The Print Image Network team have landed back in the office, after attending the AEA conference 29th to 31st January, which was the first face to face conference for two years. The annual AEA conference provides an opportunity for delegates within the electoral sector to learn of the latest developments though a schedule of workshops, which are complimented by an exhibition of electoral product suppliers. Understandably, after a two-year break, this year’s conference proved to be extremely popular.
For Print Image Network, this was a good opportunity for us to catch up with our clients and contacts and we would like to thank all delegates who spent time at our stand. It’s always great to see so many familiar faces and meet new ones too!
Whilst delegates visited the exhibition area at breaktime, the hot topic this year was Poll Cards and Voter ID, and trepidation about the forthcoming changes in Postal Vote eligibility. And we were very flattered to be told by several stand visitors, that we have a fantastic reputation within the industry, and our people are held in very high esteem.
Competition Winner
We held our usual prize draw, this time offering a Thornton’s chocolate hamper. Congratulations to the lucky winner (we hope you enjoyed them)! Thanks to everyone who entered our prize draw.
We hope you all had a safe journey home. See you again next time.
For more information about our growing electoral administration print and mail service, please contact us, call on 0161 209 4800 or email sales@printimagenetwork.com.
Important legislative changes were introduced by The Elections Act 2022, with the introduction of several measures to cut down on the potential for voter fraud. With this, there is a new requirement for voters to show photographic identification at the polling station in Great Britain. This will apply for the first time in England at local elections Thursday 4th May 2023.
In addition to commonly used photographic identifications being accepted at polling stations, an electoral identity document will be available for electors to apply for, which is known as the Voter ID Card. This is to assist those groups of voters who will likely experience barriers in obtaining access to photo ID.
The Electoral Commission Voter ID public awareness campaign officially launched Monday 9th January, which includes a support pack, which has been issued to organisations working directly with voters, including local authorities and charities, can play an important role in supporting voters to ensure they have photo ID ahead of the elections. The pack contains various guides and resources, that can be printed and distributed or placed at sites and offices, including:
Print Image Network have resources and availability to print the printable resources contained in Voter ID partner packs, and we have artwork designs and multiple mailing options available for producing Voter ID cards. We have an expert team of account managers and print specialists to offer extra assistance if your election department is not fully staffed. Our production sites are primed and ready to print your important mailings, ahead of the 2023 elections.
For more information about our growing electoral administration print and mail service, please contact us, call on 0161 209 4800 or email sales@printimagenetwork.com.
Print Image Network is once again exhibiting at the annual AEA Conference in Blackpool, 2 -5th February 2020. As a leading provider of electoral print solutions, we have supported the Conference and the AEA for many years. Once again will be on hand to offer help and advice to electoral administrators from councils across the UK on all aspects of electoral print and mail.
The agenda promises a full schedule including fringe events, plenary sessions, and workshops, not to mention the exhibition where we will be meeting delegates and customers at Stand 3 from Sunday afternoon.
Providing no fewer than 80 councils across the UK with electoral print solutions, we still have print capacity for the May polls. 2020 sees Police, Commission and Crime Commissioners elections in England and Wales, as well and local and mayoral elections – we welcome the opportunity to discuss these elections with local authority delegates attending the event.
With such as busy year last year and so many potential changes in 2020, we will be on hand to talk to delegates about how they found 2019, plus how we can help support them through 2020 changes concerning their print and mail requirements.
On the customer service front, we have recently (January 2020), achieved another year’s compliance for the Cabinet Office’s Customer Service Excellence Standard. A big factor in our success is our staff, which year-on-year is praised for the way we support electoral administrators through election periods. Throughout Conference, every member of our account management team will visit The Grand to speak with customers and other delegates. We have a growing team of experienced account managers that help councils through busy, and sometimes complex, election and canvass periods. You can see some of the wonderful comments we received following the 2019 elections by downloading our Customer Survey results from last year>>
We have lots to discuss, so please feel free to come along and speak with the team at Stand 3. You can enter our chocolate hamper competition and you could win a Waitrose Hamper which is our raffle prize at the Annual Dinner. We look forward to seeing you at Conference!
