Member News

Norse Commercial Services and Great Yarmouth Borough Council have formed a new Joint Venture Company to manage and maintain the council’s community housing stock.

GYN Asset Management Services took over the asset management and building maintenance of the Borough Council’s stock of 6,000 houses as of October 1st.

The 10-year agreement is initially worth around £6 million a year, and is expected to rise over the coming years. It extends Norse’s partnership with Great Yarmouth Borough Council – GYB Services, another joint venture between the two organisations, handles local services including refuse collection, cleaning, grounds maintenance, pest control, and other frontline services.

The new partnership will take over Strategic Asset Management, Responsive Repairs, Voids Maintenance (housing stock that becomes vacant), Major Works, Planned Improvements, Cyclical and Statutory Maintenance, Neighbourhood Plans and New Builds.

There will be significant investment in new vehicles, and in IT aimed at improving efficiency and responsive repairs timescales.

“We are really pleased to be building on our long-term relationship with Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which goes back to the formation of GYB Services in 2002,” commented Norse Managing Director Peter Hawes. “This new partnership takes the number of joint ventures Norse Group has with UK local authorities to twenty-three, with a combined annual turnover of more than £140 million.”

Cllr Penny Linden, the borough council’s cabinet member for communities, said: “This new joint venture company aims to make sure all maintenance and improvement work is done to the highest standards, in the most effective, efficient and economic way.

“By operating more efficiently, the borough council will be able to make savings, which will benefit tenants as the savings will be re-invested in council homes.

“And the new approach will also mean improved waiting times, a better quality of work, and overall better customer care, while providing a range of apprenticeships and increased opportunities for local businesses.”

This partnership follows the recent formation of Newport Norse, a joint venture in South Wales, and the company expects further significant growth over the next few months. Norse Sales Director Geoff Tucker said, “With these new partnerships, and a large number of contract awards across the UK, we have seen a 15% increase in turnover this year, and we expect this success to continue.”

18 additional staff TUPE transferred into the new company.

When the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) timescale was announced, Norfolk County Council appointed Norse Commercial services to project manage the implementation. Two months into the new service, the company has produced a summary of what it involved.

With less than 12 months to review, plan and deliver individual school needs that ranged from additional cutlery and supplies through to complete kitchen builds and refits in the county’s 373 primary and infant schools (including all those in the Broadland area), Norse Commercial Director Terrance Isaac-Griffiths (TIG) and his team recognised that they had their work cut out.

“We knew the only way was to conduct detailed site visits, and document the essential requirements needed to handle the increased number of meals each school was likely to be providing after September 2014,” he explains. “Having completed then initial audit, we had to ensure that we managed the Head Teachers’ expectations, and during the next phase regular updates and consultation were key to achieving this.”

Copies of the Needs Assessments were sent to Head Teachers after the initial visit so they had details of what equipment was to be ordered for their school and when delivery could be expected.

Norse has its own engineering division dedicated to supporting the educational catering operation and this team played a major role in fulfilling the installation programme. However the volume of work and the tight timescales meant that the company also used some outside contractors to assist with the refitting.

“Our main challenge was availability of the equipment from suppliers; Norfolk was not the only county placing orders,” said Sonya Smith, Service Engineering and Catering Equipment Supervisor at Norse.

The whole project generated considerable economic benefit in terms of work for local and regional suppliers and contractors.

Norse Account Managers also offered support to the Head Teachers with regard to the logistics of managing the increase in meal numbers. In addition, 150 new jobs have been created in school kitchens, and kitchen staff hours have been extended in nearly every school.

On the 4th September 2014, the first day of the new academic year in Norfolk, all of the county’s primary schools were serving children with hot meals.

There were a handful of schools that required power upgrades in their kitchens before Norse could install their required heavy equipment. For these schools, the company worked closely with the Head Teachers and kitchen staff, and where necessary, put contingency plans in place.

The feedback from Mrs Binks Neate-Evans Head Teacher at West Earlham Infant and Primary School, which had a complete new kitchen/server installed, is typical of the praise schools had for Norse.

