Latest blogs for Services

  The long awaited Taylor Review of employment practices suggests that a national strategy is needed to help provide security in such areas as wages, quality of employment, education and training, working conditions, work life balance and the ability to progress at work. One of the areas of focus relates to the ‘gig’ economy, with…

  The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has confirmed than eight million employees have signed up for a workplace pension since the launch of automatic enrolment. The introduction of automatic enrolment was expected to lead to around eight million workers saving more for their retirement and this milestone has already been reached with hundreds of thousands more…

  HMRC have issued an update of their guidance on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact be it via email or text. HMRC also provide advice on what to do if you have received a phishing/bogus email related to HMRC, or you are not sure if it is genuine, you can read about how to…

  The latest labour market statistics for the period March to May 2017 showed a 175,000 rise in employment and 64,000 fall in unemployment. Estimates from the Labour Force Survey show that, between December 2016 to February 2017 and March to May 2017, the number of people in work increased, the number of unemployed people…

The Government has now set out a revised timetable for implementation of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) project.   Three million of the smallest businesses and landlords will be able to move to the new digital system for keeping tax records at a pace that is right for them, Ministers announced today as they set…

New employers after 1 October 2017 will not have a staging date. If you become an employer for the first time on or after 1 October 2017, you will immediately have legal duties with regards to Auto Enrolment. These duties apply from the first day the first member of staff starts working for you. This is…

A potential worry to some businesses when contemplating cloud based accountancy software is how secure their information is. Today I am looking at the security measures Xero has put in place to give businesses peace of mind and protection. Xero implement a wide range of procedures to make sure your information is safe. Controlled Access…

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is warning SMEs to take care or face a fine. The warning comes after a company which suffered a cyber attack was fined £60,000. The investigation by the ICO found Boomerang Video Ltd based in Berkshire failed to take basic steps to stop its website being attacked. Sally Anne Poole,…

HMRC have issued the latest version of the Employer Bulletin. This edition has articles on a number of issues including: P11D and P11D(b) filing and payment deadlines Paying the right amount of tax through PAYE Construction industry scheme repayment claims for limited companies The Apprenticeship Levy and funding of apprenticeship training Tax-free childcare rollout including…

Now is the time of year when many of us turn our thoughts to holidays and it is important to get holiday entitlement and holiday pay right. The June 2017 acas newsletter includes links to useful guidance on calculating holiday and holiday pay entitlements as well as guidance on hot weather working. The GOV.UK website…