Penzance Chamber of Commerce

Traders urged to attend disability presentation

The concerns of local traders were expressed at the last Chamber meeting regarding the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which came into force on October 1. There has been a lot of misinformation circulated in both the press and by private companies looking to make money by getting small retailers to put equipment in place that is not required.

In response the chairman, Mike Waters, said that his company - Safety UK Ltd - had been undertaking Independent Access Audits for their clients for well over a year - and that the difficulty lies with small businesses actually understanding the legislation and what they must do to comply. Since October 1, service providers are legally obliged to have made reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their premises, to overcome barriers to access. This must be done by removing, altering or providing reasonable means of avoiding the physical features. This is the first time that the law has required businesses to consider whether their buildings are accessible and it presents a new challenge for many of them.

Mike has agreed to make a presentation on the subject at the start of the November meeting, not only for all Chamber members but also any other businesses that would like to attend. The meeting will be held at the Penzance and Newlyn Rugby Club on November 2, commencing at 7.30pm .

The DDA presentation will be made before the rest of the meeting's business and is expected to last around half an hour, there will also be the opportunity of a question and answer session. Those attending will also receive a comprehensive set of notes courtesy of Safety UK Ltd. All businesses are urged to attend. For anyone not being able to make the meeting, additional presentations will be made in Safety UK 's offices in Causewayhead on Thursday, November 4 and Thursday, November 18 at 5pm. Spaces are limited so please telephone 01736-361007 to book. These presentations will also be free.

Mike says: "the Disability Discrimination Act should not be perceived as another piece of red tape designed to cripple businesses but as an opportunity to give customers what they want." Statutory requirements of the DDA, as an act of parliament, create accessibility to your business for employees and customers with a disability - therefore, it cannot be ignored.

UK businesses will want to be regarded as an accessible equal opportunity employer or service provider - therefore, the DDA enhances the credibility of the business to both customer and employee. UK businesses will regard the disabled community and the community which supports it as a revenue stream. There are approximately 9.8 million disabled people in Britain, one in five of the population - with a total annual income of over £50 billion.

Advice on new or changed regulations this month

To simplify the impact of dealing with new and changed regulations, the Department of Trade and Industry has adopted "common commencement dates" when regulation changes take effect, on April 6 and October 1 each year. The second of these commencement dates - 1 October this year - saw a number of changes to employment law such as:

National Minimum Wage:

Rates have increased and there is a new rate for young workers. The main rate of the National Minimum Wage is £4.85 per hour, the NMW development rate is £4.10 per hour and a new third NMW rate, the young workers' rate for 16 to 17-year-olds, is now £3.00 per hour.

Disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures:

Businesses of all sizes now have to put their disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures in writing.

Disability Discrimination Act:

All businesses now have to take discrimination issues and access for disabled people seriously.

Employment Tribunal Regulations:

New regulations and rules of procedure have been put into place to modernise the tribunal system and render it more efficient.

In his budget of March 2004, the Chancellor of the Exchequer committed to consult business on whether common commencement dates should be extended to all regulations. The consultation closed in September and the government will make an announcement later this year.

Chairman's concern at employers' awareness of new legislation

The Chamber Chairman, Mike Waters , is concerned about local employers' lack of awareness of a new law which came into force on October 1 and affects Britain 's 1.2 million employers. A new three step procedure will now have to be followed in the event of a dismissal, disciplinary action or grievance in the workplace. These are:

1. To put it in writing
2. To meet and discuss, and
3. To appeal.

Mike says: "This is one of the most significant changes that employers have faced in the last 10 years but it has not been accompanied by a large awareness campaign in the same way that the new disability regulations have, this could seriously affect all businesses, especially SMEs and could even lead to some ceasing to trade in extreme cases."

