From now on, any new employee will have to work for you for two years before they earn the right not to be unfairly dismissed.  But don’t be fooled by the political rhetoric about reducing the ‘burden on business’ of employment rights.  This change will make little difference to your business, and may well be counter-productive.

The change may encourage some employers to take on staff knowing that they can dismiss them anytime in the next two years.  Some employers may breath a sigh of relief that they have two years to ‘make their mind up’ about an employee.  But beware:

• The change only applies only to people recruited from 6^th April 2012, so no change for all existing staff
• There are exceptions to the twelve-month/2-year service requirement, whereby employees can claim unfair dismissal from day one  – and there are currently around 20 of them!
• The changes have no impact on the common law rights arising from the contract of employment

Don’t let this ‘backwoodsmen’s charter’ dissuade your from doing what you know to be right.  Start right now:

1. Invest time and energy in recruiting the right people
2. Set out the standards you expect in terms of performance, conduct and behaviour.  Continually reinforce these messages throughout employment
3. Recognise and reward good performance and do so openly and publicly

Deal with inadequate performance or unacceptable conduct or behaviour. Do so early – ‘nip it in the bud’ – and don’t be afraid to take formal disciplinary action if the friendly and informal approaches fail

If an employee is clearly not going to ‘make the grade’, make sure you have followed your own procedures and complied with the law; and then dismiss!  It is the best course of action for your business, other employees, and ultimately for the individual him or herself.

Employees have rights, let’s just live with it and stop wasting our precious time trying to find ways around them.  Business needs to perform, we need all our people to perform, and it is our job as leaders to make it happen.

An article by Philip Ingham

All companies have Intellectual Property (IP) in one form or another, and it may be worth taking formal steps to protect it, for the purposes of securing investment, to protect the business from its competitors, in order to maintain a commercial advantage and growth, to license the IP to others, or to increase the value of the business in preparation for a business sale and exit.

A Definition: Intellectual Property (IP) is intangible property that is the result of creativity. It may result in Patents, Design Rights, or Trade Marks or Copyrights. If it is of interest to franchise a business model, or licence an invention to other companies, formal protection is most important.

Some of the aspects of a business that can be protected are business names, logos, brands, literature, (sales brochures, catalogues, technical manuals) designs, and inventions.

The forms that IP Rights can take are:

• Copyright, usually denoted for example by “© Copyright Co Name 2011, All Rights Reserved”. Copyright occurs whenever written documents or drawings are created.
• Trade Mark covering product or device names, logos or brands, and is denoted as XXXX ™ for an unregistered Mark, and XXXX ®, when there is a registration.
• Design Rights which apply in the case of a product design which has a unique appearance or form; the Rights occur as the image or item is created. Design Rights can be applied for and registered at the Patent Office, and there are also simple less expensive approaches.
• Patents which protect the function of an invention; how it works and what the technical effect is that results from the invention.

Patents are subject to the Patent Cooperation Treaty which has more than 140 signatory countries (all the commercial world). The treaty says that all signatories recognise the content and the filing date of a Patent Application filed in any of the signatory countries.
In other words, if a Patent Application is filed in the UK, potential rights are established in all the signatory countries, so long as the invention proves to be novel, and the rights are taken up at the appropriate time.

Patents can protect mechanisms, electronic design, chemical formulae, manufacturing processes, methods, and software etc..

Whilst it is often thought that formal protection of Rights via the Patent Office is too expensive for small companies to consider, this need not be the case if the timing and approach are managed appropriately.

It need not be prohibitively expensive to file a Patent Application, and to establish the commercial merit of the Patent by a licence agreement with a larger company, or to build value within the existing business, which can support the Patent costs as they increase

Finally it should be noted that in today’s legal world, there are ways to prosecute breaches of Intellectual Property Rights, which greatly increases their commercial relevance, as these methods are open to all.

Please contact us for a “no-commitment” discussion of your IP situation.

