Chris Hayes, Managing Director, sends a letter to inform about news from the SPATA and BISHTA associations.

New services for SPATA and BISHTA members

"SPATA and BISHTA membership has just got even better value for money, with the addition of Quest Services, with four services: HR, H & S, Legal and Tax, Providing five advice lines, three document libraries and 750+ template documents. Quest Services can help businesses with; saving money, saving time, protecting businesses, and providing peace of mind. 

Trade association members can assess this new service via the online Members' Hub. People interested in finding out more can visit the SPATA and BISHTA websites and read about Quest and all the other members' benefits in the Trade section of the website, as well as find out about the trade association's training, meetings, webinars, the annual British Pool & Hot Tub Awards, and find out more about becoming a member and how it can help your business. 

All Members have access to the Members Hub, a great online resource library with lots of helpful content that is regularly updated and can be accessed from any desktop or mobile device 24/7, 365 days a year. The online resources include; Industry Standards and supplements, members' factsheets, documentation, webinar and presentation recordings, PR and Marketing resources and much more!

SPATA and BISHTA set the Standards for the wet leisure industry, and thanks to the hard work of the Technical Committee, these Standards are regularly reviewed to ensure the latest guidance applies.  Any relevant amendments are circulated via the weekly members' enews and listed in the Members' Hub. The latest item to go into the Members' Hub includes a webinar recording from Nsure about insurance packages that can protect your business. 

Our friends at Wright Hassall have kindly provided an article on Domestic Reverse Charge, intended to remove the VAT charge from sales invoices in the construction industry, but only for specific supplies to certain customers in certain circumstances. Members (and prospective members) can read this on the SPATA and BISHTA website blogs. 

Thanks to the continued efforts of Will Dando at Plastica and other members of SPATA's Technical Committee, work is progressing on a useful xls calculator tool to help meet the requirements in the domestic outdoor pool standard EN 17645 'Environmental performance efficiency - Performance evaluation, methodology, and classification of the use of pools and their equipment'. The standard is now available, and once the xls calculator is in place, further training will be provided.

Work is also continuing with colleagues at the HSE to better understand the water hygiene management regimes for hot tubs in business settings and spas in commercial settings. It is hoped to use the experiences of members (and the wider industry) to identify what is happening now and what may be possible to revisit in future guidance of HSG 282.

BISHTA is again looking to make further progress on 'Hot Tubs in Business Settings' with a follow-up meeting to be held in the Forest of Dean, courtesy of Ryan Birchnall and Forest Holidays. This will further develop the earlier discussions at Forest Holidays' venue in Cropton, Yorkshire. One of the outcomes is to arrange some holiday park operator training.

Discussions continue with members and the wider industry about supporting and promoting the 'Selling Chemicals Responsibly' Code. It is vital that our industry is aware of its legal responsibilities and can advise staff about what they should and should not be doing. An article on this subject can be read on the online SPATA and BISHTA blogs. 

Finally, having been in my role for 15 years, I have met many people passionate about helping the industry and have tried to thank many of them over the years. I wanted to say another thank you to Jamie Adams, who has recently retired from Golden Coast. On joining the BSPF, the Board tasked Jamie (along with Patrick Thorpe and Allen Brobyn) to help me with the various roles and responsibilities. Jamie was BSPF President at the time and later went on to be PIP Chairman. Jamie, I trust you will enjoy your next chapter with Adele and your family.

Wishing everyone a great summer."

Chris Hayes