The Low Pay Commission has recommended that the national minimum wage (NMW) should increase to £6.50 an hour from 1 October this year. The increase from the current rate of £6.31 represents a three per cent rise. The commission is also recommending an increase in the rate for under-18s from £3.72 to £3.79 and for… Read more…

Employers who breach serious health and safety laws are risking tougher penalties, including prison sentences, according to a new report. The report, published on 16 January, looked at the impact of the first five years of the Health and Safety Offences Act, which was passed in 2008 and took effect on January 16 2009. It… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued updated guidance for employers on the Real Time Information (RTI) reporting of PAYE information. HMRC said on 16 January that the updates were designed to help employers prepare for changes they would see on payroll submissions from April 2014 and new entries they would need to make on… Read more…

Workplace specialists Acas has published new guidance to help employers prepare for a change in the law on flexible working. From April 2014, all employees who have worked for their employer for 26 weeks or more will have the right to ask if they can work flexibly. Acas has drawn up its Code of Practice… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced changes to the way that new and existing employee share schemes and arrangements are administered. HMRC said on 21 January that the changes would affect: Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) Company Share Option Plans (CSOP) Save As You Earn option schemes (SAYE) Share Incentive Plans (SIP) Any non-tax advantaged… Read more…

Every mid-sized business in the country is to be offered tailored trade advice and an intensive support programme to help them start exporting or break into new markets. Trade Minister Lord Livingston announced on 22 January that he would personally write to all the UK’s 8,900 mid-sized businesses by this summer to ask them if… Read more…

Prime Minister David Cameron has urged the UK’s 4.9 million small businesses to take advantage of measures that could save them up to £10,000 each a year. Speaking at a Federation of Small Businesses event on 27 January, Mr Cameron highlighted government support including: a £1.1 billion package of business rates measures, with extra relief… Read more…

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) featured heavily in Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on December 5, namely the much welcomed announcement of a business rates cap and tailored tax reliefs to small firms. Subsequent to the statement, the £1 billion government funded Start-Up Loans scheme has received a further £250 million in funding in a… Read more…

Effective immediately, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have introduced a new rule in regards to directors’ loan accounts. Directors’ loan accounts allow a company director to withdraw money from their company in surplus of a salary or a dividend. The amount can be over any money the director has put in, however tax is accrued… Read more…

A third of a list of ‘sensitive’ start-up business names that otherwise would have been subject to approval before official registration has been cut by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Businesses that want to use words such as ‘Authority’, ‘Board’, ‘European’, ‘Group’, ‘International’ and ‘National’ and their Welsh equivalents have now been… Read more…