Aldi has officially been crowned ‘Best Value Brand of the Year’ by the UK’s trusted consumer champion, Which. The supermarket giant fought off stiff competition from brands including Lidl to scoop the prestigious title, which recognises brands that offer outstanding value and high-quality products to customers. The highly scrupulous Which? judges commended Aldi in particular for“consistently providing high quality, budget friendly options”. The win comes following Aldi’s dominance in the Which? monthly Cheapest Supermarket comparison – where the discounter has come out on top every month in 2026. The beloved supermarket also took the title of ‘Which? Cheapest Supermarket of the Year’ for 2025, which consistently proves its value promise to UK families. From award-winning wines to everyday essentials and its famous Specialbuys aisle, Aldi continues to prove that great quality doesn’t have to come at a high price. Julie Ashfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be named ‘Best Value Brand of the Year’. At a time when household budgets are being squeezed, we are more committed than ever to providing our customers with the best quality products at the lowest possible prices." “This award is a testament to the hard work of our colleagues and suppliers, and we want to thank the millions of shoppers who put their trust in us and continue to choose Aldi.” A Which? spokesperson, said: “Aldi has secured this award by delivering the highest number of Which? Great Value products across the widest variety of test categories during the 12-month judging period. The supermarket consistently provides budget-friendly, high-quality options, ensuring consumers do not have to compromise on performance to save money on everyday essentials.”

New parents in Scotland could be missing out on free support to help with the cost of everyday baby essentials. Britain’s biggest discounter is continuing to give away a £100 Aldi voucher to one family every week as part of its Mamia New Parent Fund, to be used on everything from nappies and wipes to toiletries. It comes as new Aldi analysis reveals parents who choose Mamia nappies, baby wipes and formula could save over £550 during their baby’s first year compared with leading branded equivalents. Since the initiative launched earlier this year, Aldi has already gifted thousands of pounds in vouchers to parents across the UK. Julie Ashfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, said: “The reality is that the costs don’t stop once you’ve bought the pram and decorated the nursery - it’s the everyday essentials that really add up week after week for parents." “When you’re suddenly buying supplies like nappies and baby wipes alongside your normal shop, even small savings can make a meaningful difference over the course of a year." “That’s exactly why we continue to invest in keeping everyday baby essentials affordable through our Mamia range, while our New Parent Fund is another way we’re helping families during those early years.” New parents in Scotland who want to apply for Aldi's Mamia New Parent Fund should email mamiaparentfund@aldi.co.uk with a receipt showing their latest Mamia purchase. One family will be chosen each week throughout 2026 to receive a £100 voucher to spend in any UK Aldi store. For full terms and conditions, visit here. Aldi was named Supermarket of the Year by Mother&Baby, confirming that families can trust Aldi to deliver unbeatable value across their entire shop.

Multi-award winning commercial and office cleaning company Cleanology has promoted Juliet Widdicombe to be its new Managing Director. The move marks a meteoric rise for Juliet who only joined Cleanology four years ago as Operations Director before achieving a promotion to Associate Director two years ago. The top post is a reward for South African-born Juliet establishing herself as an integral member of the leadership team and impressing with her dedication, innovation and people-first approach, which has played a key role in shaping the family owned 1400 employee business during a period of significant growth. Juliet said: “The most enticing factor about working at Cleanology is that it allows you to be brave. We have a dynamic leadership team which isn’t scared to push forward and back bold decisions. We are constantly pushing boundaries to elevate the business as well as the wider industry and there is a real shared ambition across the business to keep raising standards for our clients and our people." “We have also made a substantial investment into our new Learning & Development department this year to create clear pathways for our staff. The feedback already from new staff is that they have never previously experienced training of such depth and support. We attach huge importance to this because we want a committed, motivated and happy workforce with genuine opportunities to progress." Juliet added: “I’m especially excited to now be leading the Operations and Business Support Teams as we continue driving customer excellence across the business. We have also welcomed some amazing new directors into the Operations Team who bring years of experience, energy and talent, and I am confident that we will collectively achieve our objectives over the coming years." “In the four years I have been at Cleanology I have come to really value the stakeholder relationships I have developed. These strategic partnerships are vital for us and deliver consistent quality for us. There is an alignment in our approach to sustainability and social impact and we continue to hold one another to account." Cleanology, which is headquartered in Vauxhall, South West London, and has regional offices in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Scotland, enjoyed an outstanding 2025 winning new business in a range of sectors from law and education to leisure and energy. Juliet, is based in Sevenoaks, Kent, and in her limited free time enjoys watching her young family at various sporting events and is an avid Arsenal supporter. Mark Little was recently appointed as Cleanology’s new Chief Executive Officer. He is also playing a pivotal role supporting the £25 million turnover company’s ambitious plans to double in size. A successful 2025 saw Cleanology win dozens of new contracts across multiple sectors, including the company’s biggest ever mobilisation with over £2 million of new contracts mobilised in just one month. Welcoming Juliet to her new post, Mark said: “Juliet’s promotion marks an exciting new chapter for Cleanology. She has made a tremendous impact since joining the business and brings real passion, operational expertise and a people-first leadership style to everything she does." “As we continue our ambitious growth journey, Juliet will play a vital role in strengthening our Operations Team, supporting our people and ensuring we continue to deliver exceptional service and customer excellence for clients nationwide. There is fantastic momentum across the business right now and Juliet is absolutely the right person to help lead Cleanology into this exciting next phase.”

