Boris Johnson made his announcement yesterday of the additional National Insurance levy to be paid to help the NHS and fund Social Care and in addition added 1.25% to the rate of dividend tax payable.
Leaks from Whitehall centred around the intended increase in National Insurance that will take effect from April 2022 and how it broke the Government manifesto promise of no tax nor national insurance increases during the term of this Government.
The exact details of how the increment will be applied between employers, employees and self-employed is yet to be published.
What was below the radar was the intended increase in the rate of dividend tax, again from April 2022. The previous 7.5% for basic rate tax payers will increase to 8.75% , with higher rate increasing from 32.5% to 33.75% and upper rate increasing from 38.1% to 39.35%.
Hopefully, the additional monies generated will alleviate the backlog of consultations and operations and go a long way to improving your working environment. Similarly, for social care any additional money is badly needed.
Although much was publicised about breaking the manifesto promise everyone was acutely aware that money was needed to be found to help the NHS and Social Care to recover from the pandemic.
On 27 October 2021 Rishi Sunak will give his half yearly budget update and no doubt further leaks will surface prior to any announcement.
The main contents of the Budget, like most ministerial announcements these days, were leaked well in advance of yesterday’s announcement by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. He continues with his well-publicised aim to keep to the government manifesto promises and set the UK back on track to reduce its indebtedness arising from the pandemic.
Below is a summary of the main points that we understand will impact you.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - Extended
The Furlough Scheme has been extended until 30 September 2021 and the level of grant available to employers under the scheme will remain the same until 30 June 2021.
From July 2021, the Government contribution will reduce to 70% dropping down to 60% in August 2021.
To be eligible for the grant employers must continue to pay their furloughed employees at least 80% of their wages, up to a cap of £2,500 per month for the time they spend on furlough.
Income Tax Thresholds
The personal allowance will increase to £12,570 and remain frozen at this level through to the end of 2026. The basic rate tax threshold will increase to £37,700 and will also remain frozen at this level through to 2026.
Different rates and allowances apply to Scotland and can be found here
More...
On the 28th January the Department of Health and Social Care published their consultation on the proposed amendments to the NHS Pension Scheme.
The full detail can be found here
The proposed amendments include an important and positive step forward in relation to final pay control charges with some new exemptions and key allowances for non-GP Partners such as Practice Manager and Nurse Partners.
More...
Many practices are dependent on their year end accounts to determine how well the year has been and as a platform to project forward for planning purposes. The accounts are no doubt essential as they provide the basis for tax compliance, banking facilities and determination of partners drawings amongst others.
However, they are historical in nature, detailing past financial events.
Some practices look towards management accounts to assist and like the annual accounts they too are historical but to a lesser extent.
What many practices fail to identify is the power of the cashflow.
Cashflows can take on different levels of complexity and as such different levels of sophistication and experience of the end user is needed. A large company would have different cashflows for each division or subsidiary and maybe each activity which is then consolidated into one unifying cashflow statement.
Depending upon the ultimate end user of the cashflow, the statement could be prepared as an easy to understand straight forward summary or something incredibly detailed or something in between.
A cashflow can easily be adopted by GP Practices.
Below we will look at the different levels of cashflows that can be adopted to help with GP practice finances.
More...
Following on from our newsletter of 29 July 2020 highlighting barcoding as a quick and efficient method of administering flu clinics Public Health England on 5 August 2020 published updated details of the national flu immunisation programme for 2020/21.
Details of the programme can be found here.
The salient points to note are:
Flu vaccinations, subject to contractual negotiations, will additionally be offered to:
- Household contacts of those on the NHS Shielded Patient List. Specifically, those sharing accommodation on most days over the winter where close contact is unavoidable.
- Children of school Year 7 age in secondary schools (aged 11 on 31 August 2020).
- Health and social care workers. This should be provided by their employer.
- Subject to vaccine supply 50 to 64-year-old group phased over November and December.
An inactivated vaccine may be offered to children whose parents refuse live attenuated influenza vaccine.
More...
One of our partners Ian Tongue is a regular contributor to Independent Practitioner and this month he covers 10 Financial Considerations for Succeeding in Private Practice in light of COVID19.
You can read his full article here
Remember, if you haven't paid your 31 July 2020 tax payment yet, you do not need to make payment until 31 January 2021. HMRC have been sending out the usual 31 July 2020 payment slips but have automatically changed the due date for payment to 31 January 2021.
If you would like to discuss your private practice please feel free to contact us
Cashflow is important for any business and for a GP Practice it can be vital when looking at Drawings Projections or simply planning the day to day finances of the practice.
Float is an online tool that links with Xero and can be used to forecast the cashflow of your practice. It can be pre-populated with your data and has proved invaluable for some of our GP Practices. You can also run multiple scenarios to see the impact of making different business choices on your practice cashflow. In our video below we explain Float in more detail.
The Annual Allowance is a complicated topic but here at Sandison Easson we have spent years understanding how the growth arises in the NHS Pension Scheme for Annual Allowance purposes. If you need any assistance planning to make the most of your Annual Allowances or preparing your Tax Return and/or Scheme Pays Elections then please get in touch.
Changes from April 2020 - Click here to watch our latest Annual Allowance webinar
If there is one thing that benefitted from the COVID 19 lockdown it was the environment.
Less cars and other modes of transport made an appreciable impact.
Before lockdown the government had introduced incentives particularly relating to electric cars.
Some of these incentives differed in different parts of the UK, particularly in Scotland where more incentives are available and detailed below.
Electric Cars – 100% Allowances
The government in its drive for a greener environment provided what was known as enhanced capital allowances for electric cars. Cars whereby the CO2 emission is 50g/km or less.
These cars are entitled to 100% writing down allowance in the first year as opposed to 18% each year for non-compliant vehicles.
More...
Many of you will have reflected over the past few weeks of the impact of COVID19 and the change to your practice in its everyday dealings with patients, staff and your own interactions.
The government has published some case studies of how various organisations within the NHS dealt with the pandemic and may assist you in your own COVID 19 debriefing.
Details of the various case studies published on 5 June 2020 can be found here
The general public, ourselves included, have been acutely aware from the news and government announcements of the number of individuals infected and sadly the number of people who have lost their life due to COVID. Little is heard of those that survive and what changes to their lives and care they will need following their recovery from the infection.
On the 5 June the government published guidance on the aftercare of inpatients recovering from the virus. Details can be found here.
Updated guidance (6 June 2020) on the management of staff and exposed patients or residents in health and social care settings has been published and is available here.
Finally, flow charts relating to symptomatic and asymptomatic workers return to work following a SARS-COV-2 test have been published and can be found here:
