Apprenticeships: New talent, new skills, and lots of business value

Businesses need people with the right skill sets; talented people now and talent in the pipeline for succession planning. These people are not always easy to find, particularly at the time that they are needed. Here’s a potential solution: grow your own via the often overlooked Apprenticeship Scheme. 

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New one-off Lockdown grant just announced (on top of the discretionary grant funding for Local Authorities & Local Restriction Support Grants & Furlough) – could be worth up to £9k

Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are to receive a one-off Lockdown grant on top of grants already being paid out. This is in addition to the discretionary grant funding for Local Authorities & Local Restriction Support Grants & extension to Furlough.

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Have you been required to work from home, even for one day since 6 April 2020? Then you may be entitled to claim for expenses for the whole of the 2020-21 tax year

You have always been able as an employee to claim expenses for working from home if your employer requires you to work at home. This has become much more relevant during the 2020/21 tax year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. HMRC has confirmed that claims from employees working at home due to coronavirus measures, if their usual workplace is closed, count as working from home for tax purposes.

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HB Director Karen Chase, talks to Love Hoddesdon about the BID and which events Team HB really love…

Have you asked yourself what a BID (Business Improvement District) is or does? Look no further… the Love Hoddesdon BID recently visited HB Accountants’ new offices and interviewed director, Karen Chase and Marketing Manager, Vicki Foster to find about HB’s involvement and what the BID means to the community of Hoddesdon.

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HMRC’s new creditor status – how will it affect you?

From 1st December, under the Finance Act 2020, HMRC will regain its status as a ‘preferential creditor’ meaning it will be repaid certain outstanding taxes, including Employees’ PAYE and National Insurance Contributions, VAT and CIS, ahead of lenders’ floating charges and suppliers if a business becomes insolvent.

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Why Resilience is a critical quality that we all need to develop

According to legend, Thomas Edison made thousands of prototypes of the light bulb before he finally got it right. Yet despite dealing with ‘failure’ throughout his life he never let it get the better of him. “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. His resilience gave us some of the world’s most amazing inventions such as the phonograph, the telegraph and the motion picture.

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Further Furlough Guidance for Claim Periods from 1st November 2020 – CJRS

The government has published further guidance regarding the extended furlough scheme today (11th November 2020). The basic workings of The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme have not changed – the scheme will remain open until 31 March 2021. From 1 November 2020 you can claim 80% of an employee’s usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

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