“From a school perspective it went very, very smoothly, particularly given the timescales,” she says. “The contractors were well organised and the kitchen was ready to cook from on the first day of term. We have benefitted enormously from having an experienced chef who quickly adapted from essentially being a restaurant chef to being able to deliver up to 300 meals per day. He was supported by an experienced Norse member of staff to help induct him into cooking for schools.”

The task finally over, and six weeks into the new regime, looking back at the achievements TIG commented, “The team worked tirelessly over the preceding 12 months to achieve a near 100% completion. But even in the very few schools where we had to wait to have the 3-phase power connected, our contingency planning ensured all pupils could receive a free midday meal. It is a real credit to all parties involved that their co-operative approach and the jointly agreed goals delivered such a successful start to the introduction of UIFSM.”

Some Key facts:

• 373 schools visited and fully audited
• 170 site visits to assess gas and electrical supply for additional ovens, fridges etc
• New equipment installed/delivered
  • 95 x Fridges
  • 58 x Freezers
  • 92 x Ovens,
  • 67 x Hot Cupboards
  • 259 x sets of Cutlery
  • 59 x tables/chairs sets
• 25,200 service engineer team man-hours
• Meals uptake up from 34.3% to 57.6% with growth set to continue as winter months approach
• 150 additional staff to cover

Shield Health & Safety are now able to offer Abseil Escape from VNA/Man up/MEWPS

“Trucks that are designed to elevate the operator position more than 3000mm above ground level shall be provided with means by which the operator can reach the ground safely in the event of the operator position becoming fixed in the elevated position”

In an emergency situation it is important for your staff to have the correct knowledge & training to escape from working at height equipment as safely as possible.

Some of these machines are already equipped with a rope evacuation system, where this is the case, regular practical training is necessary on the correct use of the system.

Our courses cover an introduction to the specific equipment as fitted to your machine followed by controlled escapes and descents from increasing heights until your staff are happy and proficient in the use of the equipment.

All of our training is risk assessed, carried out to a safe system of work and uses back-up support systems where necessary.

All our training is conducted ‘on-site’ as this is the real environment that your employees will be using on a day-to-day basis. We can deliver training and assessment courses, including periodical re-assessment or re-training where necessary.

please visit https://www.shieldhealthandsafety.co.uk/ for more info

NORWICH, Tuesday 11th November 2014 – Norwich International supports local students. Norwich International Airport was delighted to provide a group of travel and tourism students with an insight in to the aviation industry during a visit to the airport on Friday.

The students currently attend The Open Academy which offers a course aimed at pursuing a career within the travel and tourism industry.

The visit was hosted by the airports customer services team who gave a presentation and introduction of their roles within the airport and escorted students on a passenger journey through the airport to enable them to experience the various elements involved and observe the importance of good customer service throughout.

Gary Blake, Customer Services Manager said: “We were delighted to facilitate the request from The Open Academy and deliver an informative visit to the airport which enabled the students to gain an insight into working within an airport environment. We hope the experiences shared with the group will inspire them to work hard and gain their associated qualifications, the first step towards working in the travel industry in the future”

Andrew Bell, CEO of Norwich International said: “Everyone at the airport works extremely hard to maintain high levels of service with the aim of being the airport of choice for friendliness and great customer service. We were pleased to be able to share the experience and knowledge of our staff with The Open Academy students to better prepare them for their future careers”

Kim Stickland, Deputy Director of the Academic Faculty at the Open Academy commented: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our Travel and Tourism students to see what goes on behind the scenes at an International Airport. The airport staff created a fictitious flight for us, and students were taken through all stages of departure and arrivals, including check-in and security checks, with a very informative tour of the airfield in-between.

As an Academy with International School status we are especially keen to ensure our students are fully aware of career opportunities in the wider world, and this visit gave them a real insight of possibilities in tourism and travel both here in Norwich, and further afield.”

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So you have a new addition to your family. That’s fantastic news! But after spending the last few months settling into parenthood, your mind may now be turning to going back to work.

