22nd September 2020
News
CHW Accounting
Businesses are now able to sign up to the Kickstart scheme under which people aged between 16 and 24 who are claiming Universal Credit can receive a six-month work placement. The government have pledged £2bn towards this scheme.
Under the scheme, the government will pay 100% of the age-relevant National Minimum Wage, National Insurance and pension contributions for 25 hours a week.
Employers will be able to top up this wage, while the government will also pay employers £1,500 to set up support and training for people on a Kickstart placement, as well as helping pay for uniforms and other set up costs.
The new jobs must not replace existing or planned vacancies, or cause existing employees to lose their jobs and each application needs to include how the company will help the participants develop their skills and experience.
The scheme, which was set out at the start of July, is one of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plans to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Chancellor has said that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created with the allocated money. He called on “every employer, big and small, national or local” to hire as many Kickstarter’s as possible.”
Whilst this all sounds great, UK small businesses have raised concerns over the scheme as it disadvantages smaller businesses who are alarmed by the rules which restrict applications to a minimum of 30 places. Companies taking on fewer will need to either find other businesses to apply alongside or use a local intermediary such as a chamber of commerce.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which represents the interests of small businesses in the UK, said the scheme had not been designed with small businesses in mind and appeared “more aligned to the needs of larger businesses”.
However, the FSB welcomed a promise by the Treasury to hold talks on how to make the scheme work for small businesses. It said “We are in discussions with them on how to address small business concerns and make sure it does.”
Full information of the scheme can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/landmark-kickstart-scheme-opens
Grab a biscuit and a brew and read our latest news.
8 March 2022
Temporary reduced VAT rate for leisure and hospitality to...
On 8 July 2020, as an urgent response to the pandemic, the government announced a number of VAT measures including a temporary reduction of the VAT…
1 March 2022
National Minimum and National Living Wage changes April 2022
From 1 April 2022, the government is increasing but the National Minimum and National Living Wage rates. The National Minimum Wage is the minimum amount an…
22 February 2022
Dividend taxes to rise from 6 April 2022 –...
The government has confirmed that it will not be backing down on the planned hike in National Insurance (NI) and dividend tax from April 2022. There…
10 January 2022
Late filing and late payment penalties are to be...
HMRC has given self-assessment taxpayers more time to ease COVID-19 pressures. With the self-assessment deadline less than three weeks away, many individuals and agents will be…
7 January 2022
Making tax digital for VAT – April 2022 –...
Since 1 April 2019, VAT-registered businesses with a turnover above the VAT registration threshold of £85,000 have been required to keep their records digitally and provide…
No matter what your challenge is, we’ve probably dealt with it before.