Posted on 15 Jan 2014 in Business, Information, News, Training
A report published by the Department for Business (BIS) has revealed that only 5% of small businesses have used a mentor in the past 12 months. The ‘Demand for mentoring among SMEs’ report found that almost half of small firms who had used a mentor would not be interested in doing so again, and that 44% believed that mentors who provide support for free would not be of help to them. The report concluded that ‘there is a clear problem on the demand...
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Posted on 15 Jan 2014 in Business, Finance, News
HMRC opened 256 new IR35 investigations into consultants and freelancers in 2012/13, up from just 59 in 2011/12, according to official figures. HMRC revealed that the majority of cases it had investigated concerned high-risk and “wilfully non-compliant” companies i.e. where all their contracts would fall within the scope of IR35. Robin Wythes, HMRC Employment Status Team Leader, explained that HMRC is now “trying to see IR35 from the view of the...
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Posted on 15 Jan 2014 in Business, Information, News
Employers must ensure that temporary staff who regularly process personal information receive adequate data protection training, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned. The warning follows recent data breaches at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, where letters including information about patients’ treatment were sent to incorrect addresses by temporary workers who had not received sufficient data protection training. Sally Anne Poole, ICO...
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Posted on 15 Jan 2014 in Business, Finance
A consultation on paperless self assessment (SA) has been opened by HMRC as part of its Digital Strategy published in December 2012. The consultation, which closes on 27th December 2013, is seeking views on planned changes to legislation that will enable HMRC to provide a paperless service, sending communications to taxpayers electronically instead of by post. Only around a quarter of HMRC’s dealings with taxpayers are online, although the majority of taxpayers...
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Posted on 15 Jan 2014 in Business, News
The National Crime Agency’s (NCA’s) National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) has issued a warning about a new mass e-mail malware campaign. The e-mails, which are specifically targeted at smaller firms and consumers, appear to be from financial institutions, but carry a malicious attachment that encrypts files on the infected computer and any local network it is attached to. A £500 ransom demand in bitcoins is then made to unlock the files. The NCCU is urging firms not...
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