Over 100 towns in England will be given up to £1 million to kick start regeneration projects and give areas a boost. This funding, which ranges from £500,000 up to £1 million per town, will be used to support projects that will make a difference to the area, such as new green spaces, the creation of pop-up businesses spaces, pedestrianizing streets...
Muras Matters: Coronavirus (COVID-19): New Job Support Scheme and Other Changes
Background Last week saw the Chancellor outline a Winter Economy Plan as the Country continues to fight the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The plan confirms the end of the furlough scheme in October 2020 but introduces a new Job Support Scheme and an extension to the Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support. There was also additional assistance announced covering the extension of business loans, VAT...
Contact details or else…
Hospitality trades are now mandated to collect the contact details of customers. Which logically assumes that if a customer refuses to provide this information they must be turned away? The contact details required include: name contact number date of visit arrival time departure time, if possible All collected data must comply with GDPR and will not be kept for longer than necessary. Data collection should be as straightforward...
The new Winter Economy Plan
Job Support Scheme A new 6-month scheme starting from 1 November 2020. This scheme has been designed to support viable jobs and employees must work at least one-third of their hours, paid as normal, in order to qualify for the scheme. The government and employer will then each cover one-third of any remaining hours the employee is not working. Employees will therefore forego...
Are you ready for NHS COVID-19 app?
Pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, cinemas and other venues across England and Wales are being urged to download QR codes to prepare for public rollout of new app. The NHS COVID-19 app is currently being trialled and will launch on Thursday 24 September in England and Wales, including QR check-in at venues QR codes will be an important way for NHS Test and Trace...
Travel corridors
It is almost impossible to keep up with changes to overseas territories that require us to self-isolate when returning to the UK from a holiday or business trip. The government have coined the phrase “travel corridor” to provide a focus for countries that are considered COVID hot spots – and therefore exempt or removed from the safe travel corridor list. Up-to-date information...
HMRC put their case
HMRC has been at the forefront of the government’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the extraordinary challenges being faced by millions of individuals and businesses. According to HMRC: The department successfully developed and implemented schemes at unprecedented speed to deliver financial support to more than 12 million employed and self-employed workers via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income...
Employer obligations to employees working at home
It may surprise many smaller employers with staff working from home that they still have health and safety responsibilities. The following notes published by ACAS should be considered: Employers should: talk to their employees and workers about how they might improve working from home arrangements continue to consider which roles and tasks can be done from home – this might involve doing things...
Are taxes on the increase?
There has been the usual political speculation that taxes will be increased in the forthcoming budget to pay for COVID grants and support. Leaving aside the economic arguments for and against, what planning adjustments can we make now assuming that business taxes will increase? Corporation tax It has been rumoured that corporation tax (CT) will be increased from the present 19% to 24%....
Muras Matters: Company Cars Changes to Advisory Fuel Rates
This Bulletin is aimed at company car drivers (and their employers) who are not provided with fuel for private mileage Although many of us will not have been using are cars very much over the last few months during the Coronavirus lockdown, now that many of the rules are being relaxed you will need to ensure that the appropriate fuel rates...