The New Tax Year

This week brings us the new tax year and a number of changes have been brought into effect,

Area Covered	Changes	Detail
Basic state pension	Up £2.40 a week	The weekly pension will go up to £97.65, for a pensioner couple it be £156.15
National Insurance contributions	Only 30 years needed	The qualifying years of NI payments for the basic state pension has dropped by nine years
Occupational pensions	Five year delay claiming	People now have to be 55 to receive occupational or personal pension payments
Top tax band	50% rate introduced	New tax rate for those earning over £150,000 a year
Tax allowance	High earner tax allowance withdrawn	Those earning over £100,000 will see the progressive withdrawal of their personal income tax allowance
Isa's	New limit of £10,200	The tax-free allowance limit on Isas rises
Paternity	Up to 26 weeks	Additional paternity leave available by transferring leave from the mother
Maternity	Up to £124.88 a week	The statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay rises

 

It also should be noted that there is a planned increase to the minimum wage in October of 11p per hour for those aged over 21.

Where do we go from here?

Today we had a meeting with Business Link (North East) looking at how we can take improve our service further. I have dealt with similar agencies before and to be honest found it more hassle than it was ultimately worth! (I spent more time chasing them up!)

Today however was a far better experience (and I'm not just saying that in case she might end up reading this) but we have now been able to look at our current offer and how we could develop the site and offer further services.

We were able to draw up a plan of what we plan to do over the next three months so if you haven't already signed up to our newsletter (don't worry we don't bombard you with spam) let us know your email address and we will keep you updated with our improvements and developments.

As ever we welcome any suggestions and feedback.

Writing a contract of employment

When writing a contract of employment there are a number of different contracts that you can choose from depending on the position and it is important that you choose one that is appropriate to the job role, for a list of different employment contracts.

It is important to remember that as an employer that you have a legal obligation to issue a written statement of particulars containing the minimum amount of information with two months of employment starting.

To download our free employment contract templates click here

Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures

It is almost a year since the new disciplinary and grievance procedures came into effect and it is surprisingly to find out how many employers are not fully aware of how these changes affect them. So we have put together a before and after for you compare the differences in procedures and the rights of employers and employees, to view the changes in disciplinary and grievance procedures click here.

Want to know how to market your business for free?

It is nothing new but it is surprising how many businesses are not taking advantage of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Twitter has just announced it one billionth 'tweet' and expects it twenty billionth tweet by July, that growth is really quite incredible and also it is interesting to note that London has the most active 'tweeters' so for all those of you that think it is an 'American thing' you are very wrong and quite possibly missing out on some extra business!

I am going to concentrate to Twitter today as although both social networking sites they are slightly different. Firstly you should open a Twitter account which is again completely free, your user name will depend on your business, for example if you are trying to promote a brand then it would be a good idea to have that as your username however if you are offering a service i.e. accountant or consultant then it is your name (and the reputation behind your name) that you want to build and it is strongly suggested that you use a real photo rather than your logo as this will allow people to identify with you, putting a name to a face and all that.

You then want to look at some of the big players and see who is following them, this again will depend on your business but as an example your could try the start to follow the BBC and see who is following them and then start to follow them, most people will reciprocate and hey presto you have taken the first steps to building your online profile.

Your tweets' will now appear to all those who follow you, if you want people to follow a link then you need to make it interesting otherwise it will simply blend into the landscape and have very little effect.

There are a number of ways to set up your 'tweets' for example:

Logging in online or through various applications, there are too many to mention and start tweeting!

Setting up an RSS feed from your website – so that every time you add a news story of even a new product it will automatically display on Twitter.

Using a widget on your website - sharethis is a popular one, this allows users to post a product, service or news story on their own account which links back to your website.

'Tweet' your newsletter, want to expand your circulation? Mailchimp for example will give you the option to 'tweet' your newsletter so that not only do your subscribed users get to see your newsletter but also all of your fellow tweeters!!

Of course although this is a free service it does take time and can be frustrating at the beginning but it is well worth taking the time to look into further.

Good Luck

James

New Health and Safety Policy Added

We have just updated and added an additional Health and Safety policy; you are free to amend it to suit your businesses needs and procedures etc.

http://www.i-resources.co.uk/Health-and-Safety/Downloads/Health-and-Safety-Policy/index.asp

Any feedback let us know

Jon

Tendering for Public Contracts

There are a number of ways that you can bid for public sector contracts and they are open to businesses of all sizes, in particular the Olympic tenders are being released at the minute and for more details and to register visit – www.competefor.com, this is a free service and will allow you to identify any possible contracts you feel your business may be able to deliver. It is important to remember that when submitting a tender for a contract the provider will want to see the following documents:

Health & Safety Policy

Equality & Diversity Policy – coming soon (we are just updating it!!!)

As a minimum but they may also require an environmental and sustainability policy, you can access templates of all of these from our free health and safety and employment download sections and if you do decide to bid for contract – good luck! Remember if you need any support or guidance; contact your local business link, who there to provide assistance if needed.

Kelly