What a Northern Powerhouse in Yorkshire means to: My Pension Expert director, Scott Mullen

As Bdaily’s Northern Powerhouse series continues to give the business people of Yorkshire the opportunity to voice their opinions on the the government’s Northern Powerhouse initiative, we speak with with Scott Mullen, director of My Pension Expert.

My Pension Expert, headquartered in Doncaster, is the UK’s largest specialist pension annuities advisory firm.

Hi Scott, so what do you think the Northern Powerhouse will do for Yorkshire?

If successful it will contribute to a growing, thriving regional economy creating higher profile careers rather than just lower paid jobs; helping to close the economic gap between North and South. This impact should then economically permeate across the North - being felt across other complimentary industries such as hospitality and leisure. It should also positively impact the brain drain to the South, by encouraging skilled graduates and professionals to stay in Yorkshire because there are compelling business opportunities open to them here.

What will the Northern Powerhouse do for My Pension Expert?

We hope, through improved transport infrastructure, it will attract a broader pool of talent into our business and allow better access to funding and grants which we could use to train our staff and support premises expansion, as we continue to grow in Doncaster.

Has the government done enough to convince you of its commitment to Osborne’s vision?

It is still early days in this Parliament so we feel it is too soon to judge but it would be good to see a broader agenda of financial and business-led initiatives introduced.

Connectivity has been a major driving force behind the Northern Powerhouse. Do you believe that spending billions on infrastructure will improve the economic climate in the North?

Yes. Connectivity will definitely help, however it needs to be accompanied by a broader raft of initiatives.

What, if any, other sectors/industries should the government key in on to achieve a Northern Powerhouse?

Financial services has to be a key area. It is a major contributor to GDP. The financial services sector – which includes banking, insurance, fund management and securities dealing – is one of the UK’s largest industries. In 2014, financial and insurance services contributed £126.9 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy, 8.0% of the UK’s total GVA. London accounted for 50.5% of the total financial and insurance sector GVA in the UK in 2012. The sector’s contribution to UK jobs is around 3.4%. Trade in financial services makes up a substantial proportion of the UK’s trade surplus in services. In 2013/14, the banking sector alone contributed £21.4 billion to UK tax receipts in corporation tax, income tax, national insurance and through the bank levy.

From our own experiences at My Pension Expert we can see how making Yorkshire a financial services leader would be a good fit – it is already working fantastically well for us in the pension sector. Our friendly accent combined with innovations in technology, mean we can offer an unrivalled customer care service, which many customers bewildered by the financial services sector are actively searching for. Plus, as telephone and internet-based businesses can be located anywhere, why not in the North where costs are typically lower?

Are there any other areas which you believe money should be spent on, ahead of transport?

We want to see more businesses choosing to locate or relocate here. Or, if they’re already based here, be confident enough to expand in the region. Good transport links help but how about grants for people to support the establishment or development of their premises? Also, anything we can do to provide practical education to young people would be very well received. The establishment of the HS2 engineering college is a good example of this. In the case of financial services, helping people with practical financial education would be a start alongside financial support for firms that want to upskill their workforce with professional qualifications.

As with Sheffield, should the other regions in Yorkshire try to strike a devolution deal with the government?

We think this misses the point of One Agenda, One Economy, One North a little bit as it can potentially create divisions within the regions of Yorkshire. Greater London competes as one large entity of 8.5m people under a Lord Mayor. If we want to compete with that then why not devolve power to Yorkshire? It has a local population of 5.3m people – compare that to Scotland with its national assembly and coincidentally a population of 5.3m people.

Will the Northern Powerhouse be realised in Yorkshire?

We are remaining optimistic at this stage. As Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.”

Thank you Scott.

Don’t miss our latest Northern Powerhouse coverage here. To nominate a Yorkshire business leader to be part of our new series, contact Nick at nick.hill@bdaily.co.uk.