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Business News – 4th December 2023

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Business News England

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

Office opening hours over Christmas

Please note the office will be closed from noon on Thursday 14th December 2023 so the team can enjoy a well deserved Christmas lunch.

The office will also close down for Christmas starting on the 22nd December at noon and reopening at 9am on the 2nd January 2024.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our clients, suppliers and staff during 2023! May 2024 be a fantastic year for you and your business.

Changes to UK company law

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act received royal assent on 26 October 2023 and will introduce a number of changes over the next few years.

The act gives Companies House the power to play a more significant role in tackling economic crime and supporting economic growth. Over time, the measures will lead to improved transparency and more accurate and trusted information on Companies House registers.

Under the Act, there will be new responsibilities for: 

  • all new and existing company directors;
  • people with significant control of a company (PSCs); and
  • anyone who files on behalf of a company.

The new legislation generally applies to all entities registered with Companies House, including:

  • private limited companies; 
  • public limited companies (PLCs); 
  • limited liability partnerships (LLPs); 
  • limited partnerships (LPs); 
  • community interest companies (CICs); and 
  • overseas companies. 

The legislation applies to companies and other entities registered in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland and applies to anyone who files on behalf of clients, such as accountants and company formation agents.

If you are planning on starting a new company or another entity type, you will need to consider the changes and new responsibilities introduced by the act. For existing directors and companies, it is important to understand how these changes will affect you.

Some of the changes include:

  • Greater powers for Companies House to query information, stronger checks on company names, new rules for registered office addresses, and new lawful purpose statements;
  • Identity verification – Anyone setting up, running, owning, or controlling a company in the UK will need to verify their identity;
  • Transitioning towards filing accounts by software only, and changes to small company accounts filing options;  
  • Increasing Companies House fees to take new future expenditure into account, as well as making sure costs are recovered from existing expenditure;
  • Protecting personal information – Individuals will be able to apply to suppress personal information from historical documents and apply to have personal information protected from public view because of risk of harm;
  • Changes for limited partnerships – these will need to file their information through authorised agents, and they will need to file more information with Companies House; and
  • More effective investigation and enforcement powers for Companies House, and new powers to share data with law enforcement agencies and other government departments.  

See: Changes at a glance – Changes to UK company law Companies House changes

Travel support for UK businesses to attend European events

Innovate UK is offering travel support for businesses to attend consortia-building events in Europe.

The travel awards support businesses who want to expand their networks across Europe and make an impact in collaborative international research and development (R&D) projects.

The awards encourage UK participation, engagement, and visibility at international events and aim to accelerate UK involvement in European research programmes (including Horizon Europe and EUREKA).

To be eligible for support, you need to be a for-profit, UK-based, R&D performing SME according to the EU definition.

If successful in your application for travel and accommodation costs, you will receive proactive support from Innovate UK to help you maximise the benefit of attending.

Up to £700 is available to help cover travel and subsistence costs needed to attend the following events:

See: Travel support for UK businesses to attend European events – Apply now! – Innovate UK KTN (ktn-uk.org)

The Unified R&D Tax Credit Scheme

The UK government has announced reforms to its Research and Development (R&D) tax credit system. This transformation seeks to combine the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) and the SME relief into a singular scheme, effective from accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024.

The new “merged approach” intends to streamline the system by introducing a single set of qualifying rules. The merging of these two schemes may raise concerns about the scheme’s overall effectiveness compared to the older, higher-rate SME scheme. The new unified scheme’s impact on fostering R&D investment and innovation, especially for smaller enterprises, remains to be fully identified.

The key changes in the UK’s new unified R&D tax relief scheme include:

  • The introduction of a single set of qualifying rules, rather than separate rules for SME and RDEC claims.
  • The scheme allows companies making R&D decisions and bearing risks to claim relief for subcontracted R&D.
  • Subsidised expenditure rules from the SME scheme will not be carried forward to the new scheme, meaning external funding won’t reduce the available support.  Grant funded projects remain claimable, which is a welcome announcement.

The rate under the new scheme is set at the current RDEC rate of 20%. This credit will be subject to corporation tax.

See: Research & Development (R&D) tax relief reforms – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Advisory fuel rate for company cars

The table below sets out the HMRC advisory fuel rates from 1 December 2023. These are the suggested reimbursement rates for employees’ private mileage using their company car.

Where the employer does not pay for any fuel for the company car, these are the amounts that can be reimbursed in respect of business journeys without the amount being taxable on the employee.

Engine SizePetrolDieselLPG
1400cc or less14p (13p) 10p  
1600cc or less 13p (12p) 
1401cc to 2000cc16p   12p  
1601 to 2000cc 15p (14p) 
Over 2000cc26p (25p)20p (19p)18p (19p)

Where there has been a change, the previous rate is shown in brackets.

You can also continue to use the previous rates for up to 1 month from the date the new rates apply.

Note that for hybrid cars you must use the petrol or diesel rate. For fully electric vehicles the rate is 9p (10p) per mile.

Please contact us if you need help in applying the new rates.

IP and Business Growth survey

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is inviting businesses to share their views on how intellectual property (IP) helps them scale and grow.

In a modern global economy, innovation, creativity, design, and brand recognition are increasingly important to business success. All these elements are underpinned by IP rights, such as copyright, trademarks, patents, and designs.

The IPO wants to support businesses to manage their IP rights effectively. It is conducting a review of UK’s IP-backed finance ecosystem and IP insurance landscape. The new survey forms part of this review.

The survey covers a broad range of topics. Responses will help the IPO:

  • better understand how businesses may raise external finance – including leveraging their IP assets to secure funding;
  • explore awareness, perception and use of IP litigation insurance products among businesses; and
  • better understand how to support businesses most effectively in managing their IP assets.

The IPO wants to hear from businesses of all sizes, and from a wide range of sectors, which hold IP – whether an individual entrepreneur, start-up, established firm, or large corporate.

The survey closes on 2 February 2024.

See: IP and Business Growth Survey – Intellectual Property Office – Citizen Space

Latest HMRC tax webinars for the Self-Employed

Listed below are a number of live HMRC webinars that will give the self-employed an understanding of key taxes that affect them. The webinars are free and last around an hour.

New to Self-Assessment
Thu 7 Dec at 1:45pm
Mon 18 Dec at 11:45am

Capital expenditure and revenue repairs
Tue 9 Jan at 1:45pm

VAT – the basics and the VAT return
Tue 12 Dec at 9:45am

Finance costs and travel expenses
Wed 10 Jan at 11:45am

How to fill in your Self-Assessment tax return if you’re self-employed
Mon 11 Dec at 1:45pm
Wed 20 Dec at 9:45am

Cash basis and property income allowance
Thu 11 Jan at 9:45am

How to fill in your Self-Assessment tax return if you have UK property income
Thu 14 Dec at 1:45pm
Tue 19 Dec at 11:45am

VAT accounting schemes
Mon 18 Dec at 9:45am

Record keeping for the self-employed
Tue 5 Dec at 9:45am

Capital Allowances for the self-employed
Tue 5 Dec at 1:45pm

Residential property income for individuals – an introduction
Wed 6 Dec at 11:45am

Residential property income for individuals – expenses, and deductions
Thu 7 Dec at 11:45am

How to apply the VAT reverse charge for construction services
Tue 12 Dec at 1:45pm

Car expenses for the self-employed
Wed 13 Dec at 9:45am

Capital allowances and vehicles
Wed 13 Dec at 11:45am

Business expenses for the self-employed
Thu 14 Dec at 11:45am

How to finish your Self-Assessment tax return, your tax calculation and payments
Tue 19 Dec at 1:45pm
Wed 20 Dec at 1:45pm

VAT: using the Flat Rate Scheme
Tue 19 Dec at 3:45pm

Company directors – payroll and you
Mon 5 Feb at 11:45am

New funding for space technology projects

The UK Space Agency has announced 23 projects that could help the UK with new space technologies and applications around the world.

The Enabling Technologies Programme (ETP) provides opportunities for the UK space sector to accelerate the development of leading-edge technologies that could be used to tackle global problems and benefit the work of space organisations internationally.  

The total government funding is £4 million – made up of £3.2 million from the UK Space Agency with £800,000 contributed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).  

The projects from academia and industry explore how space can be used more efficiently for purposes such as weather prediction, climate-change monitoring, and space debris removal through methods of propulsion, sterilisation, in-orbit servicing, imaging, and more. 

See: New UK funding for space technology projects – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK and South Korea launch talks on new trade deal

The UK and South Korea have entered talks on a modernised trade deal to boost trade and strengthen their relationship. 

It comes as Korean businesses commit £21 billion of investment into the UK, backing renewable energy and infrastructure projects across the country and supporting more than 1,500 highly skilled jobs. 

South Korea is the 13th largest economy in the world and its import demand is set to grow rapidly. With around 45 million middle class consumers and an import market expected to grow by 45% by 2035, it presents massive opportunities for UK companies. 

The UK and South Korea are both major modern economies with big digital sectors and the current trade deal, negotiated more than a decade ago, doesn’t include digital chapters that reflect the modern economy.  

With nearly 80% of UK services exports to Korea delivered digitally in 2021, securing modern digital provisions could unlock big opportunities for UK businesses. 

The UK’s trade with South Korea has more than doubled in current prices since our existing trade deal was agreed in 2011. An upgraded trade deal is expected to boost our £16 billion annual trading relationship with South Korea, supporting jobs and livelihoods up and down the UK. 

See: UK and South Korea to launch talks on new trade deal as Korean businesses back Britain with £21 billion of investment  – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Changes to data protection laws – The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

A raft of changes to the Data Protection rules have been laid before Parliament in the Digital Information Bill which aims to build an innovative data protection regime in the UK.

The changes include new powers to require data from third parties, particularly banks and financial organisations, to help the UK government reduce fraud and save the taxpayer up to £600 million over the next five years. Currently, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) can only undertake fraud checks on a claimant on an individual basis, where there is already a suspicion of fraud. 

The new proposals would allow regular checks to be carried out on the bank accounts held by benefit claimants to spot increases in their savings which push them over the benefit eligibility threshold, or when people spend more time overseas than the benefit rules allow for. This will help to identify fraud and take action more quickly. To make sure that privacy concerns are at the heart of these new measures, only a minimum amount of data will be accessed and only in instances which show a potential risk of fraud and error.

Another measure offers vital reassurance and support to families as they grieve the loss of a child. In cases where a child has died through suicide, a proposed ‘data preservation process’ would require social media companies to keep any relevant personal data which could then be used in subsequent investigations or inquests.

Current rules mean that social media companies aren’t obliged to hold onto this data for longer than is needed, meaning that data which could prove vital to coroner investigations could be deleted as part of a platform’s routine maintenance. The change tabled before Parliament represents an important step for families coming to terms with the loss of a loved one and takes further steps to help ensure harmful content has no place online.

The use of biometric data, such as fingerprints, to strengthen national security is also covered by the amendments, with the ability of Counter Terrorism Police to hold onto the biometrics of individuals who pose a potential threat, and which are supplied by organisations such as Interpol, being bolstered.

This would see officers being able to retain biometric data for as long as an INTERPOL notice is in force, matching this process up with INTERPOL’s own retention rules. The amendments will also ensure that where an individual has a foreign conviction, their biometrics will be able to be retained indefinitely in the same way as is already possible for individuals with UK convictions – this is particularly important where foreign nationals may have existing convictions for serious offences, including terrorist offences.

See: Changes to data protection laws to unlock post-Brexit opportunity – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Made in the UK, Sold to the World Awards 2024

The annual Made in the UK, Sold to the World awards recognises and celebrates the global trading success of SMEs from across the UK.

The Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT’s) 2024 Made in the UK, Sold to the World awards are now open for entries.

There are ten categories of awards to enter:

  • Agriculture, Food & Drink;
  • Consultancy & Professional Services;
  • Creative Industries;
  • Education & EdTech;
  • Financial Services & FinTech;
  • Healthcare;
  • Infrastructure & Engineering;
  • Low Carbon Energy;
  • Manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing & Construction; and
  • Retail & Consumer Goods.

There will be one winner from each category and up to three highly commended businesses.

Winners will receive a 2024 winner’s trophy, certificate, and digital badge, as well as a year’s free business membership to the Institute of Export and International Trade (IoEIT). Your business will also receive tailored promotion across Department for Business and Trade channels.

Highly commended businesses will receive a certificate, digital badge and a year’s free business membership to the Institute of Export and International Trade.

If you have a story to tell about how your business is successfully selling its products or services to the world, DBT want to hear from you. Entries for the 2024 awards will close Sunday 14 January 2024.

See: Awards now open for entries – great.gov.uk

UK government funding for jobs in AI sector

Up to £17 million in government funding will create more scholarships for AI and data science conversion courses, helping young people from groups underrepresented in the tech industry including women, black people, people with disabilities, and people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds join the UK’s world-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry.

