Most consultancies make you get to a phone call before you can find out how they actually operate. These are the terms that sit behind every Planned Limited engagement. They are published because they are the questions buyers ask first, and because a firm that has thought about them has usually thought about the rest.
Fees are not published. They depend on the size and complexity of the programme and they are confirmed in writing before any work starts.
The working day and week
- A consultant day is eight hours, exclusive of travel and lunch.
- The working week is Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays in England and Wales.
- Core hours are 09:00 to 17:00, flexed to client requirements where a programme, a site or a time zone needs it.
- Part days are charged in half day units. We do not bill in six minute increments.
- Work outside these hours is agreed in advance, in writing, before it is done.
Travel and subsistence
- Included in the fee within 30 miles of central London. No travel charge, no mileage, no parking.
- Beyond 30 miles, travel and subsistence is charged at cost and at the client's own expenses policy where one exists.
- Travel time is not charged as consultancy time.
- Most work is delivered remotely. Site attendance is arranged where it adds something, and we will say so if we think it does not.
Insurance
Professional indemnity cover is included in the fee and is not charged as a separate line. Current cover:
- Professional Indemnity: £2,000,000 each and every claim
- Public Liability: £10,000,000 any one event
- Employers' Liability: £10,000,000
- Certificates are provided on request. See also our credentials.
Response times
These are commitments, not aspirations.
- Enquiries are acknowledged within one working day.
- A written proposal follows within two working days of the scope being agreed.
- NEC4 programme reviews are delivered inside the reply period at clause 31.3, provided the file reaches us with at least five working days remaining.
- During an engagement, correspondence is answered within one working day.
Independence
We do not resell software, we hold no reseller agreement with any vendor, and we take no commission on any licence, tool or platform we recommend.
Where a review concerns work carried out by another party, we say what the evidence supports, including where that is unwelcome. A review that tells a client what it wants to hear has no value to the client and none to us.
Where we cannot act independently because of an existing relationship, we say so and decline.
Confidentiality and data protection
- We sign client non disclosure agreements as a matter of course, and we do not name clients or projects publicly without written permission. That is why our case studies and credentials describe work without naming the parties.
- Cyber Essentials certified, whole organisation, and registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.
- Project data is held only for as long as the engagement and our record keeping obligations require, and is returned or destroyed on request. See our privacy policy.
- Where a client requires data to remain on their own systems, we work inside their environment rather than taking copies.
People
Work is carried out by the named individual set out in the proposal. We do not sell a senior consultant and deliver with a junior one.
Where a sub-consultant is engaged, they are named to the client in advance, they work to our human rights and health and safety policies, and they must evidence their own arrangements and any site qualification the work requires before they are engaged.
Invoicing
- Fixed scope reviews are invoiced on delivery.
- Ongoing engagements are invoiced monthly in arrears.
- Payment terms are 30 days from invoice date.
- Expenses are invoiced at cost with receipts attached.
Raising a concern
If something is wrong with the work or the conduct of it, tell us directly and it will be dealt with by the director. Anyone affected by our work can raise a concern through the channel published in our human rights policy, including anonymously.