HLAS

The Royal Academy of Engineering has opened a new round of applications for its Regional Talent Engines programme. This six-month pre-accelerator programme for early-stage founders aims to support entrepreneurial mid-late career engineers who wish to bring an innovative concept to market. The programme is open to individuals in Northern Ireland, Northern England, and Wales. The Regional Talent Engines programme offers a unique package of support as a startup accelerator, including: an equity-free grant of £20,000 towards for living costs; hybrid training workshops, roundtables, and speaker events; one-to-one business coaching and mentoring support; and access to co-working and meeting spaces in London and [...]

Government action to tackle the scourge of litter and protect the environment from plastic pollution came into force on the 1 October, with bans and restrictions on a range of polluting single-use plastic items. No business – whether retailer, takeaway, food vendor or part of the hospitality industry – will now be able to sell single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks nor polystyrene cups and food containers in England. The supply of single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls has also been restricted. The new regulations were announced in January and extensive work has taken place throughout 2023 to provide further guidance on the ban [...]

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has announced £5 million for the UK Games Fund as part of the Creative Industries Sector Vision, a joint plan between Government and industry to drive growth, build talent and develop skills across the creative sectors. The Content Fund is offering £50,000 to £150,000 commercial games-for-entertainment content grants. The aim of the funding is to support a mix of existing and/or new employees, alongside a lesser proportion of contracted staff. Applicant companies must be UK registered SMEs with PAYE employees engaged in games development work in the UK and have a prototype [...]

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is seeking views on a package of changes to improve their digital services The IPO's Transformation programme is designed to modernise and improve the IPO's services. By the end of 2025, it aims to replace the IPO's existing processes with a digital system for all registered IP rights (patents, trademarks and designs). In 2022, the IPO ran a first public consultation, which mainly focused on changes related the launch of the new digital patents service in 2024. The government response to that consultation was published on 1 August 2023. This will inform some of the potential legal and practice [...]

A new survey from Acas has found that one in four employers have seen an increase in staff being off sick compared to a year ago. Acas commissioned YouGov to ask employers at the end of August if they had seen any changes to the number of employees being off sick compared to 12 months ago. The poll found that: 26% of employers had seen an increase in sickness absence; Almost 1 in ten (9%) had seen a decrease; Over half (59%) said that the number of staff being off sick had roughly stayed the same; and 6% didn’t know [...]

The UK government has announced tougher measures to tackle the issue of late payments to small businesses. These new measures will be included in the upcoming Prompt Payment & Cash Flow Review, due to be published shortly and will improve delivery and enforcement of policies, enabling more small businesses to get paid on time. New measures to be announced in the review will include: Extending the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017. Following consultation, Government will take forward legislation to extend payment performance reporting obligations. Also included will be new metrics for reporting, including a value metric, so [...]

There is a wide range of expenses and benefits received by employees – including directors. If you would like more information – or maybe just a refresher – on how to deal with such payments and the effects on tax and National Insurance, HMRC have some useful webinars to support you. Expenses and benefits for your employees – if your employees have more than one workplace Find out about: employee travel to different types of workplace, geographical locations, the 24-month rule, and the 40% test. See: Registration (gotowebinar.com) Expenses and benefits for your employees – travel This webinar covers reimbursing [...]

Millions of over-55s in the UK are at risk of encountering financial difficulties in their retirement, new research has revealed. One of the UK’s leading at-retirement advisers commissioned an independent survey of 2,000 UK adults, finding that less than half (46%) of respondents currently have a financial plan in place for their retirement – with this figure only rising to 47% for those aged 55 and above. When it comes to retirement savings, just 51% of UK adults know how much is in their pensions – again, there is only a slight increase (to 56%) among those aged 55 and [...]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has stated that this has been the biggest tax-raising parliament since records began, pushing UK tax revenues to historically high levels. They comment “At the time of the last general election, UK tax revenues amounted to around 33% of national income. By the time of the next election in 2024, on current forecasts, taxes will amount to around 37% of national income – a level not sustained in the post-war period. Compared with a world in which taxes had stayed at 33% of national income, the UK government will be raising upwards of £100 [...]

Last week, new statistics from the Department of Transport (DfT) showed the overall price of bus fares in England, outside London, has dropped by 7.4% between June 2022 and June 2023, mainly due to the extension of the Get Around for £2 scheme. Starting in January 2023 and originally scheduled to end on 31 March 2023, the Get Around for £2 scheme has been extended until 31 October this year and will then run at £2.50 until the end of November 2024. See: Bus fares in rural England drop 11% thanks to government's £2 fare cap - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)