The procedures themselves seem straightforward but they will fundamentally change the way that employment issues are handled in the workplace. Custom and practice is now turned on its head, employers will be prevented from speaking to someone as a first step and instead will have to "put the reasons for the disciplinary action or dismissal in writing, in broad terms to the employee" and arrange a "face-to-face meeting". As a result the procedure will be formalised at a much earlier stage, risking early conflict.

Employment lawyer Murray Fairclough said: "The rules represent the most significant piece of employment legislation in the last decade, affecting the way in which almost all employee dismissals and grievances are handled in the workplace."

"Unwary employers could easily find themselves falling foul of the rules. They don't just apply to conduct and capability dismissals but also to redundancies, long-term incapacity dismissals, expiry of fixed term contracts and retirements. In addition they apply from day one and so still need to be followed when dismissing an unsuitable probationer. If the employer fails to follow the procedure, the dismissal becomes au­tomatically unfair, and any additional compensation can be increased by up to 50 per cent.".

Inland Revenue blasted for a campaign against family-run companies

A business pressure group is delivering a stinging rebuke to the Inland Revenue for running a 'deeply damaging' and 'aggressive' campaign against family-run companies following a land­mark test case ruling. It is common practice for husband-and-wife businesses to minimise their tax bills by drawing income through dividend payments equally - even if one spouse generates all or most of the business's income. This allows them to reduce their overall tax bill by making use of the non-working spouse's personal tax-free allowance and lower tax bands.

The Inland Revenue, which used 1930s legislation to support its case, however believes that if the dividend payment exceeds the person's con­tribution to the company, then div­idends should be treated as if they are all the working spouse's income. The Inland Revenue's Special Com­missioners have ruled it was right to stop a couple from reducing their tax bill by sharing their tax liabilities.

An information technology business run by Geoff and Diana Jones from Pulborough in West Sussex re­ceived an unexpected tax bill of £42.000 for tax on dividends accu­mulated over a four-year period. It said family-run firms, where the couple share tax liabilities, have an unfair advantage if the income is mostly generated by one spouse.

But the Forum of Private Business Chief Executive Nick Goulding poured scorn on the Inland Revenue for bas­ing its case on obscure 1930s law. "Public officials, with their index linked pensions, should be aware that in family businesses the family shares the risk and it is not unreasonable that the tax burden should be spread with the family balancing risk and reward"' he said.

"This decision could result in hundreds of thousands of small business­es facing unexpected tax demands running into millions of pounds. This will directly hit the ability of these businesses to create jobs and wealth. This aggressive approach from the Inland Revenue, driven by a desire to maximise revenue at the cost of cer­tainty and transparency, is damaging the economy. The ruling will alarm small family-run firms and will deter families from setting up in business."

Mr Goulding said the Inland Revenue approach aims to whittle away at the basic right of taxpayers to order their affairs advantageously. "Rulings that change established practice should not be applied retrospectively," he said.

"Business owners cannot be expected to be au fait with the increasingly complex tax laws. It would be far better if the Inland Revenue spent its time simplifying its rules and regu­lations rather than squeezing hard­working companies. The campaign it continues to wage over this case has been completely over the top."

Injuries and ill-health cost small businesses billions of pounds a year

The latest key figures from the Health and Safety Executive show that there were 235 fatal injuries to workers in 2003/04.

• In 2002/03, employers reported 154,430 other injuries.
• In 2001/02 an estimated 2.3 million people in Great Britain were suffering from an illness which they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work.
• In 2000-02 an estimated 40 million working days were lost overall, 33 million due to work-related ill-health, while seven million were due to injuries sustained in the workplace.

The sad fact is that most injuries and health problems are preventable by the employer taking simple, cost-effective steps to reduce hazards and risks. Very often the cost of such action is far out weighed by the positive financial gains that result.

One of the key steps is for employers to provide ALL of their employees with suitable and sufficient training. ALL employers have a legal obligation to provide such training and failure to do so is a criminal offence which is punishable by a maximum of unlimited fines and/or up to two years imprisonment.

