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A conman sold bogus tickets to this summer’s Olympic Games. In court last month, Christakis Ioannou admitted participating in a fraudulent business and possessing and concealing criminal property. He created fake websites to take cash nearly a year ahead of the Games opening ceremony. Olympic and police authorities urged people to only buy their tickets from anywhere but the official event organisers, or those people authorised to sell on their behalf. Reception can easily check the ID of visitors and contractors via a computer based Visitor Pass production system from Tensor. The receptionist is notified whenever a pass is swiped that is out-of-date or has other irregularities. There is also a small pop-up screen containing the person's digital photo image so that an extra visual check can be made. Recording visits is as simple as a swipe of their bar coded pass. This is especially useful for long-term contractors who can be issued with a pass valid for up to a year.

Some 78 per cent of workers in a new survey would like flexible working, even in lieu of a wage hike. Half of those asked said they would like to travel less for work. It is clear from the survey results that many UK businesses have not caught up with employees’ desire for a flexible working strategy. A quarter of respondents revealed that they “never” work from home. In all, 1,000 office workers were polled by software provider TeamViewer. Time and Attendance management systems from Tensor are the most flexible around as they can be customised and adapted to how working conditions are in your office or factory. WinTA handles all major hours calculation methods, absence planning and Working Time Regulations. Workers paid on an annual contract basis can be handled by the annualised hours procedures and reports within WinTA. You can enable breaks to activate between set times, and / or after a minimum number of hours have been worked.

Greenwich Mean Time starts at 2am on Sunday, October 28, 2012. That means your firm has just over one week to adjust your Tensor network. Please check your WinTA Lite, WinTA Enterprise, WinTA Access Enterprise, WinTA 16, WinTA CS or Tensor.NET systems to make sure that this information is correctly entered, as this will affect the time shown on your smart card clocking stations. It is straightforward to change the BST or GMT times on a Tensor system. If your business does have difficulty, remember that for those needing personal support or advice, please contact the Tensor Helpdesk by telephone on 01480 211594, or by fax on 01480 213734 or by email at helpdesk@tensor.co.uk. Or just click here. Helpdesk support is free to customers with current maintenance contracts or those whose systems are still under warranty. For others, they can either sign up to a maintenance agreement now, or receive advice on a pay-as-you-go basis using a credit card.

The BBC and other news agencies today (Friday) reported that about 120 protesters tried to storm a government property. Approximately ten people scaled scaffolding outside the Department for Communities and Local Government building in London. It is understood the crowd have been protesting about the eviction of travellers last year at Dale Farm in Essex. More than 60 police officers were required at the scene to join together in a human barricade to hold the protesters back. Tensor has gates, barriers, and turnstiles in our product range to prevent access to a business or organisation’s property. Sliding or Swing Gates are available. Tensor barriers fully integrate with our smart card and biometric access control systems. A Tensor system allows rapid communication when any delay occurs, such as when unauthorised personnel attempt to access a restricted area. Peak period congestion is thus avoided. The system gives full control over who is allowed access through any controlled point at any time of the day.

A suspect has been arrested following an armed robbery at a shop on Friday evening. Police say a shot was fired at the premises in North Lincolnshire, however the raider left empty-handed. The shopkeeper, a man in his 40s, was left with slight head injuries caused by glass from a set of broken bottles smashed in the incident. Officers have so far been unable to find the firearm used. The arrested man remains in police custody. Low cost door access control is available from Tensor to secure even smaller size premises. The one to four door access control system can be linked together can control other doors from one PC. The range uses the latest .NET PC-based access control software. The speech output announces flagged arrivals and security breaches and there is a burglar alarm output for forced entry. The Tensor system adheres to international security standards applicable to Access Control systems; EN50133 Parts 1, 7 and 2; GW18, PC79 and DD243I2002.

A current case in the European Court that is set to review whether an inability to work full-time could be a disability could make an impact on the UK’s existing legislation. The definition has not been reviewed since 2006. UK law currently identifies a number of key indicators of disability, such as the length of any incapacity. Temporary illness is not generally covered so any verdict to the contrary by the court could place the UK’s existing legislation in doubt. All companies are ultimately looking for an easy and accurate method of recording their workers’ hours and breaks for payroll, job costing and legislation purposes. The EU Working Time Directive provides a complex set of employment rules and regulations that govern the number of hours an employee can work, and ultimately dictates the way all companies within the EU must operate. All Tensor time and attendance systems come complete with advanced software to help your company meet the requirements of EU law.

