Penalty points and suspension

Penalty points are separate from the quarterly Reputation points. They're awarded for conduct or performance below the network's standards. Active points expire 6 months after issue.

How penalty points work

• Issued by Beams against a specific incident, with a written notice.
• Visible on your dashboard with the reason and the expiry date.
• Active for 6 months before they expire automatically.
• 12 or more active points triggers immediate suspension pending formal review.
• A single behaviour attracting 12 points triggers immediate suspension on its own, regardless of your current total.

The three penalty bands

• Serious misconduct — 12 points (triggers immediate suspension). Examples: leaving site unsafe, threatening or abusive behaviour towards a customer or a member of the public, fraud, theft, deliberately misleading customers about scope or progress.
• Poor conduct — 5 points. Examples: repeated rudeness, ignoring agreed working hours, persistent breach of the Code of Conduct on a project, customer-facing falsifications that aren't fraud (e.g. claiming a milestone is complete when it visibly isn't), failure to engage with a dispute review.
• Minor failures — 3 points. Examples: late response to a customer beyond the agreed cadence, missed site visit without proper notice, repeatedly missing the platform's milestone-evidence requirements, leaving a tidy-up obligation unaddressed at sign-off.

What attracts which band

The bands map to the broad categories:

• Workmanship and safety — defects and unsafe practices range from minor failures up to serious misconduct, depending on severity.
• Conduct — Code of Conduct breaches, customer mistreatment.
• Process — repeated failure to use the platform for milestones, change orders, invoices.
• Reliability — repeated late or missed responses, no-shows.

Suspension and review

If you accumulate 12 or more active points, or trigger an immediate-suspension behaviour, you're suspended pending formal review. You're notified. The article Appealing a penalty or suspension covers the appeal process.

How to avoid penalty points

• Read and follow the Code of Conduct.
• Use the platform formally. Milestones, change orders, invoices.
• Respond on time. No-shows and late responses compound over time.
• Take customer complaints seriously. A complaint engaged with quickly rarely escalates to penalty points.

Related articles

• Appealing a penalty or suspension
• Code of Conduct in practice
• Removal — the process and what triggers it