This is an area where the majority of small to medium sized enterprises fail to comply with the law and look after their staff. Indeed even big business fails in this area such as large DIY stores not providing manual han­dling training to their staff and so forth. Safety UK Ltd, based in Penzance, are accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health to deliver training and offer over 40 health & safety and food hygiene courses to a myriad of businesses and organisations all over the UK and Middle East. The courses are extremely cost-effective, can be delivered on a client's premises or in their own fully equipped training room and can also be delivered outside of normal working hours.

So there is no longer an excuse for any business to let themselves or their staff down. For further information please con­tact Safety UK Ltd on 01736-361007.

What has happened to Christmas in Penzance?

Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat...

Local shopkeepers are no doubt hoping for a busy trading period. Every year the Chamber awards prizes for the best Christmas dec­orations in commercial premises such as shop window displays and pubs.

It has become most noticeable in recent times that the majority of shops in the town either do not seem to bother about decorating their shop windows or only make a token gesture at decoration. It would be good to see ALL of our shops in Penzance entering into the spirit and really making an effort for Christmas this year, it would not only give us something to judge but would boost the town as a whole, helping to make shopping in Penzance more pleasurable and probably increase trade.

Judging for the best Christmas decorations in commercial premises will be held in December with the cups, certificates and prizes being awarded at a special presentation evening to be held in the Mayor's Parlour in St John's Hall on a date to be announced.

The judges look forward to having a difficult task this year - so it's over to the retailers!

Chamber makes plea to all local businesses

The Chamber of Commerce is THE voice of LOCAL business is Penzance and the immediate district. We play a part in the decision making processes that affect local business such as regeneration, street trading licences, planning applications and so forth and are also consulted on a number of matters by both the town and district councils. In order for us to represent you to the best of our ability we need to know your views; we need to understand your problems; we need your ideas for the future.

All of the Chamber committee are unpaid volunteers who also run their own businesses, they are committed to both their roles and also to business and community Whilst most are willing to talk about matters on an ad-hoc basis (offering their support, expertise and advice) the best forum for discussion is the meetings held at the Pirates RFC on the first Tuesday of each month, starting at 7.30pm .

With around 200 members it is extremely hard not to become despondent when only a hard core of around 12 to 15 members turn up regularly. This means that decisions are taken in your name without your input! Indeed such decisions are taken in the name of all local businesses whether they are Chamber members or not! One cannot complain that they do not like what happens if they cannot find an hour or two a month to be part of the process.

Make time to support your Chamber of Commerce and those of us on the Committee that work hard for your benefit by attending the meetings.

Join the Chamber

The Chamber of Commerce represents the interests of local business with the County, District and Town Councils, Government agencies and public bodies. It actively campaigns on issues affecting the business community as well as issues affecting the community as a whole. This requires finances and direct involvement by committed people, and deserves the support of every business in the region.

Our Chairman is coordinator of the West Cornwall Group of Chambers and the Cornwall Business Partnership. He is a member of the Priority Management Group 3, which approves Objective One funding in the area of Learning and Skills development He is also a member of the Penzance Regeneration Steering Group that has worked on the submission of an Objective One bid to greatly enhance the prosperity of the town and its inhabitants. Other members represent the Chamber on such bodies as the Police Consultative Committee and Tourism Committee.

All businesses have problems from time to time, and it has been proved that representation from a Chamber Officer on behalf of the member concerned can greatly enhance the prospect of a satisfactory conclusion. With major issues, such as the Penzance Regeneration Project, West Cornwall Hospital, Objective One and so on needing input from the business community there has never been a better reason for all businesses to become Chamber members - the greater our membership, the bigger our voice. JOIN NOW!

We invite membership applications from individuals and businesses large or small. For further information, visit the Membership Enquiry or Membership Application pages on this site.

Forthcoming Meetings

The next monthly Chamber Meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 2nd at 7.30pm at the Pirates Rugby Club, Alexandra Road, Penzance.

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