The government is encouraging companies to play their part in creating a future pipeline of AI talent by co-funding the AI scholarships for the conversion courses. Industry support for these scholarships will help get more people into the AI and data science job market quicker and strengthen UK businesses.

Together, government and industry funding will create two thousand scholarships for masters AI and data science conversion courses, each worth £10,000. The programme is enabling graduates to do further study courses in the field even if their undergraduate course is not directly related, creating a new generation of experts in data science and AI.

Courses are open to anyone who meets a participating university’s entry requirements. Details of how to apply are available on the universities’ websites. Eligible applicants can apply for a scholarship through their university. Please visit the Office for Student’s website for more information.

The UK is ranked third in the world for private venture capital investment into AI companies (2019 investment into the UK reached almost £2.5 billion) and is home to a third of Europe’s total AI companies.

The new scholarships will ensure more people can build careers in AI, create, and develop new and bigger businesses, and will improve the diversity of this growing and innovative sector.   See: £17 million to boost skills and diversity in AI jobs – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BUSINESS NEWS – 31st July 2023

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

HMRC Annual Report shows some important trends for business owners

HMRC’s annual report was published last week, and it shows that they failed to meet many of their key customer services measures in 2022-23. Customer satisfaction dropped to 79% from 82% last year and telephone performance has also declined with an average wait of 16 minutes to get through to an adviser. 63% of callers waited more than 10 minutes, with an average wait-time of over 20 minutes in January to March 2023. To their credit, HMRC have improved their correspondence reply time to 73% cleared within 15 days from 46% in 2021-22.

HMRC thinks the solution lies in the use of online services by taxpayers and wants to reduce the volume of contact by telephone and post by 30% before 2025. However, given HMRC’s past record on missing its technology deadlines, this is probably unlikely without further resources being made available. Long wait times for taxpayers look likely to continue.

The report highlighted that HMRC have maintained a long-term reduction in the UK’s tax gap (the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC and what is actually collected) from 7.5% of total theoretical tax liabilities in 2005 to 2006, to 4.8% in 2021 to 2022.

To ensure everyone pays the “right” tax, HMRC have a compliance strategy with 3 elements: preventing non-compliance, promoting good compliance, and being robust in their response to those who bend or break the rules. In 2022-23 HMRC delivered £34 billion of compliance yield – the term for money that would have been lost to the Exchequer if not for HMRC compliance work. While it’s lower than they aimed for this year, it’s higher than the 2 previous financial years.

In the last fifteen years, in the wake of the “Crash” of 2008, the subsequent recession and the Pandemic, the UK National Debt has risen to the worrying level of 101.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product. HMRC have been tasked with increasing their efforts to help with this by recovering as much tax as possible and closing the tax gap even further.

We are seeing HMRC putting increasing resources into tax investigations, following the investment into their IT infrastructure and employee numbers – HMRC have been known to launch investigations into individuals and businesses that leads to little to no tax being recovered, following investigation. Some recent statistics have revealed that 2 in 5 taxpayers who were investigated paid no additional tax even though they had to go through the trauma of an HMRC tax investigation.

It’s a situation faced by thousands of UK businesses each year, one which has stepped up following the Pandemic as HMRC seeks to crack down on fraudulent claims for financial support. This has led to a growing number of UK businesses being randomly selected for investigation, with even sole traders finding their accounts subject to scrutiny.

Many of our clients protect themselves from the costs of an HMRC investigation with Fee Protection insurance. Tax fee protection insurance can save you from the unexpected costs of having your business accounts investigated. HMRC investigations can run into thousands of pounds in costs – hundreds of thousands in some cases. Having fee protection in place gives you the reassurance that your accountant’s costs in dealing with the investigation will be covered.

If you are not covered, then talk to us about our comprehensive fee protection insurance and expert advice.

See: HMRC’s annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023: performance overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The trade digitalisation act

The electronic trade documents act received Royal Assent last week granting electronic trade documents the same legal status as physical trade documents, hopefully making trade more efficient, cleaner, and cheaper for firms.

Existing laws dating back to the 1800s previously meant that exporters and importers have to use paper documents to transfer ownership of the goods they are shipping – creating a costly, inefficient and outdated way of working.

UK businesses, both big and small, have been calling for paperless trades for decades, especially as the development of electronic document technologies has become increasingly feasible for the industry. With less chance of sensitive paper documents being lost, and stronger safeguards through the use of technology, digitalising trade documents could give businesses that trade internationally greater security and peace of mind.

The UK government estimates that the new law could generate a net benefit of £1.14 billion for the British economy over the next decade for UK businesses trading across the world.

See: UK economy to receive £1 billion boost through innovative trade digitalisation act – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Takeaway and Restaurant Innovation Expo 2023

From mobile payments and delivery to sustainability and food waste, the Restaurant and Takeaway Innovation Expo brings the whole restaurant industry together!

This is an opportunity to interact and connect with the industry’s visionaries who are shaping the takeaway and restaurant scene of the future. Find out how to boost your profits, build your brand and grow your business.

The event takes place on 10 and 11 October 2023 at the ExCel London.

See: Home – Restaurant & Takeaway Innovation Expo (takeawayexpo.co.uk)

ETIAS – entering EU countries

The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is set to be introduced in 2024 after initially being planned for 2022. The delay was thought to be because of needing to update travel infrastructures and the onset of the COVID pandemic.

UK travellers will need an ETIAS for most EU countries. Travel permits will be available to buy online when the scheme launches and will cost around €7 (£6) for people over 18. Travellers under 18 or over 70 will receive their ETIAS free of charge.

ETIAS will be used to keep track of visitors from countries who do not need a visa to enter the Schengen Zone, and to enhance border security.

It is designed for short-term stays of 90 days or less, and includes travel for business, pleasure, medical reasons, or if you are transiting through the EU to a further destination.

You could be denied an ETIAS if you give the wrong information online, are a convicted criminal or are on a travel watch list.

You will need to present the document on arrival at your travel destination and could be refused to fly or denied entry into the EU without one.

Similar to a US ESTA, it is expected to be processed and approved within minutes. It will also be valid for three years from the date of issue, making it easier for future travel.

The European countries that will require a valid ETIAS upon arrival at their borders include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

See: ETIAS – European Travel Information and Authorisation System (schengenvisainfo.com)

Innovation Loans Future Economy competition – round 10

UK registered businesses can apply for loans for innovative projects with strong commercial potential to significantly improve the UK economy. 

Innovate UK is offering up to £25 million in loans to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Loans are for highly innovative late-stage research and development (R&D) projects with the best potential for the future. There should be a clear route to commercialisation and economic impact.

Your project must lead to new products, processes or services that are significantly ahead of others currently available or propose an innovative use of existing products, processes, or services. It can also involve a new or innovative business model.

Innovate UK is particularly interested in projects that focus on the future economy areas included in the Innovate UK plan for action.

You must be able to show that you:

  • need public funding,
  • can cover interest payments, and
  • will be able to repay the loan on time.

The funding available will be allocated across a series of competitions:

  • round 10 – opened 15 July 2023,
  • round 11 – opens 14 September 2023, and
  • round 12 – opens 9 November 2023. 

See: Competition overview – Innovate UK Innovation Loans Future Economy: Round 10 – Innovation Funding Service (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk)

UK announces further support to seafarers’ rights and welfare

More seafarers will be guaranteed fair wages, proper rest periods and suitable training from a new Seafarers’ Charter launched by the UK government last week.

Building on government action already taken, the charter – backed by DFDS Ferries, Condor Ferries, Brittany Ferries and Stena – is part of the government’s wider Nine-point plan to protect seafarers and boost employment protections, ensuring they’re paid and treated fairly – irrespective of flag or nationality.

This is at the heart of the UK’s response to P&O Ferries’ decision to fire nearly 800 of its staff without consultation or notice last year.

The UK government’s charter will be launched alongside a similar initiative by the French government during a visit by Maritime Minister Baroness Vere to Paris today to meet her counterpart, Minister Berville.

See: UK announces historic boost to seafarers’ rights and welfare – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Travel update for families entering the UK border this summer

This summer more families arriving into the UK will benefit from quicker entry to the UK using eGates, thanks to an expansion of the service to 10 and 11 year olds.

Following successful trials across major ports including Gatwick, Stansted, and Heathrow Airports this spring, from Monday 24 July 2023, more families returning and eligible visitors to the UK over the school summer holiday will now benefit from the use of eGates as a faster way to travel through the UK border, with a recent YouGov poll showing that 42% of the UK public plan to jet abroad over the summer.

With passenger volumes expected to return to 2019 levels this summer – and some ports exceeding those volumes – Border Force expects to see over 34 million air arrivals coming through UK passport control over the coming months.

This new eGate change is expected to benefit thousands of families this summer, with over 400,000 children aged 10 and 11 years old projected to use eGates this year.

See: Smoother travel for families through the UK border this summer – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Government clamps down on unfair bank account closures

Banks will be forced to explain and delay any decision to close an account under new rules, protecting freedom of expression.

The government has stepped in to address fears that banks are terminating accounts because they disagree with someone’s political beliefs.

The changes will increase the notice period to 90 days – giving customers more time to challenge a decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service or find a replacement bank.

Banks will also be required to spell out why they are terminating a bank account – boosting transparency for customers and aiding their efforts to overturn decisions.

The changes were announced last week.

See: Government clamps down on unfair bank account closures – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Acas Consultation – Code of Practice on handling requests for flexible working

Acas is updating its statutory Code of Practice on handling requests for flexible working, to reflect the anticipated reforms to legislation, significant shift in flexible working in the workplace and changing views since their existing Code was published in 2014. Their non-statutory guidance will also be updated, which sits alongside the Code.

The aim of the Code is to provide employers, employees, and representatives with a clear explanation of the law on the statutory right to request flexible working, alongside good practice advice on handling requests in a reasonable manner.

Contributions are welcome from all interested individuals and organisations. This includes employers, employees, trade unions, business representative groups, legal representatives, and any other organisations or individuals with an interest in flexible working practices and good employment relations.

The consultation closes on 6 September 2023.

See: Acas consultation on the draft Code of Practice on handling requests for flexible working | Acas

Training providers across England can bid for a share of £8.85 million government funding to offer courses in retrofitting and installing insulation

Thousands of people are to be equipped with the right skills to make homes more energy efficient, as training courses will be rolled out across the country. 

Training providers, such as colleges and accreditation providers, will be able to bid for a share of £8.85 million to help up to 8,000 people – whether current installers or those new to the industry – develop the skills and expertise needed to retrofit homes with energy saving measures.

The courses will be free or provided at low cost and will cover a range of key energy efficiency measures, from putting in loft insulation to draft proofing measures. This will not only help drive household energy bills down and reduce emissions but represents key employment opportunities for people to stay in and progress in work.

Training providers will have until 25 August 2023 to apply for the funding to deliver the courses, with training places expected to open later this year.

See: Thousands to be trained to boost energy efficiency in homes across the country – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Social Investment – Growth Impact Fund

The Growth Impact Fund provides social investment for early stage, growing social businesses that are:

  • led by diverse leaders and teams;
  • looking to grow their trading income; and
  • looking to help tackle inequality.

The Fund was developed by Big Issue Invest and UnLtd with support from Shift, who are all committed to tackling the structural barriers within social investment and offers between £50,000 and £1,500,000 of investment.

There are three flexible investment types aimed to meet your needs:

  • Equity – Shares in your organisation;
  • Revenue Share – Repayments based on your organisation’s revenue performance; and
  • Patient Debt – Regular repayments set at an agreed interest rate over several years. 

See: Growth Impact Fund – Investing for impact. Made for diverse-led organisations

BUSINESS NEWS – 3rd May 2022

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

Inflation, it’s personal!

We are in a period of high inflation of prices for goods and services. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows one of the inflation indices has increased by 6.2% in the 12 months to March 2022.

This is the highest that CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs) has been since 1992. Among the main components of this increase are transport costs, such as petrol and diesel and the price of second-hand cars.

The Government Actuary’s Department offer commentary on the reasons and recently stated that: 

“During the pandemic prices for some goods and services fell, such as for eating out and holidays abroad. This reflected a rapid fall in demand which quickly shifted with demand gradually returning and supply then becoming challenging. Lockdown and workforce availability were key causes, but another factor was the reliance of so many products on semiconductors.

They feature in ever more numbers of products such as computers, cars and even kettles. The demand for semiconductors has been increasing faster than the supply can keep up with.”

This has been compounded by other factors, such as the surge in early retirements during the pandemic and increasing energy prices due to the geopolitical situation and war in Ukraine.

These factors and increasing semiconductor production can be managed with a view to bringing prices back down again. However, solutions such as building new semiconductor manufacturing facilities take time, so until then, prices increase.

The BIG question is where next for inflation?

