The AGM and Awards Dinner provide the ideal opportunity to meet with colleagues old and new, and network over afternoon tea and dinner in convivial surroundings. You will find out what’s happening in the industry and to hear about the latest benefits and services available to FeRFA members.

FRIDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2018
St Johns Hotel, Solihull, Birmingham B91 1AT

Situated in the charming West Midlands town of Solihull and within walking distance of the town centre, this stylish hotel offers superb conference facilities and an excellent leisure complex with pool, sauna and gym.

FeRFA has negotiated a special rate (payment on booking, non-refundable) at the St Johns Hotel of £109 + VAT per double room and £99 + VAT per single room. Please book before 1 October for this rate calling the St Johns direct on 0121 711 3000, quoting FeRFA Awards when booking.

Thank you to our Sponsors of this year’s event:

The FeRFA AGM and Council elections will commence at 3pm; this will be a short formal meeting and will include plans for 2019 and details of the latest benefits and services available to FeRFA members.

There is no cost to attend the AGM but booking is essential, please complete this booking form. (Booking is now closed

The FeRFA Awards Dinner will be a glittering event in the Park Suite and an ideal opportunity to entertain customers, reward staff or enjoy a pre-Christmas get together with friends.

Our host for the Awards evening is former England rugby player Kyran Bracken. Kyran played rugby for England for 10 years, gaining 50 caps. After retiring Kyran swapped his rugby shirt for all-in-one lycra and agreed to appear on ITV’s Dancing on Ice. He went on to win the contest. The spray tan and sparkly outfits clearly made their mark – Kyran’s passion for ice skating continues. But he’s also stayed close to rugby as a coach at Leicester.

The 2018 FeRFA Best Practice Awards will be presented after dinner and we will be honouring this year’s Apprentice Graduates with the presentation of their NVQ diplomas and certificates. FeRFA graduation is supported by CITB.

You can then dance the evening away or enjoy a drink in the Park Suite Bar.

The cost for the dinner is £75 (plus VAT) with discounts available for tables of 10+.
Dress: Black Tie

If you would like to attend the AGM and/or the Awards Dinner, please complete this booking form and email to secretariat@ferfa.org.uk. (Booking is now closed

FeRFA’s Annual Awards will be presented at the event dinner and this is the time of year when we ask you to start thinking about your entries and gathering the information to put forward in the following categories:

This year we have a new award category which is open to all members of FeRFA (Manufacturers, Contractors and Associates).

The Innovation Award will be judged on a company’s success through the introduction of an innovative product, process or step which has delivered business improvement and/or technological step change.

INNOVATION AWARD (open to all member categories) sponsored by Cobra Insurance Brokers

Read our hints and tips on submitting an entry here!

Download your entry form(s) by clicking on the individual Award title above and post TWO copies of your submission to FeRFA, PO Box 3716, Stone, Staffs ST15 9EU for the attention of Becky Hadley.

We would also welcome electronic copies of any photographs you are submitting for use during the marketing and promotion of the Awards. These can be emailed to secretariat@ferfa.org.uk

The closing date for entries is Friday 12 October.

The FeRFA Golf Day will take place on Friday 21 September at Erewash Valley Golf Club.

The day is open to all members and you are welcome to bring customers and colleagues along with you.

The Erewash Valley Golf Club full deserves its reputation as a top class venue with a well maintained 18 hole course aling with a welcoming clubhouse.

The first tee-off time is 9.30 for a Stableford 4 balls competition. Bacon butties and refreshments will be available before the start at 9.00. Play will be in teams for four, so ideally participants are encouraged to put together their own teams but we will of course be able to make up teams if this is not possible.

The cost for the day (including breakfast and prize) is £40 per player. Please complete the booking form and email to Tom Dossett – tomdossett@remmers.co.uk before Friday 6 July.

The 9th Group of apprentices on the Prepare & Profile Substrates course took their module on Polishing this month.

The two day course, hosted by The Preparation Group, combined classroom theory and practical sessions on subjects including selection of equipment, types of surfaces and stages of polishing.

Apprentices in this group are Thomas Mallett (F&G Industrial), Sean Vickery, Richard Hughes (TPS360), Brian George, David Logan (Veitchi Industrial)

The Preparation Group hosted Prep 10 apprentices this month. The group took their planing module – covering methods, maintenance, PPE and storage. FeRFA trainer Stephen Walker led the two sessions, combining theory and practical workshops.

Apprentices in this group are James Brown, Michael Cordiner, Kevin Webster

(The Preparation Group) and Kristen Coussens (GSB Surface Preparation)

Cobra Insurance Brokers have partnered with FeRFA for over 10 years, gaining specialist knowledge and an understanding of the protection needed for the resin flooring industry. The new website, designed specifically to support FeRFA members and their business activity is now available at www.ferfainsurance.co.uk. The website covers all aspects of insurance, risk management and guarantees, as well as a client login portal where you can view your policy documents. FeRFA Members can also request free access to a vast library of resource material.

