HLAS

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has put together some practical information for employers to support their employees through the cost-of-living crisis. Against a backdrop of soaring prices for food, energy and other essential goods and services, many employers in the UK are asking what they can do to support their people’s financial wellbeing. Several UK employers are generously topping up pay packets with a cost-of-living payment. The CIPD’s summer Labour Market Outlook for 2022 finds that 15% of organisations have paid, or are planning to pay, such a payment to some or all their workers, while a further [...]

Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards 2022/23 will open on 22 August 2022. Pioneering women entrepreneurs will be awarded a cash injection of £50,000 each, as well as a bespoke package of business support, coaching and mentoring. Join the briefing event to learn more about the scope of this competition, the application process and the support available for applicants. You will also have the opportunity to hear from inspiring leaders in business innovation and from past and current Women in Innovation award holders. If you are a female founder, co-founder or senior decision maker working in a UK-based company, join the [...]

New legislation to make it unlawful for employers to withhold tips from staff means that customers will be certain that all tips go to hard-working employees. The Tipping Bill will benefit more than 2 million workers and, for the first time, will give them the right to see an employer’s tipping record. Despite most hospitality workers (many of whom earn the National Minimum Wage) relying on tips to top up their pay, there are still businesses that fail to pass on service charges from customers to their staff. The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill will ensure that all tips go [...]

The Nuclear Fuel Fund will seek to award grants to projects that can increase the UK’s domestic nuclear fuel sector. The goal is to reduce the need for foreign imports and create the material used in nuclear power stations to generate electricity, with funding going towards designing and developing new facilities. Up to £75 million in grants will be awarded to support the development costs of investments into new nuclear fuel capabilities in the UK, supporting a range of reactor types and sizes, including small and advanced modular reactors. Government backing is there to encourage private sector co-investment into the [...]

The government scheme that cuts the price of leading software, boosting productivity and growth of UK small businesses, will now benefit even more firms. The Digital Scheme eligibility has been expanded to businesses with at least one employee, meaning up to 1.2 million businesses could benefit. This means businesses can now access a £5,000 discount on 30 software solutions from 14 leading technology suppliers for eCommerce, Digital Accounting and Customer Relationship Management software. Additionally, the government has announced that Help to Grow: Digital will support one-to-one advice for SMEs on how best they can adopt digital technology. The government will be launching applications for [...]

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has launched a consultation on Managing Quota in 2023 and Beyond. The UK is now an independent coastal state with rights and duties under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to control and manage the resources in our waters. The UK has left the EU and the common fisheries policy and, over the coming years, Defra will reform how we manage our fisheries. This includes the freedom to negotiate with the EU and other coastal states for a fairer share of fishing opportunities. Defra has previously committed to [...]

If your company places goods on the market in Great Britain, you will need to follow new product marking rules from 1 January 2023. Businesses are encouraged to be ready for full implementation of the new UK regime as soon as possible. However, to allow businesses time to adjust, CE-marked goods in the scope of this guidance that meet EU requirements (where these match UK requirements) can continue to be placed on the GB market until 31 December 2022. This includes goods which have been assessed by an EU recognised notified body. See: Placing manufactured goods on the market in [...]

The Ideas Marketplace is an online networking collaboration platform where innovators can discuss, collaborate and share ideas with like-minded users. The goal is to overcome defence and security challenges and help deliver the next generation of defence and security tools and services. It spans from helping innovators gain expertise and specialist support to develop technologies, to forming longstanding partnerships and finding new funding opportunities. The Ideas Marketplace will help innovators to: Hear about funding opportunities from across the UK Government; Access exclusive competitions; Collaborate with other innovators to make ideas a success; Engage with industry leaders and learn more about [...]

HMRC have started writing letters to some companies that have been making claims for Research and Development (R&D) relief suggesting that they may be fraudulent. This is the result of the system being abused by some spurious claims, but the tone of the letter may alarm some recipients. The HMRC Fraud Investigations Services unit has made the following statement “We have recently seen some concerning claims. To prevent abuse of the Research & Development relief and protect legitimate customers, we have conducted additional checks. Where evidence leads us to believe that fraudulent claims may have been made, we will issue [...]

With the departure of Boris Johnson, the two remaining contenders for the leader of the Conservative Party have started to outline their future policies. Former chancellor Rishi Sunak had stated that there would be tax cuts in the future, but only when inflation has been brought under control. In a recent campaign shift, he vowed to cut the 5% VAT on household energy bills to help families with rising living costs. Liz Truss has suggested that she would reverse the rise in National Insurance that came into effect in April, scrap a planned rise in corporation tax set to increase [...]