Tag: covid19

Our thoughts on Rishi’s statement yesterday

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The Chancellor’s update to the House of Commons yesterday made pretty grim listening. It’s not going to surprise anyone to hear that due to two national lockdowns and a myriad of local lockdowns, the economy has shrunk in 2020 by 11.3%. The economy is forecast to recover back to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

You can look at this two ways. Either let it get you down. Or remember that after the Spanish Flu pandemic finished in 1920, Britain enjoyed the roaring 20s. In other words, better times are coming ahead. And we are here to help you get to those better times and enjoy the fruits of your labours.

Charlston

Apart from gloomy economic figures, the chancellor did announce some changes you need to be aware of:

  • The minimum wage (now rebranded as the National Living Wage) will increase in April to £8.91 an hour for people 23 and over. 16 and 17 year olds will see their pay go up to £4.62 per hour.
  • People with a defined benefit retirement scheme will see their pensions reduced from 2030. This is due to the pension payments, from 2030, which increase with the cost of living using a new cost of living calculation. Currently the cost of living is calculated using various measures, including the Retail Prices Index. Whereas from 2030, the cost of living will be calculated using the CPIH: The catchily titled “consumer prices index plus housing costs”. These changes will not impact the state pension.

Given that the country has its highest borrowing levels outside of war time, it is fairly certain that we will see in the next year or so rising taxation to help the treasury balance the books. We don’t know yet what taxes will be raised and what reliefs will be lowered. But expect – if the media is to be believed all these to be raised; Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Income tax, and NI contributions for self-employed people.

We are already seeing some of this happening at HMRC. They are toughening up their stance on ‘time to pay’ agreements, as well as investing very heavily in fraud and tax investigations. As with all these things, if you are concerned about your cash flow or any potential irregularities please get in touch with us sooner rather than later. The earlier we find out about any problems the easiest it is for us to help mitigate the impact for you as a business owner.

What happens after lockdown?

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English Government announce new winter plan to beat COVID-19

This week seems to be a week of announcements from Boris. So, you may see a few updates from us too this week.

On Monday the English government published its winter plan to beat COVID-19. You can find the full text of the plan here. Having read through the plan it seems to be good news for most businesses.

The English government announced yesterday that:

  • Full lockdown will end on the 2nd Dec 2020
  • England will go back into the 3-tiered regional approach.

However, there are changes to those tiers. And on Thursday this week regions will find out what tier they are in.

So what will change?

  1. The stay at home requirement will end, with domestic and international travel being permitted again subject to guidance in each tier.
  2. Shops, personal care, gyms and the wider leisure sector will reopen.
  3. Collective worship, weddings and outdoor sports can resume, subject to social distancing.
  4. People will no longer be limited to seeing only one other person in outdoor public spaces – the rule of 6 will now apply as it did in the previous set of tiers.

How has the tier system changed? 

The changes to the tiers are as follows:

  1. Regardless of your tier the government would like working from home wherever possible.
  2. In tier 2, pubs and bars must close unless they are serving substantial meals along with accompanying drinks.
  3. In tier 3 all hospitality will close except for delivery, takeaway and drive-through. Hotels and other accommodation providers must close (except for specific exemptions, including people staying for work purposes or where they cannot return home. All indoor entertainment venues must also close.
  4. The 10pm closing time for hospitality has been modified to last orders at 10pm and closing time at 11pm. This allows customers to depart gradually and provides greater flexibility.
  5. In tiers 1 and 2, spectator sport and business events can now resume inside and outside with tight capacity limits and social distancing, providing more consistency with indoor performances in theatres and concert halls.

We will have more updates this week when we have more news on the tax updates from Rishi and any further updates planned by the government.

What is working from home relief?

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Working from home relief = FREE CASH

Due to the current pandemic, many businesses have been working from home this year (ours included). It looks like those who can work from home will be until March 2021 at the earliest.

We have also seen a change in attitude towards flexible working. It has become the ‘new normal’ and many employees may continue working from home in the future.

What many businesses haven’t realised is that they can get free cash from HMRC for working from home. WOW!