You can check out our AEA Profile here>>
Print Image Network Ltd, one of the UK’s leading providers of electoral print and mail services, will be joining local authorities and industry experts from across the country at the AEA’s focus day to discuss canvass reform on Monday 9 September 2019.
In 2020 the way in which the annual canvass is conducted will be transformed. The purpose of the reform is to reduce the administrative burden on EROs and to make the process more citizen focused.
The focus day aims to provide delegates with vital updates and information to allow them to prepare for the reform from July 2020.
Key highlights of the day include: -
With a strong heritage in electoral print and mail spanning 20 years, Print Image Network is one of the most experienced suppliers in the country. Fully conversant in all electoral legislation and with close links to the Electoral Commission, Cabinet Office, and AEA, the electoral print specialist is one of the country’s experts in this niche marketplace and well-placed to advise council’s on how to manage the print aspect of reform.
John Foster, Managing Director at Print Image Network commented on attending the canvass reform focus day. “As one of the most established providers in the industry, we are confident that our expertise and support will assist local authorities through the new canvass reform. Our experienced team will be on hand at Stand 15 to discuss practical measures for reform and how we can play our part in making the new structure effective for EROs and councils.”
Services Director, Stephen Power added “As a customer-centric supplier it is important that we attend on the day, so our customers know that we want to help them as much as possible with their canvass reform journey. Ever since we started 20 years ago, Print Image Network has offered a service that helps and supports customers as well as delivering print. Our team is committed to helping customers through this period.”
The Association of Electoral Administrators will hold the canvass reform focus day on 9 September 2019 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. Delegates can visit Print Image Network at Stand 15, where in addition to canvass reform, the team will reveal plans for its 2020 May election service and talk through the efficiencies they are implementing for PCC, local, mayoral and GLA Assembly elections, as well as the contingencies in place for the rest of the year.
Electoral stationery provider, Print Image Network, has held the Customer Service Excellence Standard since 2012. Each year the business gets assessed to see if it still meets the criteria set out by the standard.
Following our recent visit, we are pleased to announce that we passed the assessment with an incredible 13 Compliance-Plus awards.
Customer Service Excellence is a government backed industry standard that assesses whether services are efficient, effective, excellent, equitable and empowering, using 57 different criteria. It ensures organisations always put their customers at the heart of their operations. Print Image Network is the only electoral stationery provider in the UK to hold the standard.
Compliance-Plus relates to areas where we surpass the standard required. These are areas where we show innovation, or where we are considered sector leaders. In the past we have successfully gained Compliance Plus in areas such as customer insight and Corporate Social Responsibility. However, with so many significant customer-facing projects being undertaken by the business, we wanted to highlight many different areas of progress.
We have surpassed the customer service standard for our electoral services in the following areas: -
In 2018 a company-wide project began to articulate what we believed our core company values were After a six-month project, the staff at UK Engage defined five core values – commitment, efficiency, knowledge, professionalism and trust. The CSE assessor was delighted to learn that we had implemented this project and is keen to see how it has developed in 12-months time.
“This has been an excellent surveillance 1 visit for
electoral stationery provider, Print Image Network (13 Compliance Plus awards) and I would like to thank the organisation its staff, customers, partners and stakeholders for their time during this assessment. I look forward to completing surveillance 2 in January 2020."
Mick Lynch - CSE Assessor
Our values journey:
In 2018, Print Image Network embarked on a project to confirm our core values. We believed that our values were best determined by those who embody them – our employees. Therefore, all employees were asked to participate in determining the company’s five core values; values that we consider to be part of our DNA.
Through a series of surveys, our employees were invited to consider a list of principles they believed best represented our company and what we stand for. Following this exercise, we organised a number of collaborative workshops where employees were brought together to openly discuss the initial findings. From these exercises, our values were revealed.
Our five core values:
Throughout the exercises, there was consistency among employees as to what they believed we stood for, which were commitment, efficiency, professionalism, knowledge and trust.
With our five core values defined, we are now embarking on the journey to live and breathe them throughout the organisation. This includes having the visible throughout our offices, on our screen savers and acknowledging values-related behaviour and results with the introduction of our values awards.