Philip Ingham
www.wayfairgroup.co.uk

© Copyright Philip Ingham 2011, All Rights Reserved

Guarding the public revenue

Accountants’ tax duties

Times are difficult, but there are still many small businesses making profits, although those profits may well be under pressure. Some are making losses of course. It is fair for all business owners, whether they have companies turning over some millions, partnerships turning over hundreds of thousands or sole traders turning over tens of thousands to expect their accountants to ensure they pay no more tax than they should.

Tax planning by accountants should also include proper management of loss claims, because this also ensures that tax refunds are claimed to the maximum level.

In the case of profitable companies, there should be a good dividend policy so that the (usually) family shareholders pay no more personal tax on their income than they need to, and while accountants are not generally authorised to give pension advice they will remind their clients of the tax advantages of putting money away in the most beneficial way in order to minimise their tax liabilities. All well and good.

Historical notes

Arranging one’s affairs to pay less tax is what most people would think was fair. Not everyone would know of Lord Tomlin’s famous quote “Every man (and we can infer “woman”) is entitled if he can to order his affairs so as that the tax attaching under the appropriate Acts is less than it otherwise would be. If he succeeds in ordering them so as to secure this result, then, however unappreciative the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or his fellow taxpayers may be of his ingenuity, he cannot be compelled to pay an increased tax.” (IRC v. Duke of Westminster (1936)

Increasingly, though, the Treasury has been concerned to get in every penny it possibly can out of the taxpayer, whether business or otherwise. In the Seventies, tax rates were very high for various reasons, and really it was in that period that tax avoidance became very popular, especially amongst businesses. In those days it was mainly very large businesses which had the wherewithal to try to avoid tax. Tax barristers and other experts pored over the statutes to find ways of channeling funds so as to reduce tax due from companies. Many of these means had no commercial reason for being, but were simply to reduce tax.

The game changer

In 1982 the Inland Revenue, as it then was, had two major successes with cases known as Ramsay v. IRC and IRC v. Burmah Oil Co. Ltd. Basically it was determined that any arrangement which has pre-arranged artificial steps with no commercial purpose other than to reduce tax liabilities would effectively fail. This is a simplification, but the rulings established what has become known as the Ramsay Principle, which would mean that any wholly artificial scheme to reduce tax would fail.

Of course this didn’t stop the game of tax avoidance, but tax specialists, including the writer, then tried other ideas which were not totally artificial, often using established principles, but which schemes would not have been set up without the objective of reducing tax.

In recent years, there has been a real crackdown on tax avoidance and HMRC have got very tough. All schemes which are set up with a view to reducing the tax liabilities of businesses and individuals have to be advised to HMRC and that means they can then address how these may be shut down either by changing the legislation or quite commonly taking the taxpayers themselves to the Tax Tribunal and perhaps to the Courts thereafter.

Snake oil purveyors

You as a business owner might receive a telephone call or an email suggesting that you might be able to reduce the business’s and your own tax liabilities though a special scheme. Sometimes the idea might be introduced to you as an “HMRC / Inland Revenue approved scheme”. There is no such thing as an approved scheme; only a scheme which has been advised to HMRC and has not yet been shut down. Such a scheme might of course work for you, but you would need a strong nerve and be prepared to have your tax affairs enquired into in depth. Most directors, partners and business principals would not sign up for that if they knew the risk.

So beware the snake oil salesman selling tax schemes unless you are a risk taker with a strong nerve and funds reserved to pay for the defence of your tax position. You might need to take something for your nerves in addition to the snake oil.

Jon Stow is a tax practitioner who works with businesses and business owners to help them save money. This article originally appeared on jonstow.com and is reproduced by permission

Tax enquiries are stressful

Sound plans or snake oil?

As a small business owner and tax adviser to owner-managers and family businesses I get all sorts of offers about reducing tax with various ploys and schemes. I have seen it suggested that business owners, generally company director-shareholders, can reduce their tax liabilities by over 80% on an ongoing basis, and on one occasion recently, where a friend’s company would have a one-off super profit, that the tax liability could be reduced to a mere 3%.