If returning to your job is something you’re excited about, well that’s great. But we wouldn’t blame you if you’re also feeling a little nervous about how you’re going to handle the change in lifestyle.

Becoming a mum is a huge responsibility, so the thought of adding another plate to the ones you’re already spinning may well be daunting! It’s completely natural to question your ability to manage motherhood while being a good employee. And it’s also normal to feel a little doubtful about going to work when your child is still young.

So if you’re a ‘returnee’, read through our advice about stepping back into the world of work. We hope it’ll help make the process less worrying.

1.Talk to your employer early Set a return date well in advance so everyone knows when you’re expected back and you can start planning child care. Why not go in for meetings to reintegrate into work? At Pure, we have ‘Keeping in Touch Days’ so ladies coming back from maternity leave start to integrate back into the business gradually with support of a mentor. Think about scheduling time with the person covering your job, and read meeting minutes and key emails. This should help reduce the pressure since you’ll already be up to speed.

2.Set up reviews When you return set up regular meetings with your line manager to track your progress. You can discuss any concerns and, at a later date, find solutions to obstacles that may be blocking your career development. Also, after you’ve settled into work, review your own goals. Have your ambitions changed? If so, what can you do about finding a new direction?

3.Arrange reliable child care Child care can be a source of concern for working parents. But, besides professional child care services, your relatives may also be willing to help out. It’s always a good idea to have a back-up plan in case your usual arrangement falls through. This will give you peace of mind; you’ll know that there will always be someone available to take care of your child so you can focus at work.

4.Have faith in your skills Trusting in your ability to juggle tasks effectively is important to your success. If you’re going back to your existing role, be it on a full-time or part-time basis, remember that you’re good at what you do. You may be feeling more tired these days, but you probably haven’t lost the skills that your employer really values. Be confident – you’ll do a fabulous job!

5.Negotiate flexibility It may help easing yourself gently back in your job. How about using any accrued annual leave to ‘buffer’ your return? You could perhaps start on two days and gradually increase your time over the coming weeks. Maybe your employer is open to flexible hours, so you can work around child care, school and other responsibilities.

6.Look after yourself The wellbeing of a mum is essential to the health of a young child. And this shouldn’t change when you return to work. Although you’re going to be very busy, finding some time to look after your mental, emotional and physical health is important. When possible, get a good night’s sleep. Don’t be tempted to snack on fast food or sugary snacks. And try to fit in some exercise – even if it’s a lunchtime speed walk around the local park.

7.Get organised If you’ve never been a big diary-keeper, now might be the ideal time to start! Making daily to-do lists will help you manage tasks. And by adding appointments as soon as they’re arranged, you should be able to keep track of which family members are doing what – and when. So, hopefully, there’ll be no surprises that’ll hinder your return to work.

Although returning to work is going to be a challenge, we really hope that our advice will support you in making that transition from full-time mum to working parent.

Emergency plans will be put to the test this November during an emergency exercise at Norwich International Airport. The exercise will start at 11.00am on Wednesday (Nov 12) and is expected to last until 15.00pm.

Norwich Airport Facilities Manager, Mel Gray said: “Norwich International Airport is required to undertake a large scale exercise every two years in order to satisfy the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). During the intervening year the airport undertakes a table top exercise, however this year we are undertaking a smaller scale exercise to test the response of staff working within the terminal building. This exercise, will test our response and exercise our arrangements with external emergency services.”

“It is essential that we have plans in place to deal with emergencies to ensure the best response possible. Such plans are best validated through emergency exercises and we are extremely fortunate that in Norfolk there is a commitment from the emergency services and other emergency responders to work together in this way.”

As well as the airport employees, the Norfolk Constabulary, British Red Cross and local authoritieses will be involved in the mini exercise. This ensures that multi-agency working can be practiced and evaluated during the exercise.

Any lessons that are identified through this exercise will be used to inform the plan review process and will be disseminated to other relevant organisations to ensure that best practice is shared.

