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February 12, 2024
How to recognise tax scam phone calls, emails and text messages

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have recently published updated their guidance on how to identify tax scams made by phone, email, or text.

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February 9, 2024
No final decision yet on a digital pound

The Bank of England and HM Treasury have published their response to a consultation on a digital pound that was started in February 2023.

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February 7, 2024
Cuts to National Insurance rates benefit January pay packets

The 12% to 10% employees national insurance rate cut first announced in the Autumn Statement came into effect in January. This means that many employees will have seen a boost in their take home pay in their January pay packet.

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February 5, 2024
Streamlining your business: Strategies to speed up customer payments and improve cash flow

Begbies Traynor, a firm of business rescue and recovery specialists, have published their latest Red Flag Alert based on financial data from the last quarter of 2023. It makes worrying reading as they estimate that more than 47,000 businesses in the UK are near collapse because of being in critical financial distress.

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February 2, 2024
Fake reviews, hidden fees and shop labelling to be tackled by new laws

The Department for Business and Trade are making changes that will ban dripped fees, make fake reviews illegal, and make sure that price labelling on supermarket shelves is clearer.

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January 31, 2024
UK services exports to be helped by £500,000 government funding

The government has pledged £500,000 of funding to help facilitate agreements that will allow UK professionals to qualify more easily to provide services in foreign countries.

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January 29, 2024
Income Tax and selling online

In recent weeks there has been a flurry of online activity discussing the new law that will require online marketplaces to report information about income made by their users to HMRC. The discussion has led to many people asking questions such as “Will I have to pay tax on the money I make from selling my old belongings on Vinted or eBay?”

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January 26, 2024
Post Office Horizon scandal: A stark reminder to prioritise people over systems

The recent Post Office Horizon scandal, given further exposure by the related TV drama, provides a cautionary tale about the perils of overlooking the human impact of technology decisions.

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January 24, 2024
Nuclear power to expand in the UK

The UK government has announced plans for expanding nuclear power in the UK. The Civil Nuclear Roadmap sets out how the UK will increase generation of nuclear-powered electricity so that by 2050 it is enough to provide a quarter of the UK's electricity needs.

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January 22, 2024
UK businesses to save time and money on cross-border legal disputes

Lord Bellamy, representing the UK, has now signed the 2019 Hague Convention, which the UK originally committed to joining in November 2023. Once ratified there is a wait of 12 months for the Convention to come into force in the UK, but at that point, it will apply to any judgments commenced after that date.

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January 19, 2024
Discover Digital Transformation – A free online training programme

Innovate UK BridgeAI is funding an online training course to help businesses and organisations explore digital, data-driven and AI technologies.

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January 17, 2024
Pilot project to help directors deal with cyber security risk

Arculus Ltd, a cyber security consultancy, has been tasked by the UK government to lead a pilot project that is aimed at helping directors of UK organisations in managing their cyber security risks.

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January 15, 2024
Holiday pay and entitlement reforms

Coming into force from 1 January 2024, the Working Time Regulations, as amended by The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023, introduced reforms that simplify holiday pay and entitlements.

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January 12, 2024
Government reforms on reuse and recycling of electrical goods

The government has announced new UK-wide plans designed to make it easier to recycle electrical goods.

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January 10, 2024
Is it too cold to work?

This winter has been one of the mildest on record so far, but there is still time for a cold snap, and this often raises questions about whether it is too cold to work. In fact, this question is one of the most popular topics on the HSE website.

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