FPB member named UK's best family business
Established in 1992 by William Allan, Active Assistance is a second generation specialist care provider for people with high-level spinal cord injury (tetraplegia), now managed by William's son Andrew Allan. The company, based in Sevenoaks, Kent was nominated by Robert Lovitt, Greenaway Chartered Accountants. The FPB is a business support group that represents over 25,000 small and medium-sized companies across the UK. Philip Moody, the FPB's Head of Member Services, said he was extremely proud the award had been given to a member. "It is a difficult task to balance the needs of a successful smaller business with those of clients and staff but Active Assistance has shown it can be done. The work of the company can be held up as an example to others." Mark Evans, Head of Family Business at Coutts commented: "Up to 75% of businesses in the UK are run by families, and they account for a large share of the UK GDP and employment. Much of their work goes largely unrecognised by society and they get very little help with tackling the unique challenges they face in areas such as business succession. "The Coutts Prize for Family Business is the only regional and national awards programme in England and Wales celebrating the overall best performing small, medium-sized and large family businesses. With a 300-year history of working with family businesses, we have an established track record in providing a range of private, commercial and charity banking services to this essential industry." The Coutts Prize recognises firms that demonstrate a combination of best practice in family and corporate governance, business succession, business strategy, innovation and charitable giving. Active Assistance qualified for the national final by winning the regional award in the same turnover category. The Independent Evaluation Committee judging the prize has looked for examples of best practice, such as ethical standards reflecting family values, effective planning for the succession of top family management and non-family members, a means of returning wealth to shareholders and a track record of innovation in products, services, technology and ways of doing business. Andrew Allan, Managing Director of Active Assistance, said: "Winning the Coutts Prize is a great honour for us as a family, particularly for my father who founded the business. The award is a fantastic way to recognise family run businesses whose contribution to society and our economy is so often overlooked."