Tag Archive for Coronavirus

Thousands of self-employed mothers miss out on COVID-19 SEISS payments

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Tens of thousands of self-employed mothers who have recently had children have lost out on Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) payments.
The payments come in instalments based on a self-employed person‘s average profits between 2016 and 2019.
An estimated 75,000 self-employed women took maternity leave during that period, meaning that they may not have been paid what they would have otherwise.
On Thursday (January 21), charity Pregnant Then Screwed will be bringing a judicial review for indirect discrimination. They want the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to take maternity leave into account when making SEISS payments.
When asked why pay-outs for self-employed mothers was lower, the chancellor said ‘for all sorts of reasons people have ups and down and variations in their earnings, whether through maternity, ill health or others’. Pregnant Then Screwed wrote a pre-action protocol letter to the chancellor and his legal team ‘correlated maternity leave with a sabbatical’, according to the charity.
Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed explains: “The government has had nine months to amend this scheme so that it doesn’t discriminate against women; but they have chosen not to.
“We’ve had heart-breaking messages from so many women. For some this drop in

Read more...

Small firms win pay-outs in COVID business interruption insurance ruling

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Tens of thousands of small businesses who faced COVID-19 earning losses during the first lockdown are set to receive insurance pay-outs.
The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of small businesses to get pay-outs from their business interruption policies.
Many businesses claimed on their policies in spring 2020 to recover lost earnings. However, insurers refused to pay because they say that only their most specialist policies had cover in such unprecedented circumstances.
The judgement says that ‘it substantially allows’ the appeal from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and campaign groups Hiscox Action Group and Hospitality Insurance Group Action. Insurers including Arch, Argenta, MS Amlin, RSA and QBE had their appeals rejected.
It was agreed that a number of policy wordings should be contested in court to set the parameters of what would be a valid claim. This ruling gives guidance for 700 different insurance policies, potentially covering 370,000 small businesses.
High Court and Appeal Court judges had appealed largely in favour of policyholders earlier in the pandemic. In September, the High Court ruled that most claims should be paid where the policy has pandemic or disease clauses.
However, that ruling said that losses arising from general fall in customer

Read more...

Thousands of self-employed mothers miss out on COVID-19 SEISS payments

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Tens of thousands of self-employed mothers who have recently had children have lost out on Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) payments.
The payments come in instalments based on a self-employed person‘s average profits between 2016 and 2019.
An estimated 75,000 self-employed women took maternity leave during that period, meaning that they may not have been paid what they would have otherwise.
On Thursday (January 21), charity Pregnant Then Screwed will be bringing a judicial review for indirect discrimination. They want the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to take maternity leave into account when making SEISS payments.
When asked why pay-outs for self-employed mothers was lower, the chancellor said ‘for all sorts of reasons people have ups and down and variations in their earnings, whether through maternity, ill health or others’. Pregnant Then Screwed wrote a pre-action protocol letter to the chancellor and his legal team ‘correlated maternity leave with a sabbatical’, according to the charity.
Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed explains: “The government has had nine months to amend this scheme so that it doesn’t discriminate against women; but they have chosen not to.
“We’ve had heart-breaking messages from so many women. For some this drop in

Read more...

What are the benefits of agile working? – a small business guide

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
On the face of it, it seems ridiculous that post Covid-19 hordes will commute into cities so they can all sit down at their desks at precisely the same moment.
When all of our working day is spent looking at screens, why does it matter where you physically are
And what does it mean for the future of the office, which some now see as a relic of Victorian working practices?
The future, according to some, will be agile working – a blend of coming into the office for collaboration and team meetings, and working remotely.
>See also: What is an agile working environment?
Agile working is nothing new – as with many other aspects of our lives, all the pandemic has done is accelerate what was happening anyway.
When the pandemic hit, ASDA dispersed its thousands of headquarters staff back to their homes.
Simon Halkyard, ASDA head office resourcing manager has said, “It’s amazing what you can do when you are forced and have no time to over think it. Should this be the new normal, even after the lockdown is lifted. Why restrict your business to only employing people in one location when you can reach a nationwide

Read more...

Small firms win pay-outs in COVID business interruption insurance ruling

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Tens of thousands of small businesses who faced COVID-19 earning losses during the first lockdown are set to receive insurance pay-outs.
The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of small businesses to get pay-outs from their business interruption policies.
Many businesses claimed on their policies in spring 2020 to recover lost earnings. However, insurers refused to pay because they say that only their most specialist policies had cover in such unprecedented circumstances.
The judgement says that ‘it substantially allows’ the appeal from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and campaign groups Hiscox Action Group and Hospitality Insurance Group Action. Insurers including Arch, Argenta, MS Amlin, RSA and QBE had their appeals rejected.
It was agreed that a number of policy wordings should be contested in court to set the parameters of what would be a valid claim. This ruling gives guidance for 700 different insurance policies, potentially covering 370,000 small businesses.
High Court and Appeal Court judges had appealed largely in favour of policyholders earlier in the pandemic. In September, the High Court ruled that most claims should be paid where the policy has pandemic or disease clauses.
However, that ruling said that losses arising from general fall in customer

Read more...

What are the benefits of agile working? – a small business guide

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
On the face of it, it seems ridiculous that post Covid-19 hordes will commute into cities so they can all sit down at their desks at precisely the same moment.
When all of our working day is spent looking at screens, why does it matter where you physically are
And what does it mean for the future of the office, which some now see as a relic of Victorian working practices?
The future, according to some, will be agile working – a blend of coming into the office for collaboration and team meetings, and working remotely.
>See also: What is an agile working environment?
Agile working is nothing new – as with many other aspects of our lives, all the pandemic has done is accelerate what was happening anyway.
When the pandemic hit, ASDA dispersed its thousands of headquarters staff back to their homes.
Simon Halkyard, ASDA head office resourcing manager has said, “It’s amazing what you can do when you are forced and have no time to over think it. Should this be the new normal, even after the lockdown is lifted. Why restrict your business to only employing people in one location when you can reach a nationwide

Read more...