lucam trade

We have a service that deals with ALL your office needs.The Office and Administration Support Services are here to help, achieve and deliver your every need. "Our friendly and approachable team offer a professional service that aims to meet all your business needs and demands."

If you need new staff our extensive database can help to identify suitable candidates. Appropriate training can be organised for existing staff, or a range of other Human Resources Services can be utilised.

Our Services include the following:-

1. Office Training:

1.1. Sage Accounts and Payroll (Implementation and training)
1.2. MS Office (Word, Excell, Access, Outlook, Project and FrontPage)
1.3. Thesaurus Payroll

2. Recruitment of Permanent and Temporary Staff

3. Health and Safety Software and Training which includes:-

3.2. Environmental Awareness in the Office,
3.3. Environmental Awareness for a Process Site,
3.4. Handling your Food Hygiene,
3.5. Working with ISO14001 and IPPC,
3.6. Workstation Safety (DSE) and Office Safety,
3.7. Manual Handling, and finally
3.8. Contractor and Site Induction.

Our Health and Safety Training can also look at:

3.9. Incident/Accident Management,
3.10.COSHH Management and
3.11.Risk Assessment.

4. Book Keeping and Payroll Bureau

5. Secretarial and Administration Services:

This includes the following:-

5.1. WP/Typing (Audio and Copy),
5.2. CV's, Theses, Essays, Mail Shots,
5.3. Leaflets, Letterheads, etc.
5.4. Photocopy and Fax Services,
5.5. E-Mail and Internet Access,
5.6. Payroll and Book Keeping,
5.7. Binding and Laminating work,
5.8. Work Station Hire

6. Protecting your business : Employment Law and Health & Safety

6.1. Employment Law
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It seems that every year various pieces of legislation come and go, with employers constantly needing to keep up to date and make sure they are familiar with the changes. The new Employment Bill (Employment Act) has changes that relate to family-friendly, disciplinary and grievances issues, regardless of the company size or number of employees.
The first change will take place in February 2003, when statutary maternity pay (SMP) increases from £75 to £100 per week. This is hotly followed by an increase in maternity leave from April 2003. Currently women with a year's service have been entitled to 40 weeks of maternity leave, the first six weeks being paid at 90 per cent of the employee's salary with a further 18 weeks being paid at SMP rate. This maternity leave increases to a year, with the SMP payment period rising from 18 to 26 weeks and being called ordinary maternity leave. This period will be followed by a further 26 weeks of unpaid additional leave. SMP will be the lesser of £100 per week or 90 per cent of the weekly earnings. To help employers plan, the employee will have to give 28 days notice before she starts her maternity leave, instead of 21 days.
The new legislation will also include fathers, who will be entitled to paid paternity leave for the first time. At present fathers with a year's service are entitled to 13 weeks of unpaid parental leave. However from April 2003 these men will be entitled to two weeks paid paternity leave at the same rate as the SMP, which by then will be £100 per week. This can be taken in a single block of one or two weeks but must be within 56 days of the child's birth and it must be used for the new-born baby and supporting the mother. Fathers will also be entitled to similar employment protection rights that women on maternity leave currently receive.
From April 2003 (the target date for implementation) adoptive parents will be included in the Bill, with those who have 26 weeks service before the adoption agency makes a match, being entitled to a new statutory right to adoption leave. this will comprise six months ordinary leave followed by six months additional leave and it is intended that the full six months of ordinary leave will, after the first six weeks, be paid at the same rate as the SMP. However, only one of the parents can take leave while the other will be able to take the paid paternity leave.
With employees who have six months service or more now being able to request a change in their working hours or their place of work to help them to care for a child under six years of age or, if disabled, under 18 years of age. Employees will have to submit a written application to their employer and will be limited to one written application per year. This application must indicate the reason for the request, how and why flexible hours will assist them and when they would like the proposed working pattern to begin. they will also need to make reasonable suggestions as to how the employer can accomodate this request, particularly if their work colleagues will have to change their working patterns as a result.
The employer has a statutory duty to consider this request within 21 days and to reply to the employee in writing. The employer can refuse such a request only on specific grounds such as additional cost, inability to meet customer demand, problems recruiting other staff or if it would have a detrimental impact on the performance of the business or the quality of customer service provided. If the request can be accommodated, employees will not have the right to revert back to their original working hours once the child reaches the cut-off age of six, neither can the employer insist that the employees return to their previous hours.
If the request cannot be accomodated, the employee will have the right to appeal against the decision and this will need to be heard within a further 2 weeks. At this point, if employees are still not satisfied, they will have the right to bring an employent tribunal claim. It will then be the tribunal's role to consider whether the correct process was followed and whether the facts relied on when considering the business case were accurate and fair.

