I work for a direct mail printer that has made the decision to move into transactional printing. Is there anything we need to do in terms of getting ourselves legally set up to print this kind of high security work?
Simon Raeburn
Via email

The first thing that you’ll need to do is make sure you can receive the transactional information securely. For this you need a Secure File Transport Protocol (SFTP), which uses encryption to ensure the data can’t be read en route and requires a password to make sure the person getting the information is authorised to do so. As a direct mail printer, you may already be accredited with the QMP (Quality Standard for Mail Protection), which covers handling basic personal details such as names and addresses, but it isn’t sufficient for the more high risk stuff. For transactional mail, you may want to try for the ISO 27001, an international standard for the secure management of information. It covers the organisation and management of a security policy as well as asset management, personnel security, the physical security of the site, control of access to the site and data systems. The standard also looks at what to do should disaster strike and your security systems be breached.

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Someone told me recently he’d heard there was tax relief accessible to firms that were under-insured and affected by the floods.
Name and address supplied

Count whoever said that as a good person to know – tax savings are indeed within your reach. However, you need to be aware of the rules in order to benefit. Repairing or restoring a building to its original condition will generally be an allowable expense for tax purposes. Also, if important kit has been ruined, it should be possible to write off the cost for tax purposes, provided it has not been allowed for previously. Any new kit will qualify for tax relief, although this is usually spread over several years and can vary depending on the type of plant and size of your business. But remember that any insurance or compensation received for ‘loss of profits’ will be taxable in the same way as normal trading profits. A qualified accountant should be able to help with all of this.

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Overseas print #2
Mark Bell asked about overseas suppliers recently. US-based HubCast is an international online print buying facility that so far connects buyers to 27 printers across 17 countries.

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