Opportunities available

We are currently recruiting for two full time roles within the business;

Trainee Accountant (AAT Apprenticeship)

 This is a 3-year training contract with study support towards gaining the AAT qualification. Full on-the-job training will be provided along with study leave to attend classes with a training provider.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Bookkeeping
• General analysis
• Preparation of accounts for sole trader, partnerships and limited companies
• Preparation of VAT returns
• Other general office duties

 

The ideal candidate will be hardworking, driven to complete the AAT qualification, and able to work as part of a team within a professional office.

Minimum requirements;

• Hold 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) grade A-C/5-9 including Mathematics & English
• A-Level or equivalent qualifications desired but not required
• General past work experience is advantageous.

 

The successful applicant will be fully flexible and able to commute to our office in Stocksfield, Northumberland.

Expected start date to be September 2021

For further information about this position, or to apply for the role by sending your CV and covering letter, please email [email protected]

Application Deadline: 21 June 2021

 

Admin Assistant (Apprenticeship)

 This is an 18-month training contract with full study support towards the business admin level 3 qualification. Full on-the-job training will be provided along with study leave to attend classes with a training provider.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Client meet and greet
• Telephone answering
• Written correspondence
• Diary management
• Maintenance of client records and document management
• Other general office duties

 

The ideal candidate will a great communicator who can prioritise their own workload. They must be organised, and able to work as part of a team within a professional office.

Minimum requirements;

• Hold 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) grade A-C/5-9 including Mathematics & English
• A-Level or equivalent qualifications desired but not required
• General past work experience is advantageous

 

The successful applicant will be fully flexible and able to commute to our office in Stocksfield, Northumberland.

Expected start date to be August 2021.

For further information about this position, or to apply for the role by sending your CV and covering letter, please email [email protected]

Application Deadline: 21 June 2021

The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all employees are entitled to be paid by law. The rate changes dependant on age and whether the employee is an apprentice.

For this tax year, the age range for the National Living Wage has been altered to include those aged 23 and over.

These rates apply from 1 April 2021.

Category of worker	Hourly Rate
Aged 23 and over	£8.91
Aged 21 to 22 inclusive	£8.36
Aged 18 to 20 inclusive	£6.56
Under 18	£4.62
Apprentices aged under 19	£4.30
Apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship	£4.30

The Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) was launched on 6 April 2021 to provide further support to protect businesses and jobs.

RLS aims to help businesses affected by Covid-19 and can be used for business purposes, including, managing cashflow, investment and growth. It is designed to support businesses that can afford to take out additional finance for these purposes. Businesses who have taken out a CBILS or BBLS facility are still able to access this new scheme.

The Scheme will run until 31 December 2021, subject to review.

The terms of the scheme are as follows:-

• Borrow between £25,001 and £10 million.
• Choose a repayment term between 1-6 years.
• A personalised quotation will be discussed after enquiry.
• Security may be required.
• The government will provide and 80% guarantee on the loans, and interest rates are capped.
• No interest-free period – you must be able to afford repayments from month one.
• Other fees and charges may apply .
• Subject to a full credit assessment. You remain 100% liable for the loan, including any accumulated interest.
• No personal guarantee is required for loans under £250,000

 

Eligibility

To be eligible, your business must:

• have been impacted by Covid-19 – you will need to confirm to the lender that you have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
• be carrying out trading activity in the UK.
• have a viable business proposition – your lender may disregard (at its discretion) any concerns over short-term to medium-term business performance due to the uncertainty and impact of Covid-19.

The banks will complete standard credit and fraud checks.

Applying for the loan

It is expected that the lender will ask for the following documents:-

• Management accounts
• Business plan
• Historic accounts
• Details of assets

 

To apply for the RLS, contact your bank directly.

The Restart Grant was announced in the Budget on 03 March 2021. It is intended to support businesses in the non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation sectors with a one-off payment, to help them reopen safely as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

The support takes effect from 1 April 2021.

To qualify for a grant, businesses must satisfy all of the following criteria:

• Have a property within with a qualifying rateable value.
• Have been trading on 1 April 2021.
• Be classed as non-essential retail, hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care or a gym business.
  • Annex C of the Government’s Restart Grant guidance gives a more indicative list of businesses that fall into scope of the Restart Scheme.
• Offer in-person services where the main service/ activity takes place in a fixed-rate paying premises.
• Not be in administration, insolvent or have a striking-off notice against them.
• Not breach subsidy rules if they were to receive a grant payment under this scheme.

 

How much is the grant?

Businesses can make an application for each property with a rateable value that they operate. Each property requires a separate application.

The grant will be a one-off payment and calculated based on the rateable value of the qualifying business property. There are two strands to the Restart Grant as follows:

Strand One – non-essential retail properties

Rateable value	Grant
£15,000 or under	£2,667
£15,001 – £50,999	£4,000
£51,000 or over	£6,000

Strand Two – hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses

Rateable value	Grant
£15,000 or under	£8,000
£15,001 – £50,999	£12,000
£51,000 or over	£18,000

How to apply

If you meet the criteria for the Restart Grant, you can apply online now via your local council’s website. They will review your application and let you know if you are entitled to a payment. Northumberland’s system is up and running but we’re aware that some of council’s are not operating as yet.

