UK company directors should note with concern the this weeks decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) which found two of a company’s directors jointly and severally liable with company to pay damages of around £40,000 to two employees, for discrimination on the grounds of religious faith. The employees succeeded in claims of unfair dismissal and the [...]
Way back in 1984, an American Advertising Executive, Jay Conrad Levinson, published a book called Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business. Levinson, who as Senior Vice President of J Walter Thompson was responsible for many major campaigns including the Marlborough Man, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Tony the Tiger, and the Jolly [...]
In an attempt to deal with the looming pension crisis and the failure of people to make provision for their retirement, the UK Governments has introduced legislation that will require all employers to auto-enrol their staff in a qualifying workplace pension scheme. The rationale behind the legislation is that it seems that currently many employees [...]
The UK Equality Act 2010 is a major piece of legislation which collects together all of the existing anti-discrimination laws and which has introduced several new areas which give rights to employees, some of which could cause major problems for business owners and managers. Most of the Act came into force last October and you can read about these [...]
The long-awaited and controversial Bribery Act Guidance has been published this morning by the Ministry of Justice. The Act will now come into force on 1 July 2011. Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke has sought to reassure opponents of the Act by confirming that he would like to see the legislation implemented in a “workable, common [...]
Networking refers to the practice of interacting with associates, fellow entrepreneurs, colleagues and other people to build a network of far-reaching contacts. Today, networking has become an integral element of conducting business as it helps to reach wider audiences and perhaps maximize client base in the process. A very famous entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki once stated [...]
The Time to Train regulations were introduced by the Labour government and took effect for businesses employing 250 or more people in April 2010. They were due to be extended to all employers as from April 2011 but this has now been indefinately postponed to enable a full review is undertaken. The regulations require businesses [...]
People like me are prone to bang on about the need for a Business Plan, a Marketing Plan, a Finance Plan and so on. Mind you for me a good business plan should contain all those elements but each does have a stand-alone life of its own and each needs regular updating. It isn’t enough [...]
Running your own business is great but anyone who thinks that it is easy or less of a hassle than being an employee is fooling themselves. Most employees can finish their work and go home and relax but someone running their own business cannot switch off so easily. Trust me – I’ve been there. You [...]
Implementation of the Bribery Act 2010 is to be delayed amidst fears that promised guidelines to enable businesses to understand the somewhat complex legislation will not be ready in time. The Act was introduced by the last Labour Government and whilst the new Conservative-LibDem coalition broadly supports the rationale for the new law it decided to [...]
The National Employment Savings Trust (“Nest”) is the UK Government’s pension scheme introduced following the Pensions Commission’s 2005 report and is intended to encourage people to save for retirement. In fact it isn’t a new scheme, just a rebranding of the Personal Accounts Scheme which has been in operation for some time. The real difference [...]
On Monday the Institute of Directors (IoD) launched the first ever Corporate Governance Guidance and Principles for Unlisted Companies in the UK. Unlisted companies make a major contribution to UK economic growth and employment. However, the corporate governance needs of unlisted companies have, to date, been relatively neglected by governance experts as well as by [...]
Today, 1st October 2010, sees a number of changes in respect of the UK national minimum wage (NMW) regulations. From today the age at which UK workers become eligible for the full rate drops from 22 to 21 and the rate itself increases from £5.80 per hour to £5.93. The hourly rate for workers aged [...]
UK business owners and managers who employ staff will need to be aware of the requirements of the new Equality Act the bulk of which come into force today (see below for a list). Failure to adhere to its requirements, some of them fairly onerous and complex, could see them end up in court facing [...]
In recognition of the increase in life expectancy which we all know will have a serious effect on the UK economy – people will draw retirement benefit for longer and will need more health care for example – the government has proposed to abolish the Default Retirement Age (“DRA”) of 65. On the surface there [...]
The last Labour government introduced the Time to Train scheme which enabled any employee with more than 26 weeks service to request time off work to undertake training of any sort. Whilst on the surface that seems reasonable in practice the new right raised a lot of issues not the least being the fear that if a [...]
The UK Coalition Government have today proposed a number of initiatives designed to reduce the burden of bureaucracy and red tape for business. Proposals from the Department for Business include the re-publicising of the Your Freedom website, a “beefing up” of the Regulatory Policy Committee’s role and the provision of greater detail on the nature [...]
One of the constant complaints of British businesses and individuals is the huge amount of outdated laws and irritating regulations they face. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today issued a call to arms against pointless regulation and unnecessary bureaucracy, and is inviting the public to have their say about how they want the Government to [...]
The long-awaited Bribery Act 2010 was today (8th April) given Royal Assent and so has passed into law. The purpose of the new act is to reform the existing criminal law (which dates back over 100 years) and to provide a new, modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences that will enable courts and prosecutors [...]
This is the shocking verdict which the authors of a new report, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs, have come to following an in depth study into tax related compliance and administration costs which fall on UK businesses. The report also reveals that the average Finance Act in the 2000s has been three times [...]
