UK Vending Ltd

FLAVIA refreshes employees with Workplace Insights research 0 comments

Motivated employees are key to a successful business, especially in the current economic climate. Research carried out by FLAVIA highlights the need to maintain core benefits to keep employee morale high and at the peak of their abilities.

Standing Orders and Direct Debits explained 0 comments

Standing Orders and Direct Debits explained

This article was written and provided to support our staff when involved with our commercial customers acquiring goods from us via some form of finance agreement. Most people had by then signed DDM’s to pay variable periodic bills due in their private lives yet many were concerned and often uninformed as to what their DDM protections were in the business world. So we wrote and published this article to explain and reassure. It is actually quite difficult to obtain a  licence to issue DDM’s and take variable payment accordingly and requires substantial ‘good standing’. Our fifty years of impeccable business trading made us a bit of shoo-through when we applied. We are Britain’s longest serving vending business; still family owned but with a national footprint and high-tech support. This article has been invaluable to our staff and customers and indeed we know that it has been invaluable to many seeking clarity of explanation and who were someone else’s customers. We hope it may be of use to you too.

Banking - direct debit guarantee


Direct debits are now a major part of daily life, with many people using them each month to pay their household bills. The direct debit guarantee is a powerful safeguard for customers. So it’s important that firms make sure their staff understand its provisions so those who can really benefit from using Direct Debit Mandates to pay regular bills do so without making the mistake of not doing so for totally spurious reasons. The Direct Debit Guarantee scheme is operated by all banks in the UK and Ireland and is a perfect guarantee that if, in the unlikely event that something did go wrong, the payee can immediately have their account credited by their own bank and without quibble of any kind with the sum taken - all they have to do is ask.

If you pay by standing order, it is up to your bank to send the payment. If you pay by direct debit, it is up to the payee’s bank to call for the payment, but you will rightly look to your own bank/building society to ensure the smooth running of any direct debits. Mistakes and errors are covered by the direct debit guarantee.
The direct debit guarantee applies to all banks and building societies taking part in the direct debit scheme. It says that:

	If there is a change in the amount to be paid or the payment date, the person receiving the payment (the originator) must notify the customer in advance.
	If the originator or the bank/building society makes an error, the customer is guaranteed a full and immediate refund of the amount paid by the customer’s own bank or building society.
	Customers can cancel a direct debit at any time by writing to their bank or building society.

Standing order or direct debit?

Some organisations when seeking regular payment or repayments from their customers wrongly describe a standing order as a ‘direct debit’, or a direct debit as a ‘standing order’. It’s maybe not be too surprising then that customers also get the terms muddled up, because standing orders and direct debits do broadly the same thing, even though they work very differently. It doesn’t help, though, when even bankers themselves sometimes describe them wrongly. We at UK Vending Ltd like clarity so here's a brief explanation:

standing orders are customers’ instructions to their bank to pay a set amount, to a named beneficiary, at regular intervals (say on the 1st of the month) – either for a specific period of time or until cancelled.
direct debits are:

	customers’ authority for beneficiaries to claim payments (variable in amount and frequency) from the customers’ accounts;
	and
	customers’ instructions to their bank to allow the taking of those payments.

A standing order requires the customer’s bank to send the money. A direct debit requires the beneficiary to claim the money.
Typically, a standing order might be used to pay a fixed amount to a savings account or to a local club. A direct debit is more likely to be used to make payments that can vary from time to time – such as mortgage instalments or utility bills or lease payments which allow for the possibility of changes in VAT or fluctuations in the taxes that make leasing worthwhile for both customer and lease company.
The day-to-day advantage of a direct debit over a standing order is that, as and when and indeed, if the payment amount changes, the beneficiary will claim the new amount automatically – but only after first telling the customer of the change. With a standing order, customers need to give their bank new instructions each time a change is needed.

