British Trimmings received over £69,000 in refund checks after Chamber Plus conducted a complimentary business analysis of their indirect overhead spending. Chamber Plus identified savings opportunities in utilities, telecoms, business rates, and water costs. A review of British Trimming's water bills and charges over the past six years resulted in two refund checks totaling just over £69,000 being awarded within four weeks.

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Chamber Plus is a member service that makes use of collaborative group buying and the
supplier expertise to reduce indirect overhead spend by up to 18%.
Manchester Chamber Plus working in association with Water Management Solutions UK
carried out a complimentary business analysis for British Trimmings in May 2011, and it’s
fair to say that the business were somewhat sceptical as to how effective the service could
be as they had previously used cost saving consultants. However, as the service is Free to
Chamber members they decided there was nothing to lose.
The initial investigations looked into all of their indirect overhead spend in areas such as
utilities, telecoms, business rates & water. Chamber plus' water specialists, Water
Management Solutions (UK) Ltd were asked to conduct a review of current and historic
water charges for British Trimmings at their site in Stockport. Initially, this simply involved
assessment of the latest water bills and completion of a Letter of Authority to instigate the
initial review.
The Chamber Plus intention is to ensure that the correct charging policies have been
implemented for each of the last six billing years taking into consideration the revised
Charges Scheme that is issued every April.
Within a 4 week period we had received formal approval from United Utilities and British
Trimmings were awarded two separate refund cheques totalling just over £69,000 on the
13th
June 2011.
"This is a staggering amount!! Thank you so much for this investigation. Quite
frankly, I am gobsmacked to say the least and totally shell shocked by the amount"
Richard Cawthra
Finance Manager