NEWS
September 2024 update
New start
September often feels like a new start – the summer is over, the kids are back to school and many people return to work with renewed energy and focus. So it is fitting that this month we successfully onboarded a new client for our surveying, validation and reinstatement services (Virtus and MA Assist) and we are preparing for the more unpredictable weather that will soon be with us.
This month we bring news on how Revival is focussing on technical excellence and quality and we have an update on what the first year of our training scheme, Know Your Skills | Grow Your Skills, has delivered. Also, we have noticed an increase in enquiries from our clients about CIS, so we thought we would take this opportunity to remind insurers what CIS is all about and why HMRC is suddenly on the case!
Revival gets even more technical
Revival gets involved in all sorts of technical claims, from large scale flooding events (such as the London floods in July 2021) and complex commercial restoration claims (like the home for the elderly with a 300 year old tithe barn and dozens of residents’ apartments).
So we were delighted to be invited to the Crawfords Technical Forum earlier this month, where hot topics such as sustainability, future risks, parametric solutions, technology and claims inflation get discussed.
Well done to all the speakers who shared some fascinating stories about the challenges faced across a wide range of sectors from major loss, mitigation, legal, risk and so much more.
We are delighted to announce that Darren Harper has joined the Revival head office team from today. Darren has run the Revival Cumbria and North East (CNE) branch very successfully for a number of years and he is very well liked and respected in the disaster management sector. His knowledge of the Revival way is second to none and the technical know how and experience he brings to head office will be a huge boost for us.
Darren is joining as Technical Manager. He will continue to have branch oversight of CNE, so his time will be split. Darren’s main focus will be to assist on projects and overseeing quality within Revival, whether that’s quality of equipment, quality of scoping, process adherence quality or quality of training.
Know Your Skills | Grow Your Skills update
It’s been been almost a year since we launched Know Your Skills | Grow Your Skills (KYS | GYS), our training and continuous professional development programme (CPD) with 150 skills-based modules for staff and supplier. We are delighted to have reached a significant milestone – over 10,000 training modules have been delivered since launch.
We couldn’t be happier with the outcome, with more and more of our staff and suppliers completing face-to-face classes, online training, and tutor-led courses – with independent accreditation awarded where appropriate. Our people are free to engage as much or as little with the programme as they please, but with more and more candidates signing up every month it’s been a roaring success. It’s great to see their commitment to individual development, and it’s even better to be able to facilitate their progress
The stats for MA Group staff so far are:
- 2,284 KYS training modules completed
- 78% of all modules completed
- 100% of claims handling staff have completed Consumer Duty training
- 50% of staff have completed or are studying higher level training modules, including the Dale Carnegie management programmes, Prince 2, Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, Association of Accounting Technicians
- 7,752 KYS training modules completed
- 84% of all modules completed
- 100% of Virtus surveyors have completed Consumer Duty training, with training scheduled for our other networks.
We are developing the GYS part of the programme with partnerships with external training providers, and we will provide an update on progress later this year.
HMRC and CIS
Recently HMRC launched a new campaign targeting insurers that may be commissioning construction work and may not be complying with the Constructuon Industry Scheme (CIS) – including doing so indirectly through, for example, loss adjusters and claims managers like us.
Insurers that receive a letter should move quickly to confirm whether they can demonstrate that they currently comply with all their CIS obligations. Many insurers have been unaware that they are “deemed contractors” under CIS regulations. Broadly, organisations that aren’t carrying on a business which includes construction operations, but which nevertheless spend more than £3 million on construction operations in any rolling 12-month period, must register as “deemed contractors” under the CIS.
Deemed contractors must withhold deductions against labour costs at either 20% (the standard rate) or 30% (if the recipient is not registered for CIS or cannot be verified) from payments made to subcontractors for construction work who do not hold Gross Payment Status (GPS). The deemed contractor must remit these amounts to HMRC as payments towards the subcontractor’s final tax and NIC liabilities.
HMRC are concerned that not all insurers who should register as deemed contractors under the CIS have done so. Additionally, where insurers have registered as deemed contractors, HMRC are concerned that some might not be including in their CIS returns payments made to loss adjusters and claims managers which partly or wholly cover the cost of commissioning or undertaking construction work.
Luckily for our clients, MA Group has had subcontractor Gross Payment Status since CIS started in 2007. MA Group has also been registered as a contractor since 2007 and files CIS returns every month. We have operated the CIS scheme on behalf of our clients so their exposure to any fines for non-compliance should be minimal.
To find out more about CIS and how MA Group can help you with compliance, get in touch!
Save the date
Our next Annual Awards lunch will be held on 23rd January 2025 at our regular venue, the gorgeous Chartered Accountants Hall in London. As usual, we will be recognising our top performing suppliers and staff and will be laying on a slap up lunch with an entertaining guest speaker.
More details will be coming out soon, but in the meantime – save the date!
MA Group MAD awards
Our August winner was Abbie Macklin, Senior Claims Technician for Revival.
Throughout the summer Abbie has been stepping in to cover the Claims Manager’s annual leave. Abbie has been positive throughout this, even when the demands have been high and resource has been low.
She has kept the team’s spirits up and has encouraged the team to work together and support each other. When one of the team was absent Abbie covered their shift to 6.00pm, even though she had logged on early, as she was aware that it was bank holiday and others in the team had plans.
She has also been ensuring claims transition smoothly from Revival to MA Assist, by comunicating predicted dry dates to clients so that the repair works start with minimal delays and friction.
Well done Abbie, you are MAD!