We would like to thank Elaine, Natalie, Gareth, and all the team at Business in Focus for their help over the years in our current offices, we will miss you!
Congratulations to our amazing Clients Dockside Bar and Grill, have won Best Bar and Restaurant in Bridgend County 2022 in the Prestige Awards!
Husband and wife team Michael and Julia Jones, opened their beautiful venue in late 2018.
After just a year in the new business, finding their feet and building up a well deserved reputation- Covid hit and their business was forced to close at many different points in the various in/ out/ in out/ shake it all about lockdowns and firebreaks forced on them by the Government.
They remained determined to retain their incredible staff, and did everything in their power to make sure they could re-open and continue to provide their well loved food and atmosphere to everyone that missed them so much during the closures
“It wasn’t easy” – Julia said “It was very difficult with almost 2 years of varying restrictions, but we pushed through and knew we had a strong team and refused to give up no matter what was thrown at us.”
To have come back, better than ever, adding continuing flare to their incredible menu and Special Offer Themed Days -it has come as little surprise that their determination has been recognised and they have won this award.
If you haven’t yet been to visit Julia and Michael and their fantastic team in their stylish, retro vibe, friendly restaurant, what are you waiting for? You won’t be disappointed. p.s. We can personally recommend trying their cocktails too (…Hicccup..)
As we enter the new tax year 22/23, we thought we’d highlight some key updates
National Insurance increases
Employees Class 1 rises to 13.25%
Employers NI rises to 15.05%
Self Employed Class 2 NI rises to £3.15/ week
Self Employed Class 4 rises to 10.25%
Vat rises from the reduced rate for hospitality of 12.5% to 20%
Minimum wage increases all the new rates can be found here
Dividend tax increases to 8.75% (lower band) and 33.75 (higher band)
If you would like any further information or are concerned about how these changes affect you and your business, please get in touch and we will do our utmost to assist you to navigate through it all
Tim and I returned to the office today to start getting everything ready for us to reopen tomorrow. We were chatting away, and Tim suddenly realised we missed a celebration!
Lockdown has made lots of people forget what day of the week it is, I’m sure, but we actually just realised we missed our own very special birthday!
10 years ago, on 1st June 2010, we started CC Associates Accounting Limited!
We didn’t realise then that we would be so lucky in having such wonderful local clients who have supported us and stayed with us from the start; big thanks to:
We can honestly say we have enjoyed every minute of being able to support all our clients, offer advice and experience, and as most of our clients will testify, they are friends now – and a very special part of the CC Associates family..
Thank you all – whether it be that you have stuck with us right from the start, have joined us in the interim, or will be joining us in the future – for your support and we are so very grateful.
I am now busy preparing to reopen CC Associates on 1st July, 2020…
We never thought when we closed at the start of April it would be this long… It has made me reflect on everything that has gone on between now and then – and wow, so much has changed.
I know lots of people have been writing about their experiences with the lockdown, so I thought it would be handy to do the same; not only to tell you about the exciting things we have planned for a “New Normal” accountancy practice, but to process my own feelings about it – as a business owner, accountant, and human being…
I hope sharing my experiences will help other business owners, our own lovely clients, and others that stumble across this blog too!
So, in true ‘Sound of Music’ style – let’s start at the very beginning..!
The first week of the office being closed was rather a novelty.
I enjoyed being able to fuss my dogs for longer before I rushed off for work (they loved this as much as me!), and being able to have two cups of tea instead of one before heading out.
I enjoyed the whole slowing down of my day, which usually involves rushing around like a little Tasmanian devil.
By week two, I was still enjoying the break, but started to realise that there were no people! Just – PEOPLE! Anyone!
It’s funny how I missed just seeing other human beings walking up the office corridor, or passing them getting in and out of the car, and of course, missing my partners in crime, Tim, Richard and Tara.
Weeks three to five were not good weeks for me, emotionally. I have spoken to a lot of people who hit this particular wall in this period.