6.2. Grievances
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This is covers the statutatory procedures for resolving discipinary and grievances issues. It is being introduced in a bid to resolve such matters in-house, rather than resorting to employment tribunals. Again this will affect employers of all sizes. The new procedures involve three minimum stages, which will need to be followed should an employer wish to dismiss an employee:
1. Anemployer will have to set out in writing the circumstances and the issues that have led the employer to contemplate disciplinary action or dismissal, and to invite the employee to attend a meeting
2. A meeting must be held with the employee before any action is taken and the decision should then be relayed to the employee, along with the right of appeal. The employee must make all reasonable efforts to attend the meeting.
3. If the employee wishes to appeal, he/she must inform the employer, who must then organise a further meeting. The employee must be informed of the final decision.
Thse three stages are mirrored in statutory grievance procedure., namely, written statement/meeting/appeal. A failure to carry out any part of these procedures will affect the level of compensation awarded by a tribunal: an increase of 10-15 per cent where the employer fails to follow the disciplinary procedure and a reduction of 10-15 per cent where the employee does not comply. If as an employer you fail to follow these new minimum procedures, any dismissal will be deemed to be unfair, for which the minimum compensation payment will be four weeks pay.
However, there is some recompense for employers in that employees claiming constructive or unfair dismissal will be expected to have used the statutory grievance procedure before resigning. Failure to do so will in most cases mean that they are then barred from raising the matter at an emplyment tribunal.
The Bill also provides that a full disciplinary and grievance procedure must be set out in the written statement of the terms and conditions; this will apply to all new and existing employees.

6.3. Other Changes
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The budget of April 2002 has resulted in some significant changes that will affect national insurance contibutions in April 2003. From this date employees' primary class 1 rates will increase from 10 per cent to 11 per cent on earnings above £89 a week. Previously this was limited to earnings over £30,940 a year but the budget has abolished this ceiling so that the 11 per cent rate applies to all earnings.
While many of us are used to the discrimination laws on the grounds of race, marital status, disability, etc, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and religion will become outlawed by mid 2003.
there is no doubt that these changes will once again take some getting used to, as have all the other employment law changes that have come and gone over the years.

6.5. Freedom of Information Act
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The Freedom of Information Act (passed in Nov 2000) aims to give the public access to information about how money is spent within public services such as the NHS. The purpose of the Act is to promote greater openness by public authorities, which includes community pharmacies.
One of the requirements of the Act is that community pharmacies will have to produce a 'publication scheme'. this is a list of all the information the pharmacy publishes, or intends to publish, about services that are funded by public money. Types of information already published by a pharmacy may include a practice leaflet. This will be an excellent opportunity pharmacies provide, how these services are funded and to explain where the prescription charge paid by patients actually goes. Only information relating to public money must be included, ie. the NHS, so sensitive business information is not included.

Public schemes must be available in every pharmacy. The scheme can be a printed sheet or leaflet and should be in cluded on your website, if applicable. The model scheme for community pharmacists has recently been approved by the Information Commissioner. We shall be producing a template to use.

6.8. Employment Law Update
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6.8.1. Work Permit
Employers have to pay £95 for each Work Permit(correct at time of writing) application they make to the Home Office. This applies to initial Work Permits, Work Permit Extensions, Change of Employment and Appeals.
Employers will not have to pay this fee if they wish to employ nationals from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Poland, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Latvia and Moldovia as they are exempt.

