Latest blogs for Specialisms

Export Insurance: Mitigating export risk. Whilst commercial banks and insurers will be your first source of support, if you can’t get export insurance from the private market, UK Export Finance may be able to help.  UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency and is the operating name of the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD)…

Manufacturing: Record numbers undertaking apprenticeships. Provisional statistics released show that more people than ever are doing an apprenticeship, with a strong growth in the number of higher apprenticeships. According to the figures, more than 872,000 people were employed on government-funded apprenticeships during the 2014-15 academic year, with almost 30,000 people working towards gaining the higher…

Growth Shares: Incentivize & tie-in key managers. Attracting, motivating and retaining key staff  is a primary aim for most tech and other business owners. As part of their remuneration package, allowing such staff to invest in growth shares in the company is a useful tool to achieve this. Growth shares are a separate class of equity, with specific…

Love the Lorry:  National lorry week (26-31 October). The Road Haulage Association is calling on all members all over the country to get involved with its national week-long awareness campaign to educate the British public about trucks and is inviting hauliers to sign up on www.lovethelorry.co.uk The savvy haulier will be aware of recent changes…

Removal of CIS Gross Payment Status: Financial consequences no longer relevant. A recent HMRC appeal (CRC v J P Whitter) heard in the Upper Tribunal overturned a decision made by the First-tier Tribunal to reinstate gross CIS payment status on the grounds of it having a ‘significant detrimental effect on the business’. The Upper Tribunal…

SME Cyber Security: £5k grants available. Small and micro-sized businesses can apply for government vouchers of up to £5,000 for specialist advice to boost their cyber security, and to protect new business ideas and intellectual property. The vouchers enable businesses to access services from the UK cyber security industry. This new scheme will also help…

Pay Suppliers Electronically: Beware fraudsters. Do you hold your suppliers bank details on file – one tactic recently used by fraudsters is to advise businesses of changes to a supplier’s bank details, they then wait until a genuine purchase invoice is paid. Unfortunately because the supplier’s bank details are compromised, the payment goes to the…

Road Haulage: Driver fines on the rise. Jack Semple from the RHA published a video on the rising fines for drivers on 5 August, which can be found at:  http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/video-news/video-road-haulage-association-on-rising-fines-for-drivers-31429477.html Key points discussed are fines for drivers who are found with migrants in their vehicles and the increase of 50% on last year in the…

Contractors: Beware possible end to 24 month travel & subsistence tax rules. The more observant readers of the recent Summer Budget will have noticed that tucked away from the main headlines was the announcement that HMRC have started a 3 month consultation exercise into:     Employment Intermediaries and Tax Relief for Travel and Subsistence The aim…

Hauliers: HMRC introduce roadside fuel testing Operators will be interested to hear that HMRC announced on 28 July 2015 that new hi-tech equipment has been introduced to allow officers to test heavy goods vehicles at the roadside for illicit diesel. As HMRC will be ‘keen’ to use the new technology, it is envisaged the number…