BREAKING NEWS - First Aid At Work Deregulation  

Breaking News

First Aid Council for Training (FACT) met with officials from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on the 1st March 2012 at their Bootle offices to discuss the recommendations of the Löfstedt report “Reclaiming Health and Safety for all”. The meeting was one of a round of meetings that are taking place, and this particular meeting was with representatives from the First Aid industry’s trade associations, present were FACT, AOFA and FOFATO.

The information given to us was that First aid at Work training is going to be deregulated; in essence HSE would be giving the employer all the responsibility in choosing what training would be needed and delivered by whom they deemed to be competent.

There has been rumour around the industry about when these changes are going to take place since the publication and release of the Löfstedt report, and October 2013 had been the date that was being talked about. What we can say is that October 2013 is the absolute latest date and it is more likely to be April 2013 and could even be October this year! It is very clear that the driving force behind these changes is NOT HSE but Government policy.

We are very concerned about the impact of this on our members, and the potential impact on the health & safety of the UK’s workforce. We have read the Löfstedt report fully and agree that it recommends the removal of HSE in approval and monitoring of First Aid at Work but don’t believe that it recommends the deregulation of First Aid at Work per se.

An emergency meeting of the FACT executive board has been called for Wednesday 7th March. We would welcome your thoughts, concerns and suggestions about the way forward. It is our intention to send an open letter to other interested parties, such as Ambulance Services, The Stroke Association, The British Heart Foundation, seeking their input also.

Please sign the E-PETITION

We look forward to your response.

Paul Stedman Chair FACT

The Lofstedt Report 

The end of the Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations 1978 as it relates to Lecturers, Teachers, Instructors or those in a similar capacity? 

On Friday 7 October, HM Revenue and Customs published a Consultation document, the central proposal of which was the repeal of the section of the regulation relating to lecturers, teachers, instructors or those in a similar capacity......

New Pension Legislation Important Advice For Members 

The new legislation on pensions is now in force though the actual impact date may be some little bit ahead. However the hard fact remains that this legislation will impact on a large number of our members.

Briefly the facts are as follows:

If you have any employee age 22 or over who earns more than £7475 you will have to provide a pension scheme. This can either be one you have set up your self or can be the Governments National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). In general terms a scheme which you control will be better for both you and your employee.

The scheme applies to all those who fall into the above band including part time employees.

If you employ less than 50 people (I do not think any of our members employ more) then implementation date is between August 2014 and February 2016 – by the latter date you must have the scheme running.

Advice is to start earlier as during that 18 month period there will be 4,500 organisations setting up every month so best options may not be available as they are overbooked.

If you start by October 2012 contributions are 1% from employer and 2% from employee based on earnings over the NI threshold (currently £5,035) By 2017 this will have risen to 3% from employer and 5% from employee.

Individual employees can opt out but must get certificate saying that they have chosen to opt out from the pensions regulator NOT from their employer.

Failure to have an appropriate scheme in place will lead to substantial fines.

Only exceptions are sole owner managers.

I received my advice from Paul Baker of Independent Financial Services (UK) Ltd. His firm offers free advice to members of the Federation of Small Businesses and to members of the International Association of Book-keepers and their clients. If enough members are interested I will try and negotiate a deal to get them free advice.

This new legislation cannot be ignored

Are you paying too much interest? 

At some stage in business life most organisations have to borrow money. Unfortunately few seem to know how to calculate interest rates correctly and often finish up paying more than they should. Credit must be given to the payday cash loans organisations who at least do quote the correct interest rate - even if few read that the rate is often over 500%.

A simple example will suffice to illustrate and then we will look at more conventional borrowing.

Let us say it is Monday and you urgently need £100 to cover you until pay day on Friday. The payday loans offer you the £100 conditional on you repaying £110 when you get your pay on Friday. On the surface this is a flat 10%. However, it is 10% for five days loan which is actually just over 1000% calculated at a true a.p.r.

Now let us look at a bank who offers you a loan at a claimed 11% interest. You want to borrow £1000 and repay it over twelve months. The bank charges you a one-off arrangement fee of £20 and adds the interest before you start repayments - so you are told you will be borrowing £1000 + £110 interest + £20 arrangement fee i.e., £1130. Monthly repayments will be £94.17 per month.

