Monthly Archives: September 2021

Hot Business News Today

Expected national insurance hike to cost businesses £3.5bn

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By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

UPDATED: The government’s expected 1.2 per cent hike in national insurance will cost businesses up to £3.5bn to match employee contributions, economists have warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that if £10bn of additional revenue is generated by the NI tax increase, businesses will need to find between £3bn and £3.5bn extra from April.

The self-employed will also face the NI rise, though they already make lower contributions.

>See also: Small business owners face increased national insurance contributions

Professor Len Shackleton, research fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, described employer national insurance as a “crude payroll tax” which discourages lower-paid employment and is then passed onto workers in the form of lower pay.

Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses told the Daily Telegraph: “Hiking the jobs tax on employees and employers would make it more expensive for businesses to create and maintain jobs.”

Mike Cherry, chairman of the FSB, told the newspaper: “This regressive levy is yet another outgoing for small businesses and sole traders to worry about against a backdrop of spiralling input prices, supply chain disruption, a deepening late payment crisis, rent arrears, rates bills

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Hot Business News Today

National Payroll Week: How HR professionals can adapt for the future

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By Dan Matthews on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
It’s National Payroll Week, a chance to celebrate the unsung heroes who ensure the workforce gets paid the correct amount, on time. Most employees only give thought to the processes behind their payslips when there’s a mistake, here’s a chance to show them there’s more to payroll than that.
It’s a particularly appropriate time, given the great return to work as organisations continue to adjust in light of the pandemic and the many changes taking place, not just in payroll departments, but across the HR function.
A brave new world of business
In smaller businesses, the pressures of workplace transformation will be particularly acute, according to Joanne Pringle, payroll product manager at Sage.
“As we return to the new normal, managers may struggle to pack everything into their working day with the many tasks required. We might be accustomed to change management, but there has been an awful lot of change in the last 18 months.
“As with any large changes but even more so in Payroll; you sometimes ask yourself have I got it right, have I understood and checked everything correctly? So it’s important to manage changes in

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