Inflation also poses a risk for business and financial institutions (such as pension funds and insurance companies) as we do not know how it will evolve. There will be scenarios, which may seem unlikely but nonetheless plausible and which could lead to financial difficulties.

Mitigations may be available but will usually come at a cost. This could be purely financial, such as buying insurance. Or it could be more complex, like carefully balancing how much inflation can be passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices.

See: Inflation, it’s personal – Actuaries in government (blog.gov.uk)

If you own a business, then:

  1. Take time to review your personal objectives – the business is there to provide you with what you want from life, and this is the most important element of any plan.
  2. Look at where the business is now, its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and get a clear understanding of its position in the marketplace, the competition, the systems and the way things are done and the improvements that could be made.
  3. Focus on what the business is to look like when it is “complete” or running profitably and successfully. Then you can determine priorities – the big issues that need to be focussed on – this is the plan!

It is also a good idea to look at where you are now and plan for a range of scenarios “good and bad” so that you can be flexible about the direction you should take. 

Ask us about our One Page Analyst, a “what if” scenario planner which takes your projected 2022 figures and allows you to work out the effect on profit of reducing expenses, increasing sales, increasing or decreasing prices.

New competition law to replace EU rules

A new law will help UK firms do business while maintaining strong protections for consumers and will come into effect on 1 June 2022 the UK government has announced.

Currently, the UK has retained EU rules that exempt businesses from competition law in certain circumstances. The UK government has received expert advice from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which recommended a new, bespoke competition law exemption for the UK, replacing the retained EU rules, which expire on 31 May 2022.

See: New law to make doing business simpler while protecting consumers – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK announces new trade measures to support Ukraine

The UK has announced new measures to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia by removing all tariffs covered by the existing UK-Ukraine trade deal.

The measures include:

  • UK to cut tariffs on all goods from Ukraine to zero under the UK-Ukraine FTA, providing much-needed economic support.
  • New export ban on products and technology that Russia could use to repress the people of Ukraine.
  • Tariff measures are part of broad UK economic support to Ukraine, including £1bn in loan guarantees.

See: UK announces new trade measures to support Ukraine – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Employee travel and subsistence

With employees’ and directors’ P11d’s for 2021/22 due by 6 July 2022 it is timely to remind employers of the rules for travel and subsistence, particularly as HMRC have recently issued some updated guidance and useful examples of their interpretation of the law.

Tax relief for employee travel costs is available provided the journey isn’t ordinary commuting or private travel. Thus, amounts paid by the employer would not be taxable.

No relief is available for ordinary commuting, which is travel between home (or a place that is not a workplace) and a ‘permanent workplace’.

There are a number of criteria for determining if a workplace is temporary or permanent, but in general a workplace will always be a permanent workplace if the worker:

  • regularly goes to the same workplace in the course of a period of continuous work which lasts or is likely to last more than 24 months, or
  • regularly goes to the same workplace for all or almost all of the time for which the worker is likely to hold (or continues to hold) the same employment.

Where the journey qualifies for tax relief then necessary and reasonable subsistence costs associated with that journey would also qualify for tax relief, and if paid or reimbursed by the employer would not be taxable employment income.

Note that where expenses (such as travel and subsistence) are incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of the employment they no longer need to be reported on form P11d. A dispensation from reporting is no longer required but HMRC would expect there to be controls in place within the organisation to review and approve the expenditure.

Travel by workers operating via Personal service companies (IR35)

From 6 April 2016, new provisions changed the treatment of travel and subsistence expenses for workers providing their personal services to clients through employment intermediaries (IR35). Each engagement the worker undertakes that falls within IR35 is regarded as a separate and the worker’s travel and subsistence expenses are treated as if the worker was directly employed by the engager. This will mean that generally no relief will be given for home-to-work travel costs and associated subsistence. However, in certain circumstances, the new provisions are modified or disapplied.

Overarching contracts of employment where worker is supplied via an Agency

Temporary workers engaged under traditional employment agency contracts and caught by the agency legislation, are not entitled to relief for payment of travel and subsistence expenses, including home to work travel to a client’s work premises, as each assignment is deemed to be a separate employment and so each new place of work becomes a permanent workplace.

Many Employment Agencies have changed their business model and now put in place overarching contracts of employment to link the various assignments undertaken by workers supplying their services to various separate end-user clients at separate locations. The overarching contract of employment links together a series of separate assignments so that each location of each assignment becomes a temporary workplace. The worker effectively becomes a permanent employee of the employment agency under an overarching contract of employment.

If it is accepted that the contracts are overarching contracts of employment, then each new place of work will usually become a temporary workplace (subject to the “24 month rule”) and the individual’s travel and subsistence expenses would qualify for relief under the travel rules.

For details see: ESM5510 – Employment Status Manual – HMRC internal manual – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Updated HMRC guidance on the scale of expenditure where accommodation and subsistence is paid for or reimbursed to employees

HMRC have recently updated their guidance and provided a number of examples setting out their interpretation of the law relating to reimbursed accommodation and subsistence costs and what they regard as reasonable. HMRC accept that under certain circumstances it is acceptable to rent a flat near the temporary workplace rather than stay in a hotel.

See: EIM31838 – Employment Income Manual – HMRC internal manual – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

2.1 million annual tax credits packs to be issued

About 2.1 million tax credits customers have begun to receive their annual renewal packs from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The packs will be sent between 25 April and 27 May, and customers have until 31 July to check their details are correct and update HMRC if there has been a change in their circumstances.

There are 2 types of renewal packs:

  • if it has a red line across the first page and says, ‘reply now’, customers will need to confirm their circumstances to renew their tax credits
  • if it has a black line across the first page and says, ‘check now’, customers will need to check their details are correct. If correct, customers do not need to do anything, and their tax credits will be automatically renewed

About 630,000 people will need to confirm their circumstances to renew their tax credits for the 2022 to 2023 tax year.

See: 2.1 million annual tax credits packs to be issued – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Managed move of claimants to Universal Credit set to restart

All benefit claimants will be moved over to Universal Credit by the end of 2024, with moves from legacy schemes resuming next month, the Department for Work and Pensions announced last week.

The restart follows a pause to the process during the pandemic when staff were focused on supporting the surge of new claimants to Universal Credit.

The six benefits being replaced all have complex and inefficient systems based on aging, inflexible IT. Universal Credit uses a modern, digital system which stood up to the test of Covid-19 where it quickly ensured three million new claimants were protected from the financial impact of the pandemic.

The process will resume on 9 May and claimants will gradually be notified of when they will be asked to move to Universal Credit so as to complete the process by 2024.

Everyone moving over from legacy benefits will have their entitlement to Universal Credit assessed against their current claims, with top up payments available for eligible claimants whose entitlement would have been reduced because of the change – ensuring they receive the same entitlement as on a legacy system. These will continue unless their circumstances alter.

See: Managed move of claimants to Universal Credit set to restart – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

HMRC guidance on electronic payment of tips

HMRC has updated its guidance on tax treatment of tips, gratuities, service charges and troncs to include details on how to handle electronic payments.

The payment of tips is commonplace for employees in the catering and service industries. As the pandemic has accelerated a move away from payment in cash, there has also been a shift towards customers paying tips electronically.

The updated guidance for employers includes examples of systems for the electronic payment of tips. The guidance reflects that a payment made electronically does not change any of the basic principles for deciding how tax is to be accounted for on those tips and whether a national insurance contributions (NIC) liability arises.

Where the employer collects the tips and pays them to employees, the employer is required to deduct income tax and NIC from these payments.

Where customers pay tips directly to staff, each employee is responsible for declaring these earnings to HMRC. Any tax due is likely to be collected through an adjustment to the employee’s tax code. Direct payments from customers are not subject to NIC.

There are also separate rules for payments made through ‘troncs’ (a special pay arrangement used to distribute tips, gratuities, and service charges where a person other than the employer is responsible for sharing the amounts). These are also detailed in the updated guidance.

See: Guidance on tips, gratuities, service charges and troncs – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Pub is the Hub 2022 – Community Grants

Grants of up to £3,000 are available to enable rural pub owners, licensees, and local communities to work together to help support and sustain local services in Wales, Scotland and England.

Pub is the Hub’s Community Services Fund will assist projects which support the needs of local communities by using pubs to offer a new service or replace a service that has already been lost, such as a local shop, library, post office or community centre, or encouraging the local sourcing of products, providing school meals, IT training and church services.

Funding will support projects where no other local funding for services currently exists.

Applications can be submitted at any time.

See: Community Services Fund – Pub is The Hub

Engineering and technology startup competition

The Regional Talent Engines programme is a new offer that will provide a tailored programme of support to aspiring engineering and technology entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland, North West England, North East England, and Yorkshire & Humber.

The programme is designed to provide you with the practical support you need to help refine your innovation and bring your vision to life. By the end of the programme you will be ready to seek further support for your new startup or pitch for your first investment to bring your innovation to market.

Places on the programme will be awarded through a competitive application process, with the most promising entrepreneurs gaining a place. This is applicable to:

  • Recent leavers from Further Education colleges (graduated since September 2016) who have achieved a technical qualification (engineering or related subject) at levels 3-5.
  • Mid-career or later-career engineers or technologists who have been working in skilled jobs and are seeking a career change as an entrepreneur.

The programme will be run in two phases. Those accepted onto phase one will receive three weeks of training and 1-2-1 support to refine their business idea. They will then pitch their plan and next steps to a judging panel for selection to phase two. Those accepted onto phase two will receive:

  • equity free funding of £20,000 towards living and business support costs
  • expert mentoring
  • training, roundtables, and events
  • 1-2-1 coaching
  • access to co-working and meeting space in the Taylor Centre in central London

Places on the programme are awarded without charge. RAEng do not charge fees or take equity. The closing date for applications is 16:00 on Monday 23 May 2022.

See: Regional Talent Engines – Royal Academy of Engineering (raeng.org.uk)

Future homebuyers to be freed from expensive ground rent bills on 30 June

Future homebuyers will see their prospective property bills reduce in just over two months, whenthe government’s ban on charging ground rent on new leases in England and Wales comes into force.

The government is taking action to rid future homeowners of annual costs – known as ground rent. Sometimes worth hundreds of pounds a year, these charges provide no clear service in return and can be set to escalate regularly, with a significant financial burden for leaseholders.

From 30 June 2022, anyone buying a home on a long new lease will now be freed from these annual costs, helping homeowners manage their bills as they face cost of living increases.

Landlords will be banned from charging ground rent to future leaseholders, under a new law that will lead to more transparent homeownership for thousands of homebuyers.

In preparation, many landlords have already reduced ground rent to zero for homebuyers starting a new lease with them. Anyone preparing to sign a new lease on a home in the next two months should speak to their landlord to ensure their ground rent rate reflects the upcoming changes.

See: Future homebuyers to be freed from expensive ground rent bills on 30 June – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Help and support if your business is affected by coronavirus (COVID-19)

Watch a webinar and sign up for email alerts to learn more about the support available if your business is affected by COVID-19.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Rebate Scheme

Register for the next live webinar about COVID-19 Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme 2. You will learn about:

  • making payments to employees who are off sick or self-isolating because of COVID-19 on or after December 2021
  • what employees you can claim for under the scheme

Watch a video about COVID-19 Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme 2.

COVID-19 Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme 2.

How to report COVID-19 taxable grants and payments

Watch a video about how to report COVID-19 taxable grants and payments.

COVID-19 support schemes – declaring your grants on your Company Tax Return (CT600)

How to declare your grants on your Company Tax Return (CT600)

Register for the next live webinar about declaring your grants on your Company Tax Return (CT600) to learn about:

  • how to report COVID-19 support payments and grants on your Company Tax Return
  • what happens if you’ve claimed too much
  • records you need to keep

Watch a recorded webinar about declaring your grants on your Company Tax Return (CT600).

Rural Payments Agency (RPA) April 2022 update.

RPA recognises that this is a really challenging time for many rural businesses and they share some updates and reflect on what has been achieved in the website link below. The updates include:

  • the Sustainable Farming Incentive in 2022
  • Landscape Recovery and Local Nature Recovery
  • the Lump Sum Exit scheme

RPA have published their 5 Year Strategy which sets out their main objectives in delivering agricultural transition, meeting both customer expectations and policy needs, delivering environmental outcomes through a quality service and being an exemplar of the Civil Service’s Operational Delivery Profession working in practice.

RPA continued to deliver a range of services to rural businesses and developed and implemented new schemes and services. They launched the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pilot with over 2,500 expressions of interest and more than 900 applicants.

RPA has continued to issue payments to farming and rural businesses through schemes such as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES). Over 100,000 eligible 2021 claims worth £1.8bn were paid – 92% by the end of December (2020: 89.5%). This represented 98.3% of BPS, 62.2% of CS revenue claims, and 64.6% of ES eligible claims.