As ever, if you have any queries please get in touch.

INCOME TAX RATES (INDIVIDUALS UK)
	2021/22	2020/21
Starting rate	£1 – £5,000	£1 – £5,000	20%
Basic rate	£5,001 – £37,700	£5,001 – £37,500	20%
Higher rate	£37,701 – £150,000	£37,501 – £150,000	40%
Additional rate	Over £150,000	Over £150,000	45%
Rate on non dividend savings income up to £5,000 is 0% where taxable non savings income does not exceed £5,000.
INCOME TAX RATES (DIVIDENDS)
	2021/22	2020/21
Basic rate	£12,501 – £50,000	£12,501 – £50,000	7.5%
Higher Rate	£50,001 – £150,000	£50,001 – £150,000	32.5%
Additional Rate	£150,000	150,000	38.1%
The first £2,000 of dividends are tax free.
INCOME TAX ALLOWANCES
	2021/22	2020/21
Basic personal allowance	£12,570	£12,500
Married/civil partners transferable allowance	£1,260	£1,250
Blind persons allowance	£2,520	£2,500
Rent a room relief limit	£7,500	£7,500
Savings allowance	£1,000	£1,000
Trading income allowance	£1,000	£1,000
Property income allowance	£1,000	£1,000
PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS
	2021/22	2020/21
Annual allowance	£40,000	£40,000
Lifetime allowance	£1,073,100	£1,073,100
CAPITAL GAINS TAX
	2021/22	2020/21
Annual exemption
Individuals	£12,300	£12,300
Trusts	£6,150	£6,150
Entrepreneurs’ relief lifetime allowance	£1m	£1m
Individuals and trusts
Basic and starting rate taxpayers	10%	10%
Higher and additional rate taxpayers	20%	20%
Trusts and personal representatives	20%	20%
Rate where entrepreneurs’/investors’ relief applies	10%	10%
INDIVIDUAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
	2021/22	2020/21
Maximum  annual investment
Cash and shares combined limit	£20,000	£20,000
Lifetime ISA	£4,000	£4,000
Junior ISA	£9,000	£9,000

INHERITANCE TAX	2021/22	2020/21
Nil rate band (NRB) £1 – £325,000	0%	0%	0%
Over £325,000	40%	40%	40%
Main exemptions			Gifts on marriage or civil partnership
Annual gifts per donor	£3,000	£    3,000	Parent	£        5,000
Small gifts per doner	£250	£       250	Grandparent/remoter ancestor	£        2,500
Normal expenditure out of income	Exempt	Exempt	Other	£        1,000

If you’re looking to increase profit, improve cashflow planning, or simply get a better understanding of your business, management accounts can be a crucial resource.

Whereas year-end accounts are often prepared many months later, management accounts can be prepared at regular intervals during the year. This provides you with real time information so you can make informed decisions quickly and effectively.

Our management accounts can be tailored to fit your needs, and could include:-

Cashflow overview – see where money is being spent, and plan cashflow round trends and expectations

Profit & loss report – this give you a periodic comparison of company performance, allowing you to recognise and analyse business progress

Balance sheet – a breakdown of company assets and liabilities, as well as equity

Graphs – get information in a instant with simplified graphs showing sales/profit trends

By combining management accounts with budgets and forecasts, you can plan business growth and see the financial impact of potential changes before making decisions.

If you’re considering hiring new staff, wanting to track sales targets, or just looking for further insight on your business, get in touch to find out how we can help contribute to your success.

Today Rishi Sunak announced his plans in the 2021 budget, I have detailed these below:-

 

Furlough scheme

• The furlough scheme will be extended until 30 September 2021
• Employees will continue to earn 80% of their previous salaries
• This will be fully government funded until 30 June 2021
• For July, employers will be expected to contribute 10%
• For August and September, employers will be expected to contribute 20%

 

Self-employed income support scheme (SEISS)

• There will be a further two grants, these will be the fourth and fifth SEISS grants
• The fourth grant will be payable at 80% of profits as before
• The fifth grant will depend on how much the business turnover has fallen by, if the business turnover has fallen by over 30% then the fifth grant will be payable at 80%. If the turnover has fallen by less than that then the grant will be payable at 30%
• Those newly self-employed, who have now filed a 2019/20 tax return, who were previously excluded, will now be eligible to join the scheme for the fourth and fifth grants – you must have filed your tax return by 2 March 2021.

 

Universal credit

• Universal credit will continue with the £20 per week uplift for a further six months, this will be paid as a one off £500 payment

 

National living wage

• This will increase to £8.91 per hour from April 2021

 

Grants

• For businesses who employ new apprentices – a grant of £3,000 will be payable for each new apprentice, regardless of the age of the apprentice

 

Restart grants

• For those sectors who have been forced to close due to COVID, there will be grant available to help the businesses ready for when they reopen.

• For non-essential retail, grants of up to £6,000 per premises will be available.
• For leisure businesses (such as the beauty sector, gyms, etc), grant of up to £18,000 per premises will be available.

