Office Assistants

If you believe an idea or invention you are working on will take off and be valuable to you, you need to protect it as your intellectual property. As Essex bookkeepers Office Assistants explain, one way to do this is through a patent.

Reference requests may seem perfectly natural, but there are numerous pitfalls and legal implications to look out for warn Essex bookkeepers Office Assistants.

The Insurance Act 2015 came into force on 12 August 2016. It is intended to make for a fairer balance of interests between the insured and the insurer. Here Office Assistants discuss how the changes will affect businesses.

On 12 July 2016 new legislation on employing illegal workers came into force. According to the Immigration Act 2016, if a worker is found to be in the UK illegally, the government no longer has to prove that the employer knew about it.

As an employer you are obliged to give your staff 5.6 weeks annual leave pro rate. You can, of course, offer more than that if you want to offer a really attractive contract and compete with other companies to gain and retain a motivated workforce.

When you are considering the type of people you want to join your business, and how to attract them, you would do well to look at your working practices, especially if you are competing for a small pool of good people, says Office Assistants.

Under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, it is illegal to treat any workers differently from their colleagues, and this applies as much to how leave is allowed and paid as to anything else.

In previous years it has been financially advantageous for business owners and directors to take a small salary during the year, and take a lump sum dividend at its end.

If you own or are with a company that normally submits an annual return to Companies House, since 30 June 2016, you can no longer do this.

If you have ever thought of taking on a secondee from another business, or seconding out a member of staff, this advice from Essex bookkeepers Office Assistants could prove very useful.