So what is working from home relief?

From 6 April 2020 employers have been able to pay employees up to £6 a week tax-free to cover additional costs if they have had to work from home. Employees who have not received the working from home expenses payment direct from their employer can apply to receive tax relief from HMRC.

Find out full details here –  www.gov.uk/government/news/54800-customers-claim-tax-relief-for-working-from-home.

In a very interesting twist Martin Lewis has reported that even if you work from home for just one week, you can still claim a whole years relief. This is a very public statement from Martin Lewis and we are certain that he has proof from HMRC. However there may be a caveat when HMRC realise what they have said.

Read his article here – https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2020/04/martin-lewis–working-from-home-due-to-coronavirus–claim-p6-wk-/

Our advice for employees 

If your employer is not paying the allowance, which they are not obliged to, log into the HMRC portal and make your claim. For basic rate tax payers this is worth £62.40 and higher rate tax payers it is worth £124.80. For 10 minutes of your time, it is worth doing!

Our advice for employers

You do not have to pay the allowance. However as we are coming into the festive season, why not incorporate the £6 per week into a Christmas Bonus? There are no PAYE or NIC deductions for the employer or employee making it a great treat for the end of this turbulent year.

What are the new business support schemes for covid-19?

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What are the new business support schemes for covid-19?

Yesterday the government announced more support for businesses and the self-employed. This blog takes you through the announcements and what it means for your business.

On the one hand, it is great to see the government making available this help. But this probably means we will see fairly strict lockdown conditions between now and March 2021. We hope we are wrong about this, but in your contingency/scenario planning, particularly in regard to cash, please extend this 4-week lockdown until the end of March. If you need help with your business planning, please get in touch.

Here are the full details from the Government’s announcement.

The Self-Employed Income Scheme

On 30th November you will be able to claim a grant for up to 80% of your profits, to cover you for Nov – Jan 2021. This is capped at £7500. They also declared there will be one more grant which will cover the period Feb – Apr 2021. Details are yet unknown of when this will be paid or for how much.

To receive these grants, you need to have received the previous grants.

The ‘Furlough scheme’

This has now been extended to the end of March. Which in effect means that we are unlikely to see the Job Support Scheme operational… You can Furlough any member of staff, as long as they were on the payroll before Oct 30th 2020. And the government will pay up to 80% of their wages, capped at £2500 per month.

As a result of extending the Furlough scheme the planned Jan 2021 ‘Job retention bonus’ of £1000 for any employee you Furloughed who you still employed has been deferred. Until when? Who knows?

Help with cash flow

If you haven’t taken a Bounce Back Loan or didn’t take the maximum amount available to you, you can now top this up. And you will be able to take out a CBIL or Bounce Back Loan now until the end of Jan 2021.

Mortgage payment holidays for those who haven’t taken a payment holiday will be available for 6 months, without this being noted on their credit files.

Remember that for many businesses the deferred Q2 VAT payments, general tax and self-assessment tax is now becoming due in the next few months. Please get in touch if you haven’t already identified how you will manage your cash to make these payments. We can put you in touch with finance providers or help you organise a time to pay agreement with HMRC.

What support is there for my business in lockdown 2?

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Last night the prime minister addressed the nation and announced a month long lockdown for England. Something we never considered happening in our lifetimes is now happening twice. Businesses all over the country are being forced to shut once again, and people told to stay home and save lives. If you own a business, the question now is ‘what support is available to help my business survive?’.

Firstly, we need to apologise as details are still very sketchy. Indeed, the government’s own website on the job retention schemes have not yet been updated after the Prime Minister’s announcement on Saturday evening. For more details about the support for businesses announced yesterday see the government’s press release here

This is what we are aware of at the moment:

  • The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or ‘Furlough’ as it has come to be known will be extended for another month on more favourable terms.
  • The replacement for Furlough, “The Job Support Scheme” due to start today, starts in early December after the Furlough scheme officially finishes.
  • A grant available to self-employed people affected by COVID-19 has also been doubled to 40% of profits, with a maximum grant of £3750 over a 3-month period.