How the systems work

Standing orders can be simpler than direct debits but are not usually acceptable for commercial repayments like leasing because of the cost of reset-ups if taxes and/or VAT fluctuate – nonetheless, they can be simpler because the beneficiary is not involved in claiming payments. At set times, the customer’s bank just sends the money to the beneficiary’s bank and only the customer can alter the payments. The beneficiary can be anyone.
In contrast, the variable nature of direct debits means that beneficiaries can claim different amounts at different times. This flexibility is the main advantage of the direct debit system – but there is a potential worry to some people that unscrupulous or inefficient beneficiaries might claim money that is not due to them.
It simply cannot happen – because to combat this – and to reassure customers – the direct debit system contains two main safeguards:

	The direct debit guarantee provides for the customer’s bank to refund disputed payments without question.
	Direct debits can only be set up for payments to beneficiaries that are approved ‘originators’ of direct debits. In order to be approved, these beneficiaries are subjected to careful vetting procedures – and, once approved, they are required to give indemnity guarantees through their banks. UK Vending Ltd is, and has been for many years, an approved Direct Debit originator and beneficiary.

Usually, the customer has to sign a direct debit form, although some particularly trusted originators are authorised to set up direct debits where the customer has given authority over the phone. If that sounds a little risky, remember that the originator must have obtained the bank account details from the customer – and that the customer is fully protected at al times by the Direct Debit Guarantee.
Payments themselves are made by a system that is in some ways based on the cheque clearing system. This means that the process usually starts two working days before the money is due to reach the beneficiary’s bank account.
Direct debits are processed through BACS (Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services), as follows:

Day 1:	BACS receives electronic details of all direct debit payments due on Day 3
Day 2:	BACS sorts the information between banks and gives each bank a report of all payments due on Day 3
Day 3:	Payments are made – the beneficiary’s bank account is credited, and the customer’s bank is debited

Just as with a cheque, a bank can ‘bounce’ a standing order or a direct debit if there’s not enough money in the customer’s account on Day 3 to cover it. And, in most circumstances, the customer can cancel, or ‘stop’, a standing order or a direct debit up to and during Day 3 – the day of payment.

Recent trends and developments

Consumers are making more and more use of direct debits. Over the past couple of years, transaction numbers have gone up by about 12%. In fact, DDMs (Direct Debit Mandates) have seen something of a surge in recent years – with the increased use of internet banking making it easier not just to set them up, but also to keep them up-to-date.
Since late 2003, BACS has comprised two organisations:

	BACS Limited – responsible for physically processing payments, and maintaining the payment network; and
	BACS Payment Systems Limited – governing the rules under which payments are made, and responsible for maintaining and developing the integrity of payment schemes.

The principal advantage of an automated ‘regular payments’ system is that, if it all works correctly, the right payments are made at the right times without regular human intervention. But ironically, this is also its biggest potential weakness. If, at the outset, payment information is keyed wrongly into the bank’s system, then payments will be made wrongly and will continue to be made wrongly until someone spots the mistake. Often, it will be the customer, not the bank, who discovers the problem –and sometimes only once the person who was expecting the money has complained that they’ve not received it.

Banking - Direct Debit Guarantee


Direct debits are now a major part of daily life, with many people using them each month to pay their household bills. The direct debit guarantee is a powerful safeguard for customers. So it’s important that firms make sure their staff understand its provisions so as not to make the mistake of refusing to set up a DDM to make important regular payments because of fear that something could go wrong – in any meaningful way it cannot go wrong as if some feels the wring sum has been taken they can call their bank and claim an immediate recredit to their account – no quibbles allowed by their bank – you ask and you get, it is that simple.
If you pay by standing order, it is up to your bank to send the payment. If you pay by direct debit, it is up to the payee’s bank to call for the payment, but you will rightly look to your own bank/building society to ensure the smooth running of any direct debits. Mistakes and errors are covered by the direct debit guarantee.
In summary - the direct debit guarantee applies to all banks and building societies taking part in the direct debit scheme. It says that:

	If there is a change in the amount to be paid or the payment date, the person receiving the payment (the originator) must notify the customer in advance.
	If the originator or the bank/building society makes an error, the customer is guaranteed a full and immediate refund of the amount paid.
	Customers can cancel a direct debit at any time by writing to their bank or building society.

