Questions and Answers

Who are “Freedom to Speak Up guardians” and are they relevant to social care?

Just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine we were in the process of preparing a shipment to go to Yoshkar-Ola in Russia. We were using Incoterm® FCA for this shipment, as we understand Ex works doesn’t work well for shipments being exported outside of the UK.

It reached the UK border but, before it was physically exported, the sanctions were put in place and therefore the items were returned to us to stock until shipment is possible again.

Now our customer in Russia is saying we failed in our obligation to clear the goods for export.

It is my understanding that we did prepare the shipment for export, by issuing an invoice with all information required and instructing the courier to come and collect / ship the items to our customer. Please can you advise on the use of this term?

What exactly is “chemical recycling” of plastic, and why is it contentious?

What were the findings of the EHRC’s Inquiry into Racial Inequality in Health and Social Care Workplaces?

We sell goods to an intermediary in Singapore who buys on behalf of a company in India. To save time and cost, the Singapore customer has asked whether we can deliver directly to India by making the goods available to their Indian customer’s freight forwarder at our GB warehouse.

Can you advise what are the considerations if we were to do this, especially if the goods were subject to export licence. Is it possible for Singapore to export the goods from the UK using their invoices/paperwork, if they make reference to our GB EORI and export licence and provide proof of export? Or would they have to obtain the export licence in their name?

I work in the hospitality sector. My board has concluded that the only way forward is to offer a bank of “zero-hours” contracts. How should I draw up such contracts and ensure that they are effective and fair?

My contractor tells me a job will be delayed and costs might go up because of materials shortages. What can I do?

Should I discuss contingency plans with a person with a learning disability for whom I provide paid-for care in case our service provision is affected by staffing pressures?

We have signed up to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) via the Government Gateway and nominated a team member to access CDS on our behalf. HMRC sent the team member a log in and a temporary password to me but my team member cannot “see” CDS on the Government Gateway.

Could you explain how this works and why CDS is not listed on the tax accounts you can access and add to your Gateway?

What happened to the proposal for employers to be able to use agency workers during strikes?