HLAS

Employees in Britain will be able to request flexible working from day one of their employment, under new government plans to make flexible working the default. Flexible working doesn’t just mean a combination of working from home and in the office – it can mean employees making use of job-sharing, flexitime, and working compressed, annualised, or staggered hours. Workers on contracts with a guaranteed weekly income on or below the Lower Earnings Limit will also be protected from enforced exclusivity clauses, which restrict workers from having multiple employers. The new legislation, backed in the government’s response to the Making flexible working [...]

Following consultation with the border industry, exporters will now have until 30 November 2023 to move across to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), 8 months later than previously announced. After 30 November 2023, businesses will need to use CDS to make export declarations for goods they send out of the UK, as they already do for import declarations. CDS has been running since 2018 and is already being used for making import declarations when moving goods into the UK. The service will replace the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) service, representing a significant upgrade by providing businesses [...]

45,000 visas for seasonal workers will be available for businesses this year, the UK Government confirmed, providing a lift for the UK’s horticulture industry. The allocation will allow businesses to recruit foreign workers to come to the UK for up to six months through the Seasonal Worker visa route – an uplift of 15,000 compared to what was available to businesses at the start of 2022. See: Government provides boost to horticulture industry with certainty over seasonal workers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published draft guidance ahead of the implementation of reforms to the Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs on 1 April 2023 To ensure the guidance is as helpful as possible, HMRC is inviting comments from any individuals or organisations who make use of or provide tax agent services for R&D tax reliefs. The guidance clarifies technical aspects of how the reforms will work in practice and includes a list of the additional information that will be required for claims. See: Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs - draft guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Businesses will be given an additional 2 years to apply new product safety marking. The UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking has been introduced as part of the UK’s own robust regulatory framework. It shows that products comply with product safety regulations which are designed to protect consumers. However, given the difficult economic conditions the UK Government does not want to burden business with the requirement to meet the original 31 December 2022 deadline. The UK Government will continue to recognise the CE marking for 2 years, therefore allowing businesses until 31 December 2024 to prepare for the UKCA marking. Businesses [...]

Royal Mail are adding barcodes to their regular stamps. After 31 January 2023, regular stamps without a barcode will no longer be valid. You can either use up these stamps before this deadline or swap them for the new barcoded ones. The stamps that are changing are the stamps (pictured below) that will be familiar to you. They feature the profile of Her Late Majesty The Queen on a plain coloured background. See: Know where your old stamps are? | Royal Mail Group Ltd

Help to Grow: Digital is a UK-wide scheme to help small and medium-sized businesses adopt digital technologies proven to increase productivity. The scheme offers: free, impartial advice and guidance about what digital technology is best suited to your business and how it can boost your business' performance; and targeted financial support, if your business is eligible, worth up to £5,000 towards the costs of buying approved digital technologies. Help to Grow: Digital will close to new business applications for discounts on 2 February 2023. Discounts issued for eligible software must be redeemed within 30 days from issue date. See: Final opportunity for businesses [...]

The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme will be extended by a year to the end of December 2023, helping people with 5% deposits on to the property ladder. Under the scheme the government offers lenders the financial guarantees they need to provide mortgages that cover the other 95%, subject to the usual affordability checks, on a house worth up to £600,000. Launched in April 2021, the scheme has already helped over 24,000 households. It was originally planned to close at the end of 2022 but will now be extended until the end of 2023. See: Government extends Mortgage Guarantee Scheme - GOV.UK [...]

Part of Innovate UK’s Plan for Action, this competition aims to support the development of novel production systems that create new sources of resource efficient, low-emission foods, particularly proteins, while delivering healthy and sustainable diets. To be eligible, projects must progress emerging novel food production systems towards commercial viability and ability to supply mainstream consumer markets. Projects must have the potential to significantly shift the current state of the art in one or more of the following six priority areas: plant based products or production systems; acellular food production, for example, algal, bacterial or fungal fermentation systems; cellular food production, [...]

The UK government has extended the Horizon Europe guarantee to provide a financial safety net for successful Horizon Europe applicants. The guarantee will be in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close on or before 31 March 2023. The extension will ensure that eligible Horizon Europe awardees will continue to be guaranteed funding, supporting them to continue their important work in research and innovation. Eligible, successful Horizon Europe UK applicants will receive the full value of their funding at their UK host institution for the lifetime of the grant. Awardees will be able to remain in the UK [...]