"Back on the domestic front, feedback from A.P.L. members the majority of whom work in this sector, suggests they are keen to introduce new legislation designed to eliminate competition from those who are un-qualified and/or not VAT registered.
Donna Hanlon, the HTA’s Business Development Manager says they propose a 10% flat rate of VAT with a zero threshold. “This would put sole traders and growing and larger businesses on a level playing field and it would remove one of the biggest psychological hurdles growing businesses face because they would be charging VAT from the beginning,” she maintains. “Customers wouldn’t actively seek out non-VAT registered tradesmen and at 10%, avoidance would probably be very small.” Anxious to drive out the “cowboys”, members would also like greater emphasis/requirement placed on ensuring that only traders who have passed a quality based assessment can trade.
This view is backed by Claudia de Yong of Claudia de Yong Garden Design who is an APL committee member. “As a landscaper/designer I am always keen to encourage the government to recognize the contribution that accredited traders have to make to the economy; and any legislation that helps differentiate the professional domestic landscaper in the market place is only to the advantage of the consumer,” she says. “It will help them make the right choices.”
The Landscaper: http://www.landscapermagazine.com/uncategorized/legislation-the-good-the-bad-and-the-indifferent/
Views: 48
Replies
This is very dangerous ground.
Let us put this into perspective. The APL and BALI represent just over 600 landscape practitioners in a market place where tens of thousands of people operate.
Both BALI and the APL are private members' organisations. Neither are legislative bodies and neither group can claim to speak for non-members.
If a practitioner is not registered for VAT it does not make them less professional. There may be circumstances that determine they need not register.
The APL has to realise that their members should not rely on any exemption from competing in the market place.
If APL members are comfortable with their service and own professionalism they should not concern themselves with the competition from others. To keep harping on about the threat from non-registered members just goes to show how nervous the organisation is about its own future.
If they were comfortable about their organisation and system there would not be a cause for concern.
FYI as of 28 November 2012 the APL have 222 members listed on its website.
8 companies have left since 04 April 2012 and 33 new companies have joined.
Let me ask you a question:
The day after the 8 companies left. Did these companies, their owners and their workforce suddenly become unprofessional?
In respect of the 33 new companies. The day before membership was granted, were these 33 companies, their owners and their workforce any less professional?
One worrying point that needs to be made is a proposal by APL committee members that they should form a Super Group for long standing members. This group, it has been proposed, should be exempt from an annual inspection.
Hmm no inspections once you're in the super group sounds like a license to lets standards drop. Whilst one would hope and expect that their professionalism would not let this happen sometimes it does...MP's expenses and all that...
I'm not familiar with the inspection process but can it really be so onerous?
Phil Voice said:
Here's the passage:
"Introduce a ‘Super-group’ category for those long established members to reduce need for annual inspection, to allow more time to inspect new, younger or ‘at risk’ businesses"
The usual then - a group which at best represents less than half of 1% of the industry wants regulation that gives them an advantage over the other 99%, imposing costs to keep themselves from having to compete in an open market - and all that with the implied suggestion that as I am not a member or VAT registered - I am inferior to them.....
Any association that charges for membership will always be looked at with more than a little suspicion.
However I would love to see an overhaul of the VAT system. The threshold as it stands is too low and I feel should be graduated. For instance, let’s say a couple of guys working together have built up a nice little maintenance business that turns over say £50K, with most clients on contract. Are they going to be encouraged to expand by another man and become VAT registered? I doubt it very much.
Much better, I think, to alter the threshold to say £25K at 10% and £100K at 20% - short of 'every one pays' a sort of halfway house solution.
I aggree it is a dangerous area, I can sort of understand on VAT but what puts alot of small sole traders off like me is the paperwork and i would much rather be working in a garden that sat in doors filling in a VAT return. It does not make me any less professional. What ever happens there will be customers looking to save money. and 20% makes a huge difference to a bill of £1000 for landscaping to someone on a low wage or on a pension. Sometimes a landscaper may be installing replacement garden path thats broken and cracked causing a safety issue for the elderly lady indoors who is struggling to heat her home do you think she could afford an extra 20% not so sure.
The electrical trade went for full regulation and I never completed my part P but have looked at a customers outside light which was installed by a Part P registered trader which was faulty and there wires were all put in wrong.
Our Oil fired boiler was serviced by a OFTEC registered company and they left in a poor state so it was smoking and causing CO2 in the kitchen, shortly before going bust naturally OFTEC did not want to know about my complaint and refused to do anything.
So do we need more regulation?
Is the existing Regulations doing what they are supposed to do and offer consumer protection?
In both of my experances above I think not! I do think if your a reptable trades man and are in business you do not need to join such a scheme to generate business from stories I have heard it is the schemes that quite often have the cowboys on there books. As watchdog proved a few years back with the old Trading Standards approved scheme.
Phil Voice said:
What the APL haven't grasped is that if all businesses are forced to compete on an equal basis (everyone being VAT registered, for example) will mean even greater pressure on their members' prices.
It's very likely that some businesses will still have lower overheads and very lean labour base and can quite simply be cheaper without being any less professional.
I'd like to know if it's the case that all APL businesses are definitely VAT registered already?
Another key point to make is that whilst the APL seek to assure consumers that their members are qualified. Who has determined what represents a qualification? Further to this, even if the owner of an APL registered has one or more qualification, how can a consumer be assured that their employees have a qualification?
I've clicked through several APL member pages today to find that the majority of their members do not list qualification or experience at all.
This very ill-thought out statement will surely come back to haunt the APL.
On a separate subject.
The APL recently re-elected its chairman for a third term despite it saying on their website that officers are elected for a maximum of two years.
I challenged this to be told that as the APL is not a standalone business it is governed by the HTA constitution which states that an officer can keep office for a maximum of seven years.
Probably more interesting and even more worrying is that the APL Super Group committee made the decision amongst themselves to re-elect their chairman without consulting the entire APL membership. Bear in mind that the chairman is already head of the committee which ratified his re-election. I'd call this as a huge conflict of interest.
Hi Phil,
I think the article has been badly written and edited, comments were made but they they have been taken out of context. In my opinion I don't believe being vat registered is a sign of quality and I also don't believe you need to be a member of an association to trade.
Thanks for clarification Claudia
It would be interesting to know what was actually said (I hope you will take this up with David Curtis)?
What's your view on the APL chairman being re-elected without all of the APL membership being polled on their thoughts?
claudia de yong said:
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 5 Next