Administration Assistant/Receptionist

The role involves dealing with clients and the effective execution of the office processes to enable the business to run efficiently.

Candidates need
• excellent communications skills
• a high standard of computer literacy
• to be able to work unsupervised with initiative
• the ability to effectively prioritise work
• excellent qualifications in English and Mathematics

Applicants may find it advantageous to have
• experience of an office environment
• payroll processing experience

This is a full-time position, 37.5 hours per week Monday – Friday. Salary will be commensurate with experience.

Please e-mail your application letter and curriculum vitae to julia.pyatt@millspyatt.co.uk by 2nd December 2011

Posted By Haydn Pyatt - 16 November 2011.
Tags:

National Minimum Wage changes on 1st October

Rates from 1 October 2011

The NMW rates are reviewed each year by the Low Pay Commission and from 1 October 2011:

the main rate for workers aged 21 and over will increase to £6.08 the 18-20 rate will increase to £4.98 the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18 will increase to £3.68 the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship will increase to £2.60

Past NMW rates can be viewed on the Low Pay Commission website.

Posted By Haydn Pyatt - 23 September 2011.
Tags: Employment , Management

VAT Evaders Targeted

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have announced an initiative to crack down on VAT rule breakers. The new campaign will focus on individuals and businesses who are trading above the VAT threshold but who have not yet registered for VAT.

The initiative is being discussed with interested parties to ensure HMRC has as much information from them as possible before launching the campaign later in the summer.

Previous campaigns have targeted offshore investments, medical professionals and people working in the plumbing industry. For each HMRC has used new technology and legislation to gather and analyse data, from internal and external sources, to identify people who should come forward. This has provided thousands more investigations, now being worked through, including a number of criminal investigations.

The VAT threshold is currently £73,000 turnover on a rolling annual basis. In previous years it was: 2006/07 – £61,000; 2007/08 – £64,000; 2008/09 – £67,000; 2009/10 – £68,000; 2010/11 – £70,000.

HMRC want to encourage anyone who has unpaid tax to come forward and make a voluntary disclosure; they maintain it will always be less expensive if tax payers go to HMRC voluntarily rather than wait until they catch up with them.

Posted By Haydn Pyatt - 6 June 2011.
Tags: Tax , Small Business

PAYE Chaos Looms

HMRC have either made another I.T. error or have deliberatlety changed the policy of collecting tax under PAYE. In the past if your code changed, and it meant paying more tax, they would put you on a “Month 1” basis which meant that you only paid the increase from the month of change.

Today we have received batches of tax code changes for two payroll clients that means that back tax will be collected from the 6th April onwards.

At the moment we are only 2 months into the tax year but if the policy remains the same, come next March you could have the situation that a whole year’s back tax would be collected from one months pay rather than coded out over a full twelve months.

Heads will roll over this one.

Posted By Haydn Pyatt - 19 May 2011.
Tags: Tax , Employment

Pensions for All

From 2012 employers will be required to enrol staff automatically into a qualifying pension scheme and business owners must contribute a minimum of 3% of the member’s salary phased in over a period.

Where the employer does not provide such a scheme, employees must be enrolled into the new National Employment Savings Trust (Nest), a simple low-cost pension scheme that is being introduced by the government.

The changes will begin to take effect in October 2012, with the largest employers joining first and the smallest joining by September 2016 and contributions from staff and employers will also be phased in.

This will be another cost for employers that may be alleviated by negotiation with staff over future pay increases.

Posted By Haydn Pyatt - 17 May 2011.
Tags: Employment , Small Business