Business Link: Checklist of April Regulation Changes

Small businesses can check how to comply with regulation changes coming in on 6 April, following the publication of an online guide by Business Link.

Most laws that affect businesses are implemented on one of two common commencement dates (CCDs) — 6 April and 1 October. The April 2011 CCD will bring with it several reforms that small firms must comply with, and Business Link has published a summary.

The changes will include:

• A lower rate of corporation tax — the main rate will fall from 28 to 27 per cent, and the small business rate from 21 to 20 per cent.
• Payment of corporation tax must be made electronically from 1 April 2011.
• Additional paternity leave and pay — eligible partners of those due to give birth or adopt on or after 3 April will gain the right to additional paternity leave and pay.
• The right to request flexible working will be extended to parents of all children under 18.
• Positive action in recruitment

Read more: http://www.is4profit.com/small-business-news/20110321-business-link-checklist-of-april-regulation-changes.html

Startups to be exempt from employment red tape

Startups with fewer than ten employees will be exempt from new employment regulations for the next three years, Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk is set to announce.

Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk will deliver a major speech at the Federation of Small Business’s annual conference, in which he is due to announce that regulatory demands emanating from Whitehall will be eased.

Prisk is expected to announce that startups with fewer than ten employees will be exempt from new employment regulations for the next three years, and that the government will repeal laws allowing parents with children below the age of 17 the right to request flexible working hours.

Additionally, firms employing fewer than 250 people will not be requried to provide training outside work.

Read more: http://realbusiness.co.uk/hr/startups_to_be_exempt_from_employment_red_tape

Tribunal Reforms Win Business Backing

Business groups have welcomed proposed government reforms to employment tribunals, saying soaring claims from employees have hampered growth and become too costly for companies to handle.

Business secretary Vince Cable says the changes will ‘debunk the myth’ that employment is geared toward the employee over the interests of the employer.

According to the Department of Business, tribunal claims rose to 236,000 last year – a record figure and a rise of 56 per cent on 2009 – and a business has to spend almost £4,000 on average to defend itself against a claim.

Read more: http://www.growthbusiness.co.uk/news/business-news/1596463/tribunal-reforms-win-business-backing.thtml

Legal aid: when to include your company registration number

“Do I need to include my company registration details on all emails?”

“There is a requirement for all companies to state their registered name in all ‘forms of its business correspondence and documentation’ (this is part of the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008, section 6(1)(g)).

“The current guidance is that emails are a form of business correspondence. Best, and therefore safest, practice goes further. In reality businesses no longer write letters and the provisions that relate to the information to be included in a company’s business letters should be followed in relation to email correspondence.

Read more: http://realbusiness.co.uk/finance/legal_aid_when_to_include_your_company_registration_number

Essential Business Advice Tips: Resources

Recruitment

Hiring the right person first time is not the easiest of jobs, is very time consuming and therefore costly; especially if you make the wrong choice. Job agencies can help with this process but at a cost.

One thing to consider, albeit potentially more expensive, is outsourcing. If this is a possibility for a given role in your business, the benefits it brings can offset any additional costs you may incur i.e. flexibility to increase/decrease the resource, the person(s) in question are suppliers to you not ‘dependents’, you can choose competitively in the marketplace for the best service for your business and there are no ‘employee’ obligations.

HR Legislation

As tribunals are becoming more common place and the average amount paid out to disgruntled ex-employees continues to rise, having your ‘ducks in a row’ in relation to current employee legislation may not seem a critical aspect for your business, but it is a legal requirement and could be a wise investment.

The basics – an employee handbook covering policy and procedures, a job description and a contract of employment – can be straightforwardly implemented by an outsourced HR professional.

Redundancy

As the word implies, is there ’redundancy’ in your business – roles that are no longer required or that are not being fulfilled in an effective way?

This can be typical in family run business when friends and family may be employed for emotional and personal reasons rather than business reasons. If you know such a situation is impacting the profitability of your business then appropriate action needs to be taken.

Health & Safety

Should you fall foul of the legislation relating to health and safety at work, the ‘buck’ stops with the business owner, with the most serious breaches that have endangered a person at work can lead to a prison sentence.

Whilst this is extreme and rare, having your business assessed in respect of this legal requirement provides you and your staff with peace of mind in the workplace.

Staff

Without personnel your business would more than likely not survive and staff are a potentially expensive resource if they are not performing in your business.

Motivation is a key factor and is not necessarily that onerous to achieve. Communicate with your team on a regular basis, letting them know what is happening with the business, even if the news is not so great – they probably already know anyway.

Appraise staff and set them targets in line with your business plan and what you want to achieve in each department and reward them accordingly for the contribution that they make – maybe share options are a possibility within your business?

Train and develop staff in line with the business needs. Consider your staff as an investment as opposed to a cost and nurture them so that you get the best return – on the whole people want to do their best at work but sometimes need encouragement.

Listen to your staff – particularly with regard to problems that your business is facing – you may be surprised how your business could be enhanced.

Legal

Such services are usually a distress purchase as and when the need arises, however ‘panic buying’ doesn’t necessarily support finding the best service for your needs.

It may be worthwhile spending some time to identify a solicitor or lawyer that can be on hand to work with you as and when required.

Fundamental legal helplines are provided by many trade organisations and membership organisations as part of the yearly subscription e.g. FSB, local Chambers of Commerce, and is worth considering for simple legal matters that may arise so you know your rights for a given situation.

Contracts

The simplest form of contract is your terms & conditions. Are these up to date and do they actually reflect your business and the way you want to interact with your client? Most importantly, is your client base aware of them as this defines payment terms, warranties, etc., that they are effectively ‘signing up’ to?

