A One-Off Thursday Coronavirus Update

Hello everyone

Surprise!

A Thursday update this week instead of the usual Wednesday.

I promise it’s a quickie today and it relates to getting back to work…

One of our clients recommended an online course to us.  It’s about what you need to do if you run a bar, café, an office or a shop and you want to learn more about how to make your place safe for re-opening.

It’s free and takes about forty minutes to complete.  It covers things like how to complete a risk assessment, what signage is needed as well things like how to support team members returning to work who may suffer with a mental health issue.

Over and above this there’s a folder of resources – with posters, suggested floor markings and even risk assessment forms.

And… this was the clincher for me… you get a certificate at the end of the programme.

You can get to the programme here:

https://www.cpllearning.com/online-courses/ready-to-serve-manager-reopening-following-lockdown

This programme is actually aimed at managers and owners of businesses (although interesting enough for everyone) but there’s a second programme coming, I think tomorrow, which provides information for team members.

Once again I believe the team member’s course is free of charge AND they get a certificate too!

Just a quick disclaimer (sorry): we have no affiliation to CPL Learning, it’s just a programme that has been recommended to us by a client and we thought it was worth passing on.  We don’t take any responsibility for the content of the programme and if you choose to follow the programme we recommend you read CPL’s terms and conditions because any come back will be on them rather than us.

Sorry about that – I almost feel like a lawyer.

I promised you a short one today – so see you tomorrow.

Rowena

Coronavirus Update Wednesday 27th May

Hello everyone

Happy Wednesday – another week flashing by but it does feel as though things are at least preparing to open up.

There’s not a ton of things to report that we haven’t talked about already so I’ll keep today’s update (very) short and sweet.

The HMRC portal for Statutory Sick Pay is now open.  So, if you’ve been affected by the changes to the SSP rules because of Coronavirus we’ll be in touch with you directly to co-ordinate those claims.  If you have had SSP over the past period and you have still to let us know about it – please do get in touch.

Not much change to Scottish Government messaging at the moment when it comes to the financials.  However, yesterday saw a fair amount of information published about what businesses need to do to get back to work – and to get teams back to work too.

This is the information provided by the Scottish Government about safe workplaces:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-work-places-statement/

One of the key factors of helping control the virus is going to be the Test and Protect programme being introduced.

There’s some key information in this link about how the scheme is going to work for buisnesses:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-test-and-protect-advice-for-employers/

Finally, from our own point of view – we are still fully functional and now that things are beginning to return to (the new) normal could I ask you that, if you have your records ready for tax returns, you let us have them.

If you have lots of receipts and invoices let me know and I’ll get in touch about some new software that will help us all as we think about the future.

I promised short and sweet so there you go…

I’ll drop you another line on Friday.

Rowena

Coronavirus Update - Monday 25th May

Hello everyone

Happy Bank Holiday Monday!

I hope you get the chance to enjoy the weather – of course whilst respecting lockdown rules!

Just one (pretty important) thing to update you on – and that’s the Job Retention Scheme.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

You may have read that the scheme is going to change… although the Chancellor is apparently making the formal announcement later this week.

This is what’s being said so far – although we’ll only get final confirmation of this when Rishi Sunak tells us about it:

The scheme has been extended until October… but full support is only going to be continued until the end of July.  ‘Government Officials’ (and sorry if I sound like a news reporter) have said that there are two months of full support left and then changes will be made.

Those changes fall into two categories.

Firstly, the scheme is going to change so that employees can come back to work part time – so part of their wages will be paid by the government and part will be paid by the employer.  We don’t know the details of how that’s going to work as yet so we’ll keep you posted.  However, the government has said that the plan is that (as a minimum) employees will continue to receive at least 80% of their full time salary.

The second element of what’s changing – again probably from 1^st August – is that employers are going to be asked to contribute to employees’ salaries.  The amount of the contribution is going to be between 20% and 30%, most likely 25%, plus employer’s National Insurance.

