Winding-up Petition served on HES but DEAs are safe
Quidos Managing Director, Philip Salaman, issued a recorded statement to the DEA Podcast last week (Full market HIPs - DEA Roundtable). This is the full transcript.
Full statement transcript
"On legal advice, Quidos have issued a winding-up notice on HES Ltd. This is because of their failure to settle a significant debt owed to Quidos, despite numerous written and verbal assurances of payment, and further, then failing to honour a payment schedule which they themselves had proposed. This now means HES have 21 days to settle the debt, otherwise they will be forced into administration and cease to trade.
We deeply regret having to take this course of action, and the distress it will cause to many innocent HES employees and indeed the 225 self-employed DEAs that have been caught up in this mess. Yet ultimately HES have to take responsibility for the fact they obtained from Quidos services which they have substantially not paid for.
We took the decision to make this issue public, since we were concerned about the rumour, and inaccuracies, that were portraying Quidos in a bad light. We have always sought to demonstrate our honesty, integrity, and commitment to the individual DEAs and industry as a whole. Furthermore, HES are no doubt answerable to others not least the individual DEAs who they have made promises to.
We had originally stated we would be pursuing HES for the return of the services they had obtained from us, but since this would mean the unethical step of retrieving individuals qualifications, we have since decided (against legal advice) not to adopt this strategy. Hence all DEA's that have qualified through the Quidos training programme, are still valid DEAs.
Unfortunately we have suspended the remaining training for other candidates introduced through HES; quite simply as we have little expectation of HES ever paying the full debt. Accordingly, we have contacted each directly and proposed a way forward to enable them to work as DEAs as soon as possible.
We have received a part payment from HES this week, but sadly this represents less than 25% of the total invoice sum. It is a step in the right direction, but there is still some way to go.
This incident yet again highlights the highly variable standards of practice and training in this industry. As an example there are a great number of training providers which have accepted significant payments from very many individuals with a promise of relevant training, permanent jobs, unachievable salaries.
Hence, there has to be a regulatory authority applied to prevent such future actions.
AHIPP and the PCCB, both of which we have positive experience of, could be sensible models to at least start with.
Quidos would gladly join up to a scheme regulating training providers as well. This is even more necessary, given the future need for CPD training that can only be provided by Accreditation Schemes approved companies.
Finally, we once again apologise for the distress and frustration caused to all affected DEAs; however, we hope our position can be understood as such matters are better aired than hidden away. Please do not hesitate to pick up the phone to me personally if you wish to discuss any of this.
Philip Salaman, MD, Quidos."
Tags: quidos, hes, business-news