They also received over 5,600 CS Capital grant claims worth £66.75m, which had helped to establish and maintain woodland and hedges.

RPA introduced a new approach for rural business that were due more than one 2021 scheme payment (combinations of BPS, CS, and ES). They wanted rural businesses to receive at least one payment in December, and over 98% did.

See: Rural Payments Agency update – April 2022 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BUSINESS NEWS – 10th January 2022

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

Cash Flow Is The Single Most Important Issue In My Business.

Do you agree?  Most of our other clients do.  In this economy CASH IS KING and managing your cash flow is more important than ever.

If you are concerned about the future of your business then take some time to reflect on where you are and what could happen in the next few months. It is now vitally important for all businesses to plan ahead for a range of scenarios. Cash flow and business planning in these uncertain times may appear difficult but there are some practical steps you can take to minimise potential disruption to your business.

  • Review your Budgets and set realistic and achievable targets for 2022.
  • Get your employees involved in a discussion of likely trading conditions and get their input on reducing costs and maintaining revenues. 
  • Review and flow chart the main processes in your business (e.g. Sales processing, order fulfilment, shipping etc.) and challenge the need for each step.
  • Put extra effort into making sure your relationships with your customers are solid.
  • Review your list of products and services and eliminate those that are unprofitable or not core products/services.
  • Pull everyone together and explain the business strategy and get their buy-in.

We specialise in helping our clients manage their cash flow.  We do this by preparing and updating detailed cash flow forecasts, using the latest and most powerful software.  We can also help you negotiate or renegotiate overdraft facilities and find specific funding to help you grow!

Please talk to us about cash flow planning for the next few months, we can help with a template so you can do this yourself or work together to produce estimates for a variety of scenarios.

HMRC gives Self-Assessment taxpayers more time to ease COVID-19 pressures

Late filing and late payment penalties are to be waived for one month for Self-Assessment taxpayers.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is waiving late filing and late payment penalties for Self-Assessment taxpayers for one month – giving them extra time, if they need it, to complete their 2020 to 2021 tax return and pay any tax due.

HMRC is encouraging taxpayers to file and pay on time if they can, as the department reveals that, of the 12.2 million taxpayers who need to submit their tax return by 31 January 2022, almost 6.5 million have already done so.

HMRC recognises the pressure faced this year by Self-Assessment taxpayers and their agents. COVID-19 is affecting the capacity of some agents and taxpayers to meet their obligations in time for the 31 January deadline. The penalty waivers give taxpayers who need it more time to complete and file their return online and pay the tax due without worrying about receiving a penalty.

The deadline to file and pay remains 31 January 2022. The penalty waivers will mean that:

  • anyone who cannot file their return by the 31 January deadline will not receive a late filing penalty if they file online by 28 February
  • anyone who cannot pay their Self-Assessment tax by the 31 January deadline will not receive a late payment penalty if they pay their tax in full, or set up a Time to Pay arrangement, by 1 April

Interest will be payable from 1 February, as usual, so it is still better to pay on time if possible.

See: HMRC gives Self Assessment taxpayers more time to ease COVID-19 pressures – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you cannot afford to pay your latest bill then you can set up a time to pay payment plan to spread the cost of your latest Self-Assessment bill if all the following apply:

  • you owe £30,000 or less
  • you do not have any other payment plans or debts with HMRC
  • your tax returns are up to date
  • it’s less than 60 days after the payment deadline

You can choose how much to pay straight away and how much you want to pay each month. You will have to pay interest.

See: Pay your Self Assessment tax bill – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Self-certification period temporarily extended

The UK Government has announced that employees in the UK can self-certify sickness absence for 28 days instead of seven. The change came into force on 17 December 2021 and applies to absences beginning on or after 10 December 2021, up to and including absences, which begin on or before 26 January 2022.

See: Statutory Sick Pay: employee fitness to work – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates for 2022

The UK Government have announced the rise in the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage from April 2022.

In full, the increases are:

  • National Living Wage (23+) to increase from £8.91 to £9.50
  • National Minimum Wage (21-22) to increase from £8.36 to £9.18
  • National Minimum Wage (18-20) to increase £6.56 to £6.83
  • National Minimum Wage (16-17) to increase £4.62 to £4.81
  • Apprenticeship Wage to increase from £4.30 to £4.81

See: UK government announces pay rise for millions of people – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Seasonal Workers visas extended until end of 2024

The Home Office and DEFRA have announced the Seasonal Worker visa route will be extended until the end of 2024, which allows foreign workers to come to the UK for up to six months to work in the horticulture sector.

There will be 30,000 visas available in 2022, but this will be kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 if necessary. 

The number of visas will begin to taper down from 2023.

See: Industry given certainty around seasonal workers but told to focus on domestic workforce – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


UK Seafood Innovation Fund third call open

The Seafood Innovation Fund (SIF) is now accepting third call applications. The SIF programme focuses on delivering longer term, cutting-edge innovation across the seafood sector, and helping to take innovative ideas from early-stage research to commercial viability.

The programme includes:

  • primary producers
  • onshore supply chains
  • marine and diadromous fisheries
  • marine and land-based aquaculture

The programme excludes:

  • freshwater fishing
  • recreational fishing

This call is open for feasibility studies only. The maximum funding available is £50,000 for projects with a duration of up to five months. Successful third call feasibility studies will be eligible to apply for larger R&D funding following completion of their projects.

Third call applications will be accepted until the extended deadline of midday on 14 January 2022.

See: Home – Seafood Innovation Fund


Heat Pump Ready Programme

The Heat Pump Ready Programme, part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, has opened it first two streams to applications.

As a key solution for decarbonising homes, heat pumps will be critical for meeting the UK’s legally binding commitment to achieve net zero by 2050. Heat Pump Ready will support the development of innovative solutions across the heat pump sector.

The Heat Pump Ready Programme is split into three separate delivery streams:

Defence Innovation Loans applications

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) launched Defence Innovation Loans in 2021 to offer small and medium-sized businesses affordable funds to help commercialise their innovations. The scheme was run in cycles; the last of these closed on 5 January 2022.

After internal review, DASA has decided to tweak the format of the scheme to keep Defence Innovation Loans continuously open for proposals.

The changes mean innovators can now apply for Defence Innovation Loans at any time and can expect an initial outcome response within seven weeks rather than having to wait until the end of a cycle to receive feedback.

This new format is a pilot that will be reviewed and will end on 16 March 2022. Depending on the outcome of the pilot, DASA might change the scheme format again, e.g. return to cycle-based assessment periods.

The levels of available funding have not changed. You can apply for a loan between £250,000 and £1.6 million with a below market interest rate of 7.4 per cent per annum. This loan can cover up to 100 per cent of eligible project costs to aid the commercialisation of the solution and the overall term of the loan must not exceed seven years.

The applicant criteria for Defence Innovation Loans also remains the same. To apply, you must:

  • be a UK registered SME
  • intend to exploit the results in the UK or overseas to make a significant and positive impact on the UK economy and/or productivity
  • give evidence that your business is suitable to take on a loan

Only SMEs are eligible to apply for Defence Innovation Loans. Individuals, academic institutions, research organisations and large companies are not eligible.

See: Competition Document: Defence Innovation Loan – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Recovery Loan Scheme extended.

Applications for this loan have been extended and are now open until 30 June 2022. 

Launched on 6 April 2021, the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) provides financial support to businesses across the UK as they recover and grow following the coronavirus pandemic.

You can apply to the scheme if Covid-19 has affected your business. You can use the finance for any legitimate business purpose – including managing cashflow, investment and growth. However, you must be able to afford to take out additional debt finance for these purposes.

If your business has already borrowed from any of the other coronavirus loan schemes – namely:

  • the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)
  • the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
  • the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)

RLS is still open to you, although the amount you have borrowed under an existing scheme may in certain circumstances limit the amount you may borrow under RLS.

At Autumn Budget 2021, the government announced that the Recovery Loan Scheme will be extended by six months to 30 June 2022, with the following changes applying from 1 January 2022:

  • The scheme will only be open to businesses with a turnover not exceeding £45m per annum
  • The maximum amount of finance available will be £2 million per business (maximum amount per Group limited to £6m)
  • The guaranteed coverage that the government will provide to lenders will be reduced to 70%

See: Recovery Loan Scheme – British Business Bank (british-business-bank.co.uk)


New laws to strengthen national security

From 4 January 2022, the government is able to scrutinise and intervene in certain acquisitions that could harm the UK’s national security.

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act – the biggest shake-up of the UK’s national security regime for 20 years – commenced on the 4 January 2022.

The government is now able to scrutinise and intervene in certain acquisitions made by anyone, including businesses and investors, that could harm the UK’s national security.

The government will also be able to impose certain conditions on an acquisition or, if necessary, unwind or block it – although it is expected this will happen rarely and the vast majority of deals will require no intervention and be able to proceed without delay. 

See: New laws to strengthen national security come into effect – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Government unveils plans to restore 300,000 hectares of habitat across England

The Government has unveiled the next stages of its plan to reward farmers and landowners for actions which benefit the environment, supporting sustainable food production alongside vital nature recovery and work towards net zero.

Two new environmental land management schemes will play an essential role in halting the decline in species by 2030, bringing up to 60% of England’s agricultural soil under sustainable management by 2030, and restoring up to 300,000 hectares of wildlife habitat by 2042.

The Local Nature Recovery scheme will pay farmers for locally-targeted actions which make space for nature in the farmed landscape and countryside such as creating wildlife habitat, planting trees or restoring peat and wetland areas. The Landscape Recovery scheme will support more radical changes to land-use change and habitat restoration such as establishing new nature reserves, restoring floodplains, or creating woodland and wetlands.

Taken together with the previously announced Sustainable Farming Incentive which supports sustainable farming practices, they are designed to provide farmers and land owners with a broad range of voluntary options from which they can choose the best for their business. The reforms are the biggest changes to farming and land management in 50 years with more than 3,000 farmers already testing the new schemes.

See: Government unveils plans to restore 300,000 hectares of habitat across England – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Pre-departure testing removed for vaccinated travellers

Testing and border measures have changed for fully eligible fully vaccinated travellers arriving in England.

  • A lateral flow test can be used instead of PCR tests for eligible fully vaccinated travellers and over 5s to take on or before day 2
  • Eligible fully vaccinated travellers and under 18s will no longer have to take a pre-departure test or self-isolate on arrival in England – returning to the travel rules that were in place before Omicron
  • Omicron is the dominant variant in the UK and is spreading widely among the community

Sunday 9 January, eligible fully vaccinated travellers and over 5s will be able to take a lateral flow test instead of a PCR on or before day 2 of their arrival in England. Lateral flow tests for travel can be booked and taken upon arrival, by the end of day 2.

Eligible fully vaccinated passengers and under 18s will no longer need to take a pre-departure test or self-isolate on arrival in England but must continue to take their post-arrival tests. See: Pre-departure testing removed for vaccinated travellers – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BUSINESS NEWS – 20th December 2021

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

This will be our last business newsletter before Christmas and the New Year break so let us wish you a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

2021 – A year of resilience and recovery?

Let us have hope that in 2022 we return to a more normal way of life free of the restrictions that we have faced over the last two years.   

The pandemic happened and now is not the time to reflect how it happened or judge how it was managed, indeed further restrictions have recently been introduced and all we can do is take precautions individually to prevent the Omicron virus spreading and continue to take responsibility in the community to socially distance and help prevent the spread.

This year, despite the lockdowns and restrictions, we have been amazed at the resilience of clients and how they have energetically repurposed or pivoted their businesses into new areas, products and services. Businesses have redesigned delivery and payment systems, moved their entire processes digital, accepted remote working or new safe working environments and adopted to new technologies to survive and indeed prosper in the Covid-19 era.

Clients have demonstrated to us how we can all readily adapt to a change in circumstances and have given us inspiration and optimism for the future. We believe that by this time next year we will be back to where we want to be and more of our daily lives will resemble some kind of normality again. Do not give in to the virus, stay strong, be resilient and together we will move forward!

Job vacancies continue to rise!

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate that between August to October there was a   continuing recovery in the labour market, with a quarterly increase in the employment rate, while the unemployment rate decreased. Total hours worked increased on the quarter, due to the relaxing of some coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions but are still below pre-coronavirus levels. The UK employment rate was estimated at 75.5%, 1.1 percentage points lower than before the coronavirus pandemic (December 2019 to February 2020), but 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous quarter (May to July 2021).

The UK unemployment rate was estimated at 4.2%, 0.2 percentage points higher than before the pandemic, but 0.4 percentage points lower than the previous quarter. The economic inactivity rate was estimated at 21.2%, 1.0 percentage point higher than before the pandemic, and 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

The number of people in part-time work jumped in the three months to October, after falling sharply during the pandemic and there was also a fall in unemployment among 16-24 year-olds, another group initially hit by the crisis.