• East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) members invited to take a guided tour of Dart Fisher at Great Yarmouth Base • Dart Fisher provides first-hand opportunity to view state-of-the-art capabilities to service energy providers in the Southern North Sea • Fendercare Marine’s operational base showcases its flexibility in providing a platform to mobilise operations into the Southern North Sea

James Fisher Marine Services Ltd (JFMS), and Fendercare Marine, both subsidiaries of James Fisher and Sons plc (JFS) – the UK’s leading marine services provider, held an open day to demonstrate the capability of their shoreside support base and the offshore support vessel, the Dart Fisher.

The Dart Fisher, which was berthed in the Fendercare Marine base in Great Yarmouth, is a state-of-the-art vessel which has been specifically designed to service the offshore energy industry, is a 26-metre catamaran with the capability to transfer up to 12 engineers, three 20ft containers with a total combined cargo weight of 30 tonnes.

The open day not only provided walk-on tours of the vessel, but gave the opportunity for guests to ask questions about the vessel to the skipper and the first mate.

The delegates were specially invited from EEEGR, which represented over 400 members from across the energy supply chain. Celia Anderson, director of Skills for Energy, EEEGR praised the initiative by saying: “Today, I have had a unique opportunity to take a guided tour of a very impressive vessel designed specifically to service marine offshore energy industry, which not many people have the chance to do. This provided a great experience for myself, but more importantly the wider members of the skills council who vary from work experience students to current employees such as Gareth, who is working with Skills for Energy for Job Centre Plus, and Loren who has just completed an MSc at the University of East Anglia on Meterology and Oceaography, specialising in offshore engineering. For these people, this opportunity is invaluable”.

John Best, head of sustainable energy at FFMS commented by saying: “I was delighted by the reaction we had from our guests, especially from those who are considering the industry for future careers. Much is said about ‘local content’, but I feel sure that by sharing our knowledge and experience in this way we will have no shortage of skilled, competent people looking to work in the offshore marine services industry”.

As we have been shortlisted as a finalist in the Great Business Idea category of the 2014 Spirit of Enterprise Awards a Newspaper Supplement featuring our company profile will be in the Great Yarmouth Mercury tomorrow, so don’t forget to pick up your copy!

NORWICH, Tuesday 4th November – YEAR ROUND SUNSHINE FROM YOUR LOCAL AIRPORT Leading package holiday specialist Thomson Holidays is once again offering year round holidays to Tenerife from your local airport. With a sub-tropical climate ensuring temperatures averaging 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months. The first flight of the season departed on Sunday 2nd November and will operate weekly, including the festive period. Get away from the stresses that the festive season usually brings and escape on a flight from Norwich International on Sunday 21st December with Thomson holidays. . Christmas in Tenerife is always a very special time of year and a great alternative to celebrating at home. A great Christmas celebration can be achieved with many hotels and restaurants offering a traditional Christmas dinner and… you are guaranteed to see snow too, on the peak and slopes of Mt Teide. Andrew bell, CEO of Norwich International said:”Tenerife is one of the most popular destinations and offers everything the British holidaymaker looks for. We are very pleased Thomson is offering Tenerife as a year round destination from Norwich, giving passengers even more choice from their local airport.” For further details on holidays through the winter season including Christmas and New Year holidays in Tenerife from Norwich International contact your local travel agent or call Travel Norwich Airport on 01603 428700 or visit them at the airport or Norwich Castle Mall.

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Survival Systems International (UK) has just completed a major contract for the full refurbishment of six lifeboat capsules at its Great Yarmouth base.

The six-month project for an Aberdeen customer has meant long days and extra hours for the busy workshop. And it will quickly be followed by a similar contract to refurbish another six capsules for a European client.

“They are big orders for us and have our workshop at near capacity,” said George Teece, SSI’s vice-president Eastern Hemisphere operations.

“The great thing is that the quality of the refurbishment work means that these lifeboats – mainly around 15 years old and being used on North Sea installations – will have many more years of good and completely reliable service in them.

“Each is designed to save the lives of at least 50 people in an offshore emergency so each of these orders is helping protect around 300 people.”

“We are fortunate to have a dedicated workshop team in Dave Goodwin, Allan Fuller, Martin Smith, Dave Wallace and Nicholas Scott who have worked tirelessly on this project since April working many hours overtime to complete on time.”

