Hope you’re all OK out there.  And thank you once more to all of you who have taken the trouble to write in to say how much you are appreciating these daily updates.  Not a lot to report on today, except you might like to know that the drawbridge has gone up on the Duncan household, being over a certain age!

As well as writing to government, we are also writing out to franchises to see what they are planning to do for their ADIs.  The letter we’ve sent follows –

Dear

At this very stressful time we see the industry starting to pull together in support of each other, this is something we at the ADINJC would like to promote and encourage. The ADINJC are asking ADI franchisors around the country to tell us what measures they are putting in place for their instructors to help them through the Corona Virus crisis.
These measures can be financial help through perhaps a franchise freeze or payment holiday, they may also be measures put in place to support the instructors in other ways like advice on how to access help that the government has put in place for the self-employed.
We would love to be able to use the information you send us to let the industry know how franchises are helping their instructors, helping raise the profile of franchises in a positive light, promoting the value of having the support a franchise can bring and dispelling negative views held by some on how franchises run. We also think this may benefit other franchisors worried as to what they can do to help their own instructors.

We look forward to hearing what measures you have come up with and appreciate what a worrying time this is for us all, franchisors, franchisees and independent instructors alike.

 

If you are in a franchise and would like us to write to them, please let me have some contact details and we’d be happy to do that.

This was put together for us by Matt Stone, our Deputy Chair.  Matt runs his own successful driving school, Let’s Instruct, and was winner of the 2019 Regional Driving School of the Year at the Intelligent Instructor awards.  He has taken the following action himself with his ADIs, and has given his permission for us to share it and for you to use it yourself if you wish –

Corona Virus Crisis – Let’s Instruct Franchise Action Plan

Hi All,

As I’m sure you are all aware, the unprecedented circumstances we are now faced with means all businesses are having to contemplate and take unprecedented action. What you see below is my initial plan of action to take us all through this challenging time. This is not to be seen as something that can’t be changed, but rather a plan that has been put together off the back of information we have right now.

Putting this plan together has been painful to say the least, I would say the most difficult financial decision I’ve had to make running Let’s Instruct.  Working out whether we can survive or not if we put these measures into place. I have concluded that rather than try to make all the figures line up completely for all the time we may be off work we need to have a little faith. The government may well come in with more support for our sector and if all else fails the government is acting as guarantor on business loans which Let’s Instruct will take out if required to get through.

Whether you work on into this crisis following the government guidelines or not is your own choice, the government are not stopping driving lessons yet. Having said that I do not want the pressure of franchise payments to be part of forcing you to continue if you don’t want to.

In conclusion what you see below is not a business plan necessarily although a huge amount of thought has gone into it. Sometimes in life things need to be done simply because it’s the right thing to do.

I hope you feel these measures help ease some of the worries you have about your business going forward. They are bold unprecedented measures in unprecedented times. I feel it is in line with how I want Let’s Instruct to run as a franchise and hope you feel Let’s Instruct is doing everything in its power to support you.
From Let’s Instruct:
1. Franchise frozen from Monday 30th March 2020 to be reviewed monthly.
2. All basic infrastructure paid for and kept intact throughout the crisis for when we return to normal business. (Let’s Instruct will survive and will be here for you to quickly build your business back up to pre-crisis levels)
3. Let’s Instruct will continue to support you throughout this crisis with:
• Weekly online group support meetings. Every Monday at 10.00am.
• Ongoing information through our Facebook group, text messages and email.
• Ongoing advice by phone and email through Matt.

From you:
1. Please pay this coming week franchise if you possibly can. This is vital in my calculations actually and will make a huge difference as to how long we can last without income.
2. On month two of the franchise freeze you are asked to count one of those weeks as one of your franchise free weeks for 2020/21. The same will apply for month three which means if we are off for 12 weeks you will be using two of your franchise free weeks.
3. Please stick with us. The longer this crisis goes on the more likely it is the business will need a loan to survive. Let’s Instruct will need you as much as you need Let’s Instruct over the next couple of years.
4. Please be ready to be as flexible as possible with the hours you can work on our return. For the business to recover from the measures I’m putting in place to support you through this crisis, I will have to ask for full franchise payments depending on the level of franchise your on from week one on our return. The more flexible you can be the more people you will be able to teach.
5. Stay in touch. Please attend the weekly online meetings, let’s support each other as the great team we are.

We’re very grateful to Matt for sharing this and we commend him for his proactive stance.

Well I wonder what this week will bring.  Let’s hope it’s news of an improvement on the financial provision for the self-employed.

The NJC continues to be dedicated to help you in these challenging times and we hope you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy.  Please feel free to contact us for help and support.

HMRC Helpline:  0800 0159 559
Citizens Advice Bureau – https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/health/coronavirus-what-it-means-for-you/

You can sign up to receive Government updates on Coronavirus relating to driving tests here.

ADINJC’s helpline is 0800 8202 444

The Secretary’s number is 07855 453414

You can find the latest NASP guidelines on Coronavirus here.

 

The ADINJC is a national association run by ADIs on a not-for-profit basis.  We work tirelessly to inform, represent and support our members, and to promote the interests of our profession.