BPMA has appointed Not For Profit Business Services (NFPBS) to provide their full accounting services from November 2015. Established in 1965, the British Promotional Merchandise Association (bpma) is one of the UK’s leading industry bodies dedicated to promoting best practice around the sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of promotional products. The bpma is the recognised authority and voice of the promotional merchandise industry and represents over 600 members in the UK. Our actions advocate best practice and inspire confidence amongst our members and buyers – built on trust since 1965. Read more about membership of the bpma. http://www.bpma.co.uk/

Not For Profit Business Services – Client Account Administrator vacancy Job Role You will be the lead administrator for your portfolio of clients, and responsible for ensuring all service agreements are met through the following: 1. Being a contact person for external enquiries, including responsibility for several email inboxes; 2. Ensuring that the filing system, project records and client databases are kept up-to-date with event, committee and membership activity information; 3. Attending client meetings and taking Minutes; 4. Organising and attending client events; 5. Answering a high volume of emails and calls from clients and their members, and resolving any queries raised in a timely and professional manner; 6. Producing and distributing client meeting papers; 7. Ensuring all actions resulting from meetings are followed up; 8. Updating the company and client websites; 9. Requesting invoices and assisting credit control on account queries, ensuring a clear audit trail; 10. Undertaking core administrative duties and being responsible for the day-to-day smooth running of the office and facilities; 11. Working as a team to cover the peaks and troughs of annual client contract delivery. Person Specification Experienced Essential requirements a) Have previously worked as an administrator (minimum five years) providing support to complex areas of work, including membership recruitment and retention, committee servicing and project support b) Event organisation and management c) Enquiry handling and customer service within a service/business environment d) Well developed IT skills, particularly in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Access e) Experience of updating websites, using a range of CMS f) Must live within easy commuting distance from Ware, Hertfordshire Desirable Relevant experience within a professional institute, trade association or the voluntary sector Have worked in a marketing and/or communications role Budget management experience Experience of working successfully with trustees, volunteers or committees High quality Minute writing Skills Essential requirements a) Excellent project and time management skills with proven ability to manage a large and varied workload b) Ability to prioritise effectively, delivering tasks accurately and to a high standard c) Have the ability to work accurately under pressure to meet deadlines d) Excellent interpersonal skills, with a good telephone manner e) Able to work effectively both on your own and as part of a team f) Excellent verbal and written communications skills g) Acute eye for detail and ability to produce accurate documents and maintain up-to-date records h) Have a proactive approach to meeting the demands of the company’s client base, and committed to providing high quality frontline customer services Salary: £neg according to experience. The closing date for this vacancy is 29th February 2016. Please see www.n4pbs.co.uk

The administration processes seem to have gone awry at the Institute since they appointed new administrators. The subscription reminders went out nearly a month late, emails have been coming out from a personal email address and have been copied into batches of members. There are also issues relating to governance relating to the 2016 AGM. Who are the Directors? Has anyone seen the Financial Statements as at 31st December 2015? What is going on? Sad situation for Institute members!

We are getting an increasing number of enquiries from membership organisations who are interested in using Webinars as a way of upping the game on their CPD programmes. If this is of interest please contact us.

The warmer weather arrived this year and people seem to be thinking about outsourcing their services. We are pleased to have had a continuing number of enquiries from Charities and other membership organisations in the last couple of weeks.

The National Association of Jewellers (NAJ) – an amalgam of the former National Association of Goldsmiths and British Jewellers Association has begun consulting with its members on plans to make Hallmarking history. Hallmarking is one of the oldest pieces of consumer protection legislation in the UK, and is designed to provide consumers with a clear indication of the quality of gold and other precious metal items. Until 1998, a Hallmark consisted of four compulsory marks. Since 1998 a date letter has become optional but the other three symbols remain compulsory, and indicate: who made the article; its guaranteed standard of fineness; and the year and Assay Office, at which the article was tested and marked. The NAJ’s plan is to introduce a ‘Made in Britain mark’ for jewellery manufactured in the UK in the hope that a country of origin mark on British-made goods will help boost sales. The clothing sector has long realised the cache of promoting its British made products – particularly in the luxury sector – and NAJ chief executive, Michael Rawlinson, hopes that British named jewellery will carry similar kudos in overseas markets. Hallmarking in the UK is performed by four government approved assay offices. Whilst some, notably Birmingham, have made positive noises in support of the initiative, a concern would be that there would be a confusion with Hallmarking. Uncertainty also hangs over the precise definition of what qualifies as ‘British’, and how the use of the mark would be policed overseas. All being well, industry consultation will determine the mark’s design and, with government approval, it could be in place by next year.

We are pleased to welcome the Addison’s Disease Self Help Group as a new client from June 2016 as part of their strategic development and need for high level professional services. We are pleased to be able to assist them with their strategy of continued growth. Membership of the ADSHG is open to anyone with Addison’s or other forms of adrenal insufficiency that result in steroid dependence. Family members, friends or anyone with an interest adrenal medicine are also welcome. You can join as an e-member receiving your material electronically through the website or as a postal member. For more information on the Addison’s Disease Self Help Group please click here.

