ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2020

[oflory]

It'll be interesting to see if ZSL London survives this.

They survived the blitz, so I’m sure they’ll muddle through a temporary closure.

Unlike other smaller institutions, ZSL has relatively significant cash reserves as well as sensible investments in property etc. I don't have a copy of the annual report and budget to hand, so can't be more specific. I doubt that this will mean the closure of the zoo.

Say what you like about the direction of London Zoo or Whipsnade, but the money men know their business.

 

[taun]

The Government's measures will help with paying the staff's wages, but there will still be bills to pay for the animal food, energy and so on.

For catering staff and such but keepers it wont. They are only paying wages if they cannot work due to the virus.

 

[zoogiraffe]

Unlike other smaller institutions, ZSL has relatively significant cash reserves as well as sensible investments in property etc. I don't have a copy of the annual report and budget to hand, so can't be more specific. I doubt that this will mean the closure of the zoo.

Say what you like about the direction of London Zoo or Whipsnade, but the money men know their business.

So why is it that after the snowdon is finished their is no money for any new exhibits.

 

[LucasRyan]

Unlike other smaller institutions, ZSL has relatively significant cash reserves as well as sensible investments in property etc. I don't have a copy of the annual report and budget to hand, so can't be more specific. I doubt that this will mean the closure of the zoo.

Agree, they have a reserve to cover emergency situations such as closure for up to 3 months, which may last longer given the level of support packages from the government. ZSL had a deficit of £5m last financial year, so has been going through huge cost saving and voluntary redundancies, which clearly would need to be reviewed now given they are losing at least 2-3 months of visitors. Whipsnade however could do better than normal, as people will want something to do.

They have yet to close the funding gap on the Snowdon plus haven't been able to complete the coral exhibit in BUGS. Losing half term trade and maybe some part of summer will leave a huge hole in their budget - although on the bright side, maybe there will be a huge bounce after this is over with families keen to do something local after being restricted for so long.

 

[SMR]

Agree, they have a reserve to cover emergency situations such as closure for up to 3 months, which may last longer given the level of support packages from the government.

Perhaps ZSL are predicting a longer closure than can be sustained by the reserves as they're appealing for donations: ZSL Donations (which isn't new but is now COVID-19 related, as are the press stories).

 

[Andrew Swales]

The Government's measures will help with paying the staff's wages, but there will still be bills to pay for the animal food, energy and so on.

With respect, this is rubbish.

Government help will not pay for staff wages. 80% is available for staff who are 'furloughed' but the employer still has to find the remaining 20% and the employers NI and pension contributions, AND the furloughed employee cannot work for the employer (for money or for free) during the period.

For those who dont know, this term is being used for workers who are effectively 'retained', ie laid off due to a company being moth-balled for example and having no work for them temporarily, It is not redundancy and the company will retain them against re-opening in the future. It has nothing to do with the worker being ill.

For zoos with a rateable value of over £51,000 no Government help is available what-so-ever, and zoos are penalised with business rates as these are based on crude turn-over and not ability to pay, profitability or rental value; so rateable values are massively higher than in any other 'industry'.

UK zoos are financially penalised in ways not experienced or imagined by those in other countries, as I have oft repeated here before. This makes them uniquely vulnerable in this crisis.

If the restrictions last 6 months or more, which looks likely, taking us into the autumn and writing off a whole years income, then the Government will need to have measures in place to deal with the result of mass zoo closures.

We must hope that the trickle of wonderful donations now coming through, very quickly turns into a flood...

When you do donate, please make sure that all (or as much as possible) of the amount actually reaches the recipient, and that nothing is received back to you. Any tickets or vouchers or 'benefit' to you will turn the donation into a 'sale' in the eyes of HMRC, and VAT and tax will be taken from it.

 

[Shorts]

Government help will not pay for staff wages. 80% is available for staff who are 'furloughed' but the employer still has to find the remaining 20% and the employers NI and pension contributions, AND the furloughed employee cannot work for the employer (for money or for free) during the period.

