Unfortunately there appears to be a problem with the indexing in the latest release of Mailchimp and the table of contents no longer links to individual items - hopefully this will be resolved by the time we send our next newsletter.  For this month please bear with us.
 

In this newsletter :

Employers NI
Growth Vouchers
National Minimum Wage
European Patent changes
Food Labelling changes
SSP
Small Firms Business Rate Relief
Copyright update
Agency Worker Tax Rules
Tax Free Childcare
 

Save money on Employers National Insurance

From the 6 April 2014 you can get the Employment Allowance which could reduce your employer’s Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by up to £2,000 every year.  

Who is eligible?  Almost every employer who is a business or charity (including a Community Amateur Sports Club) that pays employer Class 1 NICs on their employee’s or director’s earnings will be eligible.  

How do I apply? If you’re eligible all you need to do is claim it using your 14-15 payroll software. This will depend on your package, but will most likely be a box you have to tick.

Up to 1.25 million businesses and charities will benefit from the Employment Allowance and around 450,000 will not have to pay any Class 1 NICs at all in 2014-15.  

To check your eligibility and get further information about the Employment Allowance go to www.gov.uk/employment-allowance.

 

Growth Vouchers

Launched on 27th January, the Government’s Growth Vouchers programme offers subsidised support to small business and has seen a successful first month. Over 1,400 businesses have applied for a voucher with 598 vouchers allocated worth over £1 million.

The way the project works is a small business owner applies and is randomly selected to receive a voucher up to the maximum value of £2,000 which they match with their own money. This is spent on one of five categories of advice. Of the vouchers so far allocated, the split in advice categories is:
 

• 46% Marketing, attracting and keeping customers
• 15% Raising finance and managing cash flow
• 13% Improving leadership and management skills
• 5% Recruiting and developing your staff
• 21% Making the most of digital technology

With a voucher in hand, the small business is directed to the Enterprise Nation marketplace to find a supplier with whom the voucher can be spent. In its first month, the marketplace has attracted 3160 Advisers, 126,701 page views, 20,203 unique visits, 6 pages per visit and over 6 minutes on average spent on the site.

For advisers and small businesses, a series of webinars connected to the advice topics has been launched, which are free to access:
 

• 17th April, 12 to 12.30pm:  Improving Leadership and Management, with  Doug Richard, Founder of School for StartUps
• 15th May, 12 to 12.30pm:  Managing cashflow, late payments and finance, with finance expert  Johnny Martin
• 19th June, 12 to 12.30pm: Developing Skills & Taking on Staff, with  David J Brown, Founder of Ve Interactive
• 17th July, 12 to 12.30pm: The benefits of accessing business advice, with  Mike Soutar, Founder of Stylist and Shortlist magazines

The marketplace offers small businesses a single route to access advice that’s rated and reviewed by peers with more developments soon to be announced.

If you’re a small business owner who haven’t accessed strategic advice in the last three years you are eligible to apply for a Growth Voucher.

Cool Ventures is a registered provider of Finance and Cashflow advice under the Growth Voucher Scheme.
 

National Minimum Wage increases approved by BIS

Changes to National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates have been approved by the Department for Business (BIS), following recommendations made by the Low Pay Commission (LPC). From 1st October 2014, the hourly NMW rate for employees aged 21 and over will increase by 19p to £6.50; the rate for 18 to 20-year-olds will increase by 10p to £5.13; for 16 to 17-year-olds, the rate will rise by 7p to £3.79; and the rate for apprentices will increase by 5p to £2.73. The LPC said it expected that these increases would be manageable for employers.

There is more about the NMW increases at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/one-million-set-to-benefit-from-national-minimum-wage-rise-to-650

 

UK firms to benefit from increased access to European patent information

A new working arrangement that will increase UK firms' access to European patent information has been agreed between the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO). Commenting on the Co-operation Plan, which was signed by IPO and EPO representatives on 4th March 2014, Intellectual Property Minister Lord Younger said: "Our businesses with a creative and innovative approach are thriving and this agreement is a boost for expanding and marketing their ideas and products into the European market."

Read more about the Plan at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-cooperation-arrangement-signed-with-european-patent-office

 

Trading Standards promises proportionate approach to new food labelling rules

The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) has promised to act proportionately when enforcing the Provision of Food Information to Consumers Regulation (FIR). The majority of FIR provisions will come into force on 13th December 2014, including those introducing improvement notices relating to food labelling and food information breaches in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In a webinar produced for the Food Manufacture Group, TSI Team Leader David Pickering said: "Officers will take a proportionate and reasonable view" and "each case will be judged on its own merits".