The word on the street (I’ve always wanted to write that) is that employers will be asked to contribute whether their teams are working part-time or are still not working at all.

I’m no government insider but I suspect (and this is just my opinion) that the reason for this is twofold.  I would imagine the government is expecting most people who have jobs to go back to will be working by then so it won’t make any difference to those employers and secondly, the scheme is probably costing quite a of money…

So, two more months of the Job Retention Scheme as it is right now and then a winding down of the scheme with employers being asked to make more contributions to salary as they bring teams back potentially part-time.

For us and what we do for you there are some things to think about.  For example, if you do bring your teams back part-time and claim furlough payments for the amount of time they are not working there will be a fairly complicated calculation to complete… but that’s our job and we’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

As I said, I got all this from the media and as soon as we have the detail from the Chancellor I’ll update you properly… especially with info about what you (and we) actually need to do in a practical sense…

Finally, if you are starting your people working again sort of nowish please do keep us updated with the dates your guys start back so we can complete final furlough claims for you.

That’s it for today’s update…

More info as it comes but next planned email will come out to you Wednesday.

All the best – and it does feel like we’ll get to see you soon.

Rowena

Coronvirus Update - Wednesday 20th May 2020

Hello everyone

Happy Wednesday… does the week seem to be flashing by for you too?

I have to say I’m looking forward to Nicola Sturgeon’s statement tomorrow – just to see what’s going to happen next.

A couple of updates today.

Okay – statring with support for smaller house builders.

Liquidity Support for SME House Builders

I have to say I hadn’t spotted this one before but I came across a gov.scot webpage today (which was published 7^th May) with details of loan support for smaller house builders.  Smaller is defined as:

·         A non-public organisation

·         Complete five or more homes in Scotland per year

·         Annual turnover of less than £45M

·         Financially viable before COVID-19

·         Can’t get funds from banks or own cash

·         Have tried to get funds from Scottish and UK governments or other COVID-19 schemes before applying

These are loans… but here are the highlights:

·         loans of between £50,000 to £1 million, which will normally be limited to a maximum of 25% of annual turnover

·         fixed interest rates of 2% per annum

·         flexible repayment terms, with the option for capital and interest payments to be offset for 12 months – the majority of loans are expected to be repaid within 24 months

To apply it’s an email to the Scottish Government – I’ve added a link below.  Scroll down the page a bit and there’s a list of information needed to apply and an email address to send your applications to.

Here’s the link:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-liquidity-support-sme-housebuilders/

Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund and Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Fund

Applications for these grants have now closed.

Applications are being reviewed right now and emails (apparently) have already started going out with one of three responses: accepted, rejected or more information needed.

Responses should be out to you if you applied within ten days of your application and it’s not first come, first served.  The success of applications is based on needs, not how fast the application was submitted.

If your application has been successful you only get three days to accept the offer of funding so keep an eye on your emails!  By the way, if you are successful in winning a grant you might get offered less than you applied for.

Finally, on the webpage I’ve been reading there doesn’t appear to be an appeals procedure but (a little bizarrely I thought) there is a complaints process.

To read more detail about all of this you can have a look at this page:

https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/coronavirus-advice/further-information-on-your-application

Opening up offices again

Of course we don’t know what Nicola Sturgeon is going to say on Thursday yet but I guess there will be some news about plans to get everyone back to work whether it’s this week, next week or sometime in the future.

We’re just thinking about a couple of things relating to our office… we’re lucky in that we have a big space and we can spread our team out – we just need to think about making sure we have the office wired properly, tape on the floor and the right PPE available…

By the way, the government has zero rated (effectively removed VAT) from PPE equipment relating to COVID-19 protection.  The zero rating covers the period 1^st May to 31^st July 2020.  If you sell PPE and need help setting up your bookkeeping system for zero rated supplies, let me know and I’ll sort.

If you are in a similar situation where you have to make physical changes to your office or workspace let me now and I can put you in touch with one of our clients who can help.

