Staff Focus - June Wiltshire and Shelley Vincett
Shelley Vincett
Shelley joined Charterhouse in 2004, where she now definitely feels part of the furniture.
Having originally joined Charterhouse as an Outsourcing Co-ordinator to make sure that work being sent abroad was done with care and precision, when this side of the company took a different route, Shelley remained with Charterhouse and moved into finance, often assisting the admin department.
Shelley already had previous experience in this field so was able to take on the role, like a duck to water. She has been in this area ever since, working her way up to Finance & Credit Control Supervisor. One of her favourite parts of the job is being able to speak to clients.
When not working, she is a supporting wife and mum to 2 teenage children. They all love to ski each year and travelling to different destinations. When they can’t ski, they head for the water to be able to take on the waves, body boarding.
June Wiltshire – Office and Admin Manager
June joined Charterhouse in November 2011 having previously been Fleet and Office Manager for a high security company, where she was responsible for the day-to-day running of 2 offices and a warehouse and also for the leasing of all company vehicles.
June has always viewed admin as the backbone of any company as it provides support and assistance to other departments and ensures the smooth running of the organisation,, allowing each department to concentrate on their role within the business.
When she is not working, June enjoys green bowls and is a member of a club where they play in the local league. June has 3 sons and 2 grandsons and another one due imminently, who she enjoys spending time with. She keeps telling friends they are creating their own football team.
Finance and Admin, what do they do and how do they support the business?
Finance and admin, what do they do and how do they support the business?
Finance and admin are the unsung heroes of the business, without whom the business would not be able to operate. The roles are varied but cover all the operational sides of the business.
The role of Office Manager is to be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the office, including supervising admin staff, reception, managing office supplies and equipment and ensuring that the office runs smoothly. It is also responsible for the upkeep of the data base and ensuring our systems are GDPR compliant, and much, much more. No day is ever the same as they never know what to expect.
The Office Manager also organises our fee protection insurance each year which covers client’s costs if they are investigated by HMRC. We try and encourage all clients to take this out.
Health and Safety also falls within the role, training First Aiders and Fire Marshals, and making sure the business complies with all rules and regulations that are put in place at the time, as was especially important during the COVID pandemic.
The Finance and Credit Control Supervisor oversees our finance and processes the credit control for the business, working with the team to ensure clients have all the support they need. There are 2 others in the Finance Team that assist and work with the supervisor. Firstly, the Finance and Compliance Administrator, who assists with the day to day running of the finance chores and the Management Accountant, who prepares the Charterhouse financial and management accounts.
Buy-to-let businesses can still be profitable, but how?
With continued pressure on borrowing from higher interest rates, buy-to-let investors are, understandably, concerned about the profitability of their investments and businesses. This challenge is soon to be compounded by the proposed changes to minimum energy efficiency standards which could also incur significant costs for landlords. These two factors, combined with the increase in other costs are putting more pressure on landlords.
In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, Chris Etherington of RMC discussed what landlords can do to minimise their tax burden when facing the different financial legislative changes. The article seems to present a picture of doom and gloom, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
There is some hope for landlords, as we have highlighted in previous articles, typically there are many ways in which landlords do not have the most efficient set up for their property business, including the long term impact on inheritance tax (IHT). However, there are ways to ensure that your business is set up in the best way to ensure you are only paying the correct amount of tax and benefitting from all the opportunities available to you as landlords.
There are many other ways that a business can become more tax efficient and Charterhouse will discuss these with you to ensure you are in the right business structure. In particular Charterhouse has been working for the past ten years and has now developed a process that allows a property business to be set up in a unique way to minimise the tax burden and ensure the business is still running profitably.
For more information have a look at our website.
All businesses are different and the long-term objectives of the owners will be different from looking to make a short term profit to wanting to build a business that can be passed down to children as part of their inheritance. This is where our team of experts come in. We will look at your business and your individual aims and advise you on how to best set up the business to ensure you add the most value.
Charity Day – We came, we saw, we volunteered…
Blessed by glorious weather, although maybe a little too hot for the manual work, all of our team spent Friday 7th September volunteering for St Luke’s Hospice Harrow and Kids Can Achieve (KCA).