Family Business United is delighted to announce its role as a key partner for the forthcoming Family Business Summit, hosted by Brunel Business School at their Uxbridge campus in London on 23 June 2026. Bringing together family business owners, advisers and academics, the Summit will provide a unique platform to explore the opportunities and challenges facing family enterprises today. Through a combination of keynote presentations, discussion and networking, delegates will gain valuable insights into the resilience, innovation and long-term thinking that characterise successful family firms. The event features an impressive line-up of speakers drawn from both the family business community and leading academic institutions. Keynote speakers include: Luke Consiglio, CEO of The Pantry UK Ltd, who will share his experiences of leading and growing a values-driven family business. Jo Wimble-Groves, Managing Director of Active Digital, recognised for her leadership in driving innovation and fostering an inclusive workplace culture within a family business environment. Sian Steele, founder of Sian Steele Consulting, who brings extensive expertise in supporting family enterprises through periods of transition and growth. They will be joined by internationally respected family business experts including: Marshall Jen, HK4Families, offering a global perspective on family enterprise and governance. Dr Allan Discua Cruz, Director at the Centre for Family Business at Lancaster University Management School, whose research has significantly advanced understanding of family entrepreneurship and next generation involvement. Dr Nan Jiang and Dr Kiran Kandade, from Brunel University of London, who will share academic insights and facilitate discussions around the evolving family business landscape. Paul Andrews, Founder and CEO of Family Business United, commented: "Family businesses are the backbone of economies and communities across the UK and beyond. We are proud to be partnering with Brunel Business School on this important Summit, bringing together practitioners and academics to share experiences, challenge thinking and inspire future generations of family business leaders." "The calibre of speakers reflects the strength and diversity of the family business sector, and we look forward to welcoming delegates for what promises to be an engaging and impactful day." "The Family Business Summit underscores the shared commitment of Brunel Business School and Family Business United to championing the contribution of family firms, encouraging knowledge exchange and supporting the sustainability and success of family enterprises." For further information about the Family Business Summit and to book your tickets please visit the booking site here

There is a particular tension that sits at the heart of many multigenerational family businesses — one that is rarely spoken about openly, but that shapes some of the most consequential decisions a family will ever make. It is the tension between wanting to pass on something meaningful and wanting to give the next generation the freedom to choose their own path. Between hoping that what you have built will continue in the hands of your children, and knowing that hope can quietly become an expectation, and expectation can quietly become pressure, and pressure can quietly damage both the relationship and the business in ways that take years to fully surface. Most family business leaders do not set out to pressure their children. They set out to share something they love, to include the people they care about most in something that has given their own life enormous purpose and meaning. The intention is generous. But intention and impact are not always the same thing, and understanding the difference — and acting on it — is one of the most important things any family business founder or leader can do for the generation that follows them. The Weight Of An Unspoken Assumption In many family businesses, the question of whether the next generation will join is never explicitly asked. It is simply assumed — in the stories told at the dinner table, in the way school holidays are spent visiting the business, in the pride with which the family name above the door is pointed out, in the casual references to what will happen when the time comes. None of this is malicious. Most of it is deeply loving. But it creates a context in which the child grows up understanding, at some level, that joining the business is what is expected — and that not joining would be a kind of disappointment, a rejection not just of a career option but of the family itself. Children who grow up under this unspoken assumption face a choice that their peers in non-family business households do not. They can follow the path that feels expected and spend their careers wondering whether they would have chosen it freely. They can resist it and carry the guilt of having let the family down. Or they can find a way to engage with the question honestly — but only if the family has created the space for that honesty, which many have not. The first and most important thing a family can do is to make the assumption explicit and then genuinely open it up. Not as a formality, not as a gesture towards fairness that everyone understands will lead to a predetermined outcome, but as a real invitation to the next generation to consider their own path without