Unemployment continues to fall after a spike last year, with job vacancies now at a fresh record high.

See: Employment in the UK – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

HMRC Employer Bulletin December 2021

The December edition of the Employer Bulletin brings you all the latest HMRC updates and guidance to support employers and payroll agents.

There is important information on:

  • PAYE – there is important information for those who pay employees early for Christmas, and advice on how to prevent and correct payroll errors 
  • UK Transition and the recently agreed UK-Swiss Convention on Social Security coordination which came into force on 1 November 2021 
  • coronavirus (COVID-19) summary of guidance published by HMRC, and declaring grants on tax returns 
  • tax updates and changes to guidance, with information on the tax avoidance campaign

See: Employer Bulletin: December 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK average house prices increased by 10.2% over the year to October 2021

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) latest figures show the UK’s average house price increased by 10.2% over the year to October, down from 12.3% in the year to September 2021. The average UK house price was £268,000 in October 2021, which is £24,000 higher than this time last year.

The temporary changes to Stamp Duty, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, and Land Transaction Tax may have allowed sellers to request higher prices as buyers’ overall costs are reduced. As the tax breaks were originally due to conclude at the end of March 2021, it is likely that March’s average house prices were slightly inflated as buyers rushed to ensure their house purchases were scheduled to complete ahead of this deadline.

This effect was then further exaggerated in June 2021, in line with the extension to the holiday on taxes paid on property purchases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Following a decrease in July, average house prices increased in the months of August and September 2021, reaching a record level in September 2021 (when the last of the tax holidays came to an end in England). Despite a slight fall in the month of October 2021, average house prices remain higher than the previous peak seen in June.

Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK rose by 1.7% in the 12 months to November 2021, up from 1.6% in the 12 months to October 2021. The beginning of 2021 saw a slowdown in rental price growth, which was driven by prices in London.

In England the October data shows, on average, house prices have fallen by 1.5% since September 2021. The annual price rise of 9.8% takes the average property value to £285,113.

See: UK economy latest – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)


Inflation at its highest rate in over a decade

Consumer prices rose by 4.6% in the 12 months to November 2021, according to the lead measure of the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH). This is up from 3.8% in the year to October 2021. Annual inflation rates at this time are influenced by the effects of coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) also rose from 4.2% to 5.1% in November 2021.

A wide range of prices contributed to the rise in inflation, with the largest upward contributions coming from motor fuels as well as clothing and footwear, where prices rose this year but fell a year ago.

See: UK economy latest – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)


International travel update

From 15 December 2021, all remaining countries were removed from the UK travel red list. The red list policy and additional testing measures in response to Omicron remain in place. As such, passengers arriving from Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe will not have to stay in a managed quarantine hotel on arrival from this date. Pre-departure tests and PCR testing measures on or before day 2 remain in place, with a review of all travel measures in the new year. Airlines must continue to check all passengers for pre-departure tests alongside their completed Passenger Locator Form, and passengers will not be allowed to board a flight without providing evidence of a negative test result.

See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/11-countries-removed-from-the-uks-red-list?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=8bb63897-ce51-4418-8ec9-b020ea65472d&utm_content=daily

Advice for pregnant employees

The advice for pregnant employees on risk assessments in the workplace and occupational health during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been updated to reflect recent government announcements. This advice is for you if you are pregnant and working as an employee. This includes pregnant healthcare professionals. It will help you discuss with your line manager and occupational health team how best to ensure health and safety in the workplace.

See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-pregnant-employees?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=cba7a635-8615-497d-9d56-42b75160357c&utm_content=daily


Finding and choosing a private coronavirus (COVID-19) test provider

The lists of and information about private test providers, to help you get the private COVID-19 tests you need, has again been updated.

See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-private-providers-of-coronavirus-testing?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=a6136cb4-c6ae-4734-a4a1-abe3647dcdf1&utm_content=daily


Second State Pension Age Review launches

The Review will consider whether the rules around pensionable age are appropriate, based on the latest life expectancy data and other evidence.

The Pensions Act 2014 requires the government to regularly review State Pension age, and in accordance with law, this latest Review must be published by 7 May 2023.

State Pension age is currently 66 and two further increases are currently set out in legislation: a gradual rise to 67 for those born on or after April 1960; and a gradual rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046 for those born on or after April 1977. The first Review of State Pension age was undertaken in 2017 and concluded that the next Review should consider whether the increase to age 68 should be brought forward to 2037-39 before tabling any changes to legislation.

This Review will consider a wide range of evidence, for example, it will:

  • examine the implications of the latest life expectancy data;
  • provide a balanced assessment of the costs of an ageing population and future State Pension expenditure;
  • consider labour market changes and people’s ability and opportunities to work over State Pension age;
  • and develop options for setting the legislative timetable for State Pension age that are transparent and fair.

See: Second State Pension Age Review launches – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Using your NHS COVID Pass for travel abroad and at venues and settings in England

How to use the NHS COVID Pass to demonstrate your coronavirus (COVID-19) status when travelling abroad and domestically at venues and settings in England.

From Wednesday 15 December the coronavirus (COVID-19) rules for visiting certain venues and events changed. To enter certain venues and events in England you must have proof that you:

  • are vaccinated with 2 doses of an approved vaccine (or one of the single-dose Janssen vaccine) – the government will keep this under review as boosters are rolled out
  • have taken a PCR or rapid lateral flow test within the last 48 hours, or
  • are exempt from vaccination or vaccination and testing on the basis of a medical exemption or clinical trial participation

You should take tests as late as possible before attending the event, ideally within 12 hours. This will strengthen the protection testing provides.

The NHS COVID Pass lets you share your coronavirus (COVID-19) status records or test COVID-19 status in a secure way.

It allows you to show others the details of your COVID-19 status:

  • when travelling abroad to some countries or territories
  • as a condition of entry at those venues or events that use the service in England

You can get an NHS COVID Pass:

  • digitally through the NHS App or online via NHS.UK
  • as a letter sent to you in the post, for those who are not digitally enabled

You can find out the eligibility requirements on the NHS website.

Getting your digital NHS COVID Pass

Get your NHS COVID Pass letter

If you live in England, you can use the NHS COVID Pass to prove your COVID-19 status. The NHS COVID Pass provides valid proof of your COVID-19 status based on your COVID-19 vaccination details, test results, medical exemption or clinical trial participation.

A valid text or email confirmation from NHS Test and Trace (see the Reporting test results section below) can also be used as proof that you have completed a negative PCR test or negative rapid lateral flow test within the past 48 hours.

The venue or event will check your COVID-19 status. If you do not meet the requirements, the responsible person is legally required to deny you entry to the venue or event.

Visiting England as a resident of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man

If you live in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man then you can show proof of your COVID-19 status as this will be recognised in England if you visit.

International visitors

If you were vaccinated in another country, you can show alternative proof of vaccination if this is accepted at the UK border. International visitors can also show a valid text or email confirmation of a negative rapid lateral flow or PCR test from NHS Test and Trace.

See: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-covid-pass?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=e737908d-743f-46a0-ac91-1b1bce1dfe9f&utm_content=daily

NHS COVID Pass for 12 to 15 year olds for international travel

Children in England who have had a full course of a COVID-19 vaccination are now eligible for an NHS COVID Pass letter for travel.

This will allow those children who have had both doses of an approved vaccine to travel to countries, including Spain and Canada, which now require 12 to 15 year olds to be fully vaccinated in order to gain entry, avoid isolation, or access venues or services.

Proof of vaccination will initially be provided via a letter service, including an internationally recognised 2D barcode, with a digital solution via NHS.UK to be rolled out early next year. The letter service can be accessed by calling 119 or via NHS.UK.

See: NHS COVID Pass for 12 to 15 year olds for international travel – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


£1.02 million research funding awarded for robotic chemist project

Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) is pioneering the use of autonomous mobile robotics within the scientific research laboratory.

To continue to deliver critical analytical capability for chemical, biological and explosives analysis, Dstl is working with industrial and academic partners to develop the application of mobile robotic platforms in laboratory (lab) environments. The majority of the £1,020,000 funding for this 2 year project is provided by the Defence Innovation Unit, with support from Defence Equipment and Support, and the Department for Transport.

Robots have been used in a range of industries for a number of years and fixed systems have even found some use within lab environments.

See:  £1.02 million research funding awarded for robotic chemist project – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BUSINESS NEWS – 6th December 2021

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

Less than a month until full customs controls are introduced

HMRC are reminding traders to prepare for customs changes that come into effect on 1 January 2022. You will no longer be able to delay making import customs declarations under the Staged Customs Controls rules that have applied during 2021. Most customers will have to make declarations and pay relevant tariffs at the point of import.

You should consider before 1 January 2022 how you are going to submit your customs declarations and pay any duties that are due. You can appoint an intermediary, such as a customs agent, to deal with your declarations on your behalf or you can submit them yourself.

Some businesses already have a ‘Simplified Declarations’ authorisation from HMRC that allows their goods to be released directly to a specified customs procedure without having to provide a full customs declaration at the point of release.

If you want to use Simplified Declarations, you will need authorisation to do so. It can take up to 60 calendar days to complete the checks needed for this and you will also need to have a Duty Deferment Account in place. Therefore a new application made now may not be authorised before 1 January 2022.

For a summary of the changes see: Less than a month until full customs controls are introduced – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

New deals to future proof vaccine rollout in light of new variant

The UK government has signed new contracts to secure the supply of vaccine stock to future proof the country’s vaccine programme.

The new contracts with Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were accelerated in light of the new variant, as part of the ongoing efforts to ensure the government is doing everything it can while scientists across the world learn more about Omicron. These future supply deals include access to modified vaccines if they are needed to combat Omicron and future Variants of Concern, to prepare for all eventualities.

The agreements signed through the Vaccine Taskforce are building on existing partnerships with the vaccine companies and will see the government procure a total of 114 million additional doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for 2022 and 2023. This is in addition to the 35 million additional doses of Pfizer/BioNTech ordered in August for delivery in the second half of next year, and the 60 million Novavax and 7.5 million GSK/Sanofi doses expected in 2022.

See: Government agrees new deals to future proof vaccine rollout in light of new variant – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

MHRA approves Xevudy (sotrovimab), a COVID-19 treatment found to cut hospitalisation and death by 79%

Another COVID-19 treatment, Xevudy (sotrovimab), has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) after it was found to be safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 infection who are at an increased risk of developing severe disease.

Developed by GSK and Vir Biotechnology, sotrovimab is a single monoclonal antibody. The drug works by binding to the spike protein on the outside of the COVID-19 virus. This in turn prevents the virus from attaching to and entering human cells, so that it cannot replicate in the body.

See: MHRA approves Xevudy (sotrovimab), a COVID-19 treatment found to cut hospitalisation and death by 79% – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Support and manage disability and health at work

Many employers are currently facing challenges in recruiting the people they need to help their business thrive. It has never been more important for those employers to keep and develop the people they already have.


It’s therefore crucial that businesses have the tools they need to prevent long-term absence and avoidable job loss because of ill health or disability.

The UK Government is testing a new online service for employers which provides advice and guidance on managing health and disability in the workplace. This explains your legal obligations and good practice.

This may be particularly helpful for smaller businesses without an in-house HR function or access to an occupational health service.

By taking part, you will receive free information and guidance on disability and health-related employment issues. You could use it to help manage a current case, or simply take a look around the site to see what’s useful and identify improvements.

However you choose to take part, your feedback will be vital in the future development of the service. You will make a real difference, ensuring the new service is user-friendly and meets the needs of your business and your employees.

See: Support and manage disabled employees and employees with health conditions at work – Support and manage disabled employees and employees with health conditions at work – GOV.UK (dwp.gov.uk)

Repaying Overclaimed CJRS Grants to HMRC

HMRC have updated their guidance on repaying Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) furlough grants that have been overclaimed by employers.

Employers, or their agents, must use the online service to get a unique payment reference number before they can pay HMRC back.

Note that HMRC may levy a penalty if employers have overclaimed a grant and have not repaid it, and must notify HMRC by the later of:

  • 90 days after the date you received the grant you were not entitled to
  • 90 days after the date you received the grant that you were no longer entitled to keep because your circumstances changed
  • 20 October 2020

See: Pay Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grants back – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The CT600 corporation tax return has also been amended to require companies to report CJRS grants received and the amount they were entitled to. The updated form also requires the company to report any overclaimed amounts already repaid using the procedure above and the balance still outstanding.

Tax Administration and Maintenance

30 November 2021 was Tax Administration and Maintenance (TAM) Day when the government published a series of consultations and tax policy updates, summarised in a command paper, together with a number of other documents outlining proposals to modernise and improve the UK tax system over the next 10 years, in particular further digitisation of the UK tax system.