 

Loans

• BBLs and CIBLs schemes will end for new applications on 31 March 2021.
• There will be a new recovery loan scheme opening allowing businesses of any size to apply for between £25,000 and £10,000,000. The government will guarantee 80% of these loans.

• This new scheme will be open for applications between 06 April 2021 – 31 December 2021
• There are currently no confirmed rates or terms.

 

Business rates

• The business rates holiday for those businesses in retail and hospitality will continue.

• 100% rates holiday from April to June 2021
• Up to 2/3 discount for the rest of the year if the business has been forced to close

 

VAT rates for tourism and hospitality

• 5% reduced rate VAT will continue until 30 September 2021
• The rate will be set at 12.5% between 01 October 2021 – 31 March 2022
• The rate will return to  20% in April 2022

 

Housing

• The stamp duty holiday will be extended to 30 June 2021
• Then the stamp duty Nil Rate Band (NRB) will increase to £250,000 (previously £125,000) up to 30 September 2021
• From October it will return to normal
• Mortgage guarantee scheme available for first time buyers so that they will just need a 5% deposit

 

These measures obviously need to be paid for so the following announcements were made to start to recover the deficit…

Personal tax

• It was confirmed that income tax, national insurance and VAT rates will remain frozen and not increase as many expected.

• The personal allowance will increase to £12,570 from April 2021 .

• This will then be frozen until April 2026.

• The higher rate tax threshold will increase to £50,270 from April 2021

• This will then be frozen until April 2026.

• Business losses can temporarily be carried-back three years. For the periods 2020-21 and 2021-22.
• Inheritance tax rates, pension lifetime allowances, capital gains tax annual exemptions will all remain frozen until April 2026.

 

VAT

• The VAT registration threshold will also remain frozen at £85,000. This is confirmed for a further period of two years from 01 April 2022.

 

Corporation tax

• Corporation tax will increase from April 2023 up to 25% (previously 19%).
• There will be a small profit rate for profits up to £50,000 of 19%
• Those with profits between £50,001 and £250,000 will pay a tapered rate of between 19% and 25% (the specifics on tapering have not yet been released)

• Corporation tax losses will be able to be carried back for three years. The specifics seem to refer to personal tax years, so we will update if/when this is made clearer.
• There will be a “super deduction” for businesses investing. For money invested in qualifying plant & machinery investment, businesses will receive tax relief at 130%. This covers the period 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2023 (assuming in a profit making position, for every £100 invested in qualifying plant & machinery, the corporation tax will be reduced by approx.. £25)

 

Duties

• Planned increases for both alcohol and fuel duty have been cancelled.

 

For a full breakdown of all of the above and the various other budget announcements please see the HMRC website on the following link:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2021-documents

As always, if you have any questions with any of this please get in touch.

HMRC’s new “VAT deferred payment scheme” is opening on 23 February 2021.

If you deferred your VAT payment between 20 March and 30 June 2020 and still have an outstanding liability, there are now three options available to you:

1. Pay the deferred VAT in full, on or before 31 March 2021 (nothing more need be done)
2. Join the VAT deferral new payments scheme (this will be available online between 23 February and 21 June 2021)
3. Contact HMRC by phone on 0800 024 1222 by 30 June 2021 if you need extra help to pay

This new scheme allows you to:-

• Pay the deferred VAT in equal instalments, interest free
• Choose how many months (between 2 and 11) that you want to make the payments over

 

To use the scheme, you must:-

• Join the scheme yourself (we cannot do this for you)
• Be up to date with your VAT returns
• Pay the first instalment when you join
• Pay the instalments by direct debit

 

If you do not opt for one of the three options, and have not paid the deferred amount by 31 March 2021, then you will be charged interest on any outstanding balance.

Please see below for full HMRC guidance:-

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deferral-of-vat-payments-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19

As always, if you have any questions, please get in touch.

In recognition of national apprentice week, we have spent some time reflecting on the growth and development of our own apprentices.

Our director, Claire Yeats, started as an apprentice in 2003, going on to become a Chartered Accountant fellow of the ICAEW. Since then, she has used her knowledge and experience to train and develop several other apprentices at Clarand.

As an apprentice you are employed on a full-time basis; whilst a proportion of your time is spent completing on the job training you will also attend an external training provider to further progress your learning. This type of role is a great way for young people to achieve nationally recognised qualifications, whilst gaining knowledge and skills in their chosen sector, and providing job security and career progression opportunities.

At Clarand, some of our staff have followed the apprenticeship pathway allowing us to create a well-rounded and knowledgeable team.

Benefits include:

• Hands on experience in the sector
• No tuition fees
• More likely to have a job at the end
• Paid whilst studying
• Build working relationships

 

According to the national apprenticeship survey, 44% of university graduates say they’d rather have enrolled on an apprenticeship scheme instead of completing their degree.

Izzy completed the AAT qualification in 2020 whilst an apprentice at Clarand. As a highly valued member of the team, she has now started the ACA qualification to become a Chartered Accountant, and we asked her how she felt:-

“My apprenticeship has enabled me to develop and shape my career, whilst giving me a head start on many graduates in the same sector” – Izzy