Latest News from Haslemere Chambers of Trade & Commerce

Bookmark this page and check it frequently to stay in touch with the latest news about the Haslemere business community. You’ll find items from the Chamber together with news about member businesses. If you are a member, please post as often as possible to your profile page: your contributions will be added to this news feed automatically.

Xero Accounting Software Offer

by caroline | Jun 3, 2020 | News, Offers

We have been working hard with our clients to assist them through the difficult circumstances surrounding the coronavirus and the impact on businesses. As we are a largely cloud based accountancy practice, we have found that we have been able to continue to support our clients with minimal disruption through the use of cloud based filing systems such as Dropbox or the internal filing systems within the accountancy software packages. This has meant that no filing deadlines have been missed and we have been able to assist clients with furlough and grant applications as well as the normal bookkeeping being kept up to date. We believe this to be an essential part of any business’s continuity plan and would like to help more businesses achieve this. We have negotiated with Xero to provide a 50% discount, for a year, on all new client subscriptions at any level from their most basic to their full suite, (with payroll, expenses and multi currency functionality, together with their new features of cash flow forecasting and business spotlight and the add-ons, depending on the Xero subscription chosen). Please contact me to find out how we can help you keep your business on track by working remotely with us. Caroline Warrington 07795 213288... read more

Making staff redundant during furlough

by Broper | Jun 2, 2020 | News

As the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, otherwise known as furlough, begins to wind down I have received a number of requests from employers for help in complying with the statutory processes required to make staff redundant. And in equal measure I have represented a number of employees who have been made redundant and whose employers have totally disregarded their statutory obligations – to their cost! This is what you must do if you are making fewer than 20 employees redundant. If you are planning to make 20 or more employees redundant please take legal advice. Yes, you can make an employee redundant if they are furloughed but their notice pay should be 100% of salary. As soon as you consider you may have to make staff redundant you should tell them that they are ‘at risk of redundancy’. Better to issue an ‘at risk’ letter and then retain the employee than dismiss by reason of redundancy without telling the employee they are ‘at risk’. You are statutorily obliged to undertake a consultation meeting with each employee you are considering for redundancy. You must explore ways and means of retaining that member of staff. Sometimes an employee will offer to reduce their hours for example, or even take a sabbatical whilst your business gets back on its feet. You must have a set of criteria against which to make your decision as to who you are going to make redundant and who you will retain. Please make sure your selection criteria are non-discriminatory. In particular take care not to discriminate on the grounds of age. For example ‘last in first... read more