Frequently Asked Questions
General Enquiries
1. What exactly is a Virtual Admin Partner? Unlike a generalist virtual assistant who might handle basic tasks, a virtual admin partner like Heighton Ltd acts as an extension of your leadership team. We specialise in high-stakes industries, taking full ownership of your back-office operations, project coordination, and industry-specific compliance. We don't just follow instructions; we manage the systems that keep your business running.
2. Where are you based? We are based in Guildford, Surrey. While we work virtually, we understand the local landscape, the Surrey property market, and the specific needs of businesses in the Home Counties.
3. Do you handle taxes or bookkeeping? No. To maintain the highest standards of service, we do not provide tax advice, VAT filings, or formal financial accounting. However, we are experts at administrative financial support, such as organising receipts, tracking invoices, and preparing documentation for your accountant.
4. How does a "Virtual Admin Health Check" work? Our SME Admin Health Check is a diagnostic deep-dive into your current processes. We analyse your workflows to find "leaks" where you are losing time or money, such as manual data entry, missed billing, or outdated filing. We then provide a roadmap of improvements to help you scale efficiently. [Book your free health check here.]
5. Do you provide industry-specific compliance support? Yes. This is our core strength. We understand that compliance risk in Construction, Healthcare, and Property can lead to heavy fines or lost licenses. Whether it's managing CIS and health and safety documentation for contractors, or ensuring data protocols for healthcare SMEs, we handle all that with expert precision.
6. What are the typical Virtual Admin costs for UK SMEs? Hiring a Virtual Partner is significantly more cost-effective than a full-time, in-house office manager. You save on NI contributions, pension, office space, and equipment. We offer flexible, transparent pricing structures tailored to the complexity of your needs; whether you need ongoing support or a one-off compliance overhaul.
Services
7. Which industries do you specialise in? We have deep expertise in Construction SMEs (compliance and subcontractor admin), Property & Lettings (tenancy management and Renters' Rights Act 2026 readiness), and Healthcare/Professional Services (patient coordination and CQC audit support).
8. Can you help with the New Renters' Rights Act 2026? Absolutely. We help landlords and letting agents transition to the new legislative requirements, ensuring all compliance documentation, EPCs, and safety certificates are up to date and filed correctly within the new National PRS Database.
9. Do you provide site visits for construction clients? As a virtual service, we primarily operate remotely to keep costs efficient for you. However, for our Surrey-based clients, we can discuss ad-hoc site visits for high-level project handovers or audit preparations if required.
Compliance & Security
10. How do you handle my data? (GDPR) Data security is our priority. Heighton Ltd is ICO Registered and fully compliant with UK GDPR. We use secure, encrypted password management tools and cloud-based filing systems to ensure your sensitive business and patient data remains protected.
11. Are you insured? Yes. We hold comprehensive Professional Indemnity Insurance and Public Liability Insurance, providing peace of mind to our professional services and healthcare clients.
Pricing & Partnership
12. How do your packages work? We offer flexible Monthly Retainers (10, 20, or 40 hours) which provide you with a guaranteed block of our time at a discounted rate. For specific, one-off tasks, we also offer Ad-Hoc hourly rates and project-based fees.
13. What happens if I don't use all my hours in a month? To ensure we can manage our capacity for all clients, retainer hours are generally used within the calendar month. However, we offer a "Roll-over Grace" of up to 10% of your hours to the following month for our 'Growth' and 'Partner' tier clients.
14. How do we get started? We start with a free 15-minute Discovery Call to discuss your bottlenecks. If we’re a good fit, we’ll send over a Service Agreement and an Onboarding Questionnaire. We can usually have your first tasks underway within 48 hours.