There are still grants available for businesses with rateable premises who are forced to close due to local or national restrictions.

The good news for small business owners (if there can be a silver lining) is that now the government will put in the full 80% of wage costs, up to a max of £2500 per month, for furloughed employees, with employers only needing to cover the pension and NI contributions. And similar to the scheme rules from July, you can have your furloughed employees working part-time under the scheme.

You will be able to furlough anyone who has been on the payroll by 30th October 2020. And they don’t need to have been furloughed before. And similar to how the scheme has operated, you will make your furlough claims with your payroll submissions.

Businesses required to close in England due to local or national restrictions will still be eligible for the following:

  • For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;
  • For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;
  • For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.

 

If you are based in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, you will have money made available to you to replicate a similar grant scheme for closed businesses.

Let’s not forget….

We’ve all been here before. We know that it is a tough time for business owners. And there are no guarantees that this lockdown will stop after the 2nd December. However, we are here for you and have got your back.

 

How do I adjust staff working patterns?

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Whether it is staggering start and finish times to reduced prolonged contact time, introducing short term working due to reduced business needs or flexible working to enable employees to meet child care commitments, a number of employers are having to think differently about how their business operates and the working patterns of their employees.

Whilst businesses should seek professional advice to ensure decisions are legal and in line with employment law such as ensuring any decision around working from home/reduced hours is not discriminatory below are a few tips on considerations you may need to make as well as tips on making different working patterns work.

Team jumping

Knowing what your employment contracts state enables you to make decisions based on what has already been agreed and understand where a ‘temporary change of contract’ may be required and therefore agreement needed from the individual (e.g. short time working).

Parents with two children

Do you need to enhance your flexible working policy to meet current and future needs of your business and employees?  Flexible and agile working has moved beyond formal agreements to reduce working hours.  Policies now need to reflect informal, temporary and permanent changes to working hours, patterns and location of work.  The should also promote a fully inclusive environment that meets the needs of the individual and business.

Two employees talking

Engage with employees to establish what their needs are and works well for them.  Where possible, involve them in the decision making process.  You also need to have a clear business rationale behind any decision that impacts working hours and/or working patterns and communicate these to your employees.

Continue to talk with employees to review success of changes to working patterns and adjust where necessary.

Traditionally, many businesses (and managers) take a time-based and ‘presentism’ approach to work and performance assessment.  With high numbers of individuals needing to work from home and many rethinking about work and domestic working patterns adjusting, a move to a more outcome based approach promotes a more productive and healthy working environment.  To help with this, managers should:

  • Set clear objectives and tasks that can be measured, moving away from a time focus
  • Agree ‘contactable hours’ where individuals commit to being visibly online and/or available for calls
  • Accept that working 9-5 is now not the norm. Many individuals may choose to start work earlier/finish later to enable them to deal with domestic responsibilities or personal activity (such as exercise)

Calendar and out of office

Utilise tools such as out of office messages, calendar’s and answer phone messages to advise people of working patterns and reduce levels of frustration when uncontactable.

agree core working hours

Having core working hours (e.g. 11:00 – 14:00) and enabling teams to arrange their working times around this gives flexibility whilst having some consistency where all employees are available for meetings.

More ‘forced’ business closures are on their way

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The chancellor, Rishi, on Friday popped up with an announcement of more support for businesses in the next 6 months. Sadly this announcement is a sure indicator, for businesses in areas where they are failing to get COVID-19 under control, that tougher lockdowns are about to hit their ability to trade. The news is also peppered with articles that the PM is going to announce tougher lockdowns for parts of the country on monday.

The announcements by Rishi have been designed for any business which is LEGALLY forced to close their premises as a result of any lockdown restrictions. If you can still trade but choose to not trade, this package of measures will, sadly, not apply to you. However, if you are a pub or restaurant who is forced to stop serving meals to diners sitting in, you can still claim on this scheme if you are able to offer a food delivery service or takeaway.

What is available?