the weight of what feels like an obligation already settled. What Genuine Freedom Actually Looks Like Telling a child they are free to choose while making clear, through every signal available, that one choice is the right one, is not freedom. It is the appearance of freedom. And most children, by the time they are old enough to make the decision, are perceptive enough to know the difference. Genuine freedom in this context means several things. It means actively encouraging the next generation to pursue interests and experiences outside the family business — not as a box to tick before they come back, but as a legitimate end in itself. It means celebrating choices that lead away from the business with the same warmth as choices that lead towards it. It means being honest about the demands and the downsides of working in a family business, not just its rewards and its meaning. And it means being willing, as a parent and as a business leader, to sit with the real possibility that the answer might be no — and to have decided, in advance, that the relationship matters more than the outcome. This is genuinely hard. For founders especially, the business and the family are so deeply intertwined that a child's decision not to join can feel like a personal rejection, even when it is nothing of the sort. Separating those two things — the business decision and the family relationship — takes conscious effort and, often, the support of someone outside the family who can help hold the distinction when it is hardest to maintain. Preparing Without Predetermining There is an important difference between preparing the next generation for the possibility of joining the business and preparing them for the certainty of it. The former is good parenting and good stewardship. The latter is where the pressure begins to build. Preparation that respects the next generation's autonomy looks like exposure without expectation. It looks like bringing children and young adults into the business in ways that are genuinely educational — helping them understand what the business does, what it stands for, what running it actually involves — without framing that exposure as the beginning of a predetermined career path. It looks like supporting them to develop the skills and the experience that would make them good business leaders generally, not just good custodians of this specific business. And it looks like honest conversations about what the business needs from its next leader — conversations in which the next generation is treated as participants rather than subjects. It also means being willing to let them fail, to learn, and to develop their own judgement in environments where the stakes are lower than they would be in the family business itself. The next generation member who has spent three years working elsewhere, being held to standards set by someone other than their family, making decisions without a safety net, and building a track record on their own terms, arrives at the family business — if they choose to join — with something that cannot be manufactured internally: earned credibility and genuine confidence. When They Do Want To Join When the next generation does choose to join the family business — freely, with a clear understanding of what it involves and what it asks of them — that is a moment worth celebrating. But it is also the beginning of a new set of challenges that families frequently underestimate. The transition from child to colleague is not straightforward, and the dynamics that exist in the family do not disappear when they walk through the office door. The parent who finds it difficult to delegate in general will find it doubly difficult to delegate to their own child. The child who has spent a lifetime seeking parental approval will bring that need into every professional interaction. The siblings who have always competed for attention will find new arenas for that competition in the business context. None of this is insurmountable, but all of it requires acknowledgement. The families who manage this transition well tend to be those who invest in the relational infrastructure around it — clear role definitions, agreed boundaries between family and business conversations, access to mentors and advisers outside the family, and a genuine commitment to treating the next generation member as a professional with their own authority rather than a child who has been given a job. The Long View The goal of every family business, ultimately, is not to replicate itself exactly from one generation to the next. It is to pass on something of lasting value — a business, yes, but also a set of values, a way of operating, a commitment to something beyond the purely commercial — in a form that the next generation can make their own. That goal is best served not by ensuring that the next generation joins, but by ensuring that if they do, they do so with genuine enthusiasm, genuine readiness, and genuine choice. The business led by someone who wanted to be there — who chose it freely, prepared for it seriously, and arrived with something to contribute beyond their surname — is a stronger business than one led by someone who felt they had no other option. Preparing the next generation without pressuring them is not a softer version of succession planning. It is the version most likely to produce a leader, and a business, worth passing on again.