Note that there is no requirement for the employer to make up the remaining 20%, they can but they don't have to. Yesterday I would have questioned whether the 80% covers employers NI and pensions as initial "guidance" stated 80% staff costs (which may or may not have included employers NI and pensions) whereas today it seems to have subtlety retracted to 80% of wages. The final guidance and, more importantly, the mechanism to receive the monies remains to be established so we'll see.

That said furloughing is no help to establishments that need to staff to tick over in the face of no sales, such as zoos -there's no grants for staff remaining working or even those on reduced hours. I suspect government haven't considered those, and many other complexities -it's more a case of act (declare?) fast and fill in the details later. Understandable, but still a little frustrating for those in losing positions.

For zoos with a rateable value of over £51,000 no Government help is available what-so-ever, and zoos are penalised with business rates as these are based on crude turn-over and not ability to pay, profitability or rental value; so rateable values are massively higher than in any other 'industry'.

Whilst largely true, as per any other businesses in a similar position, there's still the next a VAT quarter's deferral (to next April), very cheap loans and the likelihood of HMRC will yield to most request to defer taxes due. Not a lot I'll give you but not "no help what-so-ever" either.

 

[Andrew Swales]

Note that there is no requirement for the employer to make up the remaining 20%, they can but they don't have to. Yesterday I would have questioned whether the 80% covers employers NI and pensions as initial "guidance" stated 80% staff costs (which may or may not have included employers NI and pensions) whereas today it seems to have subtlety retracted to 80% of wages. The final guidance and, more importantly, the mechanism to receive the monies remains to be established so we'll see.

That said furloughing is no help to establishments that need to staff to tick over in the face of no sales, such as zoos -there's no grants for staff remaining working or even those on reduced hours. I suspect government haven't considered those, and many other complexities -it's more a case of act (declare?) fast and fill in the details later. Understandable, but still a little frustrating for those in losing positions.



Whilst largely true, as per any other businesses in a similar position, there's still the next a VAT quarter's deferral (to next April), very cheap loans and the likelihood of HMRC will yield to most request to defer taxes due. Not a lot I'll give you but not "no help what-so-ever" either.

I think you are wrong. Most of these claims and promises are just that, and will evaporate as we get further into this. Deferrals over one quarter and more borrowing are of little real use if this takes closures into the autumn. Remember that it has rained continually since the end of September until last week, the worst winter on record... The timing could have been no worse. The situation is much more serious than anyone is admitting; playing it down is a grave mistake.

 

[gentle lemur]

With respect, this is rubbish.

With respect, and with sympathy for the appalling difficulties that you face, I want to say that I am on your side (for what little that is worth) and on the side of all the others in the same situation. What I posted before is true. HMG will help a little - but not nearly enough to solve your problems. I have made a few modest donations to some smaller collections and I will do what I can to assist others. I hope that everyone who reads this thread will try to do the same, as far as they can in these extraordinary times.

 

[Shirokuma]

I will help a couple of collections as much as I can at this incredibly challenging time.

London Zoo won’t be one of them. When I asked them if it was possible to spread out the cost of my fellowship renewal a couple of years ago due to difficult circumstances I was told computer says no.

So I definitely won’t be supporting them now. I wish them well but I will send my support elsewhere.

 

[aquilla1]

That's harsh...

 

[Andrew Swales]

With respect, and with sympathy for the appalling difficulties that you face, I want to say that I am on your side (for what little that is worth) and on the side of all the others in the same situation. What I posted before is true. HMG will help a little - but not nearly enough to solve your problems. I have made a few modest donations to some smaller collections and I will do what I can to assist others. I hope that everyone who reads this thread will try to do the same, as far as they can in these extraordinary times.

Thank you for your kind comments. I mentioned evaporating promises; so thought you might like to know that interest free Government secured business LOANS for small businesses were announced quite early on, with about a dozen criteria which fit our situation perfectly. Now we find out from changes today, that these loans are now not available for any business with security, and of course as we own our site we don't comply. Most Government schemes are designed to catch headlines, and then the fine detail or changes prevent access - this was always the case, and apparently remains so.