The catch here is two-fold. Firstly, the arrangement fee is in addition to the shown interest rate. Secondly, and more importantly you are repaying the capital each month so the interest rate is considerably higher. The actual Interest rate on a.p.r. is around 30%.

Next consider the difference between an overdraft and a loan. The bank offers you a £1000 overdraft at an a.p.r. of 15% or a loan at an actual a.p.r. of 12%. The loan looks cheaper but now consider the actual schedule of repayments.

Let us say that you earn £1000 per month. You currently spend £900 a month so you can afford to repay at £100 per month. However, let us also say that your spending is evenly spread throughout the month. The result is with an overdraft when you receive your pay there is actually no overdraft. The overdraft in month 1 will then climb to £900 or roughly £30 per day. Overdraft interest is calculated on a daily basis. Your actual average overdraft in month 1 will be £465. Now, 15% of £465 is just under £70 while 12% of £1000 is £120, therefore the overdraft will be £50 cheaper in month 1. The savings as the months go on will obviously be less as under either arrangement the amount you owe decreases.

Hopefully this may help you check your interest rates but if any member wants further information send an email to FACT

BREAKING NEWS!! - HSE response regarding the teaching of Asprin administration  

Dear members

We are pleased to inform you of the response to our letter to the HSE regarding the teaching of the administration of aspirin to a suspected heart attack victim. We are happy to be able to offer you the following advice:

The teaching of assisting a casualty to take an aspirin (300mg) whom you believe might be suffering a heart attack should be encouraged, regardless of the casualty being at work.

This is in accordance with the voluntary Aid Societies (VAS) manuals as well as others including the First Aid made Easy books by Nigel Barraclough.

It should be emphasised that the dose should be 300mg and the aspirin should be chewed, when the casualty is handed over to the ambulance service or other appropriate health care professional they should be given that information at the time of handover. This should also be noted in any appropriate or relevant report following the incident.

The issue of contra indications of aspirin should not be worried about when teaching this subject, as one dose is considered to have more beneficial effects than potential side effects. It should though be emphasised that if a casualty does not consent to taking the aspirin for whatever reason then that should be respected and noted. HSE do also state that employers should consider the issue of the availability of aspirin and its storage within the workplace for the treatment of suspected heart attack, and any insurance implications this might bring. This should be considered within the workplace first aid risk assessment. Advice remains that neither aspirin, nor any other medication, should be stored in first aid kits. It should be emphasised that the administration of 300mg of aspirin can have very real benefits for a suspected heart attack. We would like to thank Dr. Andrew Moore, senior scientific officer for the HSE for his help in this very important matter and his quick response to our correspondence.

Summary of Lord Young's report on health and safety laws and the growth of the compensation culture. 

It would appear from the summary conclusions that the report will do nothing to change first aid either at work or in general. However some members may be involved in other aspects of Health and Safety and these could change.

The first point is that the report is trying to simplify the overall position for small enterprises and for voluntary activities. Lord Young is concerned about the compensation culture and advises restrictions on the volume and type of “no win no fee” advertising. He is also advising that the situation of what is generally known as “good Samaritan” actions should be clarified and if necessary legislation should be introduced to make it clear that well intentioned voluntary acts will not lead to any liability.....

Asprin - To give or not to give? 

FACT was concerned about the recent information released in the last HSE newsletter regarding the administration of aspirin. We felt that it was not clear enough in just what we should be teaching in the first aid management of a suspected heart attack (specifically for occupational first aid). Are we to give aspirin or not! We have sent HSE a letter, which can be viewed asking for clarification on this matter. We look forward to updating you on this matter as soon as we hear. Please let us know your thoughts on this matter by sending us an email.

Extracts from the Summary of Resuscitation changes 2010 

Following the release of the Resuscitation Guidelines 2010 by the Resuscitation Council (UK) we have now posted a page of extracts from the summary of changes. The page also has a link to the Resuscitation Council (UK)'s website where the full document can be downloaded.

HMCA offer FACT members a raft of member benefits 

HMCA (Hospital & Medical Care Association) is a specialist provider of services to membership groups and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. HMCA has been working with membership groups for over 30 years and now provides a portfolio of membership benefits to over 600 such groups.

These arrangements provide AIFAWTO members and their immediate families with a simple means of securing the high quality benefits and services offered by HMCA.