Read more about the new rules at:http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Regulation/Trading-Standards-to-be-proportionate-on-food-labelling
 

SSP: change on the way for employers

A significant change to statutory sick pay (SSP) is on the way for employers from April 2014.

Under the percentage threshold scheme (PTS), employers can recover SSP if the total paid in a tax month is more than 13 per cent of their gross national insurance contributions in the same tax month.

But the PTS will be scrapped from 6 April 2014, with funding from the scheme diverted to the government’s new Health and Work Service, which will help employees who have been on sickness absence for four weeks to return to work and help employers improve their sickness absence management.

The Department for Work and Pensions said on 10 February: “Any financial loss to business from the ending of the PTS will more than likely be offset by a reduction in lost working days, earlier return to work and increased economic output.”

Once PTS is abolished, employers will have until the end of the 2015-16 financial year to recover SSP paid for sickness absences occurring before the end of 2013-14.

From 6 April, employers’ SSP record-keeping obligations associated with the PTS will also be scrapped but employers will still need to maintain records for PAYE purposes and to show they are meeting SSP obligations.
 

Small firms fail to claim £100 million in business rate relief

Small firms in England are missing out on an estimated £100 million in unclaimed business rate relief, according to a report by chartered surveyors Bankier Sloan.
Under the Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) scheme, firms with a single property of a rateable value less than £6,000 can claim 100% rate relief. However, the report revealed that at least 100 businesses per local authority area that are eligible for the scheme have not applied for it. This is partly being blamed on out-of-date and inaccurate information published on council websites. Report author Ian Sloan has urged local authorities to update their websites in time for 1st April 2014, when new rate discounts will be made available to retailers.
 

Government publishes draft Exceptions to Copyright regulations

The Government has published draft regulations intended to modernise copyright law, which will introduce changes to how third parties can use copyright material without needing to seek the copyright owner's permission. If approved by both houses of Parliament, the Exceptions to Copyright regulations will become law on 1st June 2014. The Government has also published eight guides covering how particular groups will be affected by the changes, including researchers, copyright owners, and consumers.

There is more information about the draft regulations and guides at: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copyright-exceptions.htm

Changes to tax rules for agency workers due in April
 

On 6th April 2014, the tax rules for employment agencies that engage and supply workers will be changed to cut down on false self employment. It is estimated that around 200,000 construction workers and 50,000 others currently work for agencies under contracts that allow them to be treated as self employed for tax purposes. However, from April, agencies will be required to put these workers on the payroll, deduct National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and operate PAYE, and pay NICs as though they were an employee, unless the agency has evidence that they will not be supervised, directed or controlled by anyone.

 

Tax-Free Childcare

The Government has outlined how the new Tax-Free Childcare scheme will work, following last year’s consultation. This article contains information on what the scheme will mean for parents and employers.   
If you currently offer childcare vouchers or directly-contracted childcare to your employees through an Employer-Supported Childcare scheme, you will be able to continue offering the scheme for existing members for as long as you want. Parents will not be able to join your scheme – or move employers within the scheme – once Tax-Free Childcare is introduced in autumn 2015.  
Tax-Free Childcare is designed to benefit employees directly, helping working parents with their childcare costs, supporting them back into the workplace if they want to and helping them to increase their hours in work. Key features of the new scheme, which will be introduced in autumn 2015 include:  

• Help with childcare costs for a much wider range of working parents – available to around 1.9million families.

• Providing all eligible parents with a government top-up of 20p for every 80p parents pay towards their childcare costs, up to a limit of £2,000 per child per year.

• Unlike initial proposals, the scheme will now be rolled out to all eligible families with children aged under 12 within the first year of the scheme’s operation (rather than staggered over seven years).

• With a single account provider – National Savings and Investments – the process will be simple for parents, and their money will be safe.

• Run through flexible online childcare accounts which will allow parents to build up credit for use when they need it most, for example during school holidays.

• Parents who are currently using the Employer-Supported Childcare scheme will be able to choose to stay in that scheme or move to Tax-Free Childcare. It will be their choice. Employers’ workplace nurseries will not be affected. 

You can play a role in Tax-Free Childcare if you want to. You and your employees can familiarise yourselves with the key benefits of the scheme by visiting GOV.UK. The Government will provide further guidance in due course.