The President of the Employment Tribunals (England and Wales) and the President of the Employment Tribunals (Scotland) have issued updated joint Presidential Guidance in relation to the “Vento bands” for compensation for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury in discrimination claims brought under the Equality Act 2010. The Vento bands are being uprated to take

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates will increase from 1 April 2019. The NLW for workers aged 25 or over will increase to £8.21 per hour, the NMW standard rate for workers aged 21 to 24 will increase to £7.70 per hour, the NMW development rate for workers aged 18

The main HMRC reference guide to VAT has been updated. The latest version of Notice 700 entitled The VAT Guide cancels and replaces the previous version published and any subsequent updates. The notice is intended to be HMRC’s main reference guide to VAT and is now available on the GOV.UK website. There have been a

In the Spring Statement 2019, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that the apprenticeship reforms set out in the Autumn Budget 2018 will now be introduced a year early. From 1 April 2019, the co-investment rate for non-levy employers will be cut by a half from 10% to 5%. In addition, from the same

The following comments were written on the 13th March 2019 immediately following Philip Hammond’s presentation of the 2019 Spring Statement to Parliament. In theory, the Government uses the Spring Statement to respond to the most recent forecasts made by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR). In a nut-shell, the OBR forecast that: the UK economy

Confidentiality clauses, also known as non-disclosure agreements or NDAs, are provisions which seek to prohibit the disclosure of information. They serve a useful and legitimate purpose in the employment context, as part of both employment contracts, e.g. to protect trade secrets and other confidential information, and settlement agreements, e.g. to allow both sides of an

The Help to Buy ISA scheme was launched in December 2015, and allows savers to claim a government bonus of 25% on monthly savings of up to £200 on savings towards their first home. The bonus translates to an extra £50 added to every £200 saved up to a maximum governmental contribution of £3,000 on

HMRC have issued a letter to VAT registered traders that export or import goods to and from the EU. They advise that they follow new Transitional Simplified Procedures (TSPs) for customs purposes. At this point in time this is probably a call to action that all affected firms should consider. For importers the text sets

The government has published a new guidance document for tribunal users explaining the powers available to employment tribunals, with examples illustrating how these powers have been used. Either party in the tribunal (the employer or employee) can request the use of the powers. The guidance includes: an outline of the purpose and limits of the

Named the additional rate, the highest rate of Income Tax in most of the UK is 45%, and some might say 45% is high enough. However, in Scotland, the highest rate is 46%. Unfortunately, if the rate of tax is measured as the relationship between income and tax plus tax related penalties paid, there are