Some 10,854 unruly passenger incidents were reported to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) by airlines worldwide last year, according to figures it has just released. This equates to one incident for every 1,205 flights, an increase from the 9,316 incidents reported in 2014 (or one incident for every 1,282 flights). The Montreal Protocol 2014 closed gaps in the international legal framework dealing with unruly passengers. To date, six states have ratified the Protocol based around enhancing the international deterrent and more effective prevention and management of incidents. The majority of incidents involved verbal abuse, failure to follow lawful crew instructions, and other forms of anti-social behaviour. A significant proportion (11%) of reports indicated physical aggression towards passengers or crew or damage to the aircraft. Alcohol or drug intoxication was identified as a factor in 23% of cases, though in the vast majority of instances these were consumed prior to boarding or from personal supply without knowledge of the crew. In some countries there has been a focus on the role of alcohol as a trigger for disruptive behaviour, and airlines already have strong guidelines and crew training on the responsible provision of alcoholic beverages. IATA is supporting initiatives, such as the code of practice pioneered in the UK, which includes a focus on prevention of intoxication and excessive drinking prior to boarding. Staff in airport bars and duty-free shops must be trained to serve alcohol responsibly and there is a need to avoid offers that encourage so-called ‘binge drinking’. An initiative by Monarch Airlines at London’s Gatwick Airport has shown that instances of disruptive behaviour can be cut 50% with this pro-active approach before passengers’ board. The industry believes that adopting this cooperative voluntary approach is preferable to heavy-handed regulation and licensing, thus managing the small percentage of passengers who abuse alcohol. “Unruly and disruptive behaviour is simply not acceptable. The anti-social behaviour of a tiny minority of customers can have unpleasant consequences for the safety and comfort of all on board. The increase in reported incidents tells us that more effective deterrents are needed. Airlines and airports are guided by core principles developed in 2014 to help prevent and manage such incidents. But we cannot do it alone. That’s why we are encouraging more governments to ratify the Montreal Protocol 2014,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

ACID (Anti Copying in Design), is a membership trade organisation for designers intent on stamping out intellectual property rights abuse. Brexit, they contend, provides a unique opportunity not only to ensure the best possible IP design rights’ negotiations, but also create strengthened protection. Thus enabling UK designers to be on a par with their EU counterparts who can rely on unfair competition when UK IP law fails them, as demonstrated by the high profile Trunki case. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/09/trunki-loses-years-long-legal-battle-against-copycat-brand/ A UK unregistered design right only offers protection for the shape and configuration of a design but EU unregistered rights protect a combination of colours, ornamentation, lines, texture or surface decoration as well as shape and configuration on which thousands have relied to protect their designs. Dids Macdonald, OBE., ACID’s CEO said, “The majority of the UK’s 350,000 designers rely on unregistered EU and UK design rights and being unable to rely on EU unregistered design rights would seriously affect them. Currently, both EU registered (with one application) and unregistered rights (which arise automatically) offer UK designers design protection in 28 member states for 25 and 3 years respectively. EU unregistered design is a much stronger design right and loss of access, potentially, could influence UK designers to launch new designs in alternative European locations to secure stronger design protection.”

The ‘gig economy’ is a new labour market where employers use online platforms to engage workers for piecemeal, short-term or project-based work delivered over the internet. Millions of people also use online platforms and apps to find online work and recruit occasional help. Yet, despite it being a rapidly growing market, the relevant data is not recorded in conventional employment statistics. Now, Oxford University researchers Professor Vili Lehdonvirta and Dr Otto Kässi have constructed an Online Labour Index, which has already gathered a wealth of data on the online gig economy from sites and apps across the world between May-September 2016. It shows that employers in the United States are the biggest users of online platforms for recruiting freelance workers, representing 52% of all the vacancies posted, followed by Britain at 6.3%, India at 5.9%, and Australia at 5.7%. The Online Labour Index, which updates automatically in real time, currently only captures data from adverts posted on English-language sites – such as Freelancer.com, PeoplePerHour and LinkedIn – although there are plans to track platforms in other languages as well. Uber and Deliveroo were not included as they also operate offline. The index shows that between May and September 2016, the number of vacancies grew by 9%, representing an annual growth rate of 25%. The growth was fastest among UK employers, who increased the amount of labour bought online over the period by nearly 14%, with a 7.5% rise elsewhere in Europe and 6% in the US. Professor Lehdonvirta comments: “These are striking figures when they are contrasted with growth rates in conventional labour markets, which remain stagnant in the UK and US according to latest national statistics. Yet, this burgeoning online economy has been largely unobserved and is missing from conventional labour market statistics.” The index is constructed by tracking all the projects/tasks posted to the five largest English-language online labour platforms, representing at least 60% of the market by traffic. The projects are then classified by occupation and employer country. The data is normalised so that 100 index points represents the daily average number of projects in May 2016. The resulting index is published as an automatically updated open data set and online visualisation. Commenting, Professor Vili Lehdonvirta, of the Oxford Internet Institute says, “Labour markets are in the midst of a dramatic transformation, where standard employment is being increasingly supplemented or replaced by temporary freelancers who are recruited online. Companies and entrepreneurs are using these platforms to find, hire, supervise, and pay workers on a project, piece-rate, or hourly basis. This ‘on-demand’ economy has deep and wide-ranging implications.”