For any employee who can not work because the employers’ premises are closed for a minimum of 7 consecutive days, the government will pay 2/3rds of their normal wage up to a max of £2100 per month. As with all of these grants, the payments are taxable and you, the employer, would be expected to cover employer NICS and automatic enrolment pension contributions. Similar to the Furlough scheme the wages can be claimed monthly in arrears. This scheme is open to employers from 1st November for 6 months.

Unlike the winter economy plan, this new extension to the government job support scheme seems to have been rushed through very quickly. Here are more details of the scheme Note the lack of branding for a key communications document! And the fact it is light on ‘how’ to actually claim…

In addition to the extension to the Job Support Scheme the government will increase the grants it pays to businesses in England legally forced to shut in local lockdowns. The grants are:

  • Small businesses with a rateable value of or below £15,000: £1300 per month
  • Medium-sized businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000: £2000 per month
  • Large businesses can claim £3000 per month.

If you are concerned about the impact of lockdowns to your business, please get in touch. We can help you make sure your business survives this winter.

How to get back in control of your workload

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For many of us, Covid has caused a wave of work or we’re experiencing challenges with everyone working remotely and there’s just too much day-to-day work that needs to be done. This is an issue that needs to be nipped in the bud quickly so here’s how to get back in control of your workload so that you can make time to work on the business rather than in it.

3 steps to take control of your workload

If you are spinning multiple plates and you have too much on each plate, you need to take back control. This amount of overwhelm can be difficult to shift, so here are the 4 steps that you need to take:

Without valuable deep-thinking time, you are constantly spending your days firefighting. To take back time (and stop firefighting), see the time-management tips below. Start working smarter not harder.

Get more headspace

You need to know where your business is growing and how you are going to get there. If you have this, then you can prioritise work of high-value and ensure that you have the capacity and resources to facilitate this growth.

Once you have a clear growth plan and a capacity and resources plan, you need to make sure that you monitor and measure progress. Whether that’s a daily huddle, a weekly operational meeting, a monthly leadership meeting, and/or a quarterly one big focus reset meeting, find what works for you and your team to keep everyone on track.

How to get back more time

We are all guilty of working too much within the business rather than on it, but how do we make more time? How do we reduce the time spent on low-value tasks and increase the time we spend on the tasks that will grow our business?

Here are our best time management tips:

  • Do a time audit – where are you actually spending your time? Track what you are doing and how long it takes for 2 weeks. You’ll soon see where your time is being wasted and what needs to change.
  • Plan and prioritise work – which tasks are urgent and which are the ones that will help grow the business? Prioritise these to do first.
  • Delegate effectively – start delegating authority as well as tasks so that you don’t have to micro-manage.
  • Minimise interruptions – when you’re doing high-value tasks, switch off your phone, mute notifications, block out your diary, and work somewhere where you won’t be disturbed.
  • Ditch unprofitable clients – low fee clients are often more of a hassle and take up the most time so let them go.
  • Outsource low-value tasks – this is the quickest way to gain back time and increase your revenue.
  • Hold everyone accountable – even yourself. If you and your team are all held accountable for your tasks, they will get done and done promptly.

Start working smarter, not harder

If you’re overwhelmed with work and there’s just too much in the day to do, every day, take a step back and breathe. What are the goals for your business? What do you need to prioritise to get there? What can you delegate or outsource? What are the tasks that you, and you only, must do?

If you take some time to put these three steps in place – get more headspace, develop a growth plan, and monitor and measure progress – you’ll soon find that you’ll be back in control of your workload and you can spend more time working on the business rather than in it.

 

How to change your Mindset to trade through a recession

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The global pandemic has hit everyone hard, the knock-on effects of which will be ongoing for the years to come. So how do we make it through? How can we keep trading successfully through the recession? While there are many changes and improvements you can make, the most underrated one by far is your mindset. By simply choosing the right mindset, you can not only survive in the recession but you can thrive in it.

How to change your mindset to successfully navigate the recession

It’s very easy to dwell on the doom and gloom when it comes to the current state of the economy, but what does that do? How does that help us to navigate through the recession so that we can come out of it stronger and more successful, and ready for the economic upturn? In short, it doesn’t.

