Holywell couple who helped schools in lockdown shortlisted for UK Biz award

A couple who converted their company van into a mobile office to reach Schools around the North West during lockdown and help teachers remotely teach children have been shortlisted for a national business award.

Steve Sinnott, 39, and partner Hannah, 35, run IT support firm Pentre Tech, based in Holywell, North Wales; and during the pandemic they ensured that primary school IT systems kept running so children could learn from home and staff could teach effectively.

And the family firm; Steve's dad Ron does the accounts; became heroes to several schools across the North West, and particularly in Liverpool, during last year's lockdown.

Seeing the need to ensure safety for staff and pupils, they converted their van into a mobile workshop complete with its own internet and electric in order to work on site without needing to enter classrooms.

Using existing IT equipment in the Schools, the team; including a 4th member of the team, engineer Liam O'Neill; repurposed them into Chromebooks allowing those without a device at home to be able to access their learning.

As well as keeping School systems up and running, Steve at one point even chased nationwide firm Openreach when a School's broadband system collapsed, and after eventually getting through to speak to CEO Clive Selly, several engineer vans turned up at the school the next day to fix the problem.

Now they're finalists in the 1st ever Business Champion Awards in London, on Wednesday, 23 March 2022, in the Champions in a Crisis category; hosted by BBC TV News presenter Huw Edwards

Steve, who has been working in IT for 20 years, said:- "We are thrilled to have been nominated as a finalist in the Business Champion Awards. Our primary objective has always been to go above and beyond in order to ensure children and teachers have the IT service they need. While we're only a small family company I think that's what sets us apart from others, giving schools the personal touch that they want."

Jamie Long, deputy head, Runnymede St Edward's Primary School, Liverpool, added:- "It's hard to put into words how amazing Steve and his team were; and even harder to quantify the amount of time and money they saved us. They worked tirelessly in their pursuit of technological systems to help bridge the gap between School and home learning. Without it, children had little access to work, play and friendly faces. It was such a pleasure to be able to work alongside Pentre Tech to provide such an essential, caring and supportive service during a time of such turbulence and insecurity. With their support we were able to work remotely without hitch in order to ensure the wellbeing of our school community. We simply couldn't have kept running without them."

Richard Alvin, Awards Director, Business Champion Awards, added:- "We're holding these inaugural awards on the anniversary of the 1st Covid lockdown, which was the start of an unprecedented time for businesses up and down the country. Steve and Hannah's story is an inspiration to all; they should be very proud of how they kept children and teachers working while the country experienced such an unsure and worrying period. The last 2 years has proved more than ever that whatever is thrown at British business we can respond."
 

HMRC urges caution as fraudsters seek to hijack personal tax accounts

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is warning customers not to share sensitive personal information online to avoid their identities being used to commit tax fraud. HMRC is aware that criminals are attempting to obtain customers' Government Gateway logins and other personal details, enabling them to register for Income Tax Self Assessment and submit bogus tax refund claims before pocketing the repayment. Individuals, ranging from teenagers to pensioners, are being targeted on social media platforms by fraudsters seeking to:- 'borrow' their identities. In return, the individual is promised a cut of the tax refund:- 'risk free.' Handing over sensitive personal information to criminals like this, even inadvertently, risks individuals involving themselves in tax fraud, and having to pay back the full value of the fraudulent claim. Customers should therefore only deal with HMRC directly or through their tax advisor in relation to their Self Assessment tax refunds.

Simon Cubitt, Head of Cybercrime, HMRC said:- "People need to think extremely carefully before they involve themselves in an arrangement like this, because if something looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is. Those who get involved risk becoming the victim of blackmail, threats of violence and wider abuse of their personal information, as criminals seek to exploit them further.I urge anyone who may be aware of these dishonest attempts to recruit individuals into criminality, to report it us by searching:- 'Report Fraud HMRC' on GOV.UK and completing our online form."

In addition to their Government Gateway credentials, customers may also be asked to provide details of their:- bank account, passport, driving licence, address, date of birth, and National Insurance number. HMRC is working with other law enforcement agencies and social media companies to tackle criminality on online platforms.

Back in February 2022 HMRC made coordinated arrests of 4 individuals aged between 16 and 33 in:- Hertfordshire, Bristol, Derbyshire and Buckinghamshire as part of an investigation into suspected Self Assessment repayment fraud and money laundering offences. Investigations are ongoing.

HMRC are reminding people that:- "If you think you've fallen victim to a scam, and report it to the Police via Action Fraud (in Scotland, contact the Police on 101) and contact your bank immediately!"

Self Assessment customers will also be pleased to hear that over the last 12 months (to January 2022) HMRC has:-

► Responded to 572,423 referrals of suspicious contact from the public. More than 219,740 of these offered bogus tax rebates.

► Worked with the telecoms industry and Ofcom to remove more than 920 phone numbers being used to commit HMRC related phone scams.

► Responded to 267,671 reports of phone scams in total. In April 2020 HMRC received reports of only 425 phone scams. In January 2022 this had risen to 3,995.

► Reported more than 6,160 malicious web pages for takedown.

► Detected 463 Covid related financial scams since March 2020, most by text message.

Asked Internet Service Providers to take down 443 Covid related scam web pages.

If you get any suspicious texts claiming to be from HMRC, please report them by forwarding them to HMRC via texting:- 60599. Should you get any emails, please also report them by forwarding them to:- Phishing@HMRC.Gov.UK. Report tax scam phone calls on:- GOV.UK.