During November, we welcomed five new companies to the FIS membership. As Contractor Members, the two companies are Warwick Glass (part of Warwick Group) and Drywall Contracts Ltd. Our new Supplier Member is Tri-Fix Industrial Fasteners Ltd.
As Service Providers, the companies are Trappco Ltd and Donseed UK Ltd.
We look forward to a long and successful relationship with our new and existing members.
The HMRC is running free webinars during the first week of December, providing members with advice and support regarding the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS). Whether you’re new to CIS or building on your existing knowledge, the online help will explain how the scheme works and your responsibilities.
CIS for contractors – Monday 4 December, 12 pm to 1 pm
This live webinar covers employment status, verifying subcontractors, deductions and sending your CIS returns online.
CIS for subcontractors – Thursday 7 December, 4 pm to 5 pm
This live webinar will tell you how to register with HMRC, what expenses you can claim, how your deduction rate is worked out and the importance of keeping records.
You will be able to ask questions during the webinars using the on-screen textbox.
On Wednesday 29 November, the European court of justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg ruled that workers are entitled to paid leave and can claim compensation if they are not allowed to take their holidays. The ruling follows a long-running legal challenge involving a UK window salesman, who had been paid entirely on commission and his contract described him as self-employed.
The case is one of a series that have gone to the Luxembourg court to establish whether businesses operating in the ‘gig economy’ are depriving employees of benefits to which they should be entitled by reclassifying workers as self-employed. In its judgment on Wednesday morning, the ECJ said: “A worker must be able to carry over and accumulate unexercised rights to paid annual leave when an employer does not put that worker in a position in which he is able to exercise his right to paid annual leave.”
Read the full article here.
As part of the continued drive to strengthen the network of FIS Approved Training Providers and Further Education Colleges, we are pleased to announce that Silver Trowel Ltd is the latest Approved Training Provider, recently completing its rigorous application process.
Silver Trowel Ltd is a City & Guilds and CITB-approved construction skills training provider based in Fareham, Hampshire which delivers high-quality training and short intensive practical courses in plastering, tiling, bricklaying and drywall systems. Silver Trowel also works with both small building companies and larger building maintenance firms to up-skill their current workforce.
As we have recently secured significant funding from CITB to help support our ‘Fit-Out Futures’ initiative of attracting new entrants and upskilling existing employees within our sector, it is vitally important that FIS has a strong provider and college network throughout England, Scotland and Wales. This allows us to ensure our sector has access to appropriate training facilities, whether that be for college-based training such as apprenticeships, or on-site (OSAT) qualifications.
We have a number of applications currently in progress and further announcements will follow in due course.
Find out how to become an Approved Training Provider here.
The Construction Leadership Council has now updated its guidance on the Industry Card Scheme to take a more common-sense approach. The move follows confusion over non-construction staff like chefs, vending machine installers and pest controllers being refused entry to sites because they were not CSCS card holders.
Item number 2 in the November 2017 document states: ‘Cards will be required by those working predominantly on construction sites undertaking a recognised construction occupation. Cards will not be issued in respect of non-construction related occupations.’
Read more on the Construction Leadership Council website.
Geoff Wilkinson, UK Building Regulations expert, opened the morning session with some hard-hitting facts about the Grenfell Tower fire; 87 sets of human remains had been found in the Tower. “That is the state of the UK construction industry,” said Geoff, linking to the Great Fire of London in 1666 when the first building rules were implemented. Delegates were visibly moved, with many sharing their observations on Twitter which were incorporated into the Live Blog.
Next up was Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association who was downbeat about the construction sector citing Brexit negotiations as bad news for the industry. The UK government labels the sector as low priority within the discussions, even though there are serious skills shortages. Noble reported that activity in commercial offices peaked this year but new orders since the EU Referendum were 19% down in 2016 and 24% down in the first half of 2017.
Tom Barton, executive director of the Get It Right Initiative conducted an interactive session, producing a list of delegates’ views which included poor culture in relation to quality and excessive commercial pressures. “We’ve never got the time to make it right, but we’ve always got the time to put it right” concluded Tom.
Our final speaker, Martin Coyd, head of health and safety at Mace, again touched nerves with the audience when talking about mental health in construction. “Two of our colleagues have killed themselves today,” he said. “If you work in construction, you are 15 times more likely to die from suicide than from an accident.” Anxiety and stress now account for 27 million lost days at work; one in four have a mental health issue in a year, and with as many as 3.6 million people working in the construction industry and supplier side, this is too much to ignore. Change is crucial.
Download the article ‘Get It Right’ as featured in the November 2017 issue of Focus magazine here.