Happy 24th birthday, ICS Accounting! Established in 2002, we may have grown in size, scope, reputation and recognition, but we’ve never lost our passion for providing the best personalised and wraparound partner services possible. Invoking a little Valentine’s love, this month we travelled across the country and beyond, opened our arms to apprenticeships, improved our Employee Benefits Portal even more and got up close and personal about ourselves- discover more below.
Office News
With the new financial year just over a month away, we got seriously proactive for 2026-7 with a Company Update presentation at our central office, followed by a Senior Leadership Team Strategy meeting at the historic Toll House Inn in Lancaster. Building on a record year with stretching goals and strategies, we’ll be doubling down on the uncompromising level of trust, care and compliance ICS Accounting we’re proud to be known for, watch this space!
Strengthening our leadership strategy, ICS Accounting Commercial Director Colin Thompson steps into the Managing Director role, as John Lyon moves to Executive Chairman, guiding the long?term direction of the company. These moves unite experience and vision in readiness for what’s set to be a ground-breaking year for the rebalancing of the Umbrella industry.
Out & About
Undefeated by storms, floods and the vagaries of Avanti West Coast, Business Partnership Managers Megan and Alison journeyed to London, catching up with familiar connections and welcoming plenty of new ones before Megan continued on to meet-ups in Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool. If you fancy a coffee or lunch and catch-up with your ICS contact when we’re in your area, just get in touch!
… Clearly catching the travel bug, Megan then headed for Iceland to celebrate her other half’s birthday. A well-deserved break after a non-stop start to the working year.
Community Connection
Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to get a foot in the door in your chosen field, combining work (and salary!) with continuing education, training and qualifications. Congratulations to Corey, who was Highly Commended at the Lancaster and Morecambe College Apprenticeship Awards evening. Well done also to Lancaster and Morecambe College for their fantastic Apprenticeships & Employer event. It was inspiring to meet a great cohort of enthusiastic students, and we loved representing career pathways and opportunities at ICS, including apprenticeships, full and part-time roles, summer jobs and work experience, alongside fellow employers and apprenticeship supporters.
We are proud to celebrate our decade of working in partnership with FreeAgent, award-winning UK cloud accounting software providers designed specifically for small business owners, freelancers and contractors by becoming Platinum Partners. John, Colin, Jen and Simon enjoyed a very interesting and informative event at their head office in Edinburgh, followed by a fantastic meal at Edinburgh castle; all sorts of food for thought!
Pleased to Meet You!
With ICS, it’s all about personal connection, so we felt it was time to make good on one of our New Year’s Resolutions: to reflect our personalities on our ‘About Us’ webpage. Currently ferreting out information about each other- we are building nicely on our ‘Gratitude Gallery’ workshops, so, which ICS staff do you reckon match the following teasers:
Which budding interior designer could be our very own Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen?
Who’s completed the Great North Swim not once, but four times??
Revealed as a demon chess player, who’s the strategy legend who’s always two steps ahead?
Who has a guitar collection to rival Brian May’s- as well as a comic book collection that’s simply ‘Marvel’-ous!
Which office twinkletoes once danced for the Queen?
Who’s a secret Viking history buff- definitely our speed-dial “phone a friend” on the ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ Norse History round!
All will be revealed on our revamped brand new ‘Meet the Team’ webpage soon!
Springing (Further) Into Action
Being an ICS Umbrella Employee brings a multitude of advantages, alongside trusted, compliant and seamless administration and delivery of your salary, tax, deductions, pension and benefits. We’re extremely proud of our exceptional Employee Benefits Portal, now even better thanks to partnering with HR platform leaders Circular Benefits. Built around their four employee-focussed pillars: Salary Benefits, Health & Wellbeing, Lifestyle Discounts, and Reward & Recognition, just a few benefits ICS Umbrella employees can access 24/7 via their user-friendly interface include:
Discounted retail cards from over 120 brands
Up to 60% off cinemas nationwide
Over 500 vouchers and promotions from the best brands updated weekly
Discounts at leading events and attractions
Huge discounts at hotels worldwide
If you have any queries, are interested in discovering more about ICS Umbrella, or any of the outstanding bespoke accountancy services we offer across a wide range of sectors and specialisms, just get in touch. Keep an eye on our regular blog postings for a wide range of business and employment insights, plus our LinkedIn and Facebook pages for the very latest news, reactions and invaluable advice.
Wishing you a bright and successful step into spring,
Your ICS Accounting Team.
