Primark set to reject Treasury’s furlough bonus payment July 12, 2020 Primark will reportedly reject a £30m bonus handout unveiled in the Chancellor’s summer statement. The retailer has said it will not claim the £1,000 payment for every worker it brings back from furlough, according to the Sunday Times. Last night gambling firm William Hill also reportedly indicated it would also reject the furlough bonuses worth [...]
The quiet crisis: IR35 and the UK’s forgotten freelancers July 10, 2020 In a crisis which has shaken so many aspects of our lives, it can be hard to get some issues heard above the noise. News that would once have made headlines seems to slip almost unnoticed under the radar. One such development was the quiet confirmation that changes to IR35 self-employed taxes will come into [...]
Man arrested over £495,000 ‘furlough fraud’ July 9, 2020 A man has been arrested on suspicion of defrauding the government’s job retention scheme out of £495,000. The arrest, which is thought to be the first relating to the government’s furlough scheme, happened in Solihull in the West Midlands. Computers were seized and funds were frozen in the man’s business bank account, according to HMRC. [...]
Liz Truss says UK’s Brexit border plans at risk of WTO legal challenge and smuggling July 9, 2020 Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit border plans risk breaking international trading rules and could result in smuggling from the EU, according to international trade secretary Liz Truss. Truss wrote a letter to chancellor Rishi Sunak and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove on Wednesday warning that the UK’s current plans put the country at risk of several political [...]
London ad campaign could be a sign of things to come July 8, 2020 How do we begin again when we’ve lost so much? Ronel Lehmann has a pertinent example ‘It’ll be just like starting over,’ John Lennon once sang. I’ve been humming that song this week, as beginning again is precisely what we’re all doing now. Nothing in the song – or in the news over the past [...]
UK banks ‘draw up code of conduct’ for coronavirus business loan defaults July 6, 2020 UK banks are reportedly drawing up a code of conduct for pursuing businesses that default on government-backed coronavirus interruption loans, amid concerns that a high proportion of the loans will never be repaid. Industry body UK Finance and the state-owned British Business Bank (BBB) have begun talks with commercial lenders in the hope of setting [...]
UK house prices fall for first time since 2012 amid coronavirus July 1, 2020 UK house prices posted an annual fall for the first time since 2012 in June amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Nationwide’s index today. Growth turned negative last month with prices slipping 0.1 per cent year on year, following a 1.8 per cent climb in May, Nationwide said. Its data showed UK house prices also [...]
Pace of furloughing slows as cost of job support measures tops £33bn June 30, 2020 The number of furloughed workers in the UK rose to 9.3m last week, while the cost of the government’s job support measures topped £33bn, new figures showed. Some 100,000 additional workers were furloughed in the week to 28 June, according to data from HMRC. Read more: UK businesses borrow over £43bn to survive coronavirus This [...]
Not just for unicorns – Fintech services all June 29, 2020 Fintech is commonly associated with unicorn companies. But it is there to service a far wider part of the economic community as the recovery begins. As the country emerges from lockdown and turns its attention to rebuilding the economy, one resource that is of crucial importance is Fintech. A complex and diverse industry that is [...]
Taxation post COVID19 June 15, 2020 Following global lockdown the UK went into defensive and offensive mode with the furlough scheme, loans and other government support for almost every business and sole trader. But that has seen a reasonably strong economic outlook disappear almost entirely for some businesses in the short space of 3 months. In turn this has resulted in [...]