Here are a few ways that you can change your mindset to a more positive one. One that facilitates growth and success in a time where we need it most:

1, Remember that the economy is cyclical

It’s important to remind yourself that the upturn will come. The economy is cyclical. Yes, we are currently in a downward spiral but there’s still business out there. Businesses are still doing business and they are looking for help. That’s an opportunity for you to try and grab some of that opportunity.

Be creative – how else can you offer value? What does your target audience need help with the most?

2. See this as an opportunity to review and improve

It may be difficult to see but the recession is an opportunity to put everything under the microscope and see whether you can do it differently. In some instances, you could even find a way to do things better. This is a massive opportunity for businesses and one that will go as quickly as it has come.

3. Appreciate that recessions are cleansing times

It might not feel like it now, but recessions are cleansing. If you find yourself less busy, is it because you’ve just weeded out the time-wasters? Many businesses have reported that the recession has forced them to focus on what really matters and as a result, they are focusing on their core business and what they are good at. They’ve found that the clients who were producing the most ‘noise’ have gone and they actually have time to focus on tasks that help their business to grow.

4. Reconnect with your “why?”

We’ve been forced to look at our businesses in a different way so re-evaluate. Why are you doing this? What is it that you are doing it for? What does it actually mean? Reconnecting with why you started is a great way to re-ignite the fire. It’s a great way to self-motivate and to start being proactive.

5. Surround yourself with people who support you

The last way to get the right mindset is to appoint a war cabinet. What we mean by this is surround yourself with people that you trust, people who you can lean on and who can advise you to get through this time. If you choose the right people to have around you, who you can vent to and laugh with, and who can lift you up, it’s really easy to choose the right mindset and to make positive changes.

Believe that you can and you will

Mindset is really all about attitude and you can choose it. If you think you can, you can, but if you think you can’t, then you can’t. It really is that powerful.

If you think that you can grow through this recession, you will, not because of magic but because of the decisions you make and all the things that you’ll put in place. So how can you change your mindset during this recession? How can you innovate and offer more value so that you can grow?

If you would like some more advice on changing your mindset please click here to get in touch. 
Or feel free to use our chat box —>

4 ways to recession-proof your business

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Unless you have somehow managed to avoid the headlines, I’m sure you’re quite aware that a deep dark recession is coming our way. In fact, it’s practically knocking on our doors. As if this isn’t bad enough, the knock-on effect is causing issues too; relentless client queries being a big one. So how can we weather the storm as business owners? How can we be one of the ones who come out of it stronger than ever and ready to grow when the economy bounces back?

4 ways to recession-proof your business

1, Change your mindset (and quickly)

Henry Ford said “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right” and it’s true. If during the recession, you think that you are going to come out of it, then you will. Just make sure to surround yourself with people who support you and reconnect with why you started your business. It will make a positive mindset so much easier.

2. Increase your marketing activity

The temptation is to cut marketing to save on some costs but that will do more harm than good. The recession will show some clients that they aren’t getting the service that they want so how can you expect to win them if you’re not marketing yourself?

Increase your marketing in the right areas. For example, refresh the copy on your website, review your marketing to see what is working the best, send out weekly emails to your clients, call them every month, call prospects who went cold to see how they are doing, and increase your activity on your LinkedIn.

3. Make it easy for your clients to pay little and often

Clients will say they have no money (they are struggling too), but you will find that they do for the right service. If you swap your services for ones that they really need now, they will see you as essential and they will pay for your service. You can also help them in other ways such as switching them over to a direct debit payment method or by giving them a payment holiday on their normal monthly payments.

4. Increase your practice efficiency and reduce your overheads

The best changes that you can make for your business during a recession is to cut your overheads in a way that will increase efficiency. For example, what can be automated or eliminated? Automating certain processes will cost initially but they will increase productivity. The same goes for things like outsourcing and offshoring.

Don’t forget to involve your team in this process. Ask them every week what they think can be improved on and you’ll see that they will have some great ideas.

Another task that you can do which will cut overheads is to get tough with your long-term debtors and low-performers. If you tackle these head-on during the recession, you may find that costs will reduce while efficiency soars.