See: Tax Administration and Maintenance: Autumn 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

There is still no set date for mandating Making Tax Digital (MTD) for corporation tax although it is not expected until 2026 at the earliest. HMRC have committed to providing sufficient notice of implementation following any decision to mandate MTD for corporation tax to allow businesses time to prepare.

Like MTD for corporation tax many of the proposed changes are several years away from implementation and we will keep you updated if and when the changes are introduced. One area where change is more imminent are proposed changes to R&D tax relief.


Consultation into reforming R&D tax relief

Following on from the Chancellor’s announcement in his Autumn Budget the government are consulting on a number of future changes to R&D tax relief. These include:

  • the inclusion of licence payments for datasets and cloud computing costs for data processing and software as two new categories of qualifying expenditure;
  • restricting relief for the cost of carrying out R&D activity subcontracted to third parties to situations where the work is performed in the UK;
  • restricting relief for the cost of employing externally provided workers to situations where the workers are paid through a UK payroll;
  • ensuring that all R&D claims must be made digitally and endorsed by a named senior officer of the company.
  • requiring all companies to obtain advance assurance from HMRC of R&D tax claims

See: Consultation outcome overview: R&D Tax Reliefs: consultation – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Foreign travel insurance

Government guidance on travel insurance has been reviewed and updated post Brexit.

If you travel internationally you should buy appropriate travel insurance before you go. If you already have a travel insurance policy, check what cover it provides for coronavirus-related events, including medical treatment and travel disruption, and any planned activities such as adventure sports. If you are choosing a new policy, make sure you check how it covers these issues.

If you do not have appropriate insurance before you travel, you could be liable for emergency expenses, including medical treatment, which may cost thousands of pounds.

See: Foreign travel insurance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK-Norway trade deal update

New UK-Norway trading arrangements came into effect on the 1 December 2021.

It follows a joint deal signed in July with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and will bring the UK and Norway closer, creating a new services and investment relationship with lower tariffs and exclusive duty-free quotas for UK exporters.

Cutting-edge digital provisions mean British firms exporting to Norway can now benefit from a limit on unnecessary paperwork. Electronic documents, contracts and signatures mean goods can move more easily across borders, saving exporters both time and money.

British firms looking to set up or expand operations in Norway can now transfer staff and their families for four years. Norway has stripped back residency requirements for senior management and directors, meaning more UK talent can sit on Norwegian company boards without having to relocate. Business travellers can also enjoy more streamlined and straight-forward visa processes.

The deal also provides assurance to the UK’s FinTech industry, enabling innovative FinTech firms to provide new services in Norway, without providing them elsewhere beforehand.

Underlining both countries high ambition on climate change, the deal explicitly reaffirms Norway and the UK’s commitments to reaching net zero. The deal creates further opportunities for investment and job creation in the UK’s green economy, including in renewables, green shipping and electric vehicles.

See: UK-Norway deal comes into effect – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Registration opens for Space to Connect 2022

Now approaching its fifth year, Space to Connect is a day-long event that gives the opportunity to meet new companies, organisations and individuals who are innovating at the forefront of the space applications sector, as well as others new to this journey.

Up to 700 people are expected to attend the event, which will take place on 1 February 2022.

Exhibition stands will provide the opportunity for companies to showcase the work they have been doing and speak directly to guests on the day. 

Space to Connect 2022 will take place online at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London, SW1P 3EE.

See: Space to Connect 2022 Tickets, Tue 1 Feb 2022 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

Safety net for Horizon Europe applicants

Successful applicants for Horizon Europe grant awards will be guaranteed funding regardless of the outcome of the UK’s efforts to associate to Horizon Europe programme.

The ongoing delays in the process of formalising the association have led to uncertainty for researchers, businesses and innovators based in the UK.

To provide reassurance, the government has put in place a short-term measure to cover funding for the first wave of eligible, successful applicants to Horizon Europe, who have been unable to sign grant agreements with the EU.

The funding will be delivered through UK Research and Innovation, which will publish further details about eligibility, scope and how to apply in the coming weeks.

The government remains committed to securing UK’s association to Horizon Europe. In the event that the UK is unable to associate to Horizon Europe, the funding allocated will instead go to UK government R&D programmes, including those to support international partnerships.

See: Horizon Europe: help for UK applicants – UKRI

Applications for The Small Awards UK 2022 are now open

Do you or someone you know run an inspirational small business that fits the bill for #TheSmallAwards, then apply for the 2022 Awards.

The judges will be looking for evidences of strong community engagement from small businesses whilst also looking for strong performance as an on-going business.

The categories are:

  • High Street Hero – best high street business
  • Bricks and Clicks Award – best multi-channel small business
  • Legacy Award – best family business
  • Supply Chain Champion – best B2B business
  • New Kid On The Block – best business start-up (less than 18 months)
  • Digital Star – best digital only business
  • Heart Of Gold – the business that contributes most to their community
  • At Your Service – best small service business
  • Sole to Sole – best self-employed small business owner
  • Mission Possible – best social enterprise business
  • Small Business of the Year Award – best overall small business

Entries close at midnight on 28 February 2022

See: The Small Awards

Minimum standards for private sector providers of COVID-19 testing

There are revised minimum standards for private providers of COVID-19 to reflect travel testing changes that came into force from 30 November.

See: Minimum standards for private sector providers of COVID-19 testing – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

All adults to be offered COVID-19 boosters by end of January

All eligible adults in England aged 18 and over will be offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine by the end of January.

Following advice from the independent experts at the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), everyone who is currently eligible – including those aged 40 and over, health and social care workers and those at increased risk from the virus due to health conditions – will be able to book their jab from three months after their second dose, meaning an additional 7 million people over 40 are now eligible.

The government and the NHS are urging younger people to wait until they are called forward by the NHS – with the more vulnerable continuing to be prioritised for their booster, to top up their immunity to the virus as soon as possible.

See: All adults to be offered COVID-19 boosters by end of January – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19)

Changes have been made in the guidance for shops, branches, and close contact services.   Information has been added on new measures introduced in response to the Omicron variant.

See: Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19) – Guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK Government tightens travel rules again

In what is now becoming a weekly event the government has added Nigeria to the travel red list from today 6 December. Currently, the majority of cases in the UK have links to overseas travel from South Africa and Nigeria, and over the past week, 21 Omicron cases reported originate from Nigeria.

A temporary travel ban will therefore be introduced for all non-UK and non-Irish citizens and residents who have been in Nigeria in the last 10 days, meaning they will be refused entry into the UK. This does not apply to those who have stayed airside and only transited through Nigeria while changing flights.

People over 12 travelling to the UK from any country from 7 December will need to take pre-departure test (LFD or PCR) as close as possible to departure and not more than 48 hours before travel to slow the importation of the new Omicron variant. A negative test is required to travel.

The government states these are temporary measures that have been introduced to prevent further Omicron cases from entering the UK and will be examined at the three-week review point on 20 December.

See: Tests required before travel to UK and Nigeria added to red list – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BUSINESS NEWS – 1st November 2021

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

COP26 – UN Climate change conference

The UK is hosting the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow until the 12 November 2021.

Climate change is probably the world’s most pressing problem. It is widely accepted governments must take more cuts in warming gases if we are to prevent higher global temperature rises. The summit in Glasgow is where change may happen. We need to look at the promises made by the world’s larger economies and whether poorer countries get help to make changes. 

Decisions made at the COP26 conference will impact all of our lives in the future and most importantly, the future of our planet.

The COP26 summit brings parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Cop26 website is:  HOME – UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC – Glasgow 2021 (ukcop26.org)

The COP26 Green Zone is open to the public at the Glasgow Science Centre. There are a wide range of events, including workshops, art exhibitions and installations, as well as presentations, demonstrations of technology and musical performances.

Youth groups, civil society, academia, artists, and businesses from across the UK and all over the world are taking part. With over 100 exhibitors, 200 events and 11 sponsors taking over the space, there are opportunities to listen, learn and celebrate climate action.

COP26 Green Zone events with a business focus are listed on the website listed below.

See: Green Zone Programme of Events – UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC – Glasgow 2021 (ukcop26.org)

UK Autumn budget highlights

Before last week’s Budget we already knew that corporation tax would increase in 2023 and that there will be a 1.25% rise in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from April 2022 paid by employers, employees, self-employed and for those with share dividend income.  Personal allowances are frozen until 2026 and we are told these rises are to are to pay for Covid-19 measures and reform of the social care system. The tax burden as a percentage of UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is now at its highest level since the 1950’s according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.  

The “scarring assumption” of the pandemic, as the Treasury called it last week, hasn’t been as bad as forecasts imagined so Chancellor Rishi Sunak, buoyed by a recent OBR economic report which has lifted its prediction for economic growth in 2021 to 6.5%, chose to increase government spending by £150 billion rather than reverse some of the previously announced tax increases. He did state at the end of his speech that the government would look at lowering the tax burden before the end of this parliament.

Some of the key spending measures include:

  • Funding will increase by an average of £4.6bn for Scottish Government, £2.5bn for Welsh Government, and £1.6bn for Northern Ireland Executive
  • £6bn of funding to help tackle NHS backlogs
  • £7bn for transport projects in areas including Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and South Yorkshire
  • Levelling Up Fund of £1.7bn invested in local areas across the UK
  • Extra funding to clear the courts backlog
  • Tax relief for museums and galleries will be extended for two years
  • Core science funding to rise to £5.9bn a year by 2024-25
  • Universal Credit taper rate will be cut by 8% no later than 1 December, bringing it down to 55%

Despite speculation before the budget there was no changes to pension tax relief or ISA limits, CGT rates have remained the same and the first £1 million is still taxed at 10% when you sell your business.

Some welcome measures that were announced are the 50% cut in business rates for hospitality for one year and a change in the business rates multiplier, which will lower business rates. The chancellor also announced a cut in beer duty sold on premises and wider reforms that will see alcohol taxed by alcoholic strength rather than by product category. The planned rise in fuel duty was cancelled.

The national living wage (NLW) rate for those aged 23 or over has been increased to £9.50 an hour. For an employee working a 35-hour week that would mean £17,290 a year. With the 1.25% increase in employers NIC to 15.05% on earnings over £9,100 a year would mean £1,233 on top increasing the cost to the employer of £18,523 a year before pension costs.

For the details of the Autumn budget and spending review see: Budget and Spending Review – October 2021: What you need to know – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Christmas 2021 – Latest Recommended Posting Dates

Allow plenty of time for posting and post items and gifts for Christmas early, particularly for International deliveries: 

  • Friday 17 December 2021  – Royal Mail Bulk Mail Economy
  • Saturday 18 December 2021 – 2nd Class, 2nd Class Signed For, Royal Mail 48
  • Tuesday 21 December 2021 – 1st Class, 1st Class Signed For, Royal Mail 24, Royal Mail Tracked 48
  • Wednesday 22 December 2021 – Royal Mail Tracked 24
  • Thursday 23 December 2021 – Special Delivery Guaranteed

See: Get ready for Christmas 2021 | Royal Mail Group Ltd

UK Seafood Innovation Fund third call open

The Seafood Innovation Fund (SIF) is now accepting third call applications. The SIF programme focuses on delivering longer term, cutting-edge innovation across the seafood sector, and helping to take innovative ideas from early-stage research to commercial viability.

The programme includes:

  • primary producers
  • onshore supply chains
  • marine and diadromous fisheries
  • marine and land-based aquaculture

The programme excludes:

  • freshwater fishing
  • recreational fishing

This call is open for feasibility studies only. The maximum funding available is £50,000 for projects with a duration of up to five months. Successful third call feasibility studies will be eligible to apply for larger R&D funding following completion of their projects.

See:  How to Apply FAQs – Seafood Innovation Fund

Make a late Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ended on 30 September 2021. 14 October 2021 was the last date to make a claim for September.

For claim periods from 1 November 2020, HMRC may accept late claims or amendments if you have:

  1. Taken reasonable care to try and claim on time.
  2. A reasonable excuse.
  3. Claimed as soon as your reasonable excuse no longer applies.

A reasonable excuse could include:

  • your partner or another close relative died shortly before the claim deadline
  • you had an unexpected stay in hospital that prevented you from dealing with your claim
  • you had a serious or life-threatening illness, including coronavirus (COVID-19) related illnesses, which prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could claim for you)
  • a period of self-isolation prevented you from making your claim (and no one else could make the claim for you)
  • your computer or software failed just before or while you were preparing your online claim
  • service issues with HMRC online services prevented you from making your claim
  • a fire, flood or theft prevented you them from making your claim
  • postal delays that you could not have predicted prevented you from making your claim
  • delays related to a disability you have prevented you from making your claim
  • an HMRC error prevented you from making your claim

As soon as you are ready to make a late claim or amendment, you need to:

  1. Check if you have a reasonable excuse.
  2. Make sure you have all the information you need to process your claim.
  3. Contact HMRC using the helpline to check with an advisor if you can claim.

If your reasonable excuse is accepted, the advisor will process your claim over the phone.