I believe that such suggestions should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

I don’t doubt that the scheme providers are quoting the correct amounts of tax savings on the basis that these schemes will work. The trouble is that the road to getting those tax savings is often long and hard and may come to a dead end.

Painting a picture

The scheme brochures will always set out a very bullish scenario. They may say that deductions in any relevant accounts (i.e. your company accounts) will have been agreed by a well known international firm of accountants to be valid under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). That sounds very grand until we remember that not all deductions in accounts are valid for tax purposes. We tax practitioners already “add back” deductions which are not allowable for tax purposes.

The brochure or scheme seller will also say that their plan has the approval of leading tax counsel. Now I have the greatest respect for tax barristers, but the trouble is that although there are not as many differing opinions as we may find among economists, not all tax counsel agree with each other, let alone with what HMRC may think.

History lesson

I should put my cards on the table at this point. I did at one time a decade or so ago work on tax schemes. Generally these were based on the same principle but were bespoke for each individual business, and we did them for businesses with turnovers from about £350K to many millions. We would try to help any company with annual profits of £200K upwards.

When we designed each new scheme we took them to tax counsel. I designed one plan for a major client (by which I mean a very large company – all our clients were important to us) based on ideas approved by my usual counsel, but the client company asked to go to different counsel in the same chambers. I was very embarrassed, as were two colleagues I took along to chambers, when the eminent barrister disagreed and said he thought that the plan wouldn’t work, or at the very least was very risky.

I mention this to demonstrate that before you even start there will be more than one opinion about the chances of success.

Reality check

All tax schemes have to be registered with HMRC. On the personal tax returns of company directors and other business owners there is a box that must be ticked to indicate that the taxpayer is participating in a scheme, and after all a tax scheme implemented by an owner-managed company is bound to be for the benefit of the director-shareholders.

Having been notified of a scheme, of course HMRC will look at it.

Where a company or partnership implements a tax scheme HMRC’s policy is to open an enquiry into the company tax return and most probably into the personal tax returns of individuals affected. A business owner needs to have strong nerves when her or his tax affairs are being examined by HMRC, and at the same time not having the certainty that the plan will work.

HMRC object very strongly to aggressive schemes and as soon as there appears to be any non-commercial reason for a particular deduction in the accounts of the business in reality the claimed tax relief is probably lost. At that point it may be that a considerable fee will have been paid for the scheme and more money for the accountants’ or tax practitioners’ fees will have been expended because this type of enquiry would not normally be covered by the usual insurance re tax enquiries.

Even if some business owners do have strong nerves in the face of HMRC’s poking around, others in similar circumstances using the same scheme may not. It is not helpful to the rest if some participants cave in at an early stage. Of course the scheme provider may be involved in representing the taxpayer business for the period of the enquiry but it still exposes the business owner to a lot of heartache.

Sensible planning

Please don’t think the writer disapproves of business owners trying to save tax. The price of success in terms of taxation may well seem too high.

A diligent accountant or tax practitioner will minimise your business tax and National Insurance liabilities as far as possible by managing your salaries and dividends accordingly to the best advantage. If you run company cars they should be “green” ones because they get the best allowances. There is a lot more which can be done with capital allowances and timing of plant purchases is very important. Always check with your accountant before purchasing even when the purchase is born out of immediate necessity.

You should see your financial adviser about getting the maximum relief on pension contributions.

You should ask your accountant to look ahead with you to make sure your estate would get full inheritance tax relief on your business assets should you die in harness.

As an individual taxpayer you should make best use if your tax-free ISA allowances. If you are not averse to some degree of risk you can as individual taxpayers get significant relief from income tax by investing in new businesses through the Enterprise Investment Scheme for example.

Never say never again

This article is not to suggest that business owners should never get involved in a tax scheme. Never say never! There are even some structures which HMRC seems to tolerate. However readers should understand that the process of a tax enquiry can be very stressful and is not for someone who wants a quiet life.

