Blog
The digital detox – your employees need one.
Posted 10th August 2016 at 10:58 am
Did you know that the average person now spends 25 hours a week online! Here are some other known facts about our addiction to digital: The average person checks their phone 200 times a day (once every six and a half minutes) One in four people spend more time online than they do asleep 73% of Brits say they’d struggle to go a day without checking their phone or computer 70% of 16-24-year-olds say they prefer texting to talking In addition to this, a study by an American Psychologist titled ‘Internet Paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and... Read more
What film production could mean to your hometown
Posted 3rd August 2016 at 12:30 pm
It has been announced that the writers of Game of thrones will end the programme after season 8. This has left many fans heartbroken knowing that there are just 2 seasons left and the 7th that is currently in production, is going to be shorter! It isn’t just the fans that are upset though, as HBO have expressed that they aren’t too happy about it and would love to have seen 10 seasons. Northern Ireland’s TV industry definitely won’t be too happy about it either. Northern Ireland Screen invested £13.75m into the first 6 seasons of Game of Thrones to... Read more
Brexit. Still early days for the property market
Posted 27th July 2016 at 12:35 pm
It has been just over a month since The UK voted to leave the EU. The Property market is of course facing uncertainty, but Brexit certainly hasn’t been the Armageddon that some experts had predicted so far. Up to this point we have experienced a little turbulence in the market, transaction volumes have slowed down and Rightmove has reported a 0.9% or £2,647 fall in house prices across England and Wales in June. House prices in the West Midlands have been hit a little harder, as house prices have fallen by £3,322 on average. Many house prices are being slashed... Read more
Pokémon Go – how your business can catch ’em all
Posted 20th July 2016 at 2:42 pm
As an adult you might not get the whole Pokémon GO craze (or like me you have had a go yourself), but this could be the marketing tool that your business has been looking for. For those of you that do not know how Pokémon GO works, it is an ‘augmented reality’ game that allows trainers (you) to navigate Pokémon using a map, which is facilitated by Google Maps. However, it is the resources within the game that you can take really advantage of as a business. To catch Pokémon, you need pokéballs, which you can buy or you can... Read more
Managing regular sickness absence
Posted 13th July 2016 at 12:21 pm
At some point or other sickness absence affects every business, with large businesses and businesses that operate within the healthcare sector affected the most. Statutory sick pay, occupational sick pay, overtime and the cost of temporary cover, especially for skilled employees are all obvious costs to the business. There are also the indirect costs that you should bear in mind such as the potential fall in productivity due to upset to other employees when covering for colleagues. Absence in the work place is natural, but as a business owner how should you deal with it? First of all, you need... Read more
An inspiration for all business owners
Posted 5th July 2016 at 9:40 am
With all of the negative business news stories circulating, we are happy to be congratulating one of our long standing clients, Louise Dyson, on becoming a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). Louise’s entire objective is to “change the public mind set on disability, by changing the media mind set first. Promulgating an understanding that there is no them and us.. it’s all us!” In fact Louise does not like the term disabled, when her artists are so very ABLE, which is why she has named her business ‘VisABLE’. Louise’s story started at aged 18,... Read more
The (almost) Unstoppable UK Property Market
Posted 22nd June 2016 at 12:14 pm
In March, the property market appeared to be booming, with sales peaking at 171,220 following a very positive year that led Barclays to believe that we were in a bubble proportionately worse than the US crisis in 2007. After this peak, house sales took a sudden dramatic fall to 74,900 in April and improved a little in May at 84,300. Compare these to figures to last year with April at 86,970 and 97,820 in May 2016 and you might think that there is a bit of a housing crisis. Changes to UK property tax laws have been to blame for... Read more
Small Charities – get stuck in!
Posted 17th June 2016 at 11:15 am
It has been small charity week this week. The idea was to raise more awareness of small charities, as they are missing out on donations because we simply just don’t know that they exist. The Foundation for Social Improvement has organised a number of events throughout the week to give small charities the opportunity to shout about why they love their charity and why you should be supporting them. This includes big advice, policy, fundraising and volunteering days to get involved in. Back in April NCVO found that during 2013/2014, whilst income of large charities grew, the income of small... Read more
Paying tax on eBay income
Posted 9th June 2016 at 11:27 am
Britons use eBay more than any other country, yet many still do not declare income to HMRC when they should be, with some genuinely unaware that they are required to do so. Are you liable for tax on your eBay sales? If you sell unwanted items that you had previously bought for private and personal use, then you shouldn’t have to pay tax on any profits. In some very rare occasions, you will have to pay capital gains tax on any profits that exceed £8,500 during the tax year. From April 2017, in addition to selling ‘unwanted goods’ all sellers... Read more
Should Sole Traders still aim to incorporate?
Posted 31st May 2016 at 10:40 am
In the past business owners have been rewarded with tax efficient remunerations for the risk that they take, which creates many jobs for the UK economy. For this reason, it was a shock to learn that the Chancellor will be increasing the effective rate of tax on dividends by 7.5% from April 2016. Alongside this, the 10% dividend tax credit is being abolished and will be replaced by a £5,000 tax-free dividend allowance. Therefore, if you include the personal allowance then fortunately business owners won’t pay any tax until they earn more than £16,000. As a result of these tax... Read more