National Living Wage

Chancellor resists calls for business relief in Spring Statement

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has resisted calls from businesses for relief ahead of the upcoming tax changes this April, as part of her Spring Statement today (26 March). UK businesses had been hopeful the chancellor would raise the relief rate for retail, hospitality, and leisure after cutting it to 40% in…

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Budget: Increases to employers’ NI and minimum wage

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has increased Employers’ National Insurance contributions in a bid to help raise as much as £40bn in taxes, pledging to also boost long-term growth and “mark an end to short term-ism” as part of Labour’s first budget since it came into power. Employers’ National Insurance contributions…

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Black Friday fails to rally UK shoppers during ‘bleak’ November

Significant discounts in the run up to Black Friday failed to rally UK shoppers, resulting in “another disappointing month” for retailers, according to new figures released today by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. According to its High Street Sales Tracker, total like-for-like (LFL) sales in November fell by 0.3%…

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Chancellor cuts National Insurance to 10% alongside NLW rise

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a series of measures to help boost the UK economy as part of his Autumn Budget including slashing National Insurance by 2% and freezing business rates for retail and hospitality. As part of the new measures, Hunt revealed that National Insurance will be cut from…

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Pets at Home raises profit outlook

Pet retailer Pets at Home has raised its profit outlook after record Q3 consumer revenues, for the 12 weeks ended 5 January 2023. Its consumer revenues rose 9% year on year boosted by a record number of consumers. Consumer revenues were also up 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels. The company…

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Chancellor freezes tax thresholds in Autumn statement 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a raft of measures to help “stabilise” the UK economy and reduce inflation, with tax cuts and spending cuts totalling £55bn in the Autumn statement.  As part of the new measures, Hunt confirmed that tax as a percentage of GDP will rise by over 1%…

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Budget 2021: Chancellor unveils new £65bn support package

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has outlined a new £65bn support package in his March budget, confirming the decision to extend the furlough scheme until the end of September as well as new loan schemes of up to £10m for businesses. In what is Sunak’s second budget since he joined office in…

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What we know about furlough leave and the CJRS

HMRC published details of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) on 26.3.20 which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme Key points include: Employees that employers can claim CJRS for For the purposes of CJRS, the definition of employee would include workers and agency workers provided they are subject to PAYE i.e. this…

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Retail administrations increase in five-year-first

  The number of retailers entering administration increased from 92 in 2016 to 118 in 2017, an increase of 28 percent, according to new analysis from Deloitte. This is the first increase in the last five years, as those administrations with more than ten stores rose from 11 in 2016…

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How safe is your job?

Despite a three percent drop in employment, Pet Gazette discovers that the retail sector is still going strong “The pace of job reductions in the retail industry is gathering steam,” says British Retail Consortium (BRC) chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE. In October, the BRC reported a record reduction in retail…

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