All we have been offered is a short VAT holiday - a holiday, not real funding...!

So yes, I guess you are technically correct, in that the Government is helping us - wow!

Public support is quite different, and has been as amazing as our staff and the other businesses we deal with.

 

[Shirokuma]

That's harsh...

Not really. I’ve made donations to two other zoos. I am showing the importance of relationship management and their failings in this area. They basically told me I didn’t matter to them. At the time I said I had always planned to support them in the future as my situation stabilised but that would no longer happen and they had lost me forever. And now I choose to support other organisations.

 

[Tim Brown]

As of two years ago, a number of members of the staff at London earned in excess of 90k per year. Those salaries will have increased no doubt.It would go down a little better,when asking for donations in current times,if these people(and ZSL is notorious for its numbers of management staff) offered to take a decrease in money...say at least to that of an MP(circa 80k). The average wage according to the Office for National Statistics is £26,624 per year. I have written to the DG pointing this out.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

As of two years ago, a number of members of the staff at London earned in excess of 90k per year. Those salaries will have increased no doubt.It would go down a little better,when asking for donations in current times,if these people(and ZSL is notorious for its numbers of management staff) offered to take a decrease in money...say at least to that of an MP(circa 80k). The average wage according to the Office for National Statistics is £26,624 per year. I have written to the DG pointing this out.

I agree ... first and foremost senior staff need to take a pay-cut and a substantial one and also while at the same time retaining their general grounds, maintenance and keeping staff on their rather minimalist wages. Seems only fair, otherwise we will end up with another so-called (financial) banking and financial markets crisis (and also in our confidence of these) which clearly emanated from the 2008/2009 debacle where business and banking were bailed out and your average man and woman in the street was left to pay for their greed and indifference to society and transparent and accountable business dealings.

BTW: You can more or less guess where I think all these CFO, CEO and financial services dealers at the exchanges' and dealing rooms from the 2008/2009 era ought to have been and including the kind of compensation they should have paid to society. In reality, most if not all of them were let of with a slight knock and have continued to ... run the show.

 

[Andrew Swales]

As of two years ago, a number of members of the staff at London earned in excess of 90k per year. Those salaries will have increased no doubt.It would go down a little better,when asking for donations in current times,if these people(and ZSL is notorious for its numbers of management staff) offered to take a decrease in money...say at least to that of an MP(circa 80k). The average wage according to the Office for National Statistics is £26,624 per year. I have written to the DG pointing this out.

Ah, but its OK because they are a charity....
I pay myself £800 per month, and am profiteering - apparently.
A few of you might get to read this before I am censored again...

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Ah, but its OK because they are a charity....
I pay myself £800 per month, and am profiteering - apparently.
A few of you might get to read this before I am censored again...

Hi Andrew, your salary is really small tuppence compared what the ZSL senior staff are getting.

Your salary cap at GBP800 a month is ahum ...., rather slim in renumeration do not ye all think!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Ah, but its OK because they are a charity....
I pay myself £800 per month

your salary is really small tuppence compared what the ZSL senior staff are getting

It's certainly a stark and rather telling disparity!

Having come from quite a poor background I find wealth and profit inequalities distasteful at the best of times..... and given I try to avoid socioeconomic-political discussion for the sake of my mental health that's all I shall say on the matter

 

[Andrew Swales]

It's certainly a stark and rather telling disparity!

Having come from quite a poor background I find wealth and profit inequalities distasteful at the best of times..... and given I try to avoid socioeconomic-political discussion for the sake of my mental health that's all I shall say on the matter

I accept and am very grateful for that gentle knuckle-rapping. Difficult times...!!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I accept and am very grateful for that gentle knuckle-rapping. Difficult times...!!

Oh, no knuckle rapping intended whatsoever! I was merely indicating that as the concept of people in high positions enjoying the fruits of inequality makes me cross at the best of times I didn't intend to personally comment further on the bearing this may have on ZSL