FORS has confirmed there will be no increase, again, to its membership subscription or audit fees in 2018 – the third year in succession that FORS members will enjoy a price freeze from the best practice accreditation scheme.
The latest price freeze follows last autumn’s announcement at the FORS Members’ Conference that the FORS Gold evidencing fee of £235 will be scrapped for smaller operators.
The axing of the fee – for operators with one to three vehicles, effective from 1st January this year – is aimed at encouraging smaller operators to progress to FORS Gold and, with it, going on to attain the very highest standards of operational best practice.
These financial savings are delivered at a time when member benefits for FORS-accredited operators have been significantly increased. In 2017 alone, FORS boosted its already-generous benefits package with:
- Eight new funded training courses; eight new eLearning modules
- A new FORS Driver Licence Checking Service in association with FORS Affinity Partner Licence Bureau
- A new FORS Audit Toolkit to help with initial FORS Bronze accreditation
- A new FORS Fleet Management System – FOR FMS – developed by software specialist and FORS Affinity Partner FleetCheck
“We plough a lot of investment into evolving the scheme and into developing a wide range of meaningful member benefits,” said FORS Director, John Hix.
“We recognise too the ever increasing costs that operators must bear, and our price freeze, we hope, goes some way to easing the pressure.”
Recent milestones for the scheme also underline its expanding membership, both in terms of numbers and its geographical reach. The 250th FORS Gold member – Heathrow Haulage – joins an ‘elite’ group of FORS members displaying exemplary levels of operation, while haulier RLT Ltd. in Buxton becomes the 900th FORS Silver member, reflecting the expanding nature of FORS as a truly nationwide accreditation scheme.
“FORS really is gaining traction with operators up and down the UK,” added Hix, “Over two-thirds of our membership is outside of the M25, with a growing number emerging overseas. It proves to me that the fundamental FORS message of operational best practice resonates with operators regardless of their location and irrespective of their fleet makeup.”
