Trustmark chair receives New Year Honour
It has been announced that Liz Male, chair of quality mark TrustMark, has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s New Year 2015 Honours List. This award is in recognition of her long term services to construction and consumer protection. James Hunt reports:
Liz Male, who has just been given an MBE, and who has promoted consumer protection issues within the construction industry for over 20 years, was appointed non-executive chairperson of Trustmark (
www.trustmark.org.uk) in January 2011. This not for profit registered social enterprise is the national quality badge for reputable tradesmen in the home repair, maintenance and improvement market.
Launched in 2005, this quality scheme now signposts millions of people every year to more than 14,000 firms, including electrical installers, heating engineers, security alarm installers and plumbers, who have been vetted and inspected and who commit to work to TrustMark’s Government-endorsed standards.
Since Liz was appointed chair, TrustMark has developed significantly. Under her watch, there has been a new corporate governance, a stronger Board and improved standards covering technical competence, good trading practices and customer service.
Commented Liz Male: “It is a huge honour to receive this recognition for services to construction and consumer protection.
“TrustMark was set up with the Government to give homeowners a safe and easy way to find quality, reliable tradesmen for all work in and around the home. It’s a scheme I have believed in from the very start because TrustMark is a badge that is earned, not just bought.
“Every week I hear inspiring stories of TrustMark-registered firms which have gone out of their way to do great work for their customers. They are the people who deserve our greatest respect and praise, and they are the firms I will continue to champion,” she said.
Following a long career in public relations and marketing in property and construction, Liz set up her own PR agency, Liz Male Consulting Ltd, in 2001 and was a consultant to TrustMark when it first launched in 2005. In addition to running her PR business and her non-executive work as chairman of TrustMark, Liz is an active Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and a Trustee of the National Energy Foundation.
Recent energy saving initiative
In a typical new initiative in late 2014, Liz Male was one of those instrumental in helping to bring together in London leaders of influential businesses and charities - including TrustMark - to share their vision of helping householders to ‘use less, waste less and pay less’ for their energy.
The idea was that together, they can communicate clear, simple and consistent messages about the things people can do to control their bills, which includes a wide range of energy saving home improvements and maintenance jobs that can be done by local, reputable tradespeople.
Said Liz: “While energy control is not just about home improvements, we saw an immediate opportunity for TrustMark, its Scheme Operators, registered firms and consumer protection partners to be part of the solution – signposting people to reputable tradespeople who could help them implement a very wide range of energy saving measures in their homes, and allowing TrustMark-registered firms to promote the Big Energy Vision to provide added value and advice to their customers.”
More about Trustmark
The TrustMark logo can only be used by tradespeople and scheme operators that meet the organisation’s Core Criteria, which include the vetting of tradespeople by way of on-site inspections, their financial strength, health and safety compliance and the way that complaints are handled.
Following independent research into all the options used around the world for licensing tradespeople, TrustMark – which is a registered social enterprise, operated under licence from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) - was confirmed in 2013 as the UK’s preferred scheme and is included in the Industrial Strategy for construction to 2025.
This recognises the importance of TrustMark in improving the reputation of construction and building positive perceptions of the industry. The Government has committed to supporting TrustMark, expanding the scheme to include a greater proportion of the industry, and promoting the new core criteria standards and the industry and consumer groups that support them.
Trustmark works in close partnership with many consumer advice organisations and is rapidly growing in profile. For example, the organisation is currently piloting further consumer protection services for homeowners, and is at the forefront of developing new free and low cost complaint resolution routes for registered tradespeople and their customers.
Read others news
