Business Owner Debt

In its impact assessment of the changes, the Government admits that the cost to business, charities or voluntary bodies of moving 21-year-olds to the adult rate will be about £48.2 million

Some people feel that the dilemma for HMRC, in the light of falling tax receipts, is deciding if a business (a) is using the scheme as a convenient cashflow source, or (b) is waiting for definite cash inflows to arrive and hence needs time to pay its tax, or (c) HMRC is unwittingly acting as life support for the particular business.

However, Scotland saw a modest rise in payment times beyond agreed terms, from 23.38 days in the second quarter of 2009 to 23.65 days for the same period this year, while late payments in the North West averaged 25.16 days to overtake London as the slowest paying region.

Balancing the books is a good thing for every business, and the Government is no different in this regard, but let us hope that the Chancellor has recognised the ripple effect that will ensue from public expenditure cutbacks, and the savings more than offset the costs to the country of business failures and consequent job losses’ impact upon the Benefits budget.

The headline figure for claims to Employment Tribunals in the year ending 31st March 2010 show a massive 56% increase in claims over the previous year.

UK is the ‘sickie’ capital of Europe According to a recent poll, Britons take more falsely claimed sick days than any other major European country. Despite other research which suggests we work longer hours than many other European countries, the poll highlights the significant culture of ‘skiving’ among millions of British workers, many of whom [...]

They said it was charging an effective annual rate of interest of 3,650% on an overdraft of just £10. Instead of charging advertised interest on overdrafts, the bank is instead charging a flat fee of £1 a day.

The Insolvency Service has swung the axe on 50 front line official receiver investigators in a move which is “tantamount to legalising corporate theft”, according to sources.

The report estimates £69.5bn is owed to creditors from the 127,000 companies in financial difficulty in the second quarter.

The construction industry continues to be one of the worst affected sectors, with 555 UK businesses being declared insolvent during the second quarter. Manufacturing was the next worst hit with 421, with the retail sector in third with 342 businesses insolvent.