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Staged automatic enrolment scheme poses challenges for business
The automatic enrolment scheme, a new legislation which makes it compulsory for employers to enrol eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme, is due to come into force from 1 October 2012. Under these measures, employers will have to enrol workers into a qualifying workplace pension arrangement and choose the qualifying scheme they adopt to discharge the newly arising duty and will have to make a minimum 3% contribution towards a defined contribution scheme.
Employers will also have an ongoing duty to maintain qualifying pension provision for workers who are already members of qualifying schemes or become a member of such schemes.
The Cleaning and Support Services Association’s members employ over 275,000 people, and many of these workers do not currently have a workplace pension provision in place. Both the employees and their members will be acutely affected by the planned introduction of the automatic enrolment.
CSSA members have expressed the following concerns that the phasing of the introduction of automatic enrolment, guided by company size, will have a damaging competitive effect on those that are required to enroll their workers in the scheme’s early stages:
• With the margins for cleaning companies often being very small - sometimes no greater than 5% - the introduction of a 3% employer contribution to pensions would have a severe impact on the profitability of the early implementers.
• Businesses operating in the cleaning industry often enjoy a competitive marketplace, regardless of their size. For example, a business with 100 cleaning staff can realistically bid for the same contract against a competitor with 10,000 cleaners. But once automatic enrolment has commenced, smaller businesses will have a direct competitive advantage, as they will have a window to bid for work without the additional costs of automatic enrolment. This risks creating unfair distortions.
• The size of the workforce of a cleaning business can fluctuate significantly over a short period of time, and it has been known for workforces to grow and shrink over the course of a few months as contracts change hands and cleaners TUPE in or out of the business. This would affect the month in which auto-enrolment would start. Cleaning businesses would welcome further guidance on how they should time their auto-enrolment, within the context of volatile employee numbers. Moreover, with a changing workforce, there will be large numbers of workers with micro-scale payments into pensions, and the portability of those pensions will be tested.
• The large number of different categories and timings of auto- enrolment are very complex and are likely to cause confusion. The separation of the under 50 employee group by PAYE code is an example of this, in that some firms may have a two year cost advantage over their competitors as a result.
The CSSA would like to make the following proposals to help improve the implementation process of automatic enrolment:
• A single, universally applicable date for automatic enrolment - to remove the competitive distortions inherent in the phased approach.
• If the phased approach remains in place then clear guidance on the correct start date for businesses with fluctuating workforce numbers should be provided.
• Clear rules on the portability of pensions, so that workers who TUPE transfer between different employers, know how to take their pensions with them.
• Clear guidelines on what happens if an employee TUPE transfers from an auto-enrolled business to one that is not.
www.cleaningassoc.org
Green Planet Solutions to sponsor CHSA golf day
Green Planet Solutions is celebrating the relaunch of its eco-friendly range of washroom cleaning and hygiene products by sponsoring this September’s CHSA pro-am golf tournament. The pro-am tournament, which is in its 3rd year, will take place at Oulton Hall in Yorkshire on 16 September and all proceeds will go to the CHSA’s nominated charity, Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People.
The Green Planet range has been reformulated recently to produce a better product whilst maintaining green credentials. The brand has also undergone a transformation with a new website and image. Matt Anderson, managing director of Green Planet Solutions, said: "We jumped at the chance to sponsor the CHSA golf tournament. It’s such a prestigious event and we can’t wait to unveil our new branding ahead of our official launch. Our products are equal, if not better, to more conventional alternatives but give those with a green conscience, or those who are looking to reduce their impact on the environment, a credible option.”
Graham Fletcher, secretary of the CHSA, said: “We're delighted to have Green Planet Solutions as our tournament sponsor this year. Shaun Chatterton, chief executive of Green Planet Solutions and CPD plc, is a long standing supporter of the CHSA and has served as chairman over recent years. We're really excited that he and Matt have chosen the tournament to re-launch the brand.”
www.greenplanetsolutions.co.uk
www.chsa.co.uk
Jangro signs specialist member
Caterite Food and Wineservice Ltd of Cockermouth, Cumbria has become the 38th member of Jangro, the largest network of independently owned janitorial supplies companies covering the UK and the Isle of Man.
