The TaxAssist Group has been announced as the winner of the Business of the Year award, sponsored by Barclays, at the Norfolk Business Awards 2020.


Based in Norwich, The TaxAssist Group provides marketing, training and technical support to its network in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia and soon to be in the USA.
It has become the largest accountancy network to the small business sector in the UK, supporting over 77,000 individual businesses.
With the onset of Covid-19 and the massive impact on its client base, it would have been easy for the network to have been overcome by the deluge of enquiries from its clients surrounding the many Government support schemes.

Norfolk Business Awards 2020 | Business of the Year
The head office team rose to the challenge and with daily updates, webinars and blogs, provided practical interpretations and advice on the evolving Government support mechanisms, answering a staggering one million emails from clients during the initial lockdown.
Subsequent client feedback has been outstanding, with 96pc of respondents being prepared to recommend their local franchisee.
Strong financial performance of the franchisor has been maintained, despite it being flexible on fees during the first peak of lockdown.
“Rooted” firmly in Norwich, this business has a massive opportunity for further growth in the future and is certainly one to watch!
“The TaxAssist Group is thrilled to have won The Business of the Year category against some other very successful and well-known businesses,” said Karl Sandall, group chief executive director.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team at the Support Centre, who do such a sterling job supporting our network of accountants, but have really risen to the challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic. I am also proud of the resilience shown by our accountants, whose services have never been in more demand.
“To have our business recognised in this way is truly heartening and bodes well for our future UK and international expansion plans.”

ABOUT THE SPONSOR
Barclays is a British universal bank. It is diversified by business, by different types of customers and clients, and by geography. Barclays’ businesses include consumer banking and payments operations around the world, as well as a top-tier, full-service, global corporate and investment bank, all of which are supported by its service company which provides technology, operations and functional services across the group.

THE FINALISTS

Abel Homes
Abel Homes has consistently achieved significant growth year on year for the last five years. Although very much a family-owned business, it has a focused management team with clear strategic direction both in its day-to-day operations and its objectives for the long term. The company successfully navigated lockdown and emerged not only retaining its existing staff levels but creating additional posts.

Cornwall Insight
Cornwall Insight is often asked to provide secondees to government and independent bodies to help develop understanding and long-term strategies to the ever-changing and highly-regulated energy markets. Its impressive revenue growth, strong profitability and continued excellent customer feedback has been achieved by being a highly people-focused business.

Netmatters
Netmatters has seen strong growth over recent years both in terms of turnover and profitability. The importance of this business to its customers has greatly increased in the current environment and it has successfully supported many into the home working environment, as well as having to adapt to new circumstances itself.