Consumers have been urged to steer clear of offers that claim to be able to provide loans or release tax-free cash from people’s pension pots before they reach the age of 55. The Pensions Regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued the warning on 25 February after detected an… Read more…

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The government has published a revised timetable for when employers must start enrolling their staff in a workplace pension under the auto-enrolment initiative. Large employers – those with 250 or more employees – will face no change in the date they were due to start enrolling their staff. The largest employers will be the first… Read more…

A new national programme has been launched to help small and medium manufacturing businesses to grow. The new Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) became available to all manufacturing businesses across England from 3 January. It will be delivered by the Manufacturing Advisory Consortium (MAC) and it has been estimated that it will help to generate £1.5… Read more…

Empty and under-used government offices may become home to start-up and growing small businesses, under plans forming part of a new initiative announced by Prime Minister David Cameron. The Business in You campaign, launched by Mr Cameron on 23 January, is designed to inspire people to launch or expand their own businesses and help entrepreneurs… Read more…

HMRC has issued a reminder to VAT-registered businesses that all VAT returns must be submitted online from April Currently, only newly-registered businesses and those with turnovers of more than £100,000 have to submit VAT online, as well as paying electronically. Anyone else can send HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) a paper VAT return, if they… Read more…

A pilot scheme has been launched for a new way to resolve disputes between SMEs and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) uses independent HMRC facilitators to resolve disputes between HMRC and small and medium-sized enterprises during a compliance check but before a decision or assessment has been made. The pilot,… Read more…

New legislation will be introduced by 2015 that will help to make it as easy to set up a co-operative as any other form of business, the Prime Minister has announced. David Cameron said on 19 January that more than a dozen outdated pieces of legislation would be streamlined into the Co-operatives Bill, adding that… Read more…

A new government pilot scheme could pave the way to earlier and more cost-effective resolution of workplace disputes. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is to fund mediation training for employees from a group of 24 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in each of two pilot areas, centred on Cambridge and Manchester, later this… Read more…

Companies are being asked for their views on how to tackle unnecessary bureaucracy in company and commercial law in the latest phase of the government’s Red Tape Challenge to scrap unnecessary regulations. For three weeks from 26 January, the Red Tape Challenge will focus on more than 120 company law regulations, guidance and enforcement processes… Read more…