How is the workforce of 250 calculated?
As part of ESOS all large businesses – those with a workforce of over 250 – must introduce a programme of regular energy audits.
Audits must be undertaken by December 5 2015 and then at least every four years from the date of the previous audit.
Many webinar registrants were unclear as to whether their organisation would be deemed as a ‘large’ business if they had 250 employees spread out across multiple sites.
Luckily, the expert speakers were on-hand to clear things up.
Rutter: “Yes, the 250 employees refers to the total number employed across all sites within a company. Another criteria, even if there are not 250 employees, is that an organisation is required to comply with ESOS if its turnover is greater than €50M and has a balance sheet greater than €43M.
Adams: “ESOS targets whole organisations. If a single undertaking has more than 250 employees, even if these are spread across multiple sites, then it is in scope of the scheme. Further details on the qualification criteria and how to calculate it can be found here and in the detailed ESOS Guidance.”
James Starling, finance director at Norwich-based fruit firm Place UK: “Is the 250 employees and average number over a year?”
Rutter: “The number of employees means the average number of persons employed by the undertaking in the year. To work out your average number of employees, you need to:
- Find the number of persons employed under contracts of service by the company for each month of the financial year (whether for the whole month or part of it).
- Add together the monthly totals.
- Divide by the number of months in the financial year.”