Standing orders can be simpler than direct debits but are not usually acceptable for commercial repayments like leasing because of the cost of reset-ups if taxes and/or VAT fluctuate – nonetheless, they can be simpler because the beneficiary is not involved in claiming payments. At set times, the customer’s bank just sends the money to the beneficiary’s bank and only the customer can alter the payments. The beneficiary can be anyone.

Consumers are making more and more use of direct debits. Over the past couple of years, transaction numbers have gone up by about 16%. In fact, DDMs (Direct Debit Mandates) have seen something of a surge in recent years – with the increased use of internet banking making it is easier not just to set them up, but also to keep them up-to-date.

Martin Button is the Managing Director of UK Vending Ltd, Britain’s longest serving vending company. UK Vending Ltd (UKV) is a national supplier of prestige vending products and a provider of unique financial packages supporting UKV sales. UKV is a family owned business started some fifty years ago by Martin’s father John. It was the first vending company anywhere in the world hosted on the internet when most had not yet heard of the World Wide Web. One of Google’s ‘naturals’, UKV had an online shop before Amazon and Ebay. UKV had a successful background in email marketing before most companies had begun to understand its power. Imaginative marketing coupled with excellent staff recruitment and management, planning and customer service may be key to UKV’s long-term success in this competitive market. However, sheer business savvy and insight is what makes it work.
UK Vending Ltd

BEAN TO CUP COFFEE MACHINES; THERE BETTER CHOICE 0 comments

BEAN TO CUP COFFEE MACHINES; THERE BETTER CHOICE
If you speak to any self-confessed “coffee connoisseur” they will exclaim the virtues of bean to cup coffee machines to produce true barista style, coffee shop quality hot drinks. Many businesses will install a bean to cup coffee machine into their offices, believing they enhance the corporate image. However this is a fallacy! Find out the reality of bean to cup coffee.

 1 – “Bean to Cup produces the freshest quality coffee”

Reality - Coffee beans begin to go stale after just 3 days! Therefore if you fill up your bean hopper on Monday morning and don’t drink it all before Wednesday, your coffee will lose its freshness and subsequent drinks will taste bitter. Coffee beans themselves can also vary in quality reducing the consistency of the taste of coffee produced.

 2 – “Bean to Cup is the only way to get an authentic espresso and coffee shop style specialty drinks.”

Reality – True espresso needs to have water passed through the ground coffee at 9 bar pressure – this is what creates the crema. Most bean to cup coffee machines do not use 9 bar pressure, instead the water is drip fed through the coffee in much the same way a filter coffee machine does.

Most bean to cup machines are only able to use 2 types of beans max; therefore not offering a complete range to cover individual taste preferences. Even though they may use fresh milk to make Cappuccinos and other specialty drinks most don’t offer Tea and Chocolate

 3 – “Bean to Cup Coffee Machines are a stylish and cost effective addition to our office?”

Bean to cup machines are noisy due to many of moving parts inside including bean hopper, grinder, brewer etc.  The more moving parts a machine has the more chance there is of something going wrong. The average bean to cup machine breaks down 4 times a year. This unreliability increases the cost of service cover per machine and leaves your staff without drinks.

The number of service calls has a direct relationship to the overall maintenance of the machine. The moving parts within a bean to cup machine all require a weekly deep clean to remove the buildup of coffee grounds and residue. A leased machine should have the deep clean treatment incorporated into the rental costs as general maintenance. If not this cost is usually recouped through a lack of quality service and subsequent machine failures and service callouts.

Why not check your machine? Run a rinse cycle and the water should come out crystal clear! If not that water is going into your drinks!