On Wednesday it was revealed the NHS Employers organisation is pushing for no across-the-board pay rises to be awarded to non-medical staff. On the other hand, almost two-thirds of midwives, nurses and administrators will still receive a salary increase because they are entitled to climb one ‘rung’ up the pay scale. This is equivalent to a 6.7 per cent pay rise for some. NHS Employers wants to leave the pay scales alone as it argues current conditions “are increasingly unaffordable.” Advanced payment schemes and scales are no problem setting up via a Tensor Time and Attendance and payroll system. Using the Secondary Pay Bands function, certain pay bands pay into other bands either on a 1:1 basis or by using a multiplier. Another feature of our comprehensive software is Shift Premiums, where complex payment schemes can be used, based on factors such as the time of working to the grade of employee. The annual hours of a particular employee can be tracked.

Seen as a success at every level, the London 2012 Olympics came with piece of mind too, with no security scares. The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) estimated that £514 million was spent on venue security. It was confirmed through official sources that the government remained committed to providing LOCOG funds for venue security, initially put down at £282m. The figures released on Tuesday revealed £480m in unused contingency cash from the public funding package. An Olympian level of expense does not need to be spared when installing an effective security solution from Tensor at your premises. Biometrics is the technique of studying the physical characteristics of a person such as your fingerprint, hand geometry, eye structure or voice pattern. Scanners using biometric methods of identification for a ‘two-factor’ security authorisation of an individual can be added to a Tensor time and attendance or access control / visitor monitoring system. We stock a smart card access control scanner with built-in fingerprint reader.

A court ruling on Wednesday (October 24) means workers can now seek compensation for lost earnings. Susan Clare was one of the batch of workers, mainly women, who won a ruling over lower pay from Birmingham City Council. The 51-year-old was a full-time care assistant, earning about £900 a month before leaving in 2011. She said: “I think it's awful that we weren’t put in that position where we could have been earning the same as a man collecting rubbish.” There is no danger of a mistake being made over pay or working hours at your council or company with a Tensor clocking and time and attendance system. The WinTA system is a proven product at giving total control over working rules and handling all major hours calculation methods. Tensor is the leader in the payroll field and has worked with all of the major payroll packages. WinTA has a wide range of configuration options to extract payroll information in exactly the correct format.

Accountants KPMG say five million UK workers are paid less than the living wage. The firm’s figures suggest that these employees are paid less than is required for a basic standard of living. The UK rate is £7.20 per hour which is purely voluntary, and which KPMG has itself signed up to. “Times are difficult for many people, but of course those on the lowest pay are suffering the most,” said Marianne Fallon, head of corporate affairs at KPMG. Tensor has many types of technology for recording wages and hours. Part of our clocking expertise is a Mobile Self Service Module iPhone Application. Tensor is offering a set of time attendance and absence related self service features packaged conveniently into the App. Mobile clockings and job bookings, once submitted, are transferred to the central Tensor.NET application. The employee's position is also ascertained from their iPhone’s location. Employee movements recorded in this manner are plotted on a map viewable in the Tensor.NET software.

About 30 eco-protesters have broken into an EDF Energy site with the intention of setting up camp. Some have already climbed the only operational chimney at the Midlands-based gas power station. An EDF representative said the operational chimney was “immediately shut down to protect protesters who had placed themselves in potential harm”. A police spokesman added: “Negotiations have begun to encourage the protesters to end their demonstration.” Five women have already been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass. Ideal for securing exterior sites, Tensor digital CCTV camera and recording systems take advantage of technology that has revolutionised the monitoring of movement and access within a specific area. Tensor digital CCTV is PC based, multi channel video surveillance system that uses the most advanced compression technologies. Compared to analogue CCTV, a far greater number of CCTV cameras can be connected to your network and viewed, all through a single PC monitor. It brings the highest picture quality and video performance in aiding security.

A boost to the recovering economy came this week with Ryanair announcing it was creating roughly 1,000 jobs at airports nationwide. The airline confirmed it is to expand its operations and hopes to fill the new roles by summer 2013. These include pilots, engineers, cabin crew and baggage staff. Chief executive Michael O’Leary said the firm hopes to carry an extra one million passengers, adding: “We’re taking more and more big aircraft and placing those… across the regions.” Tensor provides cost-effective clocking systems for either small or large businesses; boasting all the same core functionality but with differing staff numbers and remote locations supported. The flagship Enterprise edition of our WinTAnet system allows a Group headquarters to control each subsidiary business that in turn, may each be operating from different local or international locations. All editions are suitable for use with SQL or Oracle databases. WinTAnet is both multi lingual and linked to the regional settings of your office’s PC.