Cobra offer a free insurance health check plus no obligation quotes. Howard Collins can be reached on 07775 888933 or emailed at howard.collins@cobrainsurance.co.uk or visit the website.

Stallard Kane Associates Ltd provide a support service to SMEs for both Health & Safety and Employment Law. FeRFA members can access its services for free via the Business Shield – detailed below.

Running a family business can sometimes mean that policies and procedures may be treated as being ‘flexible’ and so we asked the team at FeRFA Business Shield to look at some of the challenges that a family business may face.

Read Stallard Kane’s Lastest Business Shield article here.

SKA understands that busy management teams don’t always have the time to keep up-to-date with changes in workplace legislation and health and safety policies, which is why FeRFA has supplied FeRFA Business Shield as a key member benefit

All FeRFA members have FREE access to the Business Shield service giving you:

• FREE access to the FeRFA Business Shield online portal
• FREE and unlimited use of the 24hr hotline
• FREE one hour review of your daily activity and associated risks
• FREE one hour review of your existing employment contracts

Further details on the service are available in the brochure here.

All FeRFA members are supplied with a unique username and password for the FeRFA Business Shield and can speak to an advisor to answer any queries that you may have regarding the service.

In the meantime, members can access the advice line on 0345 076 6485.

The dedicated FeRFA Business Shield Account Manager is Barry Nicol, please call him on 07854 938693 for more details.

The Duty to Report on Payment Practices and Performance requires the UK’s largest companies and LLPs to report on their payment practices every six months. In order to submit data via the Government web service, you will need to have your Companies House login, 6-digit business authentication code, report data for that period and approval by a company director. Reports must be submitted within 30 days of the end of the reporting period.

Read the guidance document.

Go to the Government web service.

The 2017/18 BUILD UK Accident Survey is now live for FeRFA CONTRACTOR MEMBERS to submit accident statistics for the last 12 months from 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2018 via the following link:

Accident Survey 2017/18

The deadline for responses to this year’s survey is Friday 1 September 2018 – but please don’t wait until the deadline to complete it as we will send regular reminders until it is completed.
It should only take a few minutes to do, and if you have had no reportable accidents it will be just seconds as all you need to give is number of employees for that period, then click NO to accidents and it is done.

Please note that providing annual accident statistics is a requirement of membership for contractors.

A good response to the survey is vital as the information can be used to demonstrate to clients and others that the safety record of members is better than non-members. It can also help to identify accident trends in order to produce guidance which can reduce the

The card was originally introduced for workers who often did not perform a construction related role but visited site on a regular basis.

All Construction Site Visitor cards issued from 3rd September 2018 will expire on 31st August 2020 and CSCS will stop issuing the card from 28th February 2020. For the avoidance of doubt, all Construction Site Visitor cards issued before 3rd September 2018 will remain valid until their expiry date.

The good news is many people holding the Construction Site Visitor card will not be required to obtain another CSCS card. CSCS cards are intended for construction related occupations only and many people holding the card work in roles considered to be non-construction related, such as site cleaning and catering staff. Historically these workers have applied for the Construction Site Visitor card because they were told to do so by their employer, this was often a result of policies requiring sites to be 100% carded, as opposed to construction workers being 100% qualified.

However, those with Site Visitor cards that work in construction related occupations must now start to develop plans to move across to the appropriate skilled card. For some this will be straightforward as they will already hold the appropriate qualification or membership of a recognised professional body. Those working in construction related occupations without qualifications will be expected to register onto the appropriate qualification before their Construction Site Visitor card expires.

Read more.

FeRFA Contractor members can access the Construction Industry Joint Taxation Committee’s (JTC) monthly tax guidance newsletter as a key benefit of Build UK membership.

The June edition includes:

• Reverse charge VAT – this is definitely taking place in October 2019, and perhaps is one of the biggest changes in VAT for those currently working in construction
• Making Tax Digital – From April 2019 you must have used HMRC approved software to produce and submit the figures for VAT
• Childcare voucher scheme extended – Employer childcare voucher schemes which have been replaced by the new Tax-free Childcare scheme can now remain open to new entrants until 4 October 2018.

Read the newsletter.

FeRFA Council Meeting: Sep 19
FeRFA AGM & Awards Dinner: Nov 23
FeRFA Resin Bound/Bonded Technical Sub Committee: Sep 11
FeRFA Technical Meeting: July 18

Hospitality Technology Innovation – ExCeL, London: 25-26 Sep