Following two years of awful restrictions due to a global pandemic, we thought that, as things relaxed, the fears around Covid-19 were going to fade a little and allow us all to get on with life once again.

The losses and sacrifices made since March 2020 will never be forgotten and the bravery shown by the NHS and key workers will go down in folklore, we’ll maybe even see movies in future to commemorate the actions of incredible people who have, thankfully, got most of us through.

Now we face further serious issues which will affect us all once again. Who knows how the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia will work out. President Putin today threatened the World with the terrifying prospect of nuclear weapons if we don’t allow that narcissistic bully to carry on with his unlawful land grab of a sovereign state, a free, democratic European country. We hope there will be a negotiated peace before many more die and are displaced or that the Russian people decide enough is enough and remove Putin from his position of trying to restore the USSR. Europe and the World is once again an unsafe place, not because of an almost invisible virus but because of a power crazed lunatic. Let’s hope that this ends soon and we can breathe a sigh of relief.

Closer to home, we’re all trying to work out what the effects will be of rising costs, inflation and especially the hike in energy prices. As the bad news drops on doormats we have to ensure our people are in a position to afford to live in a warm place and also eat and have disposable cash to be able to live and look after loved ones. The increase on the National Minimum Wage will help and we’ll continue to offer our staff additional work as we see new and increasing contracts as customers return to working from offices, factories and medical sites. Some clients have asked to pay operatives the ‘Living Wage’ which is excellent but we appreciate that times are difficult for most, especially after the effects over the past couple of years from Covid-19. We’ll work hard to give staff opportunities and additional pay where we can. Thankfully we have amazing customers who trust us with looking after the cleaning of their buildings and appreciate the importance our teams provide keeping their staff and visitors safe and increasing confidence as people return to working from offices once again.

Let’s all hope for things resolve so we can all get on with our lives without the stresses we can’t control.