"Our ambition is to create a company-wide common and shared understanding around our five core values, translating them into professional behaviours and entrenching them in the way we work with each other, customers, suppliers, partners, and stakeholders,” says Stephen Power, Services Director and values ambassador.
Values, people and service
Of course, the ultimate satisfaction that comes with finally defining our values is how they benefit employees and customers. As a proud owner of the Investors in People (Silver) accreditation and the Cabinet Office’s Customer Service Excellence standard, our people and our customers are what make our business. Through our investment in our employees, we aim to help them to feel valued, engaged and rewarded, which can only be beneficial to our customers.
“Each year, following our annual customer satisfaction survey, we are always humbled by the kind comments our customers provide. It is interesting to see the correlation between the feedback we receive from our customers and the values our employees believe to be true. It really shows that we are living our values and have been doing so for many years,” says John Foster, Managing Director.
Print Image Network launched our core values to our local authority customers at the annual AEA Conference, 3rd-6th February 2019.
Print Image Network is once again exhibiting at the annual AEA Conference in Brighton, 3 -6th February 2019. As a leading provider of electoral print solutions, we have supported the Conference and the AEA for many years and once again will be on hand to offer help and advice to electoral administrators from councils across the UK.
The agenda promises a full schedule, including new workshops, not to mention the exhibition where we will be meeting delegates and customers at Stand 12 from the Sunday afternoon.
Providing no fewer than 70 councils across the UK with electoral print solutions, we still have capacity for the May polls and delegates can speak to members of the team to discuss printed postal vote solutions, ballots papers and poll cards – where we can discuss with specificity our ‘poll sort’ poll card mailing options.
We will also have a full range of our grass skirt count solution items. As 2019 will present more multi-seat elections, we are getting lots of requests for our ‘25’ and ’10’ grass skirts. Our Small-10 and Large-10 skirts accommodate 10 ballot papers across and 3- 10 candidates down (plus one line for unused votes). Our Small-25 and Large-25 skirts accommodate 25 ballot papers across and 3-23 candidates down (plus one line for used votes). Our solution also includes summary sheet to suit the 10 & 23 candidate skirts. Plus, we have an excellent grass skirt training video which is available free to councils who purchase grass skirts.
Also, this year we will be launching our core values. As 2018 was a quieter year on the election front, we decided to formally define and publish our core values, which hopefully you will recognise us for. Through a series of surveys and workshops our employees selected the values they believe are inherent in our company. Come along to Stand 12 and find out how our values - Commitment, Efficiency, Knowledge, Professionalism and Trust can benefit your council in stressful election conditions.
We have lots to discuss, so please feel free to come along and speak with the team. You can enter our chocolate hamper competition and you could win an Echo Dot 3rd Generation which is our raffle prize at the Annual Dinner.
We look forward to seeing you at Conference!
You can check out our AEA Profile here>>
Selecting the right electoral print and mail partner is of critical importance to UK local authorities. Increasingly, electoral print and mail suppliers are being invited to respond to tenders to explain the credentials they have for carrying out specialist and niche print requirements.
The majority of tenders to which we respond, ask for evidence of any particular accreditation's, standards and awards, as by having these helps to provide certain reassurances and reduces business risk.
Working with an ISO-certified electoral print and mail specialist means that its products and services are certified and conform to the minimum standards set internationally, which is important when considering an electoral print and mail provider for Government elections.
The vast majority of responses require ISO 9001 as it demonstrates that our business has the correct quality structures in place to be considered. Likewise, in an age where data security is paramount, holding ISO 27001, is equally important.
The ISO 9001 certification is internationally recognised as the most established quality framework, focused on increasing efficiencies, preventing errors and improving customer service. In the provision of electoral print and mail services, this translates to the assurance that the production of all election stationary, be it postal vote applications, postal votes, ballot papers, poll cards, HEFs, ITRs, confirmation letters and absent voter personal identifiers, is to the highest standard, undertaken by experienced staff, under robust security measures. Tenders will often be awarded to organisations which hold this standard.
Another key ISO certification that is important in the provision of electoral print and mail is ISO 27001. Organisations that have this certification can demonstrate to local authorities that they have a framework for securing and protecting confidential, personal and sensitive data, through effective technology, which is a crucial requirement, especially in the compliance of GDPR.
