Scottish factoring firm Newton Property Management has launched an industry-first loan scheme for staff to help provide interest free access to funds.
The company, which has offices in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness, has pledged a six-figure employee benevolent fund to provide financial support. The fund is in part aimed at helping staff members whose families are experiencing difficulties becasue of the pandemic.
Derek MacDonald, Newton Property Management’s joint managing director, said the purpose of the scheme was a way of saying to staff “we have your backs”, especially if their households are struggling with the adverse effects of furlough, as well as any loss of employment and income elsewhere.
He said: “We know workers whose families have been impacted by the pandemic. This scheme aims to help them deal with unexpected or difficult situations, and is eligible to all employees of Newton who have been employed by the company for at least a year.”
READ MORE: Rolls-Royce £4bn loss 'brutal' but flying hours to grow
Mr MacDonald added that the scheme capped loans at no more than two times the employee’s monthly salary. He added: “However, it’s not just for people suffering any financial knock-on effects of the pandemic. Whether it’s a deposit on an item, work on a house, or an unforeseen bill that’s an emergency, we want our employees to know we’re there for them.”
One Newton colleague who is accessing the scheme is Lewis Littlejohn. Lewis said he has recently moved home, is about to get married and start a family, and wants to put in a new kitchen.
He said: “For me a hugely beneficial part of the scheme is that it can help finance a much-needed improvement to my home. But I am also really pleased that Newton has made it available for those who may need to combat the financial effects of Covid, where household income might be down because of a job loss or furlough.”
Mr MacDonald also said: “Some of our staff, like lots of people in our society, aren’t regular savers. This scheme will allow colleagues to access to funds which they can pay back over a set period of time interest free.
“We want to acknowledge through this scheme that we really value our colleagues. We hope through this they can see how much we appreciate the work they do and continue to do for us and our customers.”
Single industrial building sold for £14.3m
The giant Titan logistics warehouse at Eurocentral in North Lanarkshire has changed hands in a deal worth more than £14.3 million.
Graeme Roy: Levelling up is much easier said than done
Rishi Sunak was able to breathe a sigh of relief last week when he was given a much more upbeat forecast for the UK economy than he might have hoped for.
Sign up
You can now have the bulletin and the top business news stories sent direct to your email inbox twice-daily, and Business Week for the weekly round-up on Sunday:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/my/account/register/
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here