming self employed.”

- Ends -

Notes to Editors:

About the research

A full breakdown of the research referred to above is available on request.

Unless otherwise indicated, all research was gathered by GfK NOP during November 2008. This consisted of a nationally representative omnibus survey of 1,000 adults aged 16 and over. This included 472 respondents aged over 50.

1, 3 & 4 - Improving employment prospects for the over 50s, Christopher Smallwood and Linda Obiamiwe, PRIME (January 2008)

2 - Recent CIPD and KMPG research revealed that in light of the economic downturn almost one in five employers say that they are going to enforce the Government’s retirement age policy - which allows UK organisations to make workers over 65 redundant without having to provide a business reason for doing so - more vigorously. Redundancy fears haunt labour market, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and KMPG (31 October 2008)

About PRIME

There are 3.6 million people in the UK aged 50-65 who are not in employment. Unemployed people over 50 suffer the highest long-term unemployment rate. But an estimated 800,000 people currently classed as ‘economically inactive’ could return to the work-force if barriers to employment were overcome. Of those older people who feel at a disadvantage in the job market, a staggering 81 per cent say the attitude of employers to their age puts them at an automatic disadvantage. PRIME was founded to address these issues and in 2007 helped more than 1,000 over 50s return to work.

For more information about PRIME, please visit: http://www.primeinitiative.org.uk

About Bank of America

Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America will embark in 2009 on a new, ten-year goal to donate US$2 billion to charitable organisations engaged in improving the health and vitality of its communities. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave more than US$200 million in 2007, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world. Bank of America approaches community investment through an international strategy called ‘neighbourhood excellence’ under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Through Team Bank of America, employee volunteers contributed more than 650,000 hours in 2007 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide.

For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit: www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.

Reporters May Contact:

Laurie South, PRIME, +44 (0)20 8765 7833 or +44 (0)7778 271412

laurie.south@ace.org.uk

Elizabeth Wood, Bank of America, +44 (0)20 7174 4441

elizabeth.wood@bankofamerica.com

Ros Hunt, Cohn & Wolfe, +44 (0)20 7331 5442

ros.hunt@cohnwolfe.com

We are currently actively seeking more volunteer business mentors for the Black Country in the Midlands and Doncaster and Sheffield in Yorkshire. And we expect to be recruiting more mentors elsewhere at the beginning of 2009.

PRIME mentors assist people in the early stages of starting a new business. The emphasis is on being a sounding board and talking through and clarifying options rather than giving business advice.

On our existing schemes (the Black Country, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland) mentors have all been experienced business people giving a few hours a month of their time on a voluntary basis. All mentors receive some training on the counselling approach we use, and work with a PRIME mentor co-ordinator.

In the New Year we expect to start more mentoring schemes in England, but are not yet sure of the exact locations. But if you are interested please drop us a line at prime@ace.org.uk

PRIME has teamed up with publisher Kogan Page to get you a discount off any of the publisher’s books. Kogan Page specialises in business books, and have many relevant small business titles. To get the discount just order via this PRIME book shop link (opens in new window), which shows a selection.

At the moment the discount is running at around a third off regular prices, made up of 25 per cent off from Kogan Page and 10 per cent off courtesy of PRIME, but we’ll be reviewing the exact deal in August.

UPDATE: It’s now running at 19 per cent, made up of 10 per cent from PRIME and nine per cent from Kogan Page.

Disclosure: Currently PRIME gets a further 10 per cent of the discounted price from any purchase you make. We are hoping this new revenue stream go a little way towards helping to fund the free guides we ourselves produce.

This web site is now equipped with its own text-to-speech facility - so you can get the content read to you by an automated voice. This can be useful if you have problems seeing the text, but is also handy if you just want to listen to one of the longer items while getting on with something else.

You don’t have to download any software to get it to work. Simply click on the small yellow-and-green Listen icon near the headline of the item you are interested in. This will pop up a new window with the reader controls in it, should you you want to skip backwards or forwards. But the voice should start automatically with no further intervention after a few seconds.

If you prefer access keys to using a mouse, then access key L is the equivalent of clicking on the Listen icon. If there are multiple stories on the page the reader will start from the beginning of the item nearest your cursor position.

To stop reading simply close the reader’s pop-up window. Or click on another Listen icon to start it reading something different.

The technology PRIME is using comes from Readspeaker, a company founded in Sweden eight years ago. It now has many public sector and corporate clients in the UK. The Readspeaker approach is to keep the complicated technology on its own servers, so web site visitors don’t have to download anything.