Print Image Network is ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 certified
In Summer 2018, we had our re-certification assessment and we are pleased to say that a successful transition was made to ISO9001: 2015. We maintained our management system in line with the requirements of the standard and demonstrated that we have the ability to systematically achieve the requirements for products and or services, within the scope of our activities and in accordance with our policy and objectives.
Being certified to ISO 9001 & ISO 27001 highlights our ongoing commitment to quality and integrity in the provision of electoral print and mail to local authorities. To discuss how our accreditation's can benefit your business, please contact us on 0161 209 4800 or email us at sales@printimagenetwork.com
To supplement these accreditation's, we also hold Investors in People (Silver), The Cabinet Office’s Customer Service Excellence Standard and Cyber Essentials.
For electoral print and mail provider, Print Image Network, 2017 was a great year for customer service-related accreditations and recognition. We’re pleased to report that we have continued this success into 2018.
Following our third ‘full’ assessment, we have maintained our Customer Service Excellence Standard for demonstrating evidence of exceptional customer service. The full assessment, which happens every three years, comprises a comprehensive submission to the assessor, followed by an onsite assessment, where staff are interviewed in relation to five key areas:-
Our recent pass follows our Investor’s in People re-assessment in 2017, which saw us achieve the Silver Standard, exceeding the industry average in all nine of the performance indicators. The renewal of the Customer Service Excellence Standard further highlights our commitment to our customer-centric ethos.
Steve Power, Services Director and Print Image Network's Customer Service Excellence Ambassador, said of the assessment news “We are delighted that we have passed our third full assessment. Maintaining the Standard since 2012 is the result of hard work and commitment from the team. Our council customers trust us to help them through stressful and sometimes complex election periods, our latest pass confirms the procedures and systems we have in place allow us to provide trusted support and excellent service when customers most need it."
Customer Service Excellence Assessor, Michael Lynch, gave the following statement, "I have assessed Print Image Network Ltd for Customer Service Excellence several times and on my last visit I continued to be very impressed by their attention to detail and customer-centric focus. The team works very well together and as a result well-coordinated customer service is achieved."
He continued "I spoke to several customers during the visit and they were effervescent in their praise in relation to the service that they received from Print Image Network Ltd."
Print Image Network has many exciting initiatives planned for 2018 to further enhance the customer experience.
If you want to find out more about our Customer Service Excellence Standard or our Investors in People accreditation, please download our document ‘Working Together’ Investors in People and Customer Service Excellence: Our customer service journey >>
Electoral Print & Mail Specialist, Print Image Network Ltd is delighted to announce that John Turner has joined its team of electoral professionals as its Electoral & Democracy Specialist.
A former Returning Officer, John brings with him a lifetime of electoral experience and has held several pivotal positions, including Chief Executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, the UK’s leading professional body solely interested in the administration of electoral matters.
John Turner is a highly respected electoral professional and is well-known within the industry. During his career at the Association of Electoral Administrators, he has worked closely with Government Departments, the Electoral Commission, and other national bodies to improve the administration of electoral matters in the UK.
Before his appointment at the AEA in 2006, John held the position of Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Public and Support Services at Norwich City Council, where he was responsible for Democratic Services and the Elections Office, among other departments. He was also the Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer for the Council until March 2005.
Print Image Network is one of two influential electoral brands business owners John Foster and Stephen Power have established in the UK, since starting the business in 2000. The appointment illustrates their commitment to growing the business in both statutory and non-statutory markets, under the Print Image Network and UK Engage brands.
John Foster, Managing Director and Steve Power, Services Director gave a joint statement regarding the appointment, “We are delighted that John is bringing his years’ of experience to Print Image Network. John has been involved in electoral administration his entire career and is at the forefront of legislative matters. From his positions at the AEA and local authorities to his consultation, training and oversea electoral ventures, his experience in electoral matters and democracy makes him an excellent fit with our business.”
John Turner said “I am very pleased to be joining John and Steve and the team at Print Image Network and look forward to the new opportunities and challenges that this appointment will bring. I have joined a progressive company at a very exciting time and am already impressed by the ethos of customer service and support which underpins the way in which the organisation operates.”
Contact Print Image Network on:-
