Trainee and qualified DEAs caught in crossfire - Again!
Quidos has tonight issued a damning statement against Home Energy Services Ltd (HES) claiming it has failed to honour its promise to pay a "significant sum" in payment for training its Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs).
The payment - pledged by Gordon Bell (HES Managing Director) during a crisis meeting with Quidos at their Bath head office last Friday - failed to materialise yesterday despite assurances payment was made on Wednesday, just gone.
This apparently follows "endless promises" given by HES since the account became due, some two months ago.
In his statement, Philip Salaman - Managing Director of Quidos - wrote:
We do not know the real reason why HES have chosen not to settle the debt. They have told us they do not have the cash, but this does not seem to accord with the fact that they are now themselves attempting to train people, and not just DEAs; they also have told us that they are shortly to train plumbers and the like!
It is also claimed that HES hired one of Quidos' trainers to conduct training for them, without their knowledge.
Quidos will now instruct its legal team to issue a Winding-Up order on HES:
Our legal advisers will now be providing HES with a winding up order; this effectively means they have 21 days to settle the debt, or the company will go into administration, and no longer exist. We imagine the employees of HES will be as shocked as you, to find out they will no longer have a job, and we regret this consequence of our action.
More controversially - and more damaging for DEAs caught in the crossfire - Quidos is not releasing qualifications to those due them:
Those who are in Group B & C [see below - edit] will unfortunately not receive your qualification, and hence not be able to become accredited at the present time, as things presently stand. We will also be reclaiming the ABBE certificates (and hence qualification) of all of those in Group A.
DEAs already accredited won't escape the fall-out either - After taking legal counsel Quidos say they:
...also need to contact the various accreditation schemes and ask them to suspend those individuals as active DEA’s.
The statement adds:
We obviously understand the distress this will cause the 89 affected individuals; and please understand if we could continue with your qualification we would. Yet HES’s fundamental breach of its contract with us, followed by a series of false promises to remedy, has forced us into this situation.
I have spoken to Philip Salaman this evening, just before he left the office, and I have to say, he sounded audibly shaken and washed-out.
He has agreed to make a statement on next weeks DEA podcast to clarify a few points.
If you are affected by this scandalous mess, the full statement is below.
Black Friday
Below is a copy of an email sent to all candidates that have been trained/qualified via HES. It is not good news I am afraid.
Dear HES Candidate
This email has been written over many weeks, and has been delayed on multiple occasions to try and find a mutually positive outcome. Unfortunately this has not happened, so it is with regret that late on a Friday evening we are forced to send this communication to you.
In short, HES have not paid the debt owed to Quidos for the training/portfolio verification and other contracted services which we provided directly for your benefit, and another 230 candidates. HES have accepted they owe Quidos this debt, and it does involve a significant amount of money.
Over the last month we have tried relentlessly to extract this money from HES to avoid impacting the candidates (you). HES have made endless promises, spun numerous stories and even offered a Payment Schedule and confirmed the first amount would be transferred by yesterday. Alas, nothing.
On the evidence before us we have had no choice but to conclude that HES will not settle the Debt.
So what is the situation?
Quidos provided training, and portfolio verification to 231 candidates; all forwarded from HES – supposedly as HES employees (a fact we quickly discovered was not true, as indeed HES later confirmed, that candidates were self-employed).
To date the following numbers are:
- Group A 142 Fully Qualified
- Group B 29 Fully Qualified (yet to receive certificate)
- Group C 60 Partly qualified (either to Pass exam, or have portfolio verified)
HES have always been very happy with our service (they have confirmed this in writing on several occasions), and this failure to settle the debt is not because of our inability to provide the training/qualification. You will obviously have your own opinions of our service to you.
We do not know the real reason why HES have chosen not to settle the debt. They have told us they do not have the cash, but this does not seem to accord with the fact that they are now themselves attempting to train people, and not just DEAs; they also have told us that they are shortly to train plumbers and the like!
