Collaborating with Horizon Outsourcing enabled Robinsons FM to start up and operate a temporary labour division during the COVID 19 crisis and beyond

Case study – RobinsonsFM

The Issue

Robinsons FM specialise in the provision of fully qualified facilities management professionals to NHS Trusts and private corporations on a permanent basis.

During the initial days of the COVID crisis, RobinsonsFM had been approached by contacts in the NHS to ask if they would be able to provide temporary labour in the form of hospital porters, cleaners and other staff to support the incredible demand caused by the pandemic.

Without a temporary division, but wanting to assist in any way she could, the MD of RobinsonsFM, Nicola Robinson, contacted Horizon Outsourcing to discuss how an outsourced arrangement could help the business monitor staff placed, collate time records, invoice for the work and pay everyone on time.

The Solution

Within a matter of days, Horizon Outsourcing assisted in setting up an online timesheet portal to allow workers to submit timesheets, clients to approve them and invoices to be raised. This work involved significant data management to record client and contractor details before providing this data to an Umbrella company to on-board the workers. Horizon Outsourcing chased workers for timesheet submissions, received approvals and raised the invoices on a weekly basis with strict deadlines adhered to.

An invoice facility has been required to fund the payroll costs. To achieve this Horizon Outsourcing has been responsible for uploading Sales Day Books and requesting draw down of funds for payment to the Umbrella company every Friday.

All of the above generated transactions that required entry into RobinsonsFM’s accounting package, QuickBooks. Where electronic transfer of this data was available, the process has been managed and monitored by Horizon’s team with manual entry made for any gaps created by non-electronic transactions.

Bank entries, matching receipts from clients and general business expenses are recorded on a weekly basis to ensure that all records are up to date. Banks have been reconciled each week and together with invoice finance reconciliations that are provided to the funder on a monthly basis, cash flow management is under control.

The Impact

The business has successfully negotiated through a difficult time and provided significant numbers of temporary staff during a national crisis. RobinsonsFM is now turning their attention to building a temporary division. This will allow the risk profile of the business to spread across permanent and temporary recruitment. With Horizon Outsourcing picking up a significant amount of the administration tasks, the director and consultants can concentrate on their client facing roles.

What the client says

“Horizon Outsourcing has been instrumental in aiding RobinsonsFM to provide temporary solutions to the NHS. When the pandemic hit, we were offered a lifeline by the NHS but due to internal obstacles, did not have the capabilities to deliver the level of volume whilst maintaining the quality of service. David and his team quickly jumped on the case and introduced processes whilst taking control of the whole back office. Without Horizon Outsourcing, RobinsonsFM would not have survived, so I can therefore not recommend the business highly enough. Not only a great service but the knowledge and experience given has allowed us to navigate our way through the past 10 months without the use of the furlough scheme or government funding.”

Nicola Robinson, Managing Director

RobinsonsFM Limited

UK: 5th Floor Hampton By Hilton 42-50 Kimpton Road, Luton Bedfordshire, LU2 0FP, United Kingdom

Dubai : Office 2201, Jumeirah Business Centre 4, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai

+44 (0) 3333 110 404

hello@hbpo.uk.com