How a West Sussex farm became one of England's most celebrated vineyards There is a pleasing irony in the fact that one of England's most acclaimed sparkling wine estates was, not so long ago, growing iceberg lettuces. Tinwood Estate, tucked into the hamlet of Halnaker just north of Chichester at the foot of the South Downs, has undergone one of the more remarkable agricultural transformations in modern British farming, and the bottles produced here are now being mentioned in the same breath as the great houses of Champagne. Paul Andrews spoke to Art Tukker to find out more. The story begins not with vines, but with a Dutch farmer named Aad Tukker, who arrived in Britain in the early 1980s to work for Marks & Spencer as an agricultural consultant. In 1985, he purchased the land at Tinwood and put it to work growing iceberg lettuce, reportedly producing the UK's first Icebergs for M&S. For two decades, the farm fulfilled its purpose. But by the mid-2000s, the margins on lettuces were becoming increasingly unsustainable, and the family faced a decision about the land's future. That decision fell to Art Tukker, Aad's son, who was just 21 years old at the time. In a bold stroke for someone so young, he ripped out the lettuce and planted vines. As Art explained, “It was a bold decision on many fronts as I was only 21 and at the time was studying to be a lettuce farmer whilst writing a dissertation on wine." "It was at a time when everyone was talking about the potential for wine in England and my interest was ignited and the idea began to take shape.” The Leap of Faith It was 2007, and English sparkling wine was still a proposition met with more scepticism than excitement. The climate, the soils, the traditional view that the English couldn't produce a wine worth talking about, all of it could have given a young man pause. Art Tukker pressed on regardless. The geology beneath Tinwood's feet gave him good reason for confidence. The estate sits on flinty, chalky soils over the greensand and chalk of the South Downs, terrain that bears a striking resemblance to the sub-soil of Champagne's great vineyards. Warm, free-draining, and blessed with a southerly aspect that maximises sun exposure, the land was, it turned out, almost perfectly suited to growing the classic Champagne varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Art took time to learn his craft by spending ten months in the Marlborough region in New Zealand, working on a small vineyard where he worked for a full season getting involved in all aspects of the wine process from the first cut to the harvest and bottling. “I learnt such a lot in that short time,” continues Art, “enjoying the outdoor life but also seeing how they incorporated tastings and tourism into the business model. Many of the things you see in Tinwood today came from those early years, and subsequent travels, such as the picnic boxes, flight tastings and accommodation.” Art planted the first 28 acres of vines in 2007. The first grapes were harvested two years later. But he did not attempt to go it alone. Recognising that great grapes demand great winemaking, he forged a partnership with Ridgeview Wine Estate, one of the pioneers of English sparkling wine, investing in their winery and creating a relationship that would prove central to Tinwood's rise. There wines are made by Ridgeview's award-winning winemakers, using the traditional method: the same labour-intensive process employed in Champagne, in which the secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle. The first bottle of Tinwood sparkling wine was opened in 2011, in the kitchen of Art's sister Janine. The family, by Art's own account, were apprehensive as they sipped the first vintage of Blanc de Blancs. They needn't have worried. As Art adds, “It was a great moment for us as a family because as we sipped the wine, we realised that we were on to something and from that moment on the business has simply gone from strength to strength.” The Wines Tinwood produces three core sparkling wines, all made exclusively from fruit grown on the estate, a single-vineyard approach that distinguishes the estate from producers who blend fruit from multiple sources. The Blanc de Blancs is the estate's flagship, a 100% Chardonnay wine that has become its most decorated. Pale gold in colour, it delivers notes of green apple, citrus, and brioche, with the fine persistent mousse that marks a wine made with genuine care. It is the wine that put Tinwood on the map internationally. The Estate Brut blends all three grape varieties in the classic Champagne style, offering greater complexity and depth — red berry fruit mingling with stone fruit and a toasty, biscuity finish. The Rosé, made primarily from Pinot Noir, brings delicate strawberry and raspberry fruit with an elegance that belies the relative youth of the vines. Since those first bottles were opened, the vineyard has grown substantially. Today, over 110 acres of vines thrive across the estate, with some 190,000 individual plants. In a good year, production reaches around 200,000 bottles — though as any English winemaker will tell you, the weather rarely makes for entirely straightforward harvests. In 2017, a single frosty night in April wiped out 70% of the crop, reducing production to just 30,000 bottles. “It was a brutal reminder of how precarious wine growing in England can be and of the resilience required to pursue it,” explains Art. World-Class Recognition The sceptics have been comprehensively silenced. In 2022, Tinwood scored a remarkable double triumph in the same month, winning Gold at both the International Wine Challenge (IWC) and the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) for its Blanc de Blancs. At the IWSC, only seven sparkling wines in the world received Gold that year; five were from Champagne, and one of the remaining two was from a West Sussex lettuce farm turned vineyard. Art reflected on the achievement with characteristic understatement: "When we planted our vines here on the family farm 15 years ago, we never dreamt that we would be winning Gold medals in the world's largest wine competitions, not just once but twice in the same month. It proves the soil and location here in Sussex allows us to grow world-class quality wines." The estate has also been awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status for its wine — a guarantee of quality and geographical provenance that places Sussex sparkling wine in the same category of protected regional produce as Champagne, Bordeaux, and Rioja. In 2023, Tinwood was named English Vineyard of the Year by the Travel & Hospitality Awards. Farming with Nature Beyond the awards and the accolades, Tinwood carries a distinct environmental philosophy. Art and his wife Jody are committed to working with the landscape rather than against it. The estate entered the Entry Level Stewardship scheme in 2010; a government initiative aimed at protecting the character and ecology of the British countryside. No insecticides are used anywhere on the estate. Wildflower meadows have been planted throughout the