Drop tax-free limit on workplace financial advice

The Government should look at lifting the £150 tax-free limit on independent financial advice paid for by employers. The call has come from the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) as part of its submission to the Workplace Retirement Income Commission chaired by Lord McFall. The ACA argued that doing so would encourage more employers to …

IR35 needs greater focus

Uncovering the few real cases of disguised employment should be the new focus of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) when it comes to applying IR35 rules. That is the view of Jeff Brooks, chair of the technology group at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). The #REC is one of the groups invited to join …

Lending charges hamstringing small firms

The cost of loans imposed by banks is hindering the ability of small firms to drive economic recovery, it has been claimed. Recent figures published by the Bank of England showed that some small firms are paying double the amount charged their larger counterparts for loans. The Federation of Small Businesses (#FSB) argued that the …

Are you managing for growth?

Recent research shows that owner-managers of small and medium sized businesses have doubled the amount of time they spend growing their businesses compared with six months ago. On average, SME leaders spend almost a third of their working week exclusively focused on planning and delivering growth compared with just 13% of their time six months …