HES have presumably collected significant sums from each of you based upon what we have been told by many of you already. Where this money has gone is anyone’s guess!
Like us, we are sure you will draw your own conclusions.
ABBE have been very happy with our ability as training centre, and indeed we were granted “direct claim” status within 3 months of approval as an ABBE accredited training provider.
What have we done to recoup the outstanding debt?
The majority of this debt is now over 2 months past the settlement date; and considering the amount we felt it necessary to suspend all further training as of 29th October. As mentioned, HES have since that date continued with the training regardless, by directly engaging one of our trainers (without our knowledge) for their course on 29th October. At this stage we decided to take legal advice, and as such pursued HES for the outstanding debt for all work completed to date. As earlier alluded to, despite repeated communications from HES that monies were imminent, none have been produced.
Last Friday, 9th November, we met with Mr Gordon Bell (MD of HES Ltd), and a Mr Derek Bell, whom claimed to be a long-standing (of several years) financial adviser to “HES Group”, at our offices in Bath. We were at the time unable to discover what exactly HES Group were, or indeed who controlled it, or what structure it has.
Once again, like us, you will draw your own conclusions.
Anyway, the upshot of this meeting was that we postponed (again) this communication with you, to agree a Schedule of Payments to settle the outstanding debt. We were informed personally by Mr Gordon Bell that a significant sum had been paid into our account on Wednesday 14th November. This has not happened.
Present Situation
Regrettably, and following legal advice to the effect, we will not be processing any further qualifications for any of the “Group C” (above). We will also not be sending out any certificates for “Group B” (above). Unless we receive settlement from HES.
We obviously understand the distress this will cause the 89 affected individuals; and please understand if we could continue with your qualification we would. Yet HES’s fundamental breach of its contract with us, followed by a series of false promises to remedy, has forced us into this situation.
We realise that you all must have paid money to HES in good faith for a service that you legitimately believed would be provided. You are the innocent party in this; however HES have behaved badly, and possibly even fraudulently; by taking your money and not providing the service they have a contract with you to provide. This is merely speculation on our part as we simply do not know the full facts.
What happens now?
Our legal advisers will now be providing HES with a winding up order; this effectively means they have 21 days to settle the debt, or the company will go into administration, and no longer exist. We imagine the employees of HES will be as shocked as you, to find out they will no longer have a job, and we regret this consequence of our action.
We are not expert in such matters but the advice we have is that the administrators will go through the HES accounts, and any monies remaining will be used to settle whatever of the debt is possible.
Those who are in Group B & C (above) will unfortunately not receive your qualification, and hence not be able to become accredited at the present time, as things presently stand.
We will also be reclaiming the ABBE certificates (and hence qualification) of all of those in Group A. We have received part-payment for the majority of these individuals, but considerably less than the amount owed.
As such, we will then also need to contact the various accreditation schemes and ask them to suspend those individuals as active DEA’s.
For the record, we would like to stress, that this is definitely not what we would like to do, and realise that you are impacted as an individual far more than HES are as a company.
We, of course, will still use all available channels to continue to pursue HES, and Mr Bell, for settlement of the debt.
The future
Please understand that this action is the last resort we have been forced to turn to, and whilst we sympathise with your plight, we also have to act in accordance with the rules, codes and conventions of our industry as well as with the law.
With HES clearly now “out of the loop”, we have some ideas for how we might now seek to redress the situation going forward and therefore do please feel free to contact our Managing Director, Philip Salaman, or Training Manager, Luke Sheppard on 01225 448 500 to discuss the matter.
Regards,
Philip Salaman
PS This message has been copied to all 231 candidates and to HES, the CLG, ABBE, Northgate Accreditation Scheme, and a version will be posted on the HomeInspectorForum.co.uk
Philip Salaman
Managing Director, Quidos Ltd.
[Added: HES responds to Quidos statement]
Back in July, Quidos stepped-in to train 167 HES trainees after a similar dispute erupted between HES and training provider, ECMK.
Tags: quidos, hes, dea-training, business-news