See: Make a late Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claim – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK Games Fund: round 8 now open

Round 8 of the UK Games Fund is now open. Round 8 is specifically designed to help early-stage games development companies registered at the time of application.

Successful applicants can expect to be awarded a grant of £6,000.

Funding will be provided in three £2,000 tranches over three months (January to March 2022) to support the development of an interactive digital entertainment concept and associated funding proposal.

The idea is to provide companies with a certain degree of ‘breathing space’ to allow for further focus on the pitch for possible future funding from the UK Games Fund and beyond. After the three-month funded development period, successful applicants will be offered networking opportunities via access to an event in 2022.

A further chance to pitch directly to the UK Games Fund will also be provided, where successful teams can secure an additional grant of up to £19,000 (subject to external funding availability). Any additional grants will be allocated from April 2022.

Due to demand for support from the UK Games Fund, the application window for Round 8 is time-constrained. Written applications have to be submitted by 12 noon on Tuesday 2 November 2021.

An invitation to submit the video pitch part of the application will be sent to the named lead applicant as soon as possible. The deadline for the video pitch upload is Monday 8 November.

See: Apply Now – UK Games Fund

Global Entrepreneurship Week 2021

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW)  is a collection of tens of thousands of events, activities and competitions each November that inspire millions to explore their potential as an entrepreneur while fostering connections with investors, researchers, policymakers and other start-up champions.

This year’s takes place from 8 November to 14 November 2021.

See: UK | Global Entrepreneurship Network (genglobal.org)

Digital security by design: software ecosystem development

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £8 million for projects to work on the development of the digital security by design (DSbD) software ecosystem. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

The aim of this competition is to fund a range of projects that work to enrich and expand the Digital Security by Design (DSbD) software ecosystem prior to the availability of commercial hardware. Projects will leverage the DSbD Technology Hardware Prototype (also known as Morello Board) to work on a focused area within a selected and specified software stack or Operating System (OS) or developer toolchain used by a digital system.

Closing date for entries is 11am on 8 December 2021.

See: Competition overview – ISCF digital security by design – software ecosystem development – Innovation Funding Service (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk)

Travel update: all countries removed from the UK’s red list

From 4.00am today, the remaining 7 destinations on the red list; Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela have been removed.

Passengers returning to England from these destinations are no longer be required to enter hotel quarantine. The red list and quarantine hotel policy remains in place and will continue to act as a crucial line of defence against the importation of variants of concern. The government will review the red list every 3 weeks and will impose restrictions should there be a need to do so to protect public health.

Delta is now the dominant variant in most countries around the world. This means the risk of known variants entering the UK has reduced and the government has removed these 7 destinations from the red list, with decisions informed by UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) assessment. The data for all countries and territories will be kept under review, including the emergence of new variants, and the government will not hesitate to take action where the epidemiological picture changes.

Eligible travellers with appropriate proof of vaccination from over 30 further countries and territories, including Argentina, Tanzania and Cambodia, will also qualify under the fully vaccinated rules for travel to the UK. This brings the total number of countries and territories covered by the inbound vaccination policy to over 135.

See: Travel update: all countries removed from the UK’s red list – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Approved COVID-19 vaccines and countries with approved COVID-19 proof of vaccination

What you need to do when you travel to England depends on whether you qualify as fully vaccinated or not. To qualify under the fully vaccinated rules for travel to England, you must have been fully vaccinated with a full course of an approved vaccine under:

  • the UK or UK overseas vaccination programme
  • the United Nations vaccine programme for staff and volunteers
  • an approved programme in one of the countries or territories listed on the website listed on the website below. 

You can still travel to England if you do not qualify as fully vaccinated but you must follow different rules. There are also different rules if you have been in a red list country or territory in the last 10 days and you may not be allowed to enter England.

See:  Approved COVID-19 vaccines and countries with approved COVID-19 proof of vaccination – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Free face coverings to transport operators scheme

The provision of free face coverings for all transport operators between 21 April 2021 and 31 December 2021, to be used as a contingency supply for passengers and workers.

To protect public health and facilitate passenger compliance with face coverings guidance, the government is providing free face coverings to transport operators, which are to be used as a contingency supply by passengers and transport workers. The purpose of this scheme is to limit the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). The scheme has been extended to 31 December 2021.

See: Free face coverings to transport operators scheme – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BUSINESS NEWS – 11th October 2021

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

The best way to predict the future is to create it!

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey to June 2021 showed that the UK gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by 5.5% in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2021, revised from the first estimate of a 4.8% increase.  However, the level of GDP is now 3.3% below where it was pre-pandemic at Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2019, revised from the previous estimate of 4.4% below. The increase in GDP was expected as the UK moved out of lockdown, however, more worrying for businesses is the rise in inflation and therefore a possible rise in interest rates that accompanies growth in GDP.

The news is not that positive right now and the TV and the press are currently full of worrying stories about global bottlenecks and supply chain problems, energy bills rising, HGV drivers and staff shortages. We have also seen rising prices, queues at the petrol pumps and now a flatlining post Pandemic economy.   

The end of the stamp duty holiday, higher VAT in the hospitality industry and less generous universal credit payments mean the most immediate task facing the government  is to prevent the economy from going backwards over the coming months.

All the negativity in the press can lead to us feeling “out of control” and uncertain about in what direction we should take our business. We firmly believe in our clients and their aims, hopes and ambitions and in remaining positive, we also believe the best way to predict the future is to create it!

There is an old saying “A sailor without a destination will never get a favourable wind”.

It is easier to get to your destination with a plan. We all know this simple truth. If you are driving from A to B it helps to know where A is and the directions you need to take.

Planning ahead is the single most important exercise any business owner can do. If you have a vision of what you want your business to look like when it is “complete” then you are in a position to drive your business towards the vision and you can monitor how you are doing as you go along. If you do not have a plan then you could get blown around like “flotsam in the sea”, without any control.

If you agree it is hard to accomplish anything without a plan, let’s start thinking about how we can make it successfully through the coming winter and make our business more resilient to factors outside of our control. Here are our thoughts:      

  1. Take time to review your personal objectives – the business is there to provide you with what you want from life, and this is the most important element of any plan.
  2. Look at where the business is now, its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and get a clear understanding of its position in the marketplace, the competition, the systems and the way things are done and the improvements that could be made.
  3. Focus on what the business is to look like when it is “complete” or running profitably and successfully. Then you can determine priorities – the big issues that need to be focussed on – this is the plan!
  4. Write down the plan and define what it must achieve, and the actions needed. Monitor how it is doing towards the vision each month and what actions have been completed and what needs to be done to keep the business moving towards the plan.
  5. Allocate responsibility for taking the actions.
  6. Monitor, review and adjust regular activities to keep the business on track towards the plan.

It is also a good idea to look at where you are now and plan for a range of scenarios “good and bad” so that you can be flexible about the direction you should take.  

Ask us about our One Page Analyst, a “what if” scenario planner which takes your projected 2021 figures and allows you to work out the effect on profit of reducing expenses, increasing sales, increasing or decreasing prices.

Please talk to us about helping you with forecasting and planning for the next few months. We have helped many clients with “what if” scenarios and their future planning. 

New Export Support Service launched

UK businesses exporting to Europe can now access one-to-one advice via the new Export Support Service (ESS).

The Export Support Service is a new government helpline and online service where all UK businesses can get answers to practical questions about exporting to Europe. 

It gives access to cross-government information and support in one place. 

All UK businesses can use this free service, no matter the size of your business or in which part of the UK you are based. The Department for International Trade (DIT) will continue to work with businesses and business representative groups from all sectors, in all parts of the UK, to help make the service as useful as possible for businesses.

You can access the Export Support Service online or by calling 0300 303 8955 where you will be put in touch with a member of the export support team.  

See: Ask the export support team a question – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Kickstart Scheme

The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long term unemployment. Employers of all sizes can apply for funding until 17 December 2021 which covers:

  • 100% of the National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant) for 25 hours per week for a total of 6 months
  • associated employer National Insurance contributions
  • minimum automatic enrolment pension contributions

Employers can spread the job start dates up until 31 March 2022. You will get funding until 30 September 2022 if a young person starts their job on 31 March 2022.

Further funding is available for training and support so that young people on the scheme can get a job in the future.

Applications to the Kickstart Scheme are closing soon.

After 17 December 2021 you will not be able to:

  • apply for a new Kickstart Scheme grant
  • add more jobs to an existing grant agreement

The Department for work & pensions (DWP) will process applications submitted before this time or that are already in progress.

See: Kickstart Scheme – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Check which expenses are taxable if your employee works from home due to coronavirus

The HMRC guidance has been recently updated to reflect the fact that employees can no longer be furloughed using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The scheme ended on 30 September 2021.

If any of your employees are working from home due to coronavirus (COVID-19), either because your workplace has closed, or they are following advice to self-isolate, then HMRC accepts there are non-taxable types of equipment, services or supply.

For example – if you provide a mobile phone and SIM card without a restriction on private use, limited to one per employee, this is non-taxable. 

Broadband – if your employee already pays for broadband, then no additional expenses can be claimed. If a broadband internet connection is needed to work from home and one was not already available, then the broadband fee can be reimbursed by you and is non-taxable. In this case, the broadband is provided for business and any private use must be limited.

Laptops, tablets, computers, and office supplies – if these are mainly used for business purposes and not significant private use, these are non-taxable.

Reimbursing expenses for office equipment your employee has bought – if your employee needs to buy home office equipment to allow them to work from home, they will need to discuss this with you in advance. If you reimburse your employee the actual costs of the purchase, then this is non-taxable provided there is no significant private use.

Employers can continue to pay their employees £6 a week to cover the additional expenses of working from home and the amount would be free of tax and national insurance. This is to cover the additional costs of electricity, heating and water whilst working from home. It has been confirmed that the amount may be paid regardless of the number of days that employees work from home.

HMRC guidance can be seen here: Check which expenses are taxable if your employee works from home due to coronavirus (COVID-19) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you need to discuss employee expenses or loans or are looking to develop a more resilient employee expense policy for the future please talk to us and we will be delighted to assist you.

Grants of up to £5,000 Available to Support Women Songwriters and Composers

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support the development of outstanding women, trans and non-binary songwriters and composers of all genres and backgrounds at different stages of their career. 

The funding is available to support touring, recording, promotion and marketing, community projects involving high-quality music creators, music creator residencies and live performances featuring new UK music. 

The funding is being made available through the Performing Rights Society (PRS) for Music Foundation’s Woman make Music Grants Programme and the closing date for applications is 18 October 2021.

See: Women Make Music. – PRS for Music Foundation (prsfoundation.com)

Webinars designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises work with the defence sector.

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has announced dates for a new series of webinars designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises work with the defence sector.

They are free to attend, and businesses do not need to have worked previously with Dstl or in the defence sector. Attendance is welcomed from equipment and material manufacturers, engineers, innovators, researchers, academics, and others who have a genuine interest and ability to work with Dstl.

Webinar dates and times:

  • Cyber: 19 October 2021, 10am to 11:15am
  • Defence S&T Futures: 19 October 2021, 1pm to 2:15pm
  • Advanced energetic materials: 16 November 2021, 10am to 11:15am
  • High speed and hypersonic science and technology: 14 December 2021, 10am to 11:15am
  • Directed energy weapons science and technology future roadmap: 16 December 2021, 1pm to 2:15pm
  • Space: 18 January 2022, 10am to 11:15am
  • Artificial intelligence: 20 January 2022 1pm to 2:15pm

See: Sign up for Searchlight webinars – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Consultation on the UK Marine Strategy Programme of Measures

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has opened a UK-wide public consultation has been launched on the Marine Strategy which has been developed with input from scientific experts and policy-makers across the 4 UK administrations.

The aims of the Strategy are consistent with the UK government and devolved administrations’ vision of “clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas”. This requirement to monitor and assess the state of the UK seas is enshrined in UK legislation and demonstrates the combined commitments of the four UK Administrations to work together to monitor and protect what are some of the most biologically diverse and productive seas in Europe. They will also continue to collaborate internationally with those countries that share our seas, particularly through OSPAR, our regional seas convention, to protect and conserve the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. 

The target audiences for the consultation are groups or individuals who use the sea for whatever purpose, or have an interest in it, business users of the sea and national and local interest groups.

You can find out more and complete the survey here: UK Marine Strategy Part Three: Programme of Measures – Defra – Citizen Space

Advice for UK visa applicants and temporary UK residents

Following recent lockdown changes the guidance for visa applicants and temporary residents has been updated and applicants and temporary residents are expected to take all reasonable steps to leave the UK where it is possible to do so or apply to regularise their stay in the UK.