6.8.2. Equal Pay Questionnaires
As part of the Employment Act 2002, Equal Pay Questionnaires have now been introduced - but what does this mean?
An Equal Pay Questionnaire introduces the right for employees to investigate further with their employer whether or not they are receiving equal pay compared to their colleagues of the opposite sex and if not, the reason why not.
The Act seeks to promote equal pay between men and women in the same employment where the work is similar, equivalent or of equal vale and claimants will need to compare themselves with someone of the opposite sex who is employed by the same employer or an associated company.
Whilst currently employers can refuse to provide this information, tribunals can draw inferences from a deliberate failure to respond or if the questionnaire is not completed within the necessary time limit and can ultimately request the disclosure of this information.
In order for an employee to make a complaint under the Equal Pay Act they must do so within 6 months after the job has ended. As an employer you will need to satisfy a tribunal thet the difference is or was generally due to a 'material favtor' other than the difference of sex. These material factors can be:
6.8.2.1. Geographical differences which reflect the cost of living
6.8.2.2. Market forces - where it may be necessary to offer a higher wage to attract new staff.

6.8.3. Red Tape Days
The government has now set two annual 'red tape' days to deal with changes in Employment Legislation in order to make it easier for employers to deal with them.
Following a recent consultation exercise on harmonising commencement dates for new legislation, the Department of trade and Industry has decided that 6th April (when tax changes are usually brought in ) and 1st October ( when the National Minumum Wage is increased ) will become the two set commencement dates for domestic employment regulations for whict the DTI has responsibility - except for the annually revised rates for Tribunal awards which will continue to be on 1st February.

6.8.4. Young Workers
New measures to protect young workers aged 16-17 were introduced on 6 April 2003. The working time of such individuals will be limited to 40 hours per week and 8 hours in any one day. There will be a blanket prohibition on night working between 10pm and 6am or 11pm and 7am.

6.8.5. A 'week's Pay'
For the purpose of calculating basic or an additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal or redundancy payment has risen from £250 to £260 with effect from 1 January 2003.

6.9. Contract of Employment:

How to issue them
What they should contain
How to avoid common pitfalls
Breach of Contract

6.10. Common Pitfalls:

Recruitment : Interview & Selection
Discrimination : Age, Disability, Sex, Race, Religion
Pregnancy & maternity
Working Time Regulations : The Facts
Unfair & Constructive Dismissal

6.11. Legislation Update:

Dispute Resolution Procedure 2004 and penalties for non-compliance
Employee Rights prior to Employement
Equal Pay : Rights & Changes
Forthcoming changes

6.12. Employee Rights:

Family Legislation updates
Fixed-Term Contracts
Part-Time & Temporary Workers
Self-Employed or not?
Trade Union Recognition

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employers) Regulation 1981 apply to the trasfer of an undertaking, or prior to an undertaking to an employer, for example, through the sale of the business or part of the business.
Under TUPE, the employees who are employed by the old employer, at the time for the transfer automatically become the employees of the new employer as if their contracts of employment were originally made with the new employer.
the new emploer takes over all the employment liabilities of the old employer, except criminal liabilities and occupational pension rights. Employers are required to consult with appropriate employee representatives about the transfer. If either the new or the old employer dismisses an employee solely or mainly because of the transfer of an undertaking or part of it, the dismissal will be considered unfair.

6.13. Tribunals:

How they work
How they can be avoided
Common issues

6.14. Notice of Termination
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The employer and the employee are normally entitled to a statutory minimum period of notice of termination of employment. After one month's employement, an employee must give at least one week's notice. This minimum is unaffected by longer service. An employer must give an employee at least one week's notice after one month's employment, two weeks after two years, three weeks after three years and so on up to 12 weeks after 12 years or more. the employer or the employee may be entitled to a longer notice period than the statutory minumum if this is expressly provided for in the contract of employment.
Most employees are entitled to recive payment during the statutory notice period. Employers or employees can waive their rights to notice or to a payment in lieu of notice. Either party can terminate the contract of employement without notice if the conduct of the other justifies it.

6.15. Wrongful dismissal
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Where an employee is wrongfully dismissed, i.e. without notice or with insufficient notice, the employee can bring a claim for wrongful dismissal for the whole notice period or the remainder of the period which is unpaid. Such claims can be brought in an employment tribunal whre the value of the claim does not exceed £25,000. Where the value of a claim exceeds £25,000, either all or the balance of the claim has to be made in the civil court.