Second point: we’ve remained fully functional (albeit spread across the Lothians, Edinburgh and Fife) and that remains the case. 

If you’d like us to get started on your tax return and can give us your records electronically just email them to me – or give me access to DropBox.  If you have records in paper format and want to drop them off at the office you can put through the letter box or if too big we can arrange a drop off – just get in touch and we’ll arrange a time just for you so you can leave the records with us whilst staying a safe distance.

That’s it for today.

Enjoy the weather (if you can) and we’ll see you very soon.

Rowena

Coronavirus Update - Monday 18th May

Hello, hello…

Apologies for the lateness of today’s email… I had one or two other things crop up this morning!

A couple of them were even non-Coronavirus related; a reminder that other life is still going on.

Okay, there are a couple things that I need to report to you today.  Perhaps a little bit obscure but nevertheless important.

Let’s start with Statutory Sick Pay…

Statutory Sick Pay

There has been a temporary change to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)… at least in relation to Coronavirus.

In the good old days before Coronavirus (i.e. before 13^th March 2020) SSP used to kick after four days off sick and was claimed by an employer via their National insurance contributions.

There’s been an awful lot more sickness… or if not sickness per se then self-isolation and shielding so the government made a temporary change to the SSP rules.

Although there’s a bit more to it the essentials are these.  SSP can be claimed from the first day of sickness and for up to two weeks will be covered.  But!  The sickness must be Coronavirus related.  Specifically:

·         The employee needs to have or have had Coronavirus symptoms

·         Or be self isolating because someone they live with has symptoms

·         Or they have been shielding – with a letter from their GP or the NHS to confirm

Because HMRC is anticipating a lot of claims they’ve built – or more accurately are still building – a new portal.  It’s almost ready and we’ll be making claims soon… latest info is that the new online portal will be ready by 26^th May.

In the meantime if you want to read more about SSP (and who wouldn’t?) you can read it here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-back-statutory-sick-pay-paid-to-employees-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

If you have an SSP claim to make we’ll be out to you soon with details of how it’s going to work.

Self Employed Coronavirus Income Protection Scheme

It has to be said that mostly the claims process has been very smooth.

However, we’re getting a few questions about how HMRC are calculating the grant amount.  Unfortunately, if you were self employed for only part of a year HMRC is averaging profits across that whole year which has an impact on the grant amount… let me show you how that works:

Let’s say you made £25,000 profit in the tax year 2018/19 but became self employed in February 2018 – so you had £5,000 profit for that period.

Logically you might think that you’d been self employed for fourteen months (two months in 17/18 and twelve months in 18/19) so that would be the period HMRC would average your profit over.  In this case it would be: £30,000/14 = £2,142.86 average monthly profits.

But what actually happens is this…

HMRC takes your total profit from self employment over the period you’ve been self employed and simply divides by the number of years… so same scenario as above: £30,000/24 = £1,250 average monthly profit.

The difference in grant is a fair amount.

There is an appeals process with HMRC for both the amounts and whether someone is eligible at all.  As yet we’ve no feedback on whether appeals are being entertained or whether HMRC’s attitude is simply ‘them’s the rules’.

We’ll keep you posted on that one.

Bounce Back Loans

Just a real quickie on this one to finish today’s email.

After initially getting some very positive reports in terms of the speed loans were being processed and money was coming through there now seem to be a few delays.

I think this is because in the first few days people were thinking about the loans and not wanting to take on extra borrowing… however, now that lockdown has extended reality is striking home and more people are deciding to take on the Bounce Back Loan.

So, if you are thinking about applying for a loan give yourself a bit of time between applying and needing the money to come through.

Okay, that’s it for today – stay safe out there and hopefully we can catch up soon… I was just listening to the news on the radio (whilst writing this) and it seems as though the Scottish Government is going to announce how the lockdown is going to be slowly eased on Thursday.

Rowena

Temporary Changes to Statutory Sick Pay

Statutory Sick Pay

There has been a temporary change to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)… at least in relation to Coronavirus.