Of course there will always be those who wish to have a bean to cup machine despite the realities and practicalities. However it is now possible to get the range and quality of coffee shop drinks, using freshly ground ingredients, from the Flavia Creation coffee machine designed for commercial environments.

Before investing in a coffee machine for your office, it’s worthwhile to have demonstration and even taste the great tasting drinks from the Flavia machine, find out how they compare to bean to cup?

For your FREE tasting click here

See Flavia machine on-line

UK Vending Ltd

Flavia Drinks Herbal Bundle 0 comments

Herbal drinks from the Bright Tea Co for you Flavia drinks machine.

A third of SMEs unaware of capital allowances 0 comments

Just one in three small businesses are aware that they can reduce their tax bill by claiming allowances for outlay on new equipment, according to research from Cambridge University's Centre for Business Research (CBR).

The report blames the Government's failure to promote capital allowances and has prompted calls for a change to the system.

The CBR survey of 2,500 small firms also revealed that of the third of small firms that were aware of capital allowances, just five per cent were taking advantage of them.

"The survey shows that HM Treasury needs to rethink the current capital allowance regime," said Stephen Sklaroff director general at the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), which sponsored the research. "More needs to be done to spread awareness among SMEs, and the same allowances should be available for both leased and purchased assets. This would lower costs for small businesses, and provide the economy with a much-needed investment boost at just the right time."

Businesses can claim capital allowances on certain purchases or investments, such as machinery, property, and research and development. Firms can deduct a proportion of these costs from their taxable profits and reduce their tax bill.

According to the FLA, the current capital allowance system does not support the typical pattern of SME investment, which often involves leased assets that are ineligible for capital allowances, rather than outright purchase.

Sklaroff added that if capital allowances could be transferred when a company leases an asset rather than purchases it, the number of SMEs that make use of the scheme would be much greater.
"The increased allowance would lead to lower rental payments for the business, and would encourage investment, particularly in environmentally-friendly assets, where 100 per cent of the cost of the investment can be claimed as an allowance," said Sklaroff. "At the moment, the lessor can only claim 25 per cent of the cost of the investment back."

Responding to the results of the survey, an HM Treasury spokesman said that the government did not believe that the current capital allowance regime for SMEs was failing.

"Take-up of capital allowances by SMEs is between 50 and 60 per cent," he said. "The capital allowances system is a long-established and familiar system, which is well liked and understood by the majority of businesses.

"Furthermore, the system has been made even more generous by changes introduced from April this year," he added.

Since April 2008, small businesses buying equipment can claim a 40 per cent annual allowance, while firms investing in green assets can claim first year allowances of 100 per cent.

Unilever recently announced plans to source our entire tea supply sustainably 0 comments

It's a move set to improve the lives and livelihoods of millions around the world and revolutionise the entire tea industry.

Sustainably-souced tea

As the world's largest tea company, currently buying around 12% of the world's entire black tea supply, Unilever is becoming the first-ever business to source all its tea sustainably.

Working with Unilever is Rainforest Alliance, an independent non-governmental organisation concerned with promoting biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods. With a strong track record in sustainable certification, particularly for coffee and fruit, Rainforest Alliance will be responsible for auditing and evaluating the tea farms that supply Unilever against a comprehensive range of sustainability criteria.

Target 2010

Lipton, the world's best-selling tea, will be among the first to carry the Rainforest Alliance logo, showing that they meet the sustainability criteria. The plan is to have all Lipton Yellow Label tea bags sold in Western Europe certified by 2010 and all Lipton tea bags sold globally by 2015. The first certified tea will be available to restaurants and the catering trade in Europe from August this year.

Two million to benefit
The wide-ranging criteria for certification include social and environmental issues and will have a tangible impact on quality of life.

"What this means overall is that the producers – up to two million people around the world who are producing Unilever tea – will have an opportunity to improve their water supplies, to protect wildlife, to live in dignified housing, to ensure protection against chemicals, and to really take care of their families – as well as the planet on which we live," says Tensie Whelan, executive director of Rainforest Alliance.