The Office for National Statistics (ONS) shares the current state of the labour market ending April 2021. To the surprise of many economists who were expecting the unemployment rate to be much higher than the current 4.9% which is 0.9% higher than previous year. This is, to a large extent, due to economic support by Government towards furlough and Covid-19 Relief schemes. Since the start of the pandemic the UK Government has granted £54 billion towards COVID-19 relief schemes to … [Read more...]
If you work from home then you may be eligible to claim HMRC Tax Relief in 2021 / 2022
If you work from home on the instruction of your employer, incurred additional expenses as a result thereof, you may be eligible to claim tax relief from HMRC. In 2020/2021 the HMRC received in excess of 3 million claims for tax relief. According to GOV.UK more than 500k people have claimed and are benefitting from ‘working from home tax relief’ this year already. If an employed worker has been instructed to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has incurred expenses as a … [Read more...]
HMRC’s new Taskforce clamps down on fraud and exploitation of COVID-19 relief schemes
With losses escalating to £1 billion per week, the extent of this exploitation equates to the “biggest fraud in British history”, David Clarke, Chairman of the COVID-19 Fraud Watch Task Force. Since the start of the pandemic, the government has forked out in excess of £54 billion towards COVID-19 relief schemes to support businesses and individuals across the UK. Among these Government initiatives include:The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) otherwise known as Furlough … [Read more...]
Are you calculating holiday pay at 12.07%? If so, you could be held liable for pay differences.
The position regarding holiday pay entitlement for workers with varying work patterns was considered by the Court of Appeal in the 2019 case of Harpur Trust vs. Brazel Case Study Ms Brazel, a clarinet and saxophone teacher worked at schools providing individual lessons to its pupils. She worked on average between 10 and 15 hours per week. She was paid by the hour and did not work during the school holidays. Ms Brazel was required to take her holiday entitlement.The school did what … [Read more...]
Support for working families affected by coronavirus (COVID-19)
Families that benefit from government-funded childcare support were given a boost today as the government announced that they would not lose out due to coronavirus (COVID-19).Working parents or carers who are eligible for Tax-Free Childcare or 30 hours free childcare but have temporarily fallen below the minimum income requirement as a result of the pandemic will continue to receive financial support until 31 October 2020.Critical workers who may exceed the income threshold … [Read more...]
UPDATE: CJRS
On Tuesday 21st July, HMRC conducted a CJRS webinar for employer’s in relation to the scheme as we move into the final stages of furlough. We have listed the key facts below following the information shared during the webinar.What has changed?From July 1st, employers could bring back employees for any amount of time and any shift pattern, while still being able to claim the CJRS grant for their normal working hours not worked. They must have previously furloughed employees for a full … [Read more...]
Tax credits update
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reminding tax credits customers that they need to tell HMRC about any changes in their circumstances or income by 31 July 2020.Tax credits help working families with targeted financial support so it is important that people don’t miss out on money that they are entitled to.Renewing tax credits online is quick and easy. Customers can log onto GOV.UK to check the progress of their renewal, be reassured that it’s being processed, and know when they will hear … [Read more...]
Summer statement: what you need to know
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced measures in the summer statement to help the UK recover from the effects of the coronavirus.Below we have put together a summarised brief of the announcements.Jobs Retention Bonus: If an employer brings back a furloughed employee and keeps them in the job to January, then the Government will pay a £1,000 bonus per employee. Sunak stated, "It's vital people aren't just returning for the sake of it - they need to be doing decent work.”For businesses … [Read more...]
Has your provider protected your contractors from the CJRS clawbacks?
Following the Chancellors first announcement around the economic support packages, the cost is now at an estimate of £132.5bn.The CJRS was set up as a new wage support measure in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to protect jobs in wake of the impact to the economy caused by the virus and to support employers who had difficulties continuing to pay wages to prevent redundancies being made.So what is the clawback?The government are now looking to recover funds claimed in error or … [Read more...]
EU Settlement scheme update – 1-year left to apply
The 30th June 2020 marked the 1-year countdown for the EU settlement scheme application deadline. Already 3.6 million applications have been submitted and more than 3.3 million applications have been granted.EEA citizens and their family members who have been granted pre-settlement or settled status have secured their rights in UK Law, ensuring that they will have the evidence they need to continue living and working in the UK.The lastest detailed official Statistics show that the … [Read more...]