In addition, if you are entering into a formal contract with a supplier or customer, have you ensured that it is ‘reasonable’, fit for purpose and adequately reflects how you want to engage in a business transaction. Such documents are often overlooked but should be considered as negotiable and ‘fair’ to all parties concerned as well as providing a level of protection should a deal not go as planned.

Contract Killers – Episode 5 – Exclusion Clauses

With the recession affecting more and more businesses Pallister Hall were able to get a booking for a conference of insolvency practitioners.  The problem was that with so many of them engaged on work for clients at the same time the business centre took quite a hammering.  “Still”, as Sarah said to the board, “we made a good profit on that one so we can afford to spruce up the business centre a bit and give it a lick of paint.”

The board agreed.  However, this affected the next visit of FDL because they could not use the business centre while the redecorating work was going on.  This might not have mattered much, but for the fact that FDL wanted to use the conference event and the business centre facilities to help them in the European launch of their new product.  Of the two week conference period, the business centre was unavailable for the whole of the first week.

After the conference FDL wrote to Pallister Hall claiming that their product launch had been delayed by a week and that Pallister Hall was liable for the value of several lost orders as a result.

Continue to read the episode by clicking here.

© Bircham Dyson Bell, Solicitors. For more information please contact PaulVoller@bdb-law.co.uk quoting reference “UKBA”

Contract Killers – Episode 4 – Waiving Breaches

Pallister Hall has a contract with FLD to provide them with catering and conference facilities.

However, the recession was biting hard and unfortunately, FLD was having a particularly tough time of it.  So much so, that it had to make 25% of its work force redundant and was under severe pressure to cut costs further.  Unsurprisingly, catering/conference facilities proved to be in the first category of costs to be cut.  The very last thing FLD thought it needed in these times were conference costs, let alone the PR implications of holding any more “off-sites”.  The directors decided that more cost-effective solutions could be found, so, FLD decided the Pallister Hall contract had to go.

FLD’s in-house lawyer, Bob, was given the task of finding a way out of it.  He studied the contract and following a discussion with those involved discovered, to his delight, that Pallister Hall was required to provide a fire safety certificate some 11 months before and failed to do so.  The contract manager remembered that there was a question raised about it at the time but nothing came of it and they just carried on as normal but he was sure that a certificate was never provided.

Continue to read the episode by clicking here.

© Bircham Dyson Bell, Solicitors. For more information please contact PaulVoller@bdb-law.co.uk quoting reference “UKBA”

Contract Killers – Episode 3 – Signing the contract

In the context of dealing with limited companies, and looking at simple contracts (i.e. not those executed as deeds) we will show the steps which you can take to ensure that the correct parties to the contract are set out in the document and that the person signing has authority to sign.  After all, it could be a disaster if you had spent all that time negotiating the terms of a contract to find out at a later stage that those carefully negotiated terms were not worth the paper they were written on.

As the reader may remember, Sarah is the chief executive of Pallister Hall Limited and she had recently been negotiating terms with the catering company, Fair Catering, for the provision of catering services at Pallister Hall. Following, some tricky negotiations with Barry, the CEO of Fair Catering, Sarah finalised the terms of the contract and the contract was ready for signature.

Sarah handed the contract to Lisa, the in-house lawyer at Pallister Hall and asked her to have a quick flick through.  “Unfortunately”, said Sarah, “the terms are what they are and there’s no further room there for negotiation. Can you just make sure that everything else is okay?”

Continue to read the episode by clicking here.

© Bircham Dyson Bell, Solicitors. For more information please contact PaulVoller@bdb-law.co.uk quoting reference “UKBA”

Contract Killers – Episode 2 – “Subject to contract” and performance of a contract

Pallister Hall is a popular conference and functions venue.  It provides catering services through its contract caterers, All Food Limited.  Unfortunately as a result of the recession All Food Limited went into liquidation.  Sarah needed to find a new caterer quickly to ensure Pallister Hall could meet its obligations to their clients. She came to a verbal agreement with Fair Catering to take over from All Food Limited.

Several terms were agreed in negotiation including that the contract would be terminable on three months’ notice.  A written agreement was provided with “subject to contract” clearly displayed on the front.  It also contained a written term stating that the contract was for a minimum term of three years and there was nothing about any 3 months’ notice nor any termination clause allowing earlier termination.

However, this agreement remained to be signed.

Continue to read the episode by clicking here.

© Bircham Dyson Bell, Solicitors. For more information please contact PaulVoller@bdb-law.co.uk quoting reference “UKBA”

Contract Killers – Episode 1 – Getting into contracts without knowing it

In this fictional account, the lawyers at Bircham Dyson Bell point out some of the ways in which commercial contracts can go wrong and how to avoid them.

In fact, there are quite a few “contract killers”.  Being aware of them and knowing how to avoid them will save you problems.  In order to illustrate some of the danger areas we recount a series of imaginary events that took place at the equally imaginary Pallister Hall Limited.  Although the events and players are all fictitious they are based on actual events that Bircham Dyson Bell have advised on or reported cases.

Pallister Hall Limited is a private limited company which owns and runs Pallister Hall, an historic country house used as a residential conference centre and event venue.  The venue is equipped to provide excellent IT services including Wi-Fi in all meeting rooms and guest accommodation, has a golf course, fitness centre and provides catering services through its contract caterer.

Continue to read the episode by clicking here.

© Bircham Dyson Bell, Solicitors. For more information please contact PaulVoller@bdb-law.co.uk quoting reference “UKBA”