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Category: News

7 May 2020

The Governments’ Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has proven a popular option for employers looking for ways to minimise workforce losses and disruption during the pandemic; in a recent survey of 1,000 employers almost half (46%) have already used it to furlough staff, while another 10% plan to do so.

The survey, commissioned by the CIPD (the professional body for HR and people development) also found that more than three quarters of the employers who have already furloughed staff (76%) or plan to (78%) said that making the scheme more flexible to enable a reduced-hours return to work would be useful.

“Letting furloughed staff work some hours, where possible, will enable organisations to bring back workers from furlough gradually while rebuilding their business. This will be vital as lockdown measures are eased over a number of weeks or months and will reduce the risk of large-scale redundancies in this next phase of the crisis”, commented CIPD Chief Executive, Peter Cheese.

In addition to greater flexibility, employers would also like the scheme to be extended to the end of September (at present the scheme is only planned to be available until June).

“The Government must also consider extending the scheme to at least the end of September”, Mr Cheese continued, “this will provide more certainty for employers and ensure that there is no ‘cliff edge’ exit from furlough straight to redundancy for hundreds of thousands of workers at the end of June”.

The CIPD warns that ‘without these changes the current JRS could prove to be a waiting room for unemployment and fail to protect significant numbers of the jobs it set out to save’.

Corinthian has put together a Job Retention Scheme FAQ – https://corinthianbenefits.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Coronavirus-Job-Retention-Scheme-FAQs.pdf   Our Corinthian team members are here to help.

23 April 2020

During these difficult times, it is important to ensure you’re looking after your general wellbeing.  Therefore, we’ve put together a Wellbeing Resources list that might help you and that you may wish to share with your friends, family and colleagues.  We have researched some of the best podcasts, Apps and websites to help with mental and physical wellbeing.

Stay safe and keep well.

Wellbeing Resources

Many people are discovering that the routines of day-to-day life aren’t the only things to be affected by lockdown.  Many people are noticing interrupted and altered sleep patterns, jumbled thought processes and increased levels of stress and anxiety. While some are reveling in the opportunity to step away from their usual stressful or disordered routines and to take time for themselves.

However you are dealing with the current restrictions, the Corinthian Team have created a Wellbeing Resource full of useful links, podcasts and apps to help.

EXERCISE

One of the main ways you can improve both your thought processes and sleep quality is to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Venturing outside provides a change of scenery, fresh area and a break from your new work or family scenario. You could always incorporate this with listening to one of the many wellness and mindfulness podcasts available.

If you cant get outside there are various indoor workouts requiring minimal space and equipment – like the daily workout from the body coach – Joe Wicks.

MINDFULNESS

If you had previously filed ‘mindfulness’ away under the ‘not relevant to me’ part of your brain, it’s possible that the current situation has made you consider your mental health more than normal.

“A mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique”

Mindfulness refers to anything that can help to calm your mind and bring your thoughts to the present – lifting your mood and focusing your mind in a calmer, more ordered state; Not just restricted to meditating or perfecting deep-breathing, our guide details some of the many mental health resources available – including those from MIND and Headspace.

WORK 

Creating a new, healthy, working practice to navigate these times shouldn’t be disregarded. Neither should the importance of a well set-up working area

SOCIAL

As sociable creatures the lack of human contact shouldn’t be underestimated – and work emails and calls don’t count! Make sure to make time to stay in touch with friends and family, video calling apps like Houseparty and Zoom have made this easier than ever.

 

 

21 April 2020

As we head into week 4 of lockdown, we see the re-start of home schooling following the Easter break.  If like many of us you are struggling with the balancing act that is working from home whilst trying to home school children of different ages, we thought this guide may be useful for you and your employees.

The website http://www.twinkl.co.uk is also pretty useful, together with the BBC Bitesize programmes which are split across all age groups.

Good luck, and stay safe!

Stay at Home Schooling

 

20 March 2020

There is no doubt that this is a very scary and uncertain time for the world, Britain and her businesses.

Understandably, much of our day to day business at Corinthian currently involves dealing with clients desperately seeking answers to their financial questions. As the situation across the world changes on an almost hourly basis we are doing our best to keep our customers updated.

Redundancy and your pension contributions – what should you do?

One of the main concerns for people is whether they will still have a job in a few months and what may happen to their pension if redundancy becomes a reality.  If the unthinkable does happen, you have a number of options:

  • Continue to keep paying contributions from your bank account.
  • Transfer to another pension with no penalty charge
  • Cease contributions but remain invested
  • If you’re over 55 you could start taking your pension benefits

Even if your employment continues you may have to make the difficult decision of reducing your outgoings; in which case you can choose to stop making pension contributions. Though if you do stop your employer contribution will also probably stop.

Likewise, if you are asked to work reduced hours or a shorter week your pension contributions will be adjusted accordingly.

What if I have to claim SSP? 

Given the current situation the likelihood of having to take time off due to illness is higher than ever. Unless your contract of employment states otherwise both employer and employee contributions decrease if sick pay is less than normal pay.

