HLAS

A crime survey carried out by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows a 50% increase in levels of violence and abuse towards shop workers. During 2022/23 there were 1,300 incidents a day compared with 870 a day in the previous year. The abuse includes racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assault and threats with weapons, and is on a par with the levels of abuse retail workers experienced during the pandemic when safety measures frustrated many. Theft costs have increased to £1.8 billion from £953 million the year before, with 45,000 incidents a day. These increases are all despite retailers investing [...]

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is contacting the owners of some self-catering holiday lets. The lets in question are ones that are currently being assessed for business rates. The VOA are looking for additional information about the income and expenditure of these properties. This will assist in calculating the rateable value of the property. This enquiry follows an exercise undertaken by the VOA last year to contact self-catering holiday let owners. The information requested at that time enabled the VOA to decide whether the properties should be assessed for business rates or Council Tax. The rateable values of self-catering holiday [...]

Official figures were released last week showing that inflation remains at 4% in the year to January. Energy prices have increased due to the new energy price cap, and the price for second-hand cars also rose by 1.5%. However, food prices fell for the first time in two years by 0.4%. Discounts offered by retailers for furniture and household goods in the January sales have also exerted a downward push on inflation. Of course, inflation staying flat does not mean that prices are not increasing. A 4% inflation rate means that prices are still going up at double the rate [...]

The Institute of Customer Service published its latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) figures for January 2024. The Index has fallen by 1.7 points since last January to 76.0 (out of 100) - https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/research-insight/ukcsi/ Each of the 13 UKCSI sectors showed lower customer satisfaction than a year ago, with Utilities, Transport, Insurance and Service declining by more than 2 points. The highest rated organisations are Ocado (85.7), first direct (85.3) and John Lewis (85.1). Looking at an index update like this can provide a good opportunity to reflect on the customer satisfaction of your own customers. Good customer service is [...]

The Office of National Statistics released official figures last week showing the UK is now officially in recession. Gross domestic product (GDP) for the October to December 2023 quarter dropped by 0.3%. This followed a fall in the July to September 2023 quarter of 0.1%. A fall in GDP in two or more consecutive quarters constitutes a recession. Experts will generally assess the health of an economy on a number of factors, rather than solely look at the headline GDP rates. However, the “recession” word quickly takes hold in news headlines and brings apprehension and uncertainty with it. While it [...]

The UK government has announced the signing of six new contracts that will allow suppliers to connect businesses and homes in hard-to-reach areas to lightning-fast full fibre internet. Rural communities in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Kent, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes, Nottinghamshire, and West Lincolnshire are the subject of these contracts. It is expected that some 236,000 premises will benefit from the uprated connections with the first being connected in early 2025. For any business using the internet, speed and reliability make a big difference to productivity. Full fibre can deliver internet speeds of up to 1,000 megabits (or [...]

The Digital Economy Act 2017 gave the government data sharing powers that allow it to combat fraud committed against the public sector. A statutory review, which was published last week, shows that taxpayers have been saved £137 million because of these data sharing powers. The review showed that the Act has enabled more than 100 data sharing pilots across both local authorities and governments or agencies. The savings were categorised as £99.5 million from identifying Covid-19 loan scheme fraud, £14.9 million from fraud identified in council tax and housing benefit systems, £5.1 million from identifying companies that were fraudulently misstating [...]

In business, staying ahead of, or at least up with, the curve is crucial for success. Over recent years, one of the revolutionary tools that has transformed the way businesses manage their finances is cloud accounting. Cloud accounting offers many benefits over traditional, on-premise accounting systems. Let’s discuss some of them. What are the benefits of cloud accounting? Accessibility Traditional accounting systems often tie businesses to a specific location, requiring users to be physically present in the office to be able to access financial data. Cloud accounting frees a business from this constraint. It gives users access to real-time financial [...]

Salih Ozhot from North London has been given a suspended prison sentence of 2 years for applying for a Bounce Back loan in 2020 for his business but then using the funds personally. He is also required to repay the £50,000 he borrowed in full at the rate of £500 per month. Insolvency Service Investigators found that Mr Ozhot had withdrawn £19,000 within one week of receiving the loan. Their analysis of subsequent transactions showed that he used the money for personal rather than business reasons. Mr Ozhot was declared bankrupt in October 2021. The Insolvency Service described Mr Ozhot’s [...]

The National Cyber Security Centre have issued some new guidance on “Using online services safely.” To avoid having to set up and manage their own IT infrastructure, many small businesses use online or cloud services. For instance, these might include email, online storage, online accounting and managing of invoicing, website hosting, and social media. The guidance is designed to help small businesses reduce the likelihood of cyber attacks when using these services. The guidance provides help on: Choosing a good service, Backing up critical data, Protecting the domain name you use for your website and email addresses, Creating separate user [...]