Applicants and temporary residents are allowed to access Visa and Immigration services as these are considered an essential public service. They must follow current COVID-19 rules for where they live, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For the full guidance see: Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice for UK visa applicants and temporary UK residents – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Cash and other assets of a dissolved company – discretionary grant available

Guidance on how to apply for a discretionary grant where a dissolved company can be restored. (Company has been dissolved for less than six years) has been updated.

Cash and other assets of a dissolved company automatically pass to the Crown as Bona Vacantia by law under Section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006. The Bona Vacantia Division (BVD) of the Government Legal Department is responsible for this function.

The Discretionary Grant application enables sums of money to be recovered without making an application to restore the company to the Companies Register. A maximum limit of £3000 can be recovered and only one grant payment will be made in respect of each dissolved company.

All grants are discretionary. No-one has a right to a grant.

You must be one of the following in order to be eligible for a Discretionary Grant:

  • Former shareholders provided all shareholders of the dissolved company apply and there are no existing creditors of the company
  • Former liquidators
  • Former administrators
  • Former company voluntary arrangement (CVA) supervisors

For the full guidance see: Apply for a Discretionary Grant (DG2) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

New Directors’ Disqualification Regime to Directors of Dissolved Companies 

The Ratings (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill, currently going through Parliament, contains implications for directors of dissolved companies.

The main provisions of the Bill are that the Insolvency Service will be able to retrospectively:

  • investigate the conduct of directors of dissolved companies; and
  • bring disqualification proceedings against them under the Company Directors Disqualification Act (CDDA) 1986.

Where a Court is satisfied that the conduct of a director of a dissolved company renders that director unfit to be concerned in the management of a company, penalties could include:

  • disqualification from acting as a director for a period of two to 15 years; and
  • the payment of compensation to creditors.

The breach of a director’s disqualification order can lead to imprisonment for up to two years and/or substantial fines.

In the notes to the bill the three main complaints about the conduct of former directors are detailed:

  • allowing or causing a company to be dissolved, effectively shedding its liabilities, with a new company continuing its business, which is sometimes known as phoenix from the ashes scenarios or “phoenixism”;
  • using the dissolution process as a short-circuit to avoid the costs and implications of a formal insolvency process; and
  • the avoidance of investigation of conduct under the Company Directors Disqualification Act (CDDA) 1986.

The reason for the retrospective nature of this bill is the UK governments concern that company directors who have taken out Government-backed loans for support during the coronavirus pandemic may seek to dissolve the company rather than repay the loan.

All company directors should be aware of this new legislation and if you have any queries about loans taken during the Pandemic please contact us for a confidential discussion.  

See: Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill publications – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament

Mental health: a decade of change in just 2 years

Last week UK Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid spoke at the Global Mental Health Summit 2021. He commented that around 1 in 5 adults in Britain experienced some form of depression in the first 3 months of this year. That’s over double the figure before the COVID-19 pandemic and almost half of adults have reported that their wellbeing has been affected.

As a result, the UK has seen more people seeking help, both here and around the world, at a time when health systems were already under the greatest of strains.

A survey by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that the pandemic disrupted mental health services in 93% of countries worldwide.

The government hosted a public consultation from 13 January 2021 to 21 April 2021 on a set of proposals to reform the Mental Health Act. They received over 1,700 responses. The report below is the government’s formal response to this consultation. The Welsh response is currently being translated and will be uploaded as soon as possible.

See: Reforming the Mental Health Act: government response – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

New simplified travel system takes off

Last week the new travel system came into force with countries and territories categorised as either red or the rest of the world.

The new simplified travel system also means that eligible fully vaccinated passengers and eligible under-18s returning from over 50 countries and territories not on the red list, can do so without needing to complete a pre-departure test (PDT), a day 8 test or enter a 10-day self-isolation period, making it easier for those travelling – whether that’s to see friends and family, or on business trips.

The new rules also mean that eligible fully vaccinated passengers with an approved vaccine and recognised certificate from a country not on the red list will be able to replace their day 2 test with a cheaper lateral flow test, reducing the cost of tests on arrival into England. The government aims to have this in place for when people return from half-term breaks.

Anyone testing positive will need to isolate and take a confirmatory PCR test, at no additional cost, which would be genomically sequenced to help identify new variants.

See: Travel to England from another country during coronavirus (COVID-19) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Red list of countries and territories

47 countries and territories have been removed from the red list today, Monday 11 October 2021.

This page tells you what you must do before you travel to England and after you arrive, if you have been in a red list country or territory in the 10 days before you arrive.

If you have been in or travelled through a country or territory on the red list in the 10 days before you arrive in England, you will only be allowed to enter the UK if you either:

  • are a British or Irish National
  • have residence rights in the UK

If you live in England, you should not travel to countries or territories on the red list.

See: Red list of countries and territories – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

BUSINESS NEWS – 9th August 2021

~ Jason Sykes ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to our round up of the latest business and Covid-19 news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business. We are here to support you!

Covid-19 Update

Last week we learnt that over 88% of UK adults have had a first dose and over 72% of adults have had both doses. More than 85 million doses of a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine have been administered across the UK, the latest figures show, as the government continues to urge everyone eligible to get their vaccines as soon as possible to protect themselves and their loved ones.

The latest data from Public Health England (PHE) and Cambridge University shows that around 60,000 deaths, 22 million infections and 52,600 hospitalisations have been prevented by vaccines up to 23 July.

The UK Government has updated the “Moving to Step 4 of the roadmap document COVID-19 Response: Summer 2021”.

The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) interim advice, is to offer COVID-19 booster vaccines to the most vulnerable, starting from September 2021. A booster dose would be offered to groups in two stages and, if possible, delivered alongside the annual influenza vaccination. In the first stage, a booster would be offered to adults aged 16 years and over who are immunosuppressed; those living in residential care homes for older adults; all adults aged 70 years or over; adults aged 16 years and over who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable; and frontline health and social care workers. As soon as practicable after the first stage, the second stage would see a booster offered to all adults aged 50 years and over; adults aged 16–49 years who are in an influenza or COVID-19 at-risk group and adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals. The recommended shape of a booster campaign – including when, for whom and which vaccine(s) would be used – might change as further evidence becomes available.

See: COVID-19 Response: Summer 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

International travel: country listings update

From yesterday the fully vaccinated amber rules will apply to France. At the same time, Austria, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia will move to green list. Bahrain, India, Qatar and UAE will move to amber list. Georgia, Mayotte, Mexico and Reunion will move to red list.

See: International travel: country listings update – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Top 30 common cyber vulnerabilities listed in a joint advisory document

Cyber security agencies from the UK, US and Australia have released a joint advisory detailing the most commonly exploited vulnerabilities in 2020 and 2021. According to the advisory, hackers continue to exploit publicly known – and often years old – vulnerabilities in a range of devices and software. Four of the most targeted vulnerabilities in the last year affected:

  • remote work
  • virtual private networks (VPNs)
  • cloud-based technologies

In particular, many VPN gateway devices remained unpatched during 2020, with the growth of remote work options challenging the ability of public and private sector organisations to conduct rigorous patch management. In 2021, malicious cyber actors continue to target vulnerabilities in perimeter-type devices. This document lists suppliers, products, and common vulnerabilities and exposures that need urgent patching and outlines detection methods and provides recommended mitigations

Read the guidance on the top 30 routinely exploited vulnerabilities

Brexit – International bus or coach services and tours: vehicle documents

This guidance in the ‘Vehicle insurance and green cards’ section has been updated, as green cards are no longer needed to drive in the EU (including Ireland), Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia or Switzerland.

See: International bus or coach services and tours: vehicle documents – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

National Insurance for workers from the UK working in the EEA or Switzerland

Individuals who are employees or self-employed, pay social security contributions depending on their personal circumstances and the country they are going to work in.

The liability of the employer to pay social security contributions will follow the liability of their employees.

If you go to work in:

  • the EU, you’ll only have to pay into one country’s social security scheme at a time
  • Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, you may only have to pay into one country’s social security scheme at a time

This will usually be in the country where the work is being done.

In the UK, social security contributions are called National Insurance contributions.

Individuals continue to pay National Insurance contributions only in the UK if HMRC has issued you with the relevant certificate as evidence that this is the case.

You, or your employer, should apply for a certificate if you’re:

  • going to work temporarily in the EU for up to 2 years
  • a worker working in the UK and one or more EU countries
  • a civil servant working for the UK government
  • working onboard a vessel at sea, with a UK flag
  • working as a flight or cabin crew member, where your home base is in the UK

For more details see the recently updated HMRC guidance:

See: National Insurance for workers from the UK working in the EEA or Switzerland – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Notify Option to Tax Land and Buildings within 30 days of decision

Supplies of land and buildings, such as freehold sales, leasing or renting out the property, are normally exempt from VAT. This means that no VAT is payable, but the person making the supply cannot normally recover any of the VAT incurred on property expenses.

However it is possible to waive the exemption, or “opt to tax” the land. For the purposes of VAT, the term ‘land’ includes any buildings or structures permanently affixed to it. You do not need to own the land in order to opt to tax. Once you have opted to tax all the supplies you make of your interest in the land or buildings will normally be standard-rated, and you will normally be able to recover any VAT you incur in making those supplies. See updated HMRC Notice 742a for details:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/opting-to-tax-land-and-buildings-notice-742a

If you are notifying HMRC of a decision to opt to tax land and buildings, you are normally required to notify HMRC within 30 days by either:

  • printing and sending us the notification, signed by an authorised person within the business
  • emailing a scanned copy of the signed notification

The 30 day deadline was temporarily extended to 90 days to help businesses and agents during the pandemic. That temporary extension has now ended so for decisions made from 1 August 2021 onwards, you must notify HMRC within 30 days.

See: Changes to notifying an option to tax land and buildings during coronavirus (COVID-19) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise recognise and encourage the outstanding achievements of UK businesses in the fields of:

  • innovation
  • international trade
  • sustainable development
  • promoting opportunity (through social mobility)

Businesses of all sizes and from all sectors can apply. The awards are free to enter, and you can apply for more than one award. The deadline for applications is midday on 8 September 2021.

Find out how to apply for The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise

Women in Innovation Awards 2021/22

Women with exciting, innovative ideas who will inspire others can apply for a £50,000 grant and bespoke business support. The competition opens Monday 23 August 2021.

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is offering at least 20 Women in Innovation Awards to female entrepreneurs across the UK. The winners will receive a £50,000 grant and a bespoke package of mentoring, coaching and business support.

The aim of this competition is to find women with exciting, innovative ideas and ambitious plans that will inspire others. The awards are for female founders, co-founders or senior decision makers working in businesses that have been operating for at least one year.

Applicants must be confident, with the support of an award, that they can make a significant contribution to a pressing societal, environmental or economic challenge through their innovative project.

The competition is split into 2 phases. In phase 1 the application will be assessed by independent experts. In phase 2 the shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by a panel of experts.

See: Competition overview – Women in Innovation Awards 2021/22 – Innovation Funding Service (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk)

COVID-19 GOVERNMENT SUPPORT NEWS

Below is our weekly roundup of changes to government support information generally and for businesses, employers and the self-employed.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) – free HMRC webinar

The latest HMRC webinar provides an overview of the CJRS extension, how employers are affected, flexible furloughing, key dates and support available.

This free webinar covers:

  • the extension of the scheme
  • how employers will be affected
  • flexible furloughing
  • key dates
  • support available

This live webinar is offered several times – select the date and time that works best for you.

Access a recording of this webinar.

If you have missed any of HMRC’s other recent webinars, or have been unable to join, you can now view a recording on HMRC’s YouTube channel

COVID-19 testing for hauliers arriving in England and travelling from the UK.

The amber list rules for hauliers who are fully vaccinated under the UK, EU or Swiss vaccination programmes have changed.

See: Get a coronavirus (COVID-19) test if you’re an HGV or van driver – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Jobs that qualify for travel exemptions

Exemption rules for isolated transport workers have been updated.

See: Coronavirus (COVID-19): jobs that qualify for travel exemptions – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Private providers of coronavirus (COVID-19) testing

The lists of and information about private providers who have self-declared that they meet the government’s minimum standards for the type of commercial COVID-19 testing service they offer has been updated.

See: Private providers of coronavirus (COVID-19) testing – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Coming to the UK for seasonal agricultural work on English farms

There is updated guidance on preventing the spread of COVID-19 for seasonal agricultural workers coming to England to pick fruit and vegetables on farms, and their employers.

See: Coming to the UK for seasonal agricultural work on English farms – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

JCVI statement, August 2021: COVID-19 vaccination of children and young people aged 12 to 17 years

The government has published an updated statement from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on COVID-19 vaccination of children and young people aged 12 to 17 years.

See: JCVI statement on COVID-19 vaccination of children and young people aged 12 to 17 years: 4 August 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Red, amber and green list rules for entering England

Countries rated as red, amber or green for coronavirus (COVID-19) and the rules you must follow to enter England.

See: Red, amber and green list rules for entering England – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)