There are some important dates during each year when you must: Send in your tax return; and Make payments. You will be liable to a penalty if you fail to follow the prescribed dates. It is essential that you must be aware of those dates in order to avoid the penalty. Consequences of failure If you miss the key dates you may have to pay interest and penalties .If you miss the deadline, the longer [...]

Reviewing employment law To make it easier for businesses to take on staff and grow, the government is reviewing employment laws and regulations and is seeking to cut as much red tape as possible. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is leading the review and is considering reforming: Compensation for discrimination – employers are concerned about the high levels of compensation sometimes awarded by Employment Tribunals in discrimination cases. This sometimes leads to [...]

Buying a franchise can be a rapid process to set up your own business without starting from scratch. There are numerous significant advantages of buying a franchise because your business is based on a proven idea and you can use a recognised brand name and trademarks. You can check how successful other franchises are before committing yourself. The right franchise can give you a head start. Successful franchises have a much lower failure rate than [...]

All workers have a right to work in places where risks to their health and safety are properly controlled. Health and safety is about stopping you getting hurt at work or ill through work. Your employer is responsible for health and safety, but you must help. Health and safety law states that organisations must: Provide a written health and safety policy (if they employ five or more people); Assess risks to employees, customers, partners and [...]

The Companies Act 2006 requires a private company to have at least one director. A company’s articles of association may impose a higher minimum requirement for the number of directors. At least one director must be an individual. A private company does not need to have a secretary unless the company’s articles of association require it. A public company must have at least two directors and a secretary. At least one director must be an [...]

The basic position is that with a few necessary exceptions Equality Act 2010 s.60 makes it inappropriate for an employer to ask a job applicant any health related questions before offering work to the job applicant. Merely asking questions about the job applicant’s health is not unlawful disability discrimination but anything the employer does in reliance on information given in response to such questions may be. While merely asking the question is not disability discrimination [...]

Economic stability to give small businesses the confidence to grow should be the main message when the Chancellor delivers his Budget on 23 March, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Launching its Growth Manifesto at a speed briefing in Westminster, the FSB told MP’s that decisive action was needed to improve the growth prospects of small firms to avoid a jobless recovery. The UK’s five million small businesses are best placed to grow [...]

The European Union’s highest court on Tuesday barred the insurance industry from charging different rates for men and women, saying the widespread practices amounts to sex discrimination against millions. The ruling ordered changes effective Dec. 21, 2012, to auto insurance, life insurance, medical coverage and other plans, potentially affecting tens of millions of customers across the continent. For example, many women driver would see their car insurance costs rise even though they are considered safer [...]

OFT has announced that fees for consumer credit licences will rise from 11 April 2011. The OFT has a responsibility to scrutinise all licence applications to ensure applicants are ‘fit’ to hold a licence, which includes assessing competence. Where businesses wish to engage in activities of high risk to consumers, such as debt counselling and secured sub-prime lending, the level of scrutiny is increased. Assessment can include site visits, staff interviews and compliance reviews. If [...]

Every company must include its registered name in all its business correspondence in hard copy, electronic format or any other form.  Minor variations in the name are allowed – including the case of letters, use of punctuation, accents and formatting – as long as these differences are not misleading.  Every company must display its registered name: at its registered office and its inspection place, the only exception being companies that have been dormant at all [...]