More than 1,500 people a week are contacting a service that helps employers and employees to resolve workplace disputes without going to an employment tribunal. From April this year, anyone thinking of making an employment tribunal claim first has to contact workplace relations experts Acas, which then tries to resolve the dispute without the need… Read more…

The backlog of tax disputes waiting to be heard has reached a record high, new research has found. Law firm Pinsent Masons said on 25 November that 27,246 cases were waiting to be heard in the tax tribunals in the year ended 31 March 2014, up from 26,965 cases outstanding at 31 March 2013. The… Read more…

Almost one million employers are benefitting from the Employment Allowance across the UK, according to new figures. Introduced in April 2014, the allowance is available to businesses, charities and amateur sports clubs and allows employers to reduce their class 1 national insurance contributions by a maximum of £2,000 in the tax year. Around 1.25 million… Read more…

The government says it has improved safeguards to protect vulnerable taxpayers in its plans to recover tax and tax credit debts directly from taxpayers’ bank accounts. Direct Recovery of Debts (DRD) will give HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) the ability to recover cash directly from the bank, building society and ISA accounts of personal and… Read more…

Our office will be closed on Tuesday 24 December and reopen on Thursday 2nd January 2014.

New research has found that fewer than half of the smallest employers know their staging date – the date when they must start auto-enrolling eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme. A survey by the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) found that only 46 per cent of employers with nine or fewer employees have… Read more…

The number of businesses receiving export support has increased by 50 per cent in the last financial year, the government has announced. UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) helped 47,960 businesses to export for the first time or find new markets in 2013-14, Trade Minister Lord Livingston said on 20 October. The figures show that the… Read more…

Small and medium-sized businesses are being urged to become more proactive in protecting themselves against online fraud. Research has revealed that 60 per cent of small businesses suffered a malicious breach in the past year and half had a serious incident. The worst breaches disrupted operations for small businesses for an average of seven to… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to increase the amount of money it can take through PAYE to settle tax debts from April 2015. At present, HMRC can recover up to £3,000 in tax owed by adjusting a taxpayer’s Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax code. The process, known as coding out, can be used… Read more…

The government has published draft legislation introducing new measures to help smaller businesses source the finance they need. The legislation, which forms part of the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Bill, will introduce a requirement that banks turning down small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for loans must offer to share their details with government-designated platforms… Read more…