6.16. Unfair dismissal
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Employees have the general right not to be unfairly dismissed and the employees who think that they have been unfairly dismissed may seek a remedy in an employment tribunal. Employees must have at least one year's continous service in order to be able to make a complaint for unfair dismissal.
An employment tribunal must receive a complaint of unfair dismissal within three months beginning with the effective date of termination of the employment ( usually the date of leaving the job ) unless a tribunal considers this as not reasonably practicable.

6.17. Dismissal
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Before hearing the complaint, a tribunal will need to establish that a dismissal has taken place. Once dismissal is established, it is normal for the employer to show that the dismissal is one of the potentially fair reasons specified under the legislation. Dismissal will normally be fair only if the employer can show that the reason first was for one of the following potentially fair reasons:
1. A reason relating to the employee's conduct
2. A reason relating to the employee's capability of qualifications for the job
3. Redundancy
4. Statutory duty or restriction which prevents the employment being continued
5. Some other substatial reason which could justify the dismissal.
Having established the reason for dismissal, the tribunal must then decide whether in the circumstances the employer acted reasonably in treating that reason as sufficient reason for the dismissal.

6.18. Redundancy
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Redundancy situations arise where there is a genuine reduction in the empoyer's manpower requirement. Employers are required to make a lump sum compensation payment to employees dismissed because of redundancy.
The amounts of the payment in relation to the employee's age, length of continuous service with the employer, and weekly pay up to a maximum of £250 per week. The employer must also give the employee a written statement showing how the payment has been calculated, at or before the time the redundancy payment is made.

6.19. Health & Safety

Health & Safety Policy
Responsible Person
Competent Person
Health & Safety Dismissal
Delegation of Responsibility
The Insurance Connection
How to avoid claims

7. Personnel Operational Manuals: Policies, Procedures and Regulations:

7.1. Pre-employement:

7.1.1. Contracts
7.1.2. Person Specifications
7.1.3. Recruitment and Selection
7.1.4. Relocation - New Staff

7.2. During Employment:

7.2.1. Absence
7.2.2. Alcohol and Drug Dependance
7.2.3. Caring Responsibilities
7.2.4. Computerised Personal Data
7.2.5. Disciplinary Procedures
7.2.6. Education Liason
7.2.7. Equal Opportunities
7.2.8. Expenses
7.2.9. Family Friendly Policies
7.2.10.First Aid
7.2.11.Further Education
7.2.12.Grievance
7.2.13.Harassment
7.2.14.Health and Safety
7.2.15.HIV/Aids
7.2.16.Holidays
7.2.17.Maternity
7.2.18.Occupational Health Service
7.2.19.Pensions
7.2.20.Performance Management
7.2.21.Psychometric Assessment
7.2.22.References
7.2.23.Relocation - General Staff
7.2.24.Security
7.2.25.Staff Discount
7.2.26.Succession Planning
7.2.27.Sunday Trading
7.2.28.Time Off for Outside Duties
7.2.29.Trade Unions
7.2.30.Varying Terms and Conditions
7.2.31.Welfare
7.2.32.Working Hours

7.3. Remuneration

7.3.1. Christmas Bonus
7.3.2. Honoraria
7.3.3. Performance Bonus on Transfers
7.3.4. Performance Related Pay Review
7.3.5. Profit Releted Bonus
7.4.6. Salary Scales

7.4. Pharmacists and Management Development

7.4.1. Car Loans for Pharmacists
7.4.2. Pharmacists Recruitment and Development
7.4.3. Pharmacy Undergraduate Vacational Experience
7.4.4. Pre-registration Training
7.4.5. Reimbursement of RPSGB and Pre-registration Examination Fee
7.4.6. Management Development Recommendations
7.4.7. Regional Career development Groups
7.4.8. Store management Appointments

7.5. Training and Development

7.6. Termination

7.6.1. Exit Interviews
7.6.2. Redundancy
7.6.3. Retirement
7.6.4. Termination

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