Monthly Archives: May 2021

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SMEs forecast to create 1.2m jobs in Britain over the coming year

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Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
One third of SMEs are expected to hire in 2021, creating 1.2m jobs in Britain.
Renewed optimism is the driving force behind these hiring plans, with an added desire for SMEs to grow their workforce diversity and prioritise employee wellbeing. In the UK, there will be a bigger focus on ways of working and employee wellness, with 37 per cent looking to improve physical wellness.
According to research from Sage, businesses expect to return to pre-pandemic profitability by Q4 2021. This is down to increased consumer confidence and greater efficiencies.
Three quarters of SMEs surveyed are optimistic about the future of their business and growth trajectory in the next year. This optimism is mainly driven by the vaccine rollout programme (45 per cent), being able to see customers again (35 per cent) and projections of increased consumer spending (32 per cent). Over eight in ten don’t expect there to be another lockdown, with most feeling they’ll return to pre-pandemic levels this summer – both in terms of profitability and staffing levels. A huge 79 per cent of UK SMEs believe they’ll be back to profitability by the summer.
An ability to adapt has been crucial during the

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Terminating a contract – what if your worker is only part-time?

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Originally written by Peter Done on Small Business
We use a self-employed cleaner who comes in three-four hours during office hours on a Friday. This is no longer suitable and we have an alternative company ready to deal with it. What, if anything, do we need to be aware of before terminating the existing cleaner’s services?
Status of employment: There are a number of issues raised by your question. The first is whether the cleaner is actually self-employed (working under a “contract for services”) or in fact your employee (working under an “employment contract”).
There is no detailed definition of who is an employee incorporated into the legislation and even if the employer pays the PAYE and NI they may still be able to establish that there was no employment relationship but this is more common in the construction industry. Some guidelines for the purpose of determining employment status have now been laid down in various cases over the years. The factors which have emerged from those cases are summarised below and are based on whether the individual is in business on their own account, which requires a determination of who controls the work done particularly with respect to the right to delegate,

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