Ministers have revealed bold plans to reform and modernise the way regulations are made and implemented in the UK.

Following Brexit, the UK has the freedom to make and implement regulations that place British businesses and consumers first – freeing firms from excessive formality and reducing costs, while boosting competition, innovation and economic growth.

Unnecessary bureaucracy

To reduce unnecessary red tape following the UK’s exit from the EU, the consultation looks at implementing regulations such as the ‘One-In-Two-Out’ method. Literally, this means that if the government introduces new regulation, alternative ones would need to be removed.

To enable innovative companies to trial ground-breaking ideas safely, the government could also look to make more use and impact of ‘sandboxes’, where certain regulations are lifted to test new products in a real-world setting, under the regulator’s supervision – this was another reform recommended by the independent Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR).

The TIGRR aims to move away from the EU’s excessive use of the ‘precautionary principle’ and adopt a ‘proportionality principle’ in our regulatory framework. If adopted, this would mean that regulation focuses more on outcomes, rather than processes, and proportionate to impacts on businesses and people.

Introducing a ‘nimble approach’

Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “Taking back control means setting regulation in a way that works best for British businesses, workers and our wider economy.

“By taking a nimble approach, suited to our national interest, we can maintain our high standards and cement the UK’s status as an attractive place to start and grow business.”

The consultation sets out five principles, underpinning the Government’s approach, to ensure it benefits the British people:

• A sovereign approach: following Brexit, the UK will take a tailored approach to setting rules in a way that boosts growth and benefits the British people.
• Leading from the front: working nimbly to support the development of new technologies.
• Proportionality: where possible, the Government will use non-regulatory options, allowing markets to move dynamically, while acting decisively to place strong rules where needed.
• Recognising what works: thorough analysis of regulations to ensure they work practically.

Finally, high standards: the UK will pursue robust regulatory diplomacy and help to solve global problems.

Many businesses will have seen a reduction in activity as a direct result of the COVID pandemic. Assets and resources previously fully employed now lie idle or are under-utilised.

In this post today we have listed a few ideas that may help you create new income streams from these resources. For example:

Premises

Do you have storage, office or shop-floor space that is empty? If your lease or landlord is willing to sanction this idea, why not sub-let to businesses that need more space but may not want to commit to a long-term lease or outright purchase?

In this way you can recover costs that would otherwise be a continuing drain on your profits.

Vehicles

If you have vehicles that are no longer fully employed in your business, rather than selling them, and then being obliged to buy new vehicles when your activity levels recover, why not lease these resources to businesses that need them for short periods.

This will help you fund fixed running costs, insurance and road fund tax, and when your business levels return to normal, you will have assets that can be returned to internal utilisation.

Staff

When the furlough scheme comes to an end at the end of September 2021, many businesses will face the unwelcome task of considering redundancy.

If you are in this position, could you consider retaining staff but hiring them out for a short period until trade improves and yo0u can bring them back in-house?

In this way you can keep teams together, long-term, and if you organise appropriately, provide team members with a useful outsourced training experience.

We can help with planning

Please call if you would like to discuss the possibilities of making use of these or other under-utilised resources for your business.

The UK Government’s Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has revealed an arsenal of planned reforms to boost competition and protect the public from rip-offs, fraud and exploitation as the pandemic restrictions lift.

Plans set out in a new consultation will deliver on the manifesto commitment to ‘give the Competition and Markets Authority enhanced powers to tackle consumer rip-offs and bad business practices.’

Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The UK’s economic recovery relies on the strength of our open markets and consumers’ faith in them.

“By delivering on our commitment to bolster our competition regime, we’re giving businesses confidence that they’re competing on fair terms, and the public confidence they’re getting a good deal”

Protecting consumer rights

In an increasingly e-commerce consumer environment, customers are facing a relentless stream of tricks, designed to make them spend more money than they can afford.

The consultation proposes initiatives to update consumer rights to keep pace with market developments:

• To strengthen protection for consumers investing in prepayment schemes such as the Christmas savings club, being mandated to safeguard customers’ money.
• They also outline plans to clamp down on subscription traps, requiring businesses to be explicit on what exactly it is customers will be signing up for, and allowing them to cancel without any difficulty.
• The consultation highlights the issue of misleading online ratings and commits to criminalising the act of paying someone to write or host a fake review.

Enforcement

Tougher penalties for non-compliance will see increased authority for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to implement fines for businesses who don’t comply.

The CMA will be able to enforce consumer law directly rather than going through the court processes which can take a considerable amount of time.

They also plan to support consumers and businesses to resolve disputes more independently by improving consumers’ access to arbitration and mediation services, without having to go to court. This includes a proposal to make arbitration compulsory in sectors where large, one-off payments are made, for example in the used car and home improvements sectors.

Promoting competition

The Government aims to create a competitive, open and fair market, thus achieving its goal of enabling businesses to build again, driving investment and creating more jobs after the pandemic.

Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, Rocio Concha said: “The pandemic has highlighted weaknesses in UK consumer protections that have allowed unscrupulous businesses to exploit customers.

“The government must now ensure that these proposals are swiftly implemented, and are underpinned by the right resources, so that consumer protection is strengthened.”

1 August 2021 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 October 2020.

19 August 2021 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 August 2021. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 August 2021)

19 August 2021 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 August 2021.

19 August 2021 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 August 2021 is payable by today.

1 September 2021 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 30 November 2020.

19 September 2021 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 September 2021. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 September 2021)

19 September 2021 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 September 2021.

19 September 2021 – CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 September 2021 is payable by today.

You can claim up to £1,000 each tax year in tax-free allowances for property or trading income. If you have both types of income, you will qualify for a £1,000 allowance for each.

If your annual gross property income is £1,000 or less, from one or more property businesses you will not have to tell HMRC or declare this income on a tax return. You may be required to complete a tax return for other income.

Likewise, if your annual gross trading income is £1,000 or less, from one or more trades you may not have to tell HMRC.

If your annual gross trading or property income, from one or more trades or businesses is more than £1,000 you can use the tax-free allowances instead of deducting any expenses or other allowances.

This would be useful if your actual expenses were lower than the £1,000 allowances. However, you cannot use the allowances to create a trading loss. You can deduct up to £1,000, but not more than the amount of your income. This is known as ‘partial relief’.

If your expenses are more than your income it should be beneficial to claim expenses instead of the allowances.

You cannot use the allowances in a tax year, if you have any trade or property income from:

• a company you or someone connected to you owns or controls,
• a partnership where you or someone connected to you are partners,
• your employer or the employer of your spouse or civil partner.

You cannot use the property allowance if you:

• claim the tax reducer for finance costs such as mortgage interest for a residential property,

deduct expenses from income from letting a room in your own home instead of using the Rent a Room Scheme.