Relief Groups or Group Cover for colleagues

Occasionally, you may need to take time away from your group and arrange for cover — or you may offer to cover a colleague’s group while they’re away. You might also cover a relief group for a few weeks.

Whichever applies, money will be received or spent, and it needs to be logged correctly on your Pulse accounts.

Before covering a group, agree with the person who normally runs it how you’re both going to account for the cover. The two of you should never both log the same week’s group takings — one person accounts for the group that week, and the examples below show who that should be.

Throughout this guide we’ll use the same two people:

• Carl — the consultant who normally runs the group
• Emma — the consultant covering the group while Carl is away

Option 1: Covering the group as if it were your own

If Emma is using her full account and earning the money as if the group were her own, Emma accounts for the whole week — and Carl logs nothing for that week’s group session, because Emma is the one receiving all of the money.

This is also usually how a relief group would operate.

What Emma logs in Pulse

Emma records the week using a Weekly Account PFS record on her own Pulse account:

1. Go to the Relief Groups screen in Pulse.
2. Click ‘Add New Relief Group’
3. Upload the weekly PFS summary PDF and the figures will auto-populate — or enter them manually:
   • Rent (£)
   • Nett Fees A (£) – sometimes referred to as ‘Nett fees to Slimming World’
   • Retained Earnings (£) – sometimes referred to as ‘Net Consultant fees’
   • Stock Commission (£)
   • Payments to SW (Sundries Expenses)
   • Payments from SW (Sundries Income)
4. Check the figures against your PFS document and click Save.

You can find help in this guide for locating the correct figures on the PFS document.

What Carl logs in Pulse

If the group is normally Carl’s, then for that group he would log nothing. Carl does not create a Weekly Account PFS record for the week Emma covered — Emma’s record is the account of that session, and if Carl logged one too the group’s takings would be counted twice.

If there is a set ‘earnings’ amount to transfer

If Carl agrees with Emma that he would like £50 in earnings for that group, then it would be logged

• As an expense in Emma’s accounts
• As additional income in Carl’s accounts

We’d recommend either issuing an invoice/receipt between the two individuals so that there is a record of what happened.

Option 2: Covering the group for a set, agreed fee

If Emma is covering the group in exchange for a set fee, with the remaining takings passed back to Carl, both consultants have something to log — and it’s important the money is documented on both sides.

Example: Emma covers Carl’s group for an agreed £60 fee. The group takes £200 in the session, so after keeping her £60, Emma transfers the remaining £140 to Carl.

What Emma logs in Pulse

1. Log the full week as normal. Because Emma received the member fees during the session, she processes the franchise account on her own Pulse account as normal — a Relief Group record for the group, and add the figures from the PDF document (exactly as in Option 1). This captures the full £200 of income and the week’s group expenses.
2. Log the transfer to Carl as an expense. The £140 sent to Carl is entered in Emma’s Expenses ledger, dated the day she sends it, with a clear description such as “Group cover — remaining fees paid to Carl (w/c 6 July)”.
3. Send Carl a receipt (or confirmation email) for the £140, and keep a copy for her own records.

The net effect on Emma’s accounts is the £60 fee she kept — the full takings appear on her Weekly PFS record, and the £140 expense offsets what she passed on.

What Carl logs in Pulse

1. No Weekly Account record for that meeting date — Emma has already accounted for the group’s takings that week. Adding it here would be a duplicate and he didn’t run the group.
2. Log the £140 received as income. Carl enters the £140 in his Income ledger, dated the day it arrives, with a description such as “Group cover — remaining fees from Emma (w/c 6 July)”.
3. Keep the receipt or email from Emma as evidence of the arrangement.

Keep evidence of the agreement

If HMRC ever queries or audits either set of accounts, you’ll want the money trail to be clear on both sides. Best practice is a physical invoice or receipt for the amount transferred; failing that, keep a confirmation email or written note of the agreement (who covered, which dates, what fee, and what was transferred).

Option 3: The group stays on Carl’s franchise accounts, Emma takes the money on the night

In this arrangement, nothing changes on the franchise accounts side — the session is still processed through Carl’s franchise account system, and the weekly PFS document is produced under Carl’s account as normal. Emma simply runs the session and physically takes the money, then sends it all to Carl less the fee she keeps for covering.

Example: The group takes £200 in the session, all processed through Carl’s franchise account. Emma keeps her agreed £60 fee and transfers the remaining £140 to Carl.

What Carl logs in Pulse

1. Log the Weekly Account record as normal, on his own account. Because the session ran through Carl’s franchise account system, the PFS document is his — he enters (or uploads) the full week’s figures on his Weekly Franchise Accounts page exactly as if he’d run the session himself. This captures the full £200 of group income.
2. Log Emma’s £60 fee as an expense. The fee Emma kept is Carl’s cost of arranging cover — entered in his Expenses ledger with a description such as “Group cover fee — Emma (w/c 6 July)”.
3. Do not log the £140 as income. That money is already included in the PFS figures from step 1 — it’s just his own group takings being handed back to him. Logging it again would double-count the week’s income.

What Emma logs in Pulse

Because members pay by a mix of card and cash, some of the takings will land in Emma’s bank account whichever way the cover is arranged — so the rule is simple: log everything you receive, and log everything you pass on.

1. No Weekly Account PFS record — the week belongs to Carl’s franchise accounts, not hers.
2. Log the full amount collected as income: £200 in her Income ledger, with a description making clear it isn’t really hers — “Monies collected on Carl’s behalf — group cover (w/c 6 July)”.
3. Log the amount passed on as an expense: £140 in her Expenses ledger — “Transferred to Carl — group cover settlement (w/c 6 July)”.

The net effect on Emma’s accounts is the £60 fee she kept, and her ledgers match her bank records exactly. The descriptions matter: money collected on another consultant’s behalf isn’t truly your own turnover, so labelling these entries clearly means they can be identified (and adjusted for, if ever needed) when your accounts are prepared.

Keep evidence of the settlement

As with Option 2, keep a paper trail: Emma should confirm in writing (receipt or email) that she collected £200 on Carl’s behalf, kept £60 as her agreed fee, and transferred £140. That one document supports Carl’s £60 expense, Emma’s £60 income, and explains the £140 bank transfer if HMRC ever asks.

Quick reference: who logs what