Employment Allowance is claimed as part of a
businesses’ HMRC payroll submissions. Since 2014, all eligible employers within
the UK have been able to reduce Class 1 NIC’s by claiming employment allowance
for their company. If claimed, employers are not required to pay the first
£4,000 of employer’s national insurance – a huge saving opportunity for any
small business!

Can I claim employment allowance for my business?

If you have never claimed Employment Allowance before,
the good news is you can apply retrospectively for the past 4 tax years, dating
back to the 2016/2017 tax year. Employment Allowance for these prior years was
£3,000 per year, although your small business might actually be entitled to as
much as £12,000 refund from HMRC, coupled with this year’s relief.

Most small businesses are eligible for Employment
Allowance, although there are some exemptions which business owners should be
aware of before applying:

Which small business types are exempt from Employment Allowance?

Class 1 liability over £100,000

• Any small businesses owners with a secondary
  employer’s Class 1 NIC liability of £100,000 or more in the prior tax year are
  not eligible for claiming Employment Allowance. It is advised that liability
  should be calculated by considering connected employers. Should all connected
  parties add up to £100,000 or more, no employers within this category would be
  eligible.

State aid

• As of 6^th April 2020, Employment
  Allowance is operated as “de minimis State aid”. This means that employers who
  already claim de minimis state aid are required to check that they have
  sufficient balance available to make an Employment Allowance claim. If you have
  received de minimis state aid, this is something which you should have been
  notified about. Should you believe that you have received de minimis state aid
  but were not notified, clarify this with your scheme’s administrator.
• Any small business which receives more than
  their sectors ceiling or if it would breach their ceiling should Employment
  Allowance be granted, then they would not be granted eligibility for Employment
  Allowance. The applicable ceiling for most small businesses is EUR 200,000. It
  is recommended that small businesses owners verify this over on the HMRC
  website.

Single company directors

• If a small business contains only one employee
  who is paid over the Secondary Threshold for Class 1 National Insurance
  contributions and if they happen to also be the company director, this business
  will not be eligible for Employment Allowance.
• Additionally, small businesses with just one
  employee will also not be eligible for Employment Allowance.

How to claim Employment Allowance for my small business?

The best way to apply employment allowance for your business
is to entrust this task to a professional accountancy firm. Based in Central
London, Venn Accounts are chartered accountants who specialise in providing
personalised accountancy services for small businesses and startups
respectively.

With an emphasis on going the extra mile for clients, Venn
Accounts provide an all-encompassing service that is tailor-made for the needs
of small businesses owners. Visit Venn
Accounts website to arrange a consultation for your business.

Most food businesses, from smaller enterprises such as café’s and bakeries to big chain restaurants and supermarkets, all require commercial fridges. Commercial refrigeration units are essential for storing everything from ingredients to prepared food. Unlike fridges at home, commercial units such as walk in fridges and meat chillers feature a heavier compressor to withstand rough usage. As such, they have better cooling capacities for effective preservation and storing. Ensure optimal performance and longevity for your refrigeration system with high-quality and reliable refrigeration parts.

Put simply, investing in good commercial fridge units from a refrigeration equipment supplier such as Enviro Chill, is necessary for the success of your business. However, there are important factors which businesses need to consider when purchasing a commercial refrigeration unit:

1. How energy efficient is my commercial fridge?

• Because commercial refrigeration units feature high running costs, it’s important to pay close attention to how energy efficient your commercial fridge is. Look out for those with the best energy star rating to get the best deal for your business.

2. What style best suits my business?

• Buyers will come across a wide variety of styles when shopping around for a new commercial fridge. As such, it is important that you look for a unit which best meets your precise storage requirements. For example, a supermarket would need a larger commercial refrigeration unit that features a glass display to both store products and put them out on display.

• Different commercial fridges also feature varying levels of cooling insulation. Solid door commercial fridges offer better insulation levels due to limited heat transfers from outside to the inside. This makes them ideal for perishable goods as temperatures remain balanced. While glass door commercial fridges are great for displaying food items, they are not ideal for either cooling or insulation as