If salary exchange is used, employers must follow the varied contract of employment set up at the outset of salary exchange and maintain the agreed level of pension contributions during any form of paid sick leave.  Employer contributions will be based on the employee’s actual earnings during sick leave.  SSP must be paid in full in cash and cannot be reduced by the salary exchange agreement.

What about my debts?

On 17th March the Government announced that those suffering financial hardship could be given a 3-month holiday on mortgage payments; (most providers will adjust your monthly payments after the 3-month period).

No specific provision was made for loans and credit cards, but should you have issues in making payments talk to your provider as soon as possible.

Is this potentially a good time for investing?

Whilst the immediate value of many investments has fallen there is always the argument that investments should be viewed as a long-term option and so will hopefully rise again.

DON’T PANIC! If you are concerned about your investments – it’s what we’re here for.

The knee-jerk reaction is to stop paying into your fund but when stock markets are low it can in fact be a great time to invest as when they recover your pension value will increase.

What is the long-term outlook? 

We really don’t know what the final outcome of all this will be. All we know is that we will continue to tailor our advice and recommendations to our individual clients and give the best options for each personal situation.

19 March 2020

Following on from yesterday’s post, please find attached our FAQ document on Group Health & Risk.  We understand that you may not currently have some, or all of these products, or indeed have these held with other brokers; but you may find that these are useful, and offer some support to your employees.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

COVID-19 FAQ’s Part 2

18 March 2020

In these rather unsettling and unprecedented times, we at Corinthian Benefits would like to support you and your employees as much as we can.  We appreciate that you are trying to keep your business functional and provide reassurance to your employees and your own clients.

Please find attached our initial FAQs for you to share with your employees.  We fully anticipate that we will be sending more updates as things are changing at such a pace, and we will be shortly providing some FAQs that might assist on Group Health and Risk.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

COVID-19 FAQ’s Part 1

11 March 2020

Below are the key points from today’s Budget that will have the biggest impact on our clients and their employees.

Corona Virus Response:

Extra support for the NHS to fight the virus – £5bn emergency response fund

Employees support:

  • Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from day 1
  • SSP available to those who are told to self-isolate – even if they haven’t presented with symptoms
  • Government to meet cost of providing statutory sick pay for up to 14 days for workers in firms with up to 250 employees
  • More help for self-employed or those in gig economy through £500m welfare boost and new £500m hardship fund

Business Support:

  • ‘Business Interruption’ loans available to SMEs
  • Some industries benefiting from 1-year business rates abolition where rateable value is below £51k
  • £3,000 grant available to businesses eligible for small business rates relief

General Budget Update:

  • National Insurance threshold to rise from £8,632 to £9,500 saving employees and the Self-Employed, between £85-£100 annually
  • Corporation Tax to remain at 19%
  • The reduction of the lifetime limit for Entrepreneurs’ Relief from £10m to £1m

Changes to Pensions:

  • Threshold income for the tax year will be increased from £110k to £200k – this will help higher earners save for pensions with more tax efficiency
  • An intention to consult on the net pay tax relief issue to provide a solution for lower earners contributing to workplace pension schemes set up on this basis
  • An increase in the lifetime allowance. In 2020/21 the allowance will increase in line with CPI, rising to £1,073,100 – slightly higher than expected

Changes to finances from April 2020:

  • Those aged 25 and over will get the National Living Wage of £8.72 an hour, a rise of 6.2%, with younger workers also getting more
  • The full, new state pension will go up by 3.9% from £168.60 a week to about £175.20 in April

As always, if you have any concerns or questions regarding the above, please feel free to get in touch with us, as we are here to help.

‘The value of investments may go up as well as down’ – a disclaimer you could recite from memory, yet the idea of risk is still not particularly understood by many investors. In fact, unless you are of the older investment generation (who remembers Black Monday or the 2002 Dotcom Bubble Burst?) the recent drop of the FTSE-100, caused by the spread of coronavirus, may have been a worrying reality check.

The truth is that no one can predict how the current state of affairs will progress, (if we could then we’d be millionaires!) The only certainty is that the market depression looks set to remain for the foreseeable whilst the impact of the virus on China is felt in supply chains around the world.

Don’t panic! Hopefully your investments have been made with a long-term goal in mind, spanning years (ideally at least three to five) rather than months; allowing for any losses now to be recouped over the time. After all, investors who saw markets crash by 30% in the 2008/9 financial crash saw a 30% rise in the following months.

Keep Calm and Carry On! If you have a payment plan in place, or even a payment routine – carry on! By continuing to invest regularly you will be buying investment units at different prices every time and getting more for your money than you previously have been, this is known as pound cost-averaging.

Lessons Learned… Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we are now, in many ways, at the mercy of the virus. An important lesson to take from this experience is to not become complacent about investments. By keeping an eye on the markets, or engaging regular professional advice, future issues could at least be managed or the impact minimalised by acting quickly.

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