It was becoming almost unbearable to not go and cuddle my mum, who was sent a ‘shielding’ letter due to her health condition. I couldn’t see my best friend, who is more like a sister to me – we spend a lot of time together. I couldn’t go to Church…
Yes, we had (almost) mastered Zoom by now, I could FaceTime people, but it really wasn’t the same as having actual human contact.
I started to find I was feeling really anxious, getting to feel quite low and gloomy and was continually feeling the most horrendous lurching in my stomach every time my dear husband left for work in the mornings.
He works for the Ambulance Service – so you can imagine how scared I was with him being on this new ‘Front Line’.
My sleeping wasn’t great. I would either not be able to sleep at all, or not stay asleep for very long at all. Again, a lot of people I have spoken to seem to have been through the same thing.
I was starting to not bother getting dressed at all some days. What was the point? There was nowhere to go…
I missed going shopping. I missed going to the local pub for a catch up with the people from the village. I missed seeing people in the street. Everywhere just seemed to have – stopped.
I was starting to get really worried about the business. “What if I have no clients left when I go back, if they all take jobs instead of being self employed?”
“What if the business doesn’t have enough money in the bank to keep us afloat during this?” and “What do I do if I no longer have a business, how will I survive financially?”
These thoughts plagued me to the point of exhaustion. My anxiety was through the roof. I was being moody and withdrawn, and generally not the normal “Happy Nic” I usually am.
I had almost got to the point where I felt I just didn’t care about a anything anymore, and felt like just rolling over, and giving up.
I spoke to my husband about this, and we realised that my problem was the routine change, which of course affected everyone on the planet too, not just me!
For me it was a real change. I have worked full time since I was 16 years old. I have hardly ever had time off except for annual holidays, or in rare cases of very temporary illness, or having my daughter 23 years ago. The things I had done daily for 29 years, suddenly just immediately stopped. The routine went, and I lost myself for a little while…
The first thing I decided to do was to turn off the TV.
I had Sky News going in the background all day, every day. I didn’t realise how much I was subconsciously taking in, and feeling more and more negative hearing the continual #Covid information on replay in the background.
I stopped watching the Daily Briefings. Instead, I spent some time making a playlist of my all time favourite songs, some of which I hadn’t heard for years. I only allowed uptempo music, no sad or slow songs!
The next thing I decided to do was to get up every day and GO TO WORK.
No, I didn’t go in to the office, but I had a NEW workplace to go to. This new workplace was my mental picture of how I was going to survive my days without getting down and anxious being alone all the time at home.
I started getting back up at the time I used to go to work. Threw myself at the shower, dressed, had one cup of tea, fussed the dogs and moved on, instead of sitting around wondering what to do with myself all day.
I planned every night what I would do the next day at “work”, just like I would if I was still being a numbers bunny at the office.
All sorts of things went on my list; making cakes (until I discovered there seemed to be a sudden national shortage of flour!), reading some old classic books, playing and walking with the dogs, scheduling in FaceTime calls with friends and family to keep in touch.
The one thing I banned from my new “Workplace” was negative thoughts. I decided that as soon as I had a “What if…” question pop into my head, I would go outside and do 10 star jumps.
Any one that knows me knows I don’t do exercise. I can’t ride a bike. I can’t swim. I would drive to the car if I could. I am pretty lazy physically. So the idea of having to do star jumps if I had a negative thought did two things; firstly it made me go outside and actually do some exercise, and secondly, it instantly distracted me from the doom train of my thoughts.
I was still really missing my mum and dad during weeks 8-10, still hating Paul going off to work, but I was starting to realise that this really was not going to be forever, and started to feel a lot more at peace with things. I felt more relaxed and less anxious, and started to plan and think about how the business needed to operate when we could come back.
The BCBC business team http://www.bridgendbusinessforum.co.uk/ were amazing, they offered lots of help and support. Free online courses to upskill which I did, lots of information from other business owners was shared and that really helped me.
Last week I did an online course with BCBC, via www.ccetrainingservices.co.uk which again was free, and totally brilliant.
It armed me with so much information about what I had to think about as a business owner to keep the workplace safe for staff and clients.
