Extortionate copier charge hits Uk schools

[Anonymous]

Extortionate copier charge hits Uk schools
SCHOOLS in the county are wasting tens of thousands of pounds on extortionate photocopier contracts – it has been revealed.
Some schools have been paying more than ten times too much for lease contracts for the machines as they are a seen as a soft target by unscrupulous salesmen.It came to light during investigations by Warwickshire County Council – which discovered one primary school had shelled out a staggering £45,000 for use of machines for five years and another was paying an estimated £25,000 over the odds.Photocopiers are much cheaper to lease direct and in some cases schools have been paying £1,500 a quarter to lease a machine where the cost would be ten times less from the manufacturer.

It comes as school budgets are tighter than they have been for years after savage funding cuts.Debra Whitaker, Warwickshire County Council’s lead on school procurement, said the council had uncovered many cases around the county where schools were paying over the odds. She said: "Schools are signing up to contracts for up to five years, which creep up and up, and in some cases a copier rental that should be £150 a quarter is being charged at £1,500 a quarter."Schools are now being seen as an easy target, I know of one copier firm which has set up a dedicated office locally, just to sell to the education sector."

Debra is urging schools will contact her to look at how they are paying for the contracts in a bid to stop the trend.Council education chief, Heather Timms, said: "I’m absolutely shocked by the amounts being paid out, and I’m pleased this issue has been brought to light.

"We are all trying to tighten the purse strings, yet here is a case where we are just leaking money. The worst part is that this money, which should be paying for our children’s education, is instead being given to copier firms."We recognise that schools are often busy, and that when it comes to managing their own budgets these things could get missed, but hopefully we will now see more action in tackling this problem

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November 29, 2011 at 9:07 AM