SME monthly update – October 2022

The Government has been building and testing a new online service for employers which provides advice and guidance on managing health and disability in the workplace. The service explains your legal obligations and good practice.  This may be particularly helpful for smaller businesses without in-house HR support or access to an occupational health service. 

We are supporting the development of this service and we’d like your help to test it.  

By taking part, you’ll receive free information and guidance on disability and health-related employment issues. You could use it to help manage a current case, or simply look around the site to see what’s useful and identify improvements. 

However, if you choose to take part, please take the time to provide feedback. Your views will be vital in supporting the continued development of the service. You can make a real difference, ensuring the new service is user-friendly and meets the needs of your business and your employees. 

Go to the test site Support with Employee Health and Disability and make your voice heard. 

Some background about David Chrichton-Miller as the new Chair of the SME Council and Irene as the new SME Member Exec  

David Crichton-Miller 

• David is the CEO of Oxford Innovation, an SME which supports innovators and entrepreneurs by providing space, advice and finance to them. It is the largest operator of innovation centres in the UK, having over 800 small businesses in its centres, provides advice to nearly 2,000 entrepreneurs each year under government funded support programmes and raises equity finance, through angels and its own small fund, for over 40 companies annually 
• By background, David was a consultant with McKinsey for 7 years before leaving and starting his own business 
• After exiting his business, David was an executive director for a number of companies that all shared the common thread of delivering services to or for the government, including outsourcing and the delivery of welfare-to-work, health and enterprise services.   
• He is the Chair of the Board of Tate Enterprises and on the Board of Influence at Work, one of the world’s leading firms advising businesses and governments on the ethical application of behavioural science to improve performance.  

Irene Gari Chia 

• Irene has recently joined the CBI as Membership Executive at the SME team. She takes care of the SME member accounts, so she is the main point of contact for any enquiries.  
• Before joining the CBI, she was at the Advertising Association as Project Executive, working on helping advertising companies reach net zero by 2030 on their advertising operations.  
• She graduated from an MSc of International Social and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and from a BA on International Relations at King’s College London.  
• You can contact her at [email protected]