That course alone gave me a week’s worth of things to do, which I was really grateful for, as I felt I had a purpose again. I went to the office and cleaned. I set our screen guards up. I started to let clients know we were coming back.
It almost became like the excitement I felt when I started the business 12 years ago. I started to feel really positive about things again and although the New Normal is still unknown, I am really looking forward to it, and seeing it as just a new challenge.
So yes, we will be back (and socially distanced!) next week!
We will be happy to see clients again. We will be happy to see each other again. More than anything, I think we will be happy that we have been lucky enough to come out the other side, healthy and well. Not everyone has been so lucky, and any time I get scared or anxious, I am going to remind myself that thankfully I am in my office, with no one missing.
I hope you have enjoyed my lockdown ramblings, I hope it has been helpful for anyone who has also felt down and anxious.
A massive thank you to ALL our clients, who I have thought about continually through out this period, and I really can’t wait to see you all again. I will be very excited and I’m a hugger, but I promise I won’t…!
For all our trusted clients: We are not ALLOWED to do this for you, as much as we would love to.
We are extremely frustrated by the stance that HMRC are taking, on 4th May they announced that the Self-employed cannot ask their Accountant to make the claim on their behalf.
To make the claim, you as the client need to have or create a government gateway account yourselves – full details are here:
Total total disgrace by HMRC. A massive thank you to our wonderful chairman Tony Margaritelli for ranting on behalf of us all, The ICPA are actively working behind scenes and making representations to HMRC on this issue. Check out his video here.
Thanks to you all and stay safe, Nicola and the CC team xx
THIS WEDNESDAY – APRIL 1. Register for your allowed time here:
This webinar provides an overview of the support available to help employers and their staff in addressing Coronavirus (COVID-19) – including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, refunding eligible Statutory Sick Pay costs, furloughed employees and more.
This webinar is offered several times. Select the date and time that works best for you.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a temporary scheme open to all UK employers for at least three months starting from 1 March 2020. We expect the scheme to be up and running by the end of April. It is designed to support employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).
Employers can use a portal to claim for 80% of furloughed employees’ (employees on a leave of absence) usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that wage. Employers can use this scheme anytime during this period.
The scheme is open to all UK employers that had created and started a PAYEpayroll scheme on 28 February 2020.
Businesses will be given an additional 3 months to file accounts with Companies House to help companies avoid penalties as they deal with the impact of COVID-19.
From today (25 March 2020), businesses will be able to apply for a 3-month extension for filing their accounts.
This joint initiative between the government and Companies House will mean businesses can prioritise managing the impact of Coronavirus.
There are approximately 4.3 million businesses on the Companies House register, and all companies must submit their accounts and reports each year. Under normal circumstances, companies that file accounts late are issued with an automatic penalty.
As part of the agreed measures, while companies will still have to apply for the 3-month extension to be granted, those citing issues around COVID-19will be automatically and immediately granted an extension. Applications can be made through a fast-tracked online system which will take just 15 minutes to complete.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said:
We have outlined a business support package on an unprecedented scale, backing companies and their employees through these challenging times.
But it is important that our support is not limited to financial assistance. We are determined to help businesses in any way we can, so that they can focus all their efforts on dealing with the impact of Coronavirus, and this new offer of a 3 month extension for filing accounts is part of that.
Companies House Chief Executive, Louise Smyth said:
We recognise that these are uncertain times for businesses and that’s why we’re doing all we can to help.
By easing the burden, we can help businesses through this period and enable them to thrive in the future. I would encourage companies who believe they would benefit from this new flexibility to make an application in good time.
Head of Corporate Governance, Institute of Directors, Roger Barker said:
These measures will be welcomed by directors impacted by COVID-19. Our members will be pleased to see government taking proactive steps to support them through this difficult time. By easing the administrative burden that comes with running a business, the government is supporting businesses to focus on the fundamentals during this exceptional period.
The government is also in close consultation with company representative bodies, legal practitioners and others, to look at solutions for the impact COVID-19 may have on companies’ ability to hold Annual General Meetings. Updated guidance on this matter will be published in due course.
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