PCG newsletter 22/02: August 9, 2002: PCG Directors' Report

In this issue:

• PCG Board of Directors Quarterly Report
  
• Real Life Meetings

1. PCG Board of Directors Quarterly Report
(August 2002)

Your current Board of Directors is now 3 months into its term and, as part of our drive to improve the level of communication and knowledge dissemination, we intend to publish regular brief quarterly reports to members highlighting what has been achieved or is underway and indicating our short term plans.

Infrastructure
The infrastructure required to support a trade association-style organisation, committed to concurrently addressing multiple issues on behalf of a member population in excess of 12,000 members, is substantially different to that of a single issue pressure group with just 2,000 members. In its brief history, PCG has evolved dramatically and the original loose processes are not sufficiently robust to support an organisation that aspires to even further substantial membership growth.

The 2001/2002 BoD recognised this problem and increased the number of Directors in order to keep pace with the increasing workload and allow the opportunity to address remodelling of our infrastructure without severely impacting upon progress with the issues on our agenda. In addition, we have appointed a Commercial Manager (Pamela Edwards) who will advise the BoD and help deliver a more effective infrastructure.

An open ITT has been issued inviting Business Process Analysts to bid for an assignment aimed at reviewing and improving our most critical administrative functions. The 7 quality respondents have been whittled down to a shortlist of 3 and the contract is expected to be awarded shortly.

Consultative Council
The relationship between your 2001/2002 Board of Directors and Consultative Council was not wholly harmonious and, without dwelling on the past, a discordant element succeeded in becoming an unwelcome distraction. Such is not the case with the current BoD and CC, who enjoy a mutually supportive and co-operative working partnership. We are especially fortunate to have a CC comprising quality individuals who are committed to working with each other and for the PCG. Several CC members have already made important contributions to the development of our plans and we aim to involve all CC members as those plans are refined into identifiable actions.

Strategy
One of the first tasks addressed by your Board was the formulation of a strategy roadmap to take us into 2003. In truth, this is more a statement of intent rather than a strategy document and your Board has had several follow-up meetings to the original May ‘Away Day´ in order to translate elements of the roadmap into actionable items.

Marketing
Your Board is very well aware that the ‘PCG message´ has been inadequately promoted to contractors outside the PCG and, for that matter, to PCG members as well. Historically, the PCG has focused on Press management (very effectively, thanks to Susie Hughes) and not made any concerted attempt to market its aims and achievements or membership benefits. To improve our chances of conducting our campaigns successfully, we need a stronger voice from a combination of key relevant alliances and a substantial growth in membership numbers. We also need additional members to boost our financial resources and so extend the range and scope of the activities that we want to tackle. It follows, therefore, that we need to raise the profile of the PCG with complementary organisations and potential recruits alike.

Your Board is currently formulating a Marketing Plan which we hope to be able to publish before the end of August. Measures for improving internal communication will form an integral part of the Marketing Plan and a number of areas are under consideration, including a revamped website, redesigned newsletter and the introduction of bulletins such as this one.

In the meantime, Contracting Matters (issue 2) will be hitting members´ doormats within the week and a second tranche of circa 80,000 copies will be distributed via a variety of channels. Your help in passing CM2 to potential recruits would be very welcome. The publication date for CM2 was scheduled to coincide with the availability of Route35 (see next item).

Route35
This product has been launched via Contracting Matters (issue 2) and represents a significant step forward in offering members peace of mind opposite IR35. It was conceived and honed by members via the website fora, illustrating the awesome power of our internet community in terms of developing an idea into a product for the benefit of all PCG members. As you might imagine, during this past 3 months, the BoD has been primarily focusing on delivery of this product. Our thanks go to everyone who made a contribution.

Campaigns
Progress is being made on several fronts, so much so that, for brevity, only the highlights are summarised below.

Our Case Law strategy for combating IR35 continues to mature but it is the nature of the beast that there is little to show until the cases are heard. Currently, this initiative is based upon, primarily the Lisa Fernley (Special Commissioners), Gordon Stutchbury (General Commissioners) and Mark Sheerin (General Commissioners) cases but further volunteer cases would be welcomed.

An open ITT for Political Lobbying Consultancy has been issued with a view to strengthening our lobbying capability. It is expected that the contract will be awarded at the end of August.

Philip Ross and Gurdial Rai continued to build on the successes opposite Work Permits UK with the removal of C/C++ and Javascript from the list of alleged skills shortages (see Press Notices on www.pcgroup.org.uk).

Philip Ross and Andy White have been meeting with representatives of REC. In addition, both have been working to influence a variety of Government and Civil Service departments, politicians and trade associations.

The PCG-ATSCo Working Party held an inaugural meeting last month.

Susie Hughes has continued to guide our Press activity with an article in the Aberdeen Press & Journal, the PCG´s response to Dawn Primarolo´s infamous “PCG have been silent" claim, Richard Robson´s 15 minutes of fame in a Guardian article, Philip Ross appeared in a live webcast on outsourcing and security and we issued various press notices, including the PCG´s submission to the Government on FTVs, the PCG´s response to ESM changes and the PCG´s response to removal of C/C++ and Javascript from the list of skills shortages.

2002 Conference
Planning for this not-to-be-missed event on the 26th October is well along the way with the development of an overall theme, event structure and probable venue (near Reading). We are now looking for experienced event management specialists to help translate the concept into reality. An open ITT has been issued and we expect to award the contract shortly. One of the first tasks for the successful applicant will be to critique our provisional plans and offer expert advice to ensure a memorable and successful conference. Please make sure to reserve the date in your diary.

2. Real Life Meetings

PCG members hold local meetings to socialise, to network and to discuss PCG issues. These meetings are open to everybody, and new members are welcome to come along.

West Midlands - August 14, 2002
The next meeting will of the West Midlands group will be on Wednesday 14th August at the Rose and Crown at Junction 3 of the M42. at 7:30pm. The formal hour will start at 8pm. The Agenda for this meeting will include: update on campaigns progress; Contracting Matters and PCG Business. Non-PCG item - strategies for collaborative working.

Glos/Wilts - August 21, 2002
Golden Heart, Nettleton, Glos (A419) from 7.30pm. Newcomers welcome

Details of this and other Real Life Meetings in the forum:
https://www.pcgroup.org.uk/threads/wwwthreads.pl?a=l&f=meet

To promote your local meeting through the newsletter - email [email protected] with REGIONS in the subject matter, details of the event and a name and email contact point/or phone number for further information.

Issued on behalf of:
Professional Contractors Group

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This newsletter is published by the Professional Contractors Group.
Please feel free to circulate the newsletter to other independent contractors who may be interested in joining the PCG. Members are also encouraged to share the latest news and analysis with interested agents, clients and accountants.

Some links in the newsletter will take you into the password-protected members' area of the PCG website. If you have forgotten your password, contact https://www.pcgroup.org.uk/scripts/public/access/form.pl
To view the Forum links in this newsletter, you must be first logged into the Forum. Further details available at
https://www.pcgroup.org.uk/members/discussion_forum.html