Innovation History

Firstly can I thank you for your assistance, guidance and understanding in helping me with this matter. The service I have received from you has been first class and you have been a pleasure to deal with. I was very upset when we first made contact due to the increased deduction that was taken this month and although that has happened now, what you are now suggesting moving forward makes sense…….even to someone like myself who was really struggling to understand the system. It is very rare in this day and age that you have the benefit of dealing with someone who calls you when they say they are. You have followed up all our conversations with a fully informative email too. I was very set to ask to step out of the scheme, and although I still have my concerns with how my new working pattern is going to work, its thanks to you that I am going to continue for the time being. Thank you again Helen, I appreciate all your help so far, and look forward to working with you over the next few months and hopefully more.

Vicky,

“Fuel Card Optimiser was not particularly a ‘tax led’ project for Biffa. The stakeholder team was very large and of a multi-disciplinary nature. Innovation proved time and again their specialist knowledge in this overall project area and took time to explain in great detail to the whole project team and the relevant stakeholders the fundamentals of FFO and the legal framework in which it sits. They made this complex area of law very accessible to experts and non-experts alike."

Julian Bowden-Williams, Head of Tax & Treasury, Biffa Limited

“Because the whole process has gone so smoothly from the outset, we have actually needed very little face-to-face time with Peter.  He is always available at the end of the phone no matter what the query and the whole service has taken up far less management time than we first envisaged. This is only our first year but we are track to make very sizable savings for both ourselves and the employees.”

Marcus Lamont, HR Director , Everest Ltd 

“Under the new arrangement our staff get to keep their fuel cards but the cost to us of that provision has been reduced by over £1,000 a head. The solution does require the collation of business mileage records but staff are happy to do this because they understand the benefits to the business as well as themselves.”

Gordon Shepherd, Finance Director, Osborne

“We have achieved a 100% compliance every month from day one. All the drivers submit their monthly mileage logs on time. Innovation check every single journey for compliance and train/educate drivers where appropriate. We would be pleased to endorse Innovation and recommend them to others.  We have found Innovation to particularly knowledgeable in this area compared to others as well as highly professional."

David Lowe, Head of Procurement, Fowler Welch

“We made considerable gross savings thanks to the Fuel Card Optimiser solution in-line with Innovation projections.  Importantly, all our employees are either cost neutral or in many cases are better off than before.  I am happy to recommend Innovation Professional Services to other construction firms in particular and indeed to all businesses in general."

Peter Rose, Shared Service Director, Galliford Try

“The arrangement delivers savings for both the company, which are significant and also ensures that also benefit, or at the very least are no worse off whilst helping the company save cost. The team at Innovation have been professional throughout, producing high quality employee communications and dealing promptly and thoroughly with any queries that have been raised through the transition process as we launched the product. We would have no hesitation in recommending them to others.”

Catriona Smith, Head of HR, McNicholas

“They presented us with an idea that would save circa £1,000 per year for each member of staff who received the private fuel benefit. I am naturally risk averse and cautious with any new supplier, but after meeting John it gave us the confidence to move forward quickly. WE are nearly 2-yrs in – Innovation have done everything the said they would do and more. I couldn’t speak more highly of them.”

Jimmy Bradley, Deputy Finance Director, Kelly Group

“They brought us a new and innovative cost saving idea to us, which we have not seen being supplied by anyone else, even though we deal with a range of professional advisers. The system has been designed to be fully HMRC compliant. If any company is still providing free or private fuel to their employees, I would also encourage to talk with one of the advisers at Innovation.”

Phil Myers, Group Internal Audit Manager, Lookers plc

“The success of the project so far has been partly due to the neat concept of the arrangement itself, but more importantly in my view, the quality of the Innovation team. It is the rare combination of technical knowledge, strong personal experience, a pragmatic approach and the human tough which make them so good at what they do.”

Ralph Steward, Head of Reward, Laing O’Rourke

“We are pleased to work with the people at Innovation to optimise the arrangements on the use of fuel cards in our business. Based on our experience on fuel cards, I would be very happy to endorse working with Innovation on similar projects. We found them to be straight talking individuals and delivered on time and to budget. And now I can only question why we took so long to give it the go-ahead.”

John Hamilton, Group Taxation Director, Stagecoach Group

“The employment tax solutions outlined by Innovation were closely aligned to a key challenge the business was facing, namely, how to carry on providing fuel cards in a way that was much more cost effective. Innovation are different not only because of their innovative ideas but also because of the combination of their commitment to their clients through the whole project, their responsiveness, easy access to the senior team and the way in which their ethos can be seen through the entire team.”

Douglas Briggs, Finance Director, Accounting & Reporting, Kuehne + Nagel

“We have been very impressed with the consistent high level of customer service they have provided. The team have a great deal of expertise and specialist knowledge and immediately understand the needs of an organisation both in the short and long term. In summary, the service has been second to none and we would certainly recommend them as a reliable and customer focused company.”

Sally Gregory, Human Resources Director, Europcar Group

“Innovation is also a very ethical firm. They pride themselves on complying not only with the letter but also the spirit of the law and have a number of ways to ensure that there is always ‘clear blue water’ between what they do and what is expected from HMRC, thereby proving that you don’t have to be aggressive or risk taking to save tax: just innovative and smart. I would have no hesitation in recommending Innovation and their tax team to any business.”

Mark Faulkner, HR Director, EH Smith

“The success of the project has been due to the excellent client service and detailed tax knowledge and skills provided by the Innovation team. Innovation produced employee communications and developed payroll processes with 100% take-up and buy-in from our staff, including on-going administration. There is no incremental work as employees claiming back business mileage through expenses enter exactly the same details now as they did before."

David Freestone, Programme Director, Willis Towers Watson

“Innovation first helped us following an HMRC review into our process concerning business mileage record keeping for drivers reimbursing mileage. They presented a compelling proposal, which had the added benefit of removing much of the administrative work from the company, as well as ensuring that the work was done in total compliance with HMRC’s guidance and the legislation around fuel reimbursement.”

Adrian Evans, Head of HR ESS Operations, Wincanton

“We believe that the system has delivered exactly what we were told it would and we are on-course to make significant savings to the business. As with any new system this required a lot of forward planning to ensure the roll-out went smoothly and Innovation were on hand at all times to ensure the new system was introduced as efficiently as possible. We would have no hesitation in recommending Innovation to other businesses or indeed working with them again in the future on other products.”

Chris Elvidge, Finance Director, Drive Vauxhall

“We are a family firm and apart from considerable reduced operating costs, our employees’ welfare is incredibly important to us, so when John shared with me that many of our staff would also be better off, we quickly approved the implementation – their proposition was that compelling. We are delighted with the system, the savings and how Innovation looked after Drayton and its staff"

Simon Miles, Group Finance Director, Drayton Group Ltd

“Looking back, we are pleased we went with Innovation and implemented their Fuel Card Plan. During our discussions, it was clear that Innovation were extremely credible and experienced in this area and were the only firm willing to indemnify us and provide all the warranties and safeguards we required. The positive feedback I have received from our employees has been extremely reassuring.”

Mel Pearce, People Services, DFS

“Three years on we are so pleased we went with Innovation. WE have had near enough 100% take up from staff thanks to clear communications and webinars, which Innovation hosted and were more than willing to take questions from drivers around the personal impact of the arrangement on their position. There has been very little for us to do as the whole process is being managed in its entirety by the team at Innovation. What little feedback we’ve had from employees has been entirely positive.”

Vikki Barker, HR Business Partner, DB Schenker Ltd