Furloughed employees to receive full redundancy payments

Legislation that comes into effect today has been passed to ensure that Furloughed Workers receive their full entitlement if they are made reductant.

Furloughed employees who are then made redundant will receive redundancy pay based on their normal wage, under new laws.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said:

“We urge employers to do everything they can to avoid making redundancies, but where this is unavoidable it is important that employees receive the payments they are rightly entitled to”

These changes will also apply to Statutory Notice Pay, which is where employees must be given a notice period before their employment ends, varying from at least one week’s notice up to 12 weeks’ notice, depending on how long they have worked for their employer. During this notice period, employees must be paid.

Read the Full story here.

Misuse of Bounce Back Loans

There have been reports that individuals have been creating businesses to secure bounce back loans to purchase buy to let property, view here.

Car dealers have reported an upturn in sales of luxury cars reportedly with BBL money being used and one dealer, James Glen, actually had a fraudster take out a loan on his business and tried to convince the car dealer that the money came form a company called BBL limited in order to secure a £41,000 Porsche Caymen.View here.

It is going to be interesting, in coming years, what will happen with all the BBL loans taken out and whether we will see an increase in Fraud Cases around some of these.

Consider the example of a BBL being used to buy a buy to let property – if the loan is not repaid then imagine the a mess it would be to try and recover the money.

£50 Bike Repair Voucher Scheme Launces and immediately needs fixing

The government has launched a Fix your Bike Voucher Scheme to help fix your bikes by offering a £50 bike repair voucher towards the total cost of repairs needed.

The scheme hopes to provide an alternative to using public transport, reduce short car journeys and keep more people fitter whilst using a socially distanced form of transport.

Unfortunately the Energy savings trust website was overwhelmed as soon as it was launched and crashed. Thankfully, it all seems to be working now.

£20 million in new grants to boost recovery of small businesses

Thousands of smaller businesses in England are set to benefit from £20 million of new government funding to help them recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government has today (30 July 2020) announced.

Activities supported through the £20 million can include:

  • One-to-many events providing guidance to respond to coronavirus,
  • Grants (£1,000 – £5,000) to help businesses access specialist professional advice such as HR, accountants, legal, financial, IT and digital, and to purchase minor equipment to adapt or adopt new technology in order to continue to deliver business activity or diversify.

Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government, Simon Clarke MP said:

“We have always said that we would stand behind our businesses and communities as we rebuild following the coronavirus pandemic. This new funding does exactly that.”

Businesses will be able to use these new grants to pay for the expertise, equipment and technology they need to adapt, recover and rebuild.

Small and medium sized businesses are the beating heart of communities; they provide employment and contribute significantly to local economies and we are determined to give them the support they need to continue to thrive. View here

Small businesses cut jobs as furlough scheme winds down

According to a report by the FSB, 23% of all companies surveyed have already reduced staff numbers.

The furlough scheme begins is gradual winding down form 1st August with employers having to contribute to National Insurance and Pensions which is thought to be the reason the layoffs are increasing.

Long term there is fear and uncertainty among many of our clients as they continue to manage their businesses finances carefully in these uncertain times. Unfortunately the biggest cost to business are the employees and when work slows down these have to be the first to go.