Servicing hotel, restaurant, catering and licensed trade customers across Cumbria, Caterite brings over 40 years specialist knowledge and experience to Jangro. Caterite customers will now benefit from an additional 3500 cleaning, maintenance, health and safety items from the Jangro catalogue, which includes the Jangro brand of environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Pascal Delorme, managing director of the Caterite group of companies, said: “The importance of cleaning and hygiene in the catering and hotel business has never been higher and demand for such products has increased greatly in recent months. Our clients must have the widest choice of top quality products available six days a week. Joining Jangro has completed our product offer with a huge choice at competitive prices and we can also take advantage of the Jangro training programmes.”
www.caterite.co.uk
Electrolux opens training showroom
Reinforcing its commitment to its training and service offering, Electrolux Laundry Systems UK (ELS) has now invested in a brand new, fully operational showroom, available to both its direct customers and its dealer network.
Located 30 minutes from London, the Luton-based showroom boasts a wealth of operational systems as well as modern, fully-equipped physical training premises including a boardroom and training room to host meetings, internal and external seminars, customer visits and service training. The totally operational service area boasts state-of- the-art equipment, with a Lagoon wet cleaning system, wash and dry, flat work ironers, mop concept, low energy dryer, barrier laundry system and a CMIS - Electrolux’s Certus Management Information System.
The facilities on offer are unique for ELS, and represent a significant investment to ensure that the performance and operational ability of the company’s dedicated systems are fully understood by every operative, whatever sector they work within.
“Our laundry equipment is specialised, and for it to remain cost- effective and high performance, our customers need to be properly and expertly trained to use it,” said Doug Walker, country manager of ELS. “This new state-of-the-art showroom ensures everything is located on one site for our customers (comprising UK and Ireland dealers, customers, end users, and European sale companies) to avail themselves of the facilities to train on and with our equipment. In addition, because we are so accessible to all major road, rail and airport networks, travelling time is kept to a minimum, ensuring everyone gets the most out of what we can offer.”
ELS has made the investment into the new showroom to ensure that its clients have the best opportunity to be thoroughly trained on all aspects of the Electrolux laundry systems, with the company providing a skilled trainer should customers require one.
www.electrolux.com
Asian superbug poses new threat to antibiotics
Scientists have announced that a new drug-resistant bacteria, NDM-1, has emerged. They also warned that international travel and medical tourism may have helped aid the spread of the new superbug, which could lead to the end of antibiotics.
According to an article published in the medical journal The Lancet, NDM-1 initially spread in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, but it was also found in 37 patients from the UK who travelled to Asia for medical procedures such as cosmetic surgery.
"The potential of NDM-1 to become a worldwide public health problem is great, making the role of hygiene even more important in our daily lives,” said Mark Woodhead, chairman of the British Cleaning Council. “Regular hand-washing and surface cleaning are two of the simplest but most effective ways to halt the spread of germs."
Andrew Large, chief executive of the Cleaning and Support Services Association, stressed the importance of general cleanliness in hospital environments: “The everyday cleaning that takes place in hospitals becomes absolutely critical when the threat of new superbug arises. As well as demanding extra care from members of the public towards their own hygiene, we ask that the NHS guarantee that hospital cleaning does not suffer at this critical time as result of the financial pressures facing the health service.”
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org
Germ-free celebration
Bring together 5000 Girl Guides and 3000 bottles of Handisan and what do you get? A happy, clean campsite!
Thousands of Girl Guides turned up at Harewood House, Leeds on Saturday 31 July for a week of camping, activities and challenges in the Girlguiding Centenary Celebration. A major priority was cleanliness and primary hygiene.
Arrow Solutions supplied the Guides with Handisan, an EN tested, alcohol skin sanitiser. Killing 99.999% of bacteria including MRSA, Salmonella and E-Coli, the gel contains skin conditioners and moisturisers to prevent the hands drying out. To ensure everybody participated and used Handisan regulary, Arrow Solutions also supplied easy to read signage to increase visual awareness and encourage the girls to sanitise their hands.
www.arrowchem.com