This approach makes things very easy for the web site visitor. The downside to this is that all the decisions about how the reader works have been taken by the particular web site’s authors - in our case PRIME.

So for example we haven’t set it up to read all the navigation links, because for most people just wanting to hear a particular article that would be pretty tedious.

But if you find text-to-speech particularly valuable , perhaps because you are having sight problems, then there is another approach which can give you much greater control yourself. That is to install suitable software on your own machine. Some of this is free. You can read more about the options on the Accessibility page.

PRIME, the charity behind this web site, has warned about misconceptions over the UK’s new anti-age discrimination law. Ridiculous as it sounds, some people have got the impression it outlaws efforts to help the victims.

In reality the objective of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 is to assist people facing age discrimination - and regulation 29 specifically allows positive action to “prevent or compensate for disadvantages linked to age”.

This regulation gives organisations like PRIME (the Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise) and its partners in the business support, education and voluntary sectors all the authority they need to provide age-related programmes.

The confusion arises because to help a disadvantaged group you often have to target it and offer special provision. People who haven’t read the regulations assume this isn’t permitted - but it is.

Regulation 29 explicitly allows positive action to “prevent or
compensate for disadvantages linked to age”. The DTI’s own guidance makes it clear that disadvantage includes things like the under-representation of a particular age group in the job market, or exceptional difficulty getting employment. There is abundant evidence that this is the case for the over 50s.

The test here is similar to exceptions provided in other
anti-discrimination laws such as the Race Relations Act, which also allow support organisations to assist particular disadvantaged groups.

In fact the age regulations allow even more latitude - you don’t have to produce evidence the age group is disadvantaged but merely reasonably assert that this appears to be the case to you.

You can read the actual statutory instrument that brings the Age Regulations into law yourself - including the key paragraph 29 that provides organisations with all the authority they need to provide age-related programmes.

However, for any support organisation that is having difficulty reassuring an advertising person, venue manager or potential sponsor, PRIME would be happy to provide enough evidence to make their toes curl if pointing to the law itself doesn’t work. The over 50s really do have a difficult time in UK’s job market - that’s precisely why this legislation was passed.

Unintended consequences are the bane of law making. In this case the confusion will soon pass, as people notice that Age Concern - which lobbied hard for this legislation, hasn’t felt the need to rename itself Concern, or that Help the Aged - another strong supporter, hasn’t turned itself into just Help.

Basically the law on this occasion is sensible. It doesn’t in any way outlaw efforts to help ageism’s victims or get them back into work.

Meanwhile here are some stats to bludgeon doubters with.

The employment rate for those aged between 50 and state pension age is 70%. This compares to an employment rate for 25-49 year-olds of 81%. (Source: Labour Force Survey). So it’s a lot lower. The Government’s own target is to get it up to 80%.

In the UK 1.5 million out of the 2.5 million people of working age who are dependent on benefits are over the age of 50 (Source: Department for Work and Pensions).

Only 31% of over-50s made redundant succeed in getting a new job within three months, compared with 50% of 25-49 year olds (Source: Labour Market Trends, 2004).

Once unemployed, over-50s are more likely to stay unemployed: 38% of men aged 50 to State Pension Age are unemployed for over 12 months compared to 25% of under-50s (Source: Office for National Statistics, 2004).

PRIME has published “Financing an active retirement”, a free guide to pensions for self-employed people over 50. The 32-page printed guide is being distributed free via libraries and Citizen’s Advice Bureaux. You can also download the PDF version immediately from here.

PRIME is concerned that of the 12.5 million self-employed people in the UK, less than half are putting enough money aside to give them an adequate income for their retirement.

As people nowadays are living longer, they need more money to provide for those extra years. Men who make it to 65 are now living on for an average of 20 years, while women can expect to go on for another 22 if they reach 65.

Woman are particularly likely to experience a pensions shortfall, as many have gaps in their contribution record which reduce their state pension. And lower female salary levels typically translate into lower pensions from any company pensions schemes they may have belonged to.

“The self-employed need to bite the bullet and make proper pension arrangements”, says Laurie South, Chief Executive of PRIME. “People think that they can retire comfortably by selling their business, but they may be disappointed.

“In our experience the owners of many small businesses find that their businesses are not as saleable as they thought. The problem is that they - the owner-operator, are often also the chief asset. Without them the business is worth little.”

PRIME believes the wisest approach is to treat providing for your retirement as a business expense from the outset. For many individuals this will mean making contributions to a personal pension scheme while they are running their business. So it will be competing with other priorities - but it may still be worth doing.

You can download our pension booklet here. For a printed paper copy email us at prime@ace.org.uk