Monthly Archives: February 2009

Bonus rates fall again for employee share schemes

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The Treasury has announced another reduction in the bonus rates for the Save As You Earn (SAYE) sharesave scheme.

The scheme was set up to encourage more employees to own shares in their companies. Employers pay a proportion of an employee’s monthly earnings into a bank or building society for a period of 3, 5 or 7 years.

At the end of the period, the employee can take their savings and a tax-free bonus or they can use the cash to buy shares in their employers’ company, usually at a discount of 20 per cent below the share price as it stood at the start of the period. The Treasury said that the latest move was intended to keep the rates in line with other interest rates.

For three-year contracts, the new bonus rate is 0.6 times instead of 1.5 times the value of an employee’s monthly payments. This represents a cut in the interest from 2.67 per cent to 1.08 per cent.

For five-year contracts, the new bonus rate is 2.6 times instead of 4.8 times the value of an employee’s monthly payments, reducing the interest from 3.04 per cent to 1.67 per cent.

In the case of seven-year contracts, the new bonus rate is 5.6 times rather than 9.3 times the value of an employee’s monthly payments, with the rate of interest coming down from 3.20 per cent to 1.98 per cent.

To be always updated on all news about rates & tax please see the westbury’s website!

Amazing numbers from Companies House in January

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Even in these very difficult times people from all over the UK are forming new companies. The numbers are down, but still respectable as the figures below from Companies House clearly show for the month of January:

04/01/2009                                      1,672

11/01/2009                                      6,077

18/01/2009                                      6,660

25/01/2009                                      6,790

01/02/2009                                      6,302

Howard Graham explains in his blog: “Over 6,000 companies were formed in the UK last week alone, companies that represent the hopes and dreams of many people from all over the country who are possibly making a new start. measure and monitor the performance of our business and this is something I would encourage new businesses to do. Knowing the numbers is key to growing a business. As we make and implement decisions, it is only with this sort of data, that we can measure the extent to which they are successful.Of course , not every company is able to get such up to date data on market share, but there are plenty of numbers in a business that can be readily ascertained and measured over time and far too few businesses actually do this.”

Prepare for another snow fall… the spring is still far away.

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From the Timesonline.co.uk: “It hardly seems possible, but Britain’s big freeze is to get worse. Just as the country digs itself out of Monday’s snow and ice, another belt of snowstorms threatens to strike the southern half of the country on Thursday and Friday with the risk of another major shutdown of the economy. The depression that brought the first mass of snow has slipped southwards and is now slowly wheeling around in the Bay of Biscay. It is ready for a second attack, later today, beginning with rainshowers along the South Coast. Because the ground is already covered in snow, it behaves like a refrigerator chilling the air — so the rain will rapidly turn to snow as the depression heads inland.”

But when will the spring arrive? And why is Britain so badly prepared for snow? Read here to discover more!

Heaviest snow in 20 years hits London!

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Timesonline.co.uk reports: “The heaviest snowfall in 20 years has closed thousands of schools and caused transport chaos up the eastern side of Britain, with London and the surrounding areas the hardest hit.

Six million bus passengers were left in the lurch as all London’s bus services were halted because of dangerous driving conditions, and every Tube line except the Victoria line was at least partially suspended.

Many mainline commuter rail services were also cancelled or seriously delayed, and flights at London’s airports were decimated, with both of Heathrow’s runways shut, Luton and London City closed, and Gatwick and Stansted flights subject to delays and short-notice cancellations.”

All the Europe is freezing and the weather forecast for the rest of the week is not one of the best… Have a look at the BBC website for the latest update!