By Matt Alder Over the past few weeks, there has been much discussion around various employers’ long-term plans for the location of their workforces. Some companies have been very vocal about getting everyone back in the office as soon as possible. In contrast, others have indicated that their employees can continue to work from anywhere they want to permanently. The return to the office versus the end of the office is a debate that is going to dominate the next few months. There is, however, a really nuanced issue here despite the soundbites and headlines: it is just too early for employers to be making final decisions on their workplace strategy.
Simone Lockhart You’ve probably heard the news about a Government crackdown on IR35. Delayed for a year, the rules come in tomorrow. But what does it really mean for employers? Big companies have been reviewing this for some time, but are all companies aware of the dos and don’ts of the new legislation? And do they realise the liability for a breach of rules will now shift from the contractor to the company itself? Why the crackdown? The legislation has existed for almost two decades, however, until now, limited company contractors chose whether the IR35 rules applied to them and charged their clients accordingly. The problem is many decided they belonged “outside” IR35. This way they could reap the benefits of stable work, whilst taking advantage of the lower-than-PAYE corporate tax level through their limited company status. To give an idea of scale, HMRC estimated setting the status as “outside” the rules when they should have been “inside” has resulted in as
Along with garden centres, hairdressers and barbers reopened on Monday along with homeware stores and car showrooms. Tony Mann opened his barber shop in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, at 6am to enable people to get their hair cut for the first time in months. He had 96 customers booked in until 8pm. Mr Mann said: It s been four months since the last day we cut hair so the feeling today is slight anxiety and slight worry, like is everything going to go to plan , but I m also feeling really excited and happy because my shop is open again. We start at 6am and finish at 8pm.”