With the extra business for SSI, the company is looking to recruit additional staff, with some offshore opportunities. Anyone interested should email Jo.Bursnell@ssiuk.net

Pure & Simple, making good dog food less complicated.

With grain free diets in demand and pet food manufacturers, in a hurry to get to market, confusing consumers with technical jargon and complicated messaging.

Lovejoys® recognised an opportunity in the market, launching a grain free wet food. We advised a straightforward and consumer-friendly approach, naming the new sub-brand Pure & Simple to convey honesty and trust.

Market research proved that many owners prefer to feed their dogs on the type of food they eat themselves. It’s called the humanisation of dogs and it’s a growing trend. With this in mind we took a radical step with the packaging design to make it look more like a ready meal for humans and something you might expect to see on the supermarket ready meal shelf!

The wet food trays were launched to great acclaim and with impressive orders to match. And if that wasn’t enough proof the values of the Pure & Simple brand stacked up with the consumer, to the client’s surprise there were also immediate demands for a dry food equivalent.

The dry food range was efficiently put into production and launched to market at the Interzoo show in Nuremberg. The response was overwhelmingly positive and the complete Pure & Simple range has been on sale, with sales steadily increasing, since September 2014.

A judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal today states that overtime should be included in the calculation of holiday pay.

This morning, the President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Mr Justice Langstaff, handed down his judgement in the cases of Hertel v Wood, BEAR Scotland v Fulton & Baxter and Amec v Law, ruling that workers are entitled to receive a sum on account of normal overtime as part of their holiday pay.

Background

Holiday pay is calculated by reference to a ‘week’s pay’, which under UK law, has been considered to include basic pay only. There has been a raft of recent case law on the question of whether holiday pay should include more than merely basic pay, including the case of Lock v British Gas, in which the European Court of Justice held that holiday pay should include commission. That case has been remitted to the Employment Tribunal and we expect their judgement to be give effect to the European ruling around March next year.

The three cases were heard together and there was much anticipation among those in employment law about the outcome, which had the potential to open the floodgates to a wave of claims for back-dated underpayments of holiday pay. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills had intervened in the case to make clear its own view that holiday pay should not include overtime.

The judgment

The Claimants argued that their normal pay for the purposes of calculating holiday pay was not merely their basic pay but should include the sums normally received as non-guaranteed overtime. Mr Justice Langstaff held that:

• Non-guaranteed overtime should have been taken into account when calculating the holiday pay due to the workers; • Where travel time payments exceeded the expenses incurred during travel, they were part of the worker’s remuneration, so should also be included in calculations of holiday pay; • The relevant UK legislation, the Working Time Regulations (WTR) must be read in such a way as to give effect to the European Working Time Directive (WTD); • Since the WTD requires only four weeks’ holiday in a year, the additional 1.6 weeks available in the UK under the WTR need not include overtime or travel time payments; and • The workers could not claim underpayment of wages where there was more than three months between the underpayments. This has the effect of substantially limiting claims for back pay.

Impact

The Secretary for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, has already announced that a task force has been set up to assess the potential impact of the judgement. There remain some unanswered questions, not least because Mr Justice Langstaff granted leave for the judgement to be appealed to the Court of Appeal. It almost certainly will be appealed and it is possible that the Court of Appeal judgement itself could be appealed, so it could be some time before the courts provide a definitive answer to this question.

• If you are concerned about how this will affect your business, get in touch with our specialist employment team. We can review your contracts and policies and advise on the likely impact of the changes as well as how to limit your risk. • Businesses may wish to consider including overtime payments in their holiday pay immediately or even look at ways of limiting overtime payments. • However, it may be sensible to await the outcome of the appeal before making any positive changes. • If you receive a claim, please contact us immediately. The ordinary rules of limitation will apply but the amount of any liability will depend very much on the facts of the case.

For more information on any of the topics in this article, please contact a member of the team on 01603 281139.

Note: The content of this article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Specific legal advice should be taken in any specific circumstance.