These type of volunteering days have always meant a huge amount to the charities, who survive on the goodwill of volunteers, but they also meant a huge amount to our team of volunteers which was clear to see at the evening where we all got together for a well deserved drink and something to eat.
For those working in the gardens at both sites it was a very hot day, but what a glorious way to be able to give something back to two amazing charities. For those working in the shops and warehouse at St Luke’s it was just as hot but no risk of sunburn.
The work the team did was incredible, from clearing a garden area for new developments at St Luke’s to clearing up gardens and storage facilities at KCA. It is important to remember the wonderful benefit that the gardens provide to the children at KCA and the patients and their families at St Luke’s. The work we undertook in the shops is just as important, if not more so, as the sale of items donated provide much needed income for the charity and in the current climate, is even more important than ever. With St Luke’s having recently opened a new warehouse the work of the team was invaluable, helping them to sort all donations that can be sold and even those items that can’t be used are sent for recycling helping contribute to a circular economy.
The stories are too many to list, but a picture speaks a thousand words and there are many pictures here to show you what we were doing. Suffice to say there was an “unnamed” source quoted as saying that the Charterhouse team were the best team of volunteers the charity had ever seen.
If you want to find out more about our work with the charities please read more here.
Thank you to both St Luke’s and KCA for giving us the chance to run the day and for the services and support they give to the community. Most importantly, thank you to the whole team here at Charterhouse, who worked tirelessly all day and, whilst there may be some sore hands and feet, the smiles will last much longer.
There were many more stories to tell from the evening, but we will leave those for another day.
Outsourcing your payroll – is it worth it and what are the benefits to your business?
Outsourcing is often seen as a double edge sword, it may save you time but what is the real cost?
To be able to truly understand the benefits of outsourcing your payroll function, it is essential you speak to an expert to ensure your business will maximise the benefits of adopting a ‘best practice’ approach to remain compliant.
That is why Charterhouse are offering a free consultation with our payroll expert, to allow you to understand how the process could work and bring benefit and value to your business.
As a business, there is often pressure on the time of all members of your team, so trying to find ways to minimise time spent on daily administrative tasks to allow the team to focus on managing their business tasks is essential.
Often, running payroll for the business, be it weekly, monthly or chosen pay production frequency can be time consuming.
As a business we strive to help our clients improve the efficiency of their business and one way we do this is to manage the payroll duties for them. This has now been made more efficient having adopted Paycircle as our payroll platform.
In selecting a payroll service the guide for employers is to ensure the payroll software is compliant and adheres to legislation. We have already done this for you to ensure the accuracy of processing your payroll and provide the expertise needed to ensure any issues are minimal, thus saving you time and money.
Outsourcing your payroll duties to Charterhouse means:
- All your payroll and/or pension production will be handled
- We will produce and issue standard or bespoke reports for your accounting and HR purposes
- Our online portal will provide you access to your payslips/P60s
- The system produces BACS files for your records
Read more about Paycircle and the benefits it can deliver for your business here.
To speak to our team to discuss outsourcing your payroll please contact us.
Wycombe Homeless Connection (WHC) Charity Golf Day 2023 – the results
On a beautiful afternoon in September at Chartridge Golf Club in Buckinghamshire, we held our annual fundraising golf day for Wycombe Homeless Connection (WHC) and as always, the real winner on the day was the charity.
However, there is always a little healthy competition and with nine teams taking part the winners were:
- First – Guy Pethybridge and his Action Coach team – 108 points
- Second – Angus Menzies and his Horsfield Menzies team – 101 points
- Third – Ian Robert and his Moore Kingston Smith team – 97 points
The Charterhouse team came in 6th with a respectable 92 points.
But as mentioned, the real winners were the charity with over £5,000 raised.
With this year’s day now completed the only thing left to do is start planning for next year’s event which will be held on Friday 13th September 2024. If you are interested in entering a team, please contact David White.
The final mention is a big thank you to all those involved including Creed Food Service who attended for the first time and all the other teams who attended, some who have been there every year and of course all at Chartridge Golf Club who ensured we had a great day and delicious meal.
Finally, to all those others who took part and helped us raise an incredible amount of money for WHC.
To find out more about the day please contact us.