HLAS

The Met Office have some practical advice and information on what to do to stay safe in the snow. When there is a snow warning in place the guidance covers: What to do if you need to drive somewhere; 2. Driving safely in snow; 3. Thinking ahead and acting now so you can cope if cut off; 4. Staying safe if you are cut off; and 5. What you can do in a power cut See: 5 tips for staying safe in snow - Met Office

Working capital finance solutions offer businesses the opportunity to improve cash flow. The world of commercial finance and asset based lending (ABL) is complex and expansive with products, terminology and contractual interpretation varying from lender-to-lender. The Benefits of arranging Working Capital are: Up to 90% of outstanding invoice value can be advanced within 24 hours; Flexible lending – funding increases in line with your growth (UK and Export); Confidentiality – lenders can offer a completely confidential service – your customers need not know you have a facility in place; Lenders allow you to manage your funding at all times; Sector-specific [...]

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has guidance on international transfers guidance: a section ontransfer risk assessments (TRAs); and a downloadable TRA tool (DOC, 368K). This information aims to help organisations know how to protect people's personal information when making international transfers. The guidance clarifies an alternative transfer risk assessment approach to the one put forward by the European Data Protection Board. With the guidance, and the six-question TRA tool, the ICO offers a framework to help people identify an initial risk level for categories of data and focus on whether the transfer significantly increases the risk of either privacy or other [...]

CUTTING TAX AND REWARDING HARD WORK For employees In addition to income tax, all employees earning more than £12,570 a year pay Class 1 NICs. The main rate of Class 1 NICs will be cut from 12% to 10% from 6 January 2024. This will come into effect from January 2024 and, over a full year, the average worker on £35,400 will receive a NIC reduction of over £450. Workers earning more than £50,270 a year will receive a NIC reduction of £754. The Class 1 NIC rate will remain at 2% for earnings above £50,270 a year. Similarly, there [...]

Cutting-edge British aerospace companies are set to benefit from a new multi-million pound SME Programme that will secure high-skilled jobs and help the UK lead the way on greener air travel. The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) SME Programme will offer UK-based small and medium-sized firms the chance to bid for a share of £10 million total funding per year towards their innovative research projects. The Programme was announced by Industry Minister Nusrat Ghani at the ATI’s 2023 Conference in Birmingham. It will be delivered in partnership with the ATI and Innovate UK. The new Programme will open to applications in [...]

The UK has secured an extension to arrangements that were due to expire, helping British manufacturers access lower or zero tariffs when selling their products to Mexico. The arrangement will come into effect from 1 January 2024 and will remain in place until a new UK-Mexico Free Trade Agreement enters into force. The deal will provide welcome certainty for UK businesses, helping them to continue avoiding high tariffs imposed by Mexico and maintain their competitive edge in the market. The announcement is particularly welcome news for the automotive and food and drink sectors, with road vehicles accounting for almost £300 [...]

The Department for Business and Trade has launched a call for input on an updated free trade agreement (FTA) with Turkey. The deal would replace the existing UK-Turkey FTA, which was rolled over from when the UK left the European Union but doesn't cover key areas of the UK economy like services, digital, and data. The consultation seeks input on: what you think about the UK’s current trading arrangements with Turkey; where the UK could make changes or improvements; and where you are facing challenges or constraints when attempting to trade with Turkey. The UK government will use this information [...]

Creative UK is accepting applications for the Creative Catalyst Challenge Fund, offering businesses an opportunity to access grant funding of up to £250,000. Supported by Innovate UK, this fund is designed to empower creative minds to channel their innovation towards addressing specific climate challenges within the industry. The focus of this grant is to support research and development that: combats waste; promotes decarbonisation; and minimizes the creative industry's impact on the environment. The deadline for applications is midday, Monday 27 November 2023. See: Creative Catalyst Challenge Fund - Creative UK (wearecreative.uk)

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Heat Pump Ready (HPR) Programme Stream 2 Wave 2 competition will support applied research and development projects, focused on driving down the lifetime costs of domestic heat pump deployment, and improving the domestic consumer experience and acceptability of heat pumps through technology, tools, business model, and process innovation. It aims to develop solutions that: improve the ease of heat pump deployment in homes that are ‘complex to decarbonise’ by addressing physical, material, locational, technological, regulatory, or social challenges; develop innovative solutions to enable heat pumps to be deployed in ‘distress purchase’ [...]

The UK and Florida sign the 7th UK-US state level Memorandum of Understanding to boost trade and investment. Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost trade and investment between the UK and Florida. Florida has a GDP of over £1.1tn – the fourth biggest of any US state and roughly the same size as Spain. The MoU is designed to help make it quicker, easier, and cheaper for UK and Florida firms to do business and is targeted at sectors in which the UK and Florida have [...]