UK Work Study Ltd

Idea

Introduction

We successfully reached our target of £50,000 on Seedrs on 13 December 2012 with 30 days remaining until the deadline, but unfortunately were denied SEIS Advanced Assurance by HMRC. HMRC has determined that UK Work Study commenced operations in January 2011. Consequently, they deemed us to have been trading for more than 2 years, which precludes investors from obtaining SEIS relief. While we believe that we technically did not start trading until later on in 2011, and are therefore within the 2 year trading limit, rather than engaging in a potentially long battle with HMRC and legal costs associated with such an approach, we and Seedrs have decided to cancel the previous listing and re-list as an EIS eligible company. This listing represents the new EIS eligible listing.

We wanted to update you on some of our commercial success since our last listing:

• Partnerships signed with UK NARIC and UK Work Study Packs fully integrated into their ecommerce site 27.1.13:

https://www.naric.org.uk/naric/individuals/Work...

• Accommodation for Students.com, claim to be the World No.1 Student Accommodation Search Engine – partnership confirmed and UKWS profile live on their website:

www.accommodationforstudents.com/info/links_stu...

• The national accrediting body for private post-16 education in the UK. Membership of which is over 300 in the UK of Private Colleges – contract signed and commercial roll out in discussion.
• We have been reviewing our supplier partners, and are currently in discussion with a major shipping and transport company and a global banking corporation. We target to be offering their services within the next 3 months, and working with them on a co-operative basis.
• Quest Guardians - provides guardianship services for parents living overseas and for their sons and daughters attending boarding schools in the UK – have signed up as a partner to promote the UK Study Pack to their customers.

New Product Development

1. Following discussions, we have developed a relationship with a provider of accommodation for overseas workers and gone live on their website with the intention of providing the full UK Work Pack to their customers. Further to this we have developed a Lite version of the UK Work Pack which they are currently proposing to two of their major clients who contract workers into the UK. We are targeting February as the start of the programme.

2. Currently in negotiation with a global multi-centre English language teaching provider who we have agreed to supply with our normal student pack. In addition we are finalising introducing a similar lite version of the UK Study Pack Intern version which would be supplied one of their major customers. Subsequently we would be marketing this pack to other organisations in this area.

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Our aim is to help individuals get the essentials organised before they arrive in the UK - and take away the worry and stress that they or their family could otherwise feel when moving. We want them to feel comfortable and secure, and their family to know that they are safe. As parents ourselves - we understand how vital it is that you know your children are safe.

We aim to achieve this by partnering with many professional companies in the key areas of moving - so we can offer a complete service covering every aspect of living in the UK, and they can provide you directly with as much detail as possible about their products directly to the individual.

So we would supply what is essentially an 'Arrival Pack' for international students and workers relocating to the UK. The packs would be sent to customers prior to arriving in the UK and would include information, specialist help and practical advice for the relocation process.

Intended impact

We believe our products (UK Work Pack and UK Study Pack) make the move to the UK much easier than trying to arrange everything yourself. Our partners would cover the essentials of opening bank accounts, medical and travel insurance, shipping, visas, accommodation and other areas before the individual even arrives in the UK.
We would also provide eGuides - that would be full of practical advice covering all areas of living, studying and working in the UK.

Substantial accomplishments to date

We have established partnerships with reputable companies in the key areas of moving to the UK i.e. Lloyds Bank, Standard Bank, National Union of Students, SAT Worldwide (free international money transfer), Excess Baggage, UK NARIC, TaxBack, Charterhouse Group, British Accreditation Council and UKBA authorised visa companies. Many of these partners would be able to sell our products and services as well.
The founders have fully funded three web sites, two of which are e-commerce. We have also established distribution channels for both products ready for commercialisation.
We have established basic social media presence across all the key platforms ready for promotional activity by employing an intern.
We have contractual agreements with the majority of key suppliers for commission payable to UK Work Study on purchase of their own products or services.

Monetisation strategy

The market for international students and workers, is worth billions to the UK every year.
We plan to achieve our sales revenue in three ways:
1. Direct pack sales through the two product websites.
2. Commission distribution agreements that have been signed with our strategic partners. They would promote our Packs and we would also receive commission on services that are bought from them by our customers.

3. Advertising and sponsorship revenue opportunities would arise once our web site traffic increases and we have grown and profiled our database.

Use of proceeds

We plan to use the funding on the following:
1. Website enhancements for registration and full SEO optimisation – webmaster
2. Employ a part time social media intern to promote us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other viral social platforms
3. Continue to identify new partners and products/services to enhance the product offering through specialist’s consultants
4. Use a digital media agency to drive an affiliate marketing programme
5. We have liaised with a European based marketing research organisation that will identify the major agents and distribution channels in our key target countries. These are the countries sending the most workers and students to UK
6. PR/Events/marketing collateral for internal use and partners
7. Legal, compliance, accountancy and fund raising fees
8. Hosting/selling fees/expenses/stationary
9. Serviced office/outsource
10. Contingency
11. Selling expenses – paid Web advertising, prize competitions, directory entries