farm, new hedgerows established, and wildflowers sown amongst the vines themselves to encourage biodiversity and support pollinators. The approach reflects a belief that the health of the soil and the surrounding ecosystem is inseparable from the quality of what ends up in the glass. Visiting Tinwood The estate is open all year round and has developed a visitor offering that has become a destination in its own right for food and wine lovers across the South East. The Vineyard Tour and Tasting takes guests out amongst the vines for roughly an hour and a half, telling the story of the estate and the journey from grape to glass, before retiring to the tasting room to sample the sparkling wine range. The Vineyard Kitchen serves a tapas-style menu of small plates designed to pair with the wines, locally sourced and thoughtfully composed. At weekends, a Sunday roast has become something of a local institution, with hearty sharing platters for two and puddings to match. For those who want to linger longer, the estate offers luxury vineyard lodges — eight in total, all with private terraces overlooking the vines, super king-size beds dressed in Egyptian cotton, walk-in showers, and two-person Jacuzzi baths. Breakfast arrives at your door in a wicker hamper. Bicycles are provided for exploring the surrounding countryside, which takes in nearby Boxgrove Priory and miles of South Downs footpaths. The estate is dog-friendly, thoroughly welcoming, and set in surroundings of considerable beauty. On a clear day, the views across the vines towards the South Downs are as fine as any in England. A Family's Legacy What makes Tinwood compelling is not just the wine, though the wine is excellent, but the human story behind it. A Dutch farming family that arrived in Sussex four decades ago, found its footing growing lettuce, and then, when the world changed around them, had the imagination and courage to transform the land into something extraordinary. Art did not inherit a vineyard. He created one, from scratch, on a farm better known for salad leaves, in a country still finding its confidence as a wine producer. Today, with over 110 acres under vine, a cellar full of awards, and eight luxury lodges overlooking some of the most beautiful countryside in southern England, Tinwood Estate stands as one of the finest arguments for taking English sparkling wine seriously. The iceberg lettuces are long gone. In their place, something considerably more effervescent. “It’s been quite a journey,” continues Art, “and we have exciting plans for the future, plus two young sons so who knows where the longer-term journey will take us. It was a leap of faith but one that I am thrilled that we took. We have a fantastic team around us that work to deliver a unique experience and as a family in business we remain excited for what comes next.” “It is an exciting sector to be in, we work outdoors creating a tangible product and there is excitement at the start of each season too. It is also special because our product is used for memories, celebrations and special times when friends and family come together." "It still makes me smile to see people happily drinking a glass of our English Sparkling Wine and I will be forever proud of what we have created here at Tinwood,” concludes Art. Tinwood Estate is located at Tinwood Lane, Halnaker, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0NE. Vineyard tours, wine tastings, dining, and accommodation can be booked at tinwoodestate.com

There is a word that comes up in almost every conversation about family business, spoken with a mixture of pride, weight, and occasional anxiety. Legacy. It gets used to justify decisions, to frame succession plans, to explain why the business exists at all. And yet, if you ask ten family business owners what legacy actually means to them, you will get ten quite different answers. For some, it is the business itself — the name above the door, the employees whose mortgages depend on the firm continuing to trade, the market share built over decades. For others, it is something more intangible: a set of values, a way of treating people, a standard of craftsmanship or care that the family has always stood for. For others still, it is deeply personal — the promise to a parent who sacrificed everything to build something worth passing on. None of these answers is wrong. But the confusion between them is the source of more family business conflict than most people ever acknowledge. Legacy Is Not The Same As The Business This is perhaps the most important distinction to make, and the one that is most frequently blurred. The business is the vehicle. Legacy is what the vehicle is carrying. When those two things are conflated, families can find themselves trapped — reluctant to sell, restructure, or change direction even when doing so would clearly serve the family better, because any change feels like a betrayal of something sacred. The businesses that manage legacy most effectively are those that have taken the time to separate the two questions. What do we want to preserve? And what is the best structure for preserving it? Sometimes those questions lead to the conclusion that the family business should be sold, merged, or transformed beyond recognition — and that this is entirely consistent with honouring what the founders built. The Danger Of An Unexamined Legacy Legacy that has never been properly articulated tends to become a constraint rather than a compass. It gets invoked to resist change, to exclude the next generation from real decision-making, or to shut down conversations that need to happen. "That's not how we do things here" can be a legitimate statement of values, or it can be a way of avoiding the discomfort of evolution. Often, it is both at once. The families who navigate this most successfully are those who have made the effort to translate legacy into something concrete. Not a vague sense of "what our grandparents built," but a clear articulation of the values, behaviours, and purposes that the family actually wants to carry forward. That process is rarely comfortable. It surfaces disagreements, generational differences, and questions that have been quietly avoided for years. But it is also, almost invariably, one of the most valuable conversations a family business can have. Starting The Conversation If your family has never formally discussed what legacy means to you, it is worth starting simply. Not with documents or governance structures, but with stories. Ask the founders, or those who remember them, what they were trying to build. Ask the current generation what they are most proud of, and most determined to protect. Ask the next generation what they want the business to stand for in another thirty years. The answers will not all align. But in the gaps between them, you will find the real work of legacy — not preserving the past exactly as it was, but understanding it well enough to carry its essence forward into a future that looks nothing like it. Legacy is not a museum. It is a living thing, and like all living things, it needs tending, not just protecting.

Ask the leaders of any family business that has survived more than two or three generations what has kept them going, and very few will point to a particular strategy, a product innovation, or a piece of financial engineering. The answers, almost without exception, come back to something less tangible: the way the family does things. The values that were there before anyone had thought to write them down, and that have shaped every significant decision since. This is not sentimentality. It is one of the most consistently observed characteristics of enduring family firms, and it is worth taking seriously. Values As Competitive Advantage In a world where businesses of all kinds talk endlessly about culture and purpose, family firms have something that most corporate entities genuinely struggle to replicate: values that were lived before they were articulated. They did not emerge from a brand workshop or a strategy away-day. They came from the founder's kitchen table, from the way the first employees were treated, from the decisions that were made under pressure when no one was watching. That authenticity is not just ethically appealing. It is commercially powerful. Customers who trust a family business often do so because they sense that the values underpinning it are real. Staff who stay for decades in family firms frequently cite the culture as the reason. The values are the business, in ways that no asset on the balance sheet can fully capture. When Values Are Inherited But Not Examined There is, however, a risk in values that are passed down rather than actively chosen. Each generation inherits a set of beliefs about how the business should operate, what it owes its people and its community, and what it will and will not do in pursuit of profit. Some of those beliefs are worth defending fiercely. Others, on closer examination, turn out to be habits rather than principles — customs that made sense in a different era but which no longer serve the business or the family well. The challenge for every incoming generation is to distinguish between the two. To ask, with genuine honesty: which of these values do we actually hold? Which are we living authentically, and which are we performing out of obligation? This is not about disrespecting what came before. It is about ensuring that the values which carry the family's name into the future are ones that the current generation believes in with the same conviction as those who founded the firm. Making Values Explicit Many family businesses operate with values that everyone somehow knows but no one has ever formally agreed. The senior generation understands them intuitively because they have lived them. The next generation has absorbed them by osmosis. The non-family employees interpret them as best they can from the signals around them. This works, up to a point. But as businesses grow, as more family members become involved, as non-family leaders take on senior roles, the implicit becomes harder to rely on. Misunderstandings multiply. Decisions get made that feel wrong to some people but are perfectly logical to others, because the underlying values were never actually shared. The process of making values explicit — of sitting down as a family, and as a leadership team, and agreeing what the business stands for — is uncomfortable precisely because it is clarifying. It will reveal disagreements. It will force some things to change. It will require the business to be honest about the gap between its stated identity and its actual behaviour. That discomfort is worth it. The family businesses that have done this work, that have a clear and genuinely shared understanding of their values, are better equipped to make difficult decisions, to weather external pressures, and to bring the next generation in with confidence. What Gets Passed Down In the end, what family businesses leave to their successors is not a building or a brand. It is a way of being in the world — an accumulated wisdom about how to treat people, how to handle adversity, and what the business is ultimately for. The balance sheet will change. The markets will shift. The products and services will evolve beyond recognition. But the values, if they are real and if they are tended, will outlast all of it. They are the truest form of legacy that any family business can leave.

Succession is one of the most written about subjects in family business. It is also one of the most poorly executed. Across generations and geographies, the same patterns repeat: transition plans that stall, timelines that slip, next generation leaders who are technically in post but not truly in charge. Understanding why requires looking honestly at what holds the older generation back. Identity is not a job title you can simply remove For many founders and long serving family business leaders, the business is not something they do. It is who they are. Decades of decision making, of carrying the weight of payroll and reputation and family expectation, do not dissolve the moment a successor is named. When the business is taken away, even voluntarily, what remains can feel disorienting. The question "who am I without this?" is rarely asked out loud, but it sits underneath almost every stalled succession conversation. Until there is a compelling answer to that question, stepping back feels less like freedom and more like loss. Fear dressed up as concern It is easy for the older generation to articulate their hesitation in entirely rational terms. The next generation is not quite ready. The market is too volatile right now. There are a few more things to put in place first. Some of these concerns are genuine. Many are fear in more socially acceptable clothing. Fear that the business they built or inherited and grew will be damaged. Fear of being seen to have made the wrong choice in a successor. Fear, if they are honest, that the next generation might actually do it differently and succeed anyway. That last one is perhaps the most difficult to admit. Control as a form of love In family businesses, the line between protecting the enterprise and protecting the relationship is often blurred. Many senior generation leaders experienced their own difficult transitions, or were never properly handed the reins themselves, and carry that unresolved experience into how they lead and how they let go. Holding on can feel like an act of care. It is a way of saying: I am still here, I still matter, I am still keeping you safe. The problem is that it communicates something very different to the next generation leader waiting in the wings. The governance gap Sometimes the barrier is structural rather than psychological. There is no board with real authority. There is no agreed process for resolving disagreements about the direction of the business. There is no forum in which the transition can be discussed openly without it feeling like a personal confrontation. When governance is weak, succession becomes a conversation that happens around the edges, in corridors and at family dinners, rather than through a process that gives everyone a legitimate voice. That ambiguity tends to favour the status quo, which means it tends to favour the person already in charge. Financial dependence on the business For many older generation leaders, particularly those who have reinvested heavily over the years, the business remains the primary source of financial security. Stepping back is not just an emotional act. It is a financial one. If the structures are not in place to ensure that the senior generation can live well and with dignity outside of active leadership, the reluctance to step back is entirely rational. This is one of the most practical and most overlooked barriers in succession planning. The absence of a next chapter Retirement, in the conventional sense, holds little appeal for most family business leaders. They are not people who have been waiting for the chance to play golf. What they need is not an exit but a transition to something else that carries meaning. Whether that is a non executive role, a philanthropic platform, a mentoring relationship, or a new venture entirely, the move away from operational leadership becomes far more possible when there is something to move towards. The barrier is often not the leaving. It is the not knowing what comes next. When the next generation has not yet earned the confidence This one deserves to be named clearly because it is real. Sometimes the older generation is holding on not out of ego or fear but because the next generation leader has not yet demonstrated, in a way that feels convincing, that they are ready. That might be about experience, or judgment, or the ability to hold the family together under pressure. Readiness is not just a function of time. It has to be earned and it has to be visible. Where that evidence is missing, or where it has never been given the chance to accumulate, the transition stalls. What makes the difference The family businesses that navigate this well tend to share a few things in common. They start the conversation early, before there is urgency. They invest in governance structures that depersonalise difficult decisions. They create genuine roles and recognition for the senior generation outside of operational leadership. And they are honest, sometimes with the help of a trusted external voice, about what is really going on beneath the surface. Succession is not a transaction. It is a process of letting go and growing up, on both sides. The businesses that understand that are the ones that make it to the next generation intact Category succession, leadership, next generation, people matters and insights

GAP Hire Solutions has strengthened its nationwide network with the opening of a brand-new, strategically located Pumps, Power & Environmental (PP&E) depot in Carnforth, enhancing services for customers across the North West. Located at GAP Group Ltd, 6c Keer Park, Carnforth, LA5 9FG, the new depot expands GAP’s ability to support local infrastructure, utilities, construction and environmental projects with a comprehensive range of Pump Services, Power Generation (up to 100kVA), and Environmental Services. This investment reinforces GAP’s commitment to delivering responsive, expert support where customers need it most. The Carnforth depot’s strategic location enables faster mobilisation, reduced downtime, and improved service coverage across the wider region. Richard Broughton, Head of Pump, Power and Environmental Solutions, commented, “The opening of our Carnforth depot is a clear statement of intent. We’re investing in the locations and capabilities that allow us to be genuinely responsive to our customers, getting the right equipment to the right place, faster." "The North West is an important market for us, and this depot puts us in a much stronger position to support the infrastructure and construction projects that are driving growth across the region.”

The world is changing faster than most leadership models were built to handle. For family businesses, that creates both a particular pressure and a particular opportunity. The next generation of family business CEOs will need to bring something that conventional corporate leadership programmes rarely develop: the ability to hold complexity without flinching from it. Owning the long view At the heart of effective family business leadership is a relationship with time that most publicly listed companies simply cannot replicate. The family business CEO of the future will not be managing to a quarterly cycle. They will be thinking in decades, sometimes generations. That means investment decisions, talent decisions, and even values decisions are made against a longer horizon. It is a genuine competitive advantage, but only if the leader at the top has internalised it rather than just inherited it. Bridging family and enterprise One of the most demanding skills in any family business is the ability to move fluently between two very different systems: the family and the business. These operate on different logics. The family runs on loyalty, history, and emotion. The business runs on performance, accountability, and market reality. The CEO of the future will need to hold both without collapsing one into the other. That requires emotional intelligence, yes, but more specifically it requires the capacity to have hard conversations with people they love, to separate role from relationship, and to build governance structures that protect both. Grounded in purpose, fluent in change Family businesses often carry a deep sense of why they exist. That founding purpose is an asset, but it can also become a constraint if it is treated as fixed rather than living. The next generation CEO will know how to honour the spirit of what the founders built while translating it into something that makes sense in a different economic, technological, and social context. That is not a betrayal of legacy. That is what stewardship actually looks like. Building trust across stakeholders The talent, the communities, the customers, and the wider family ownership group all need to feel that the person leading this business is someone they can trust. That trust is not built through charisma alone. It is built through consistency, through transparency, and through a demonstrated willingness to take responsibility when things go wrong. Family businesses often have reputations that span generations. The CEO of the future will understand that theirs to protect, and theirs to extend. Digital and human in equal measure Technology is not optional. The family business CEO of the future will need to be genuinely conversant with digital transformation, AI, and data as strategic tools, not just operational ones. But they will also know that the family business model is fundamentally human. Relationships, trust, and commitment are not things that can be automated. The skill is knowing when to deploy technology and when to lean into the irreducibly personal. Knowing when to lead and when to convene Not every challenge requires a directive from the top. Some of the most important work a family business CEO does is to convene the right people around the right questions and then create the conditions for good decisions to emerge. That takes confidence rather than ego, and a willingness to share credit alongside accountability. The family business CEO of the future is not a superhero archetype. They are someone who has done the inner work, built the relationships, and developed the judgment to lead an institution that means something to a lot of people. That is a profound responsibility. And in the right hands, it is also a remarkable platform.

Aldi Scotland store manager Stevie Clark has launched the nation’s first “Hope Insurance”, a new scheme to help fans survive the rollercoaster of Scotland’s first men’s World Cup in nearly 30 years. The supermarket’s new campaign aims to protect fans against the highs and lows of the tournament and is backed by Aldi Scotland store manager Stevie Clark, who shares his name with the Scotland team gaffer. Aldi’s ‘Hope Insurance’ is believed to be the nation’s first-ever “policy” created to help soften the emotional swings Scotland fans will face during the tournament and takes aim at the Scottish football motto that it’s the “hope that kills you”. In a light-hearted nod to this enduring optimism and the emotional investment fans make every tournament, the initiative will offer rewards whenever Scotland suffers a setback. Hope Insurance is free to register for, with prizes paid out when goals are conceded or matches are lost. However, reinforcing Aldi’s commitment to backing supporters through every twist of the campaign, the biggest reward is reserved for the ultimate high should Scotland defy the odds and progress. New research commissioned by Aldi and conducted by ScotPulse, surveying more than 1,140 Scots, found that optimism is running high, with 77% believing Scotland has a chance of progressing beyond the group stages. This suggests a majority of fans are at risk of early heartbreak within the opening weeks of the competition. Among diehard football fans, optimism is even higher, with 83% believing this could be Scotland’s year to make history. Aldi’s research also highlights the nation’s strong commitment to supporting the team, with 82% of Scots saying they will follow Scotland during the World Cup. Meanwhile, one in six plan to stay up into the early hours to watch matches live. Aldi is the biggest supporter of Scottish food and drink and the nation’s leading supermarket for locally sourced products. In October 2025, it was named in NFU Scotland’s ShelfWatch Mid-Year Report as the most prominent retailer supporting Scottish produce, with 41% of its shelf stock now sourced locally. The launch of Hope Insurance celebrates Aldi’s position as one of Scotland’s most trusted supermarkets for Scottish goods, supporting millions of customers during what is expected to be one of the country’s biggest cultural sporting moments in generations. Stevie Clark, deputy store manager at Aldi Scotland, said: “I’ve had so many customers over the years joking about me sharing the same name as the Scotland manager, and I’m sure that will only ramp up during the World Cup." “Like everyone else at Aldi, I’ve got my fingers crossed for Steve and the team and we really hope the team can deliver the history-making achievement we’ve been waiting for. But as the saying goes, it’s the hope that kills you." “Our first-ever Hope Insurance guarantees lucky fans a little something to smile about if things don’t go our way. We really hope we don’t have to pay out, but like all insurance policies, it’s there just in case.” Regardless of the result, fans can trust that Aldi will bring the nation the great deals on Scottish food and drink. To register for Aldi’s free Hope Insurance, shoppers simply need to email scottishcompetition@aldi.co.uk and share their optimism for Scotland’s World Cup campaign. More details can be found here. Find your nearest Aldi store, here.