In the good old days before Coronavirus (i.e. before 13^th March 2020) SSP used to kick after four days off sick and was claimed by an employer via their National insurance contributions.

There’s been an awful lot more sickness… or if not sickness per se then self-isolation and shielding so the government made a temporary change to the SSP rules.

Although there’s a bit more to it the essentials are these.  SSP can be claimed from the first day of sickness and for up to two weeks will be covered.  But!  The sickness must be Coronavirus related.  Specifically:

·         The employee needs to have or have had Coronavirus symptoms

·         Or be self isolating because someone they live with has symptoms

·         Or they have been shielding – with a letter from their GP or the NHS to confirm

Because HMRC is anticipating a lot of claims they’ve built – or more accurately are still building – a new portal.  It’s almost ready and we’ll be making claims soon… latest info is that the new online portal will be ready by 26^th May.

In the meantime if you want to read more about SSP (and who wouldn’t?) you can read it here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-back-statutory-sick-pay-paid-to-employees-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

If you have an SSP claim to make we’ll be out to you soon with details of how it’s going to work.

Top 5 Tips For Successful Home Working

Some of us are used to working from home but for others the Coronavirus crisis is providing them with their first opportunity for a new way of working.

Working from home often seems like a great idea but it can be tricky to stay focused and remain productive... and after all, being productive is very, very important to everyone - to business owners who want to survive, to team members who want to keep their jobs and to society in general which has to continue to function after the crisis is over.

So here are our top five tips to make working from home a success.


Get up, get dressed, get out

Humans love routine.

We set our alarms for the same time everyday (we then snooze them for the same number of times), we do the same things every morning.  We even take the same journey to work every day.

It may seem very tempting to roll out of bed a bit later and fetch up in front of the PC still in pyjamas.

Try to avoid this.  

Set your alarm for the same time and try to follow your morning routine as closely as possible.  Of course, you won't be commuting to work but leave the house for a walk at the same time.

Psychologically by following the same routine you will be preparing yourself for work.

Separate work from home

If possible have a separate place in your home so you can 'go to work'.

When you are 'at work' be in your workplace.  When you are on your lunch break or at the end of the day switch off your PC and leave work.  Close the door on your work space.

If possible, at the end of the day, go for a walk.

This will give you the psychological separation which will allow your mind to switch off from work.

There will be distractions

Being at home you will be surrounded by things you like doing.  Watching TV, playing on a games console or checking out social media.

Make it hard (or at least harder) to get distracted: lock away the things that might stop you being productive.  Put the games console away and unplug the TV... sign out from social media.

Allow yourself a time when you will indulge yourself - but stick to the time and then get back to your work space.

Finally, set some rules with family members - for example, if the door's closed, don't come in, I'm working!

Stay connected

In these times when we are being asked to self isolate we do tend to focus on the word 'isolate'.

I know it's obvious but the isolation in this case is physical.  There are lots of ways to stay connected to the rest of your colleagues.

Don't be shy when you need to speak with someone; pick up the 'phone to your boss or even schedule a video call.  Zoom is a brilliant free app that allows you to have a 'meeting' with more than one person at a time.

Schedule in calls with your boss, too, so you can go over the work you have done and what you are still to do - set yourself goals and share them - and share the results too!

Stay out of the kitchen

One of the the things that people say when they first move out of an office into a home work space is they were shocked about the number of visits they made to the fridge.

It is very easy to graze, especially when you get distracted.

If you think you'll be a grazer, fill your fridge with healthy snacks.

By extension home working may make eating more a temptation; it may also lead to less exercise.  More food and less exercise could have a catastrophic effect on your waistline.

So force yourself out for a walk at least once a day but preferably at the start, in the middle and at the end of the day.

Finally - enjoy it.  At home we try to create an environment we like to live in.  Having the opportunity to spend more time in that environment is a bonus so don't be too hard on yourself and stay focused.