Jon Stow is a tax practitioner who works with businesses and business owners to help them save money.

So what is left to say about communication? Well, when all is said and done, there is more said than done!

When people are surveyed one of the most common complaints against organisations is lack of communication.  And what is the usual remedy?  Many businesses confuse ‘communication’ with ‘broadcast’ – and when told they are not communicating adequately – they ‘turn up the volume’; or ‘open up more channels’; or both – but they just broadcast more, which is not communication!

So what is communication?

A handy definition of communication is ‘creating understanding in the minds of others’.  This is helpful on two counts, as it focuses our efforts to communicate, not on ‘what we want to say’, but:

• On the understanding of the ‘listener’
• And on what the ‘listener’ wants to know

How do we do this?

We make messages understandable by:

• Using the most appropriate/accessible medium/channel
• Using clear jargon free language (buy a copy of The Sun for great examples)
• Creating interactive communications – it is only communication if people can ask questions and/or express their views

We ensure relevance by:

• Identifying what people need to know
• Listening to ascertain what people want to know
• Keeping the messages topical and focused on the world of the recipient
• Lack of information; too much information; outdated or irrelevant information
• Over-use of email and similar media and not enough face-to-face contact
• People’s questions do not get answered
• People give their thoughts, ideas and views, and they ‘disappear into a black hole’
• Another common mistake is to enthusiastically open up too many communication channels and then fail to use them regularly enough.

What can go wrong?

Ten top tips for effective communication

1. Have one, two or maximum three communications mechanisms which are used regularly – such as web-casts; social media; all staff meetings; Team Briefings; etc
2. Start with the information/issues in the business – and think about who needs to know what, by when and why

And then

1. Carefully craft messages for the target audience, choosing words carefully
2. Test important messages with a ‘critical friend’ before wider dissemination
3. Keep the content as relevant as possible, which often means having ‘local’ versions of core messages
4. Communicate through the most appropriate channel for the target audience
5. Ensure that there is a mechanism for quickly getting answers to people’s questions
6. Encourage people to contribute their ideas, thoughts and feelings
7. Feedback to demonstrate that you have heard their ideas and value them
8. Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your communication: internal and external communication

Finally, control communication carefully – this is how your business ‘shows up’ in the world – make sure it does ‘show up’ and that it shows the right image.

John Kirkham HR Specialist Practical Growth Solutions

But – what if I could see you? Well, to be honest, if I could, there is a sporting chance that I would be able to tell whether you are doing well, or whether, like many, you are struggling in a market where cutbacks are now common place. On the other hand, I might detect that you are in fact doing rather well!

Why am I telling you this? Well, we gets loads of ‘coaching tips’, some of them work whilst some evidently don’t. Perhaps you are fed up with those that don’t, so here’s one that works for all of us.

In short, if you go to see a prospect with a look on your face, and a general demeanour that says you have just dropped your last pound down a drain, guess what? Your prospect will probably detect that instantly! You will go on, no doubt, and tell the guy that you want his business, and quite right too. However, your prospect will read that as ‘I desperately need your business!’ Is it likely that you will sign up his business? You answer that one!

In Pharos we use a model. Feedback tells us that it’s one of the most self-sustaining models in our toolkit. It is rather aptly named the SOS model – so very easy to remember. It is particularly relevant to prospect meetings, presentations etc and will make a massive difference to your conversion rate, if used correctly.

S is for ‘State’ – your state, both physical as well as mental. Do you look the person you want to be recognised as? Do you look professional, knowledgeable, and approachable? Does your choice of suit blend with the dress code of the potential client? That’s the relatively easy bit; but what about your mental state? Is it all gloom and despondency, a furrowed brow, a slight stoop, shuffling of feet etc? In short, does your body language reflect the possibility that you desperately need, rather than want his business?

In coaching, we refer to “acting as if’”. Acting as if we are extremely successful, happy, fulfilled, passionate and dynamic business people, sales people or whatever we are! What change could we make that would enable us to do that more easily? Well, it’s not that difficult – just concentrate on all that you have, rather than all that you would like. And if it’s difficult to get your head around that, think of the orphan children in the ghettos of India who spend all day and most of the night rummaging on the city rubbish tips trying to find something they could exchange for a crust of bread!

Think of the abundance of wealth – yes, wealth in which each of us sits. Think of the achievements we have accomplished in our lifetime. Think of the happy memories – maybe our wedding day, or the birth of our children, their ‘growing up’ the celebrations etc. Then take all that bounty into your head, your heart and your soul – and live the life that it all represents. Then you will be seen as someone who wants business, using the fantastic experiences we all have had in the business world, and the superb product or service we sell,. Never again, will you be seen as someone who desperately needs business!

So, I have told you what the “S” was for. The “O” is for ‘outcome’ – what is the very minimum that I want/expect from this meeting – fix that in your mind and stick to it. The final “S” is for strategy – how will you achieve the outcome, what will you say, how will you price etc??

I have summarised the middle “O” and the last “S” because research tells us that our state delivers no less than 75% of the chance of our success, whilst the remaining 25% relates to the strategy.

So, if we are only concentrating on our sales strategy, is it really any wonder that we are disappointed with our client portfolio? Well, now add the 75% and see what a difference it makes!

Rod Higginbotham is an accredited business coach, who specialises in coaching business owners and corporate executives in the improvement of their personal performance and consequently the performance of their companies.

No matter how successful we are most of us would ideally like to change some aspect of our work performance or our personal life where it is impacted by work. Perhaps we are “workaholics” who can’t switch off…much to the annoyance of partners and friends.

Perhaps we lack the original “VISION” we had for the business when we started it. Over the years we have been ground down by the pressures and demands of the business to the point where we are fire fighting on a regular basis.

Some business owners/managing directors feel the business has got beyond their control and is running them rather than the other way round. They feel “stuck” or impotent, no longer able to make the decisions that would move the business to the next level. They need more Sales, more Profits, more Cash, but can’t seem to see a way to get them.

Equally some of us lack the skills or confidence to deal with those difficult “people issues” that seem to rear up at the worst possible times. We often try to ignore them and hope they go away……..but they never do!

The good news is that it does not have to be this way.

Getting help for performance improvement is often something that the owners/directors of SMEs do not feel applies to them, either on grounds of cost or time or because they see it as a “big company ” activity: or they are too stubborn or proud to admit they need it!

However, improving the performance of the person or team running the business makes good business sense for a number of reasons:-

• Improved focus on the key issues
• Improved long term planning
• less time wasted on peripheral issues
• Improved management of people leading to
• improved morale, retention of talent and lower spend on recruitment
• improved culture leads to improved ability to attract top talent
• Lower stress levels for employees at all levels
• Positive impact on the bottom line thorough higher productivity, improved effectiveness and lower spending.

Why Coaching rather than Training?

Very few of us fail to get some benefit from attending a training programme; but several months later we have often forgotten what we learned or failed to make use of it in our daily routine so the benefits are lost.

Research shows that Coaching is more likely to result in sustainable change and also that if managers attend training and are provided with coaching their productivity will rise by more than double the improvement with just the training.

In 2003 a study for Nortel Networks concluded that the company achieved a return on investment from providing one-one coaching of over 500%.

Top sportsmen and athletes all use coaches to keep them improving. There is no reason to suppose that executive performance could not be improved by confidential, one to one coaching.

It may not make you “perfect” but is will help you move from the place you are to one where you are happier with your performance and perhaps your whole life as well.

There is another reason why accountants may charge quite a lot, and that is because they really do reflect the ultimately unnecessary work burden thrust upon them by the client business.

A company is a vehicle through which to trade and through which to earn a living for its owners. However, unlike when using their motor vehicle, most company owners have had no lessons to learn how to drive their company. They may well have good idea as to how they may use it in terms of their type of business. What they do not understand are the rules of the company road; if you like, a Highway Code for companies, or in other words, their responsibilities in having the privilege of running a company.

Following the passage through Parliament of the Companies Act 2006, the then Minister of State for Industry and the Regions, Margaret Hodge, laid out the following guidance for company directors, which we can take as the basic Highway Code for companies:

1. Act in the company’s best interests, taking everything you think relevant into account
2. Obey the company’s constitution and decisions taken under it
3. Be honest, and remember that the company’s property belongs to it and not to you or to its shareholders
4. Be diligent, careful and well informed about the company’s affairs. If you have any special skills or experience, use them
5. Make sure the company keeps records of your decisions
6. Remember that you remain responsible for the work you give to others.
7. Avoid situations where your interests conflict with those of the company. When in doubt disclose potential conflicts quickly
8. Seek external advice where necessary, particularly if the company is in financial difficulty

This all sounds like common sense, but it is failure to obey some of these points which leads to high accountancy charges.

Point 3 is one of the areas where things go wrong. Too often, business owners treat their company’s money as their own, using the company’s bank account to pay for their holidays, football tickets, PAY TV subscriptions and even the weekly family shop at the supermarket. The accountant then has to sort out personal expenses from those legitimate and tax-deductible expenses of the business. These personal expenses have to be allocated as drawings, and there is then a problem over tax treatment. Can they be treated as dividends? Well, a dividend should be minuted contemporaneously by the directors as under Point 5 of the guidance. The alternative may be that the drawings become remuneration taxable under PAYE or taxable as benefits in the annual P11D. It can take an age for an accountant to sort these matters out because of the queries which need to be raised. If the business owner has a poor track record in this area then for example, every restaurant bill has to be examined to see whether it is a benefit or company entertaining. The latter is not tax deductible for the company but would not be a benefit for the director.

My advice in helping keep the discipline would be to have an experienced and preferably qualified bookkeeper and to pay attention to their advice. Many companies could not afford to have a bookkeeper full time, but there are plenty of freelancers who could offer support and update the books as often as needed, which of course may be as little as a few hours a month, including doing the VAT Returns. However, directors still need to keep their own discipline and to make sure they do not penny-pinch with whom they choose in this role. Currently a bookkeeper may well charge about £20 per hour. If they only charge half of that the fact they command so little indicates they are probably not much good. You need quality and you have to pay for it, but it will be worth it in saving money in the long run, so get a recommendation.

Of course if directors stick to a careless DIY policy on managing the books, they may fail on Point 8 of the guidance in not recognising they are in financial difficulties until it is too late.

Life isn’t perfect for accountants in scenarios where there is poor record keeping and profligate use of company money for personal expenses. While they may have a lot more work for which they will want to charge, they really do not want the headaches in sorting out a mess, coupled with difficulty and embarrassment over fee recovery from the clients, many of whom remain in denial. Often accountants will offer their own bookkeeping services or recommend someone to help. If you do get such a suggestion, it may be because you have a problem.

In the end, if a business owner remembers that the company is a separate entity from him or her, ring-fences the company finances, records at the time dividends paid and remuneration voted in addition to salary, life will be simple and stress free for the director and the accountant. That would be a perfect world, but something worth striving for.

© Jon Stow 2010

• Physically, with their presence?
• Intellectually, with their minds engaged?
• Motivationally, ‘going the extra mile’?
• Emotionally, with their heart, mind and soul?

In the first instance we need people to ‘deliver’ according to their contract of employment: we want people turning up, turning up on time, and doing willingly and well that which they are contracted to do. This is a good start. But don’t we want more?

There is plenty of evidence linking employee engagement with high performance – however you define high performance – whether customer care, quality, or productivity – all of which contribute to sustainable business and greater profitability.

Do you and or your managers have the knowledge, skills and confidence to lead your people? Let us explode the myth that leaders are born – leaders of people are made – and self-made, as leadership is ‘a reciprocal arrangement between those who decide to lead and those who choose to follow’. Any one can develop their leadership capability with a little professional help.

So let’s get people doing the basics, then ‘move them up the food chain’, through our example and our leadership.

Here are ten top tips for engaging your people and elevating their level of engagement ‘up the food chain’

1. Regular informal ‘one-to-ones’ with a relevant and engaging agenda
2. Communicating a clear and engaging sense of purpose
3. Formal performance appraisal – and aligning individual objectives with the purpose of the business
4. Formal personal development reviews – and aligning individual learning and development needs, and career opportunities, with the purpose of the business
5. Team Briefings – that communicate up (questions and views from staff), down (information), across (not just a cascade) and down again (questions answered and demonstrate staff views have been heard)
6. Situational Leadership – ‘different strokes for different folks’ at different levels of their individual development and for each individual’s different time of life – supporting staff through change
7. Skill-up first line of management to set the standards of conduct, performance and behaviour, to motivate and support people to meet the standards – but also to deal with poor performance or inappropriate or behaviour issues quickly and effectively – and making sure front line managers role model the behaviours we expect of our staff
8. Annual or biennial staff attitude surveys
9. Employee voice – mechanism/s for individuals to make their views known in a non-attributable manner
10. Contracts, policies and procedures that support the behaviours you want to see in your staff, together with pay and reward mechanisms that create a clear ‘line of sight’ between individual behaviours and business success

For those who have not yet attempted to do business with the public sector, this is the second part of an overview of tendering to Local Authorities.

Find part 1 here

Equal Opportunities

Public bodies have a special responsibility to make sure that all members of the community are treated fairly and equally in the field of their work. They will therefore want to know that a possible supplier accepts its legal duties in this area and takes them seriously. There is a range of legislation which underpins councils’ equalities priorities, including:

Equal Pay Act 1970

Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Human Rights Act 1998

It is key to say that you comply with all the legislation listed in the questions.

Health and Safety

A buyer will want to be sure that a supplier takes care to ensure the health and safety of its workers and others when carrying out its work. This will be especially important for construction work, for example. There are also legal requirements in this area that the buyer will need to know that the supplier meets. The PQQ therefore asks suppliers to provide some information about their policies on health and safety, including a copy of their policy, if relevant.

Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires companies employing 5 or more people to have a written statement of Health and Safety.

Some councils have agreed to comply with the requirements of the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS) as the minimum safety standard for contractors working for the Council. Full compliance with CHAS is not easy for a small company so, if requested, it is always worth checking with the council how important it is to the specific tender in question.

Sustainable procurement considerations

Councils take seriously their responsibility in the fields of sustainability and the environment. Adhering to best practice, councils will either apply their own sustainability standards or those of its suppliers, whichever are the more advanced, when fulfilling a procurement opportunity.

There is a wide range of approaches that councils may use when contracting a procurement opportunity. These include:

specifying environmentally beneficial goods and services

considering whole of life costs when purchasing

contracting with suppliers who are concerned about their environmental performance and who are able to demonstrate policies and procedures to address environmental issues

minimising waste using goods that have recognised environmental or ethical standards’ labels e.g. Forest Stewardship Council certification for timber, or Fair Trade certification.

The importance of environmental considerations varies from tender to tender. If you don’t already have one, it is always worth considering introducing a policy aimed at reducing miles driven, increasing items recycled, reducing the number of documents printed etc

References

Depending on the size of tender you will be asked for up to 3 references, which are relevant to the tender. If you have none then you will need to explain why to justify why a council should take a chance with you.

Suppliers bidding for tenders will be required to meet this minimum level of information to be invited to tender. It is essential that all questions are answered and it is preferable that all questions are answered positively as a “NO” answer can lead to instant disqualification. If you cannot answer “YES” then it is important to say why. If, having submitted the PQQ, you are not asked to tender you can always ask why (although some councils are not good about responding) so that you can do whatever is necessary to ensure a positive answer next time.

Councils may require additional information depending on the value, complexity, or significance of the tender opportunity.

Roderick Bayne-Jardine specialises in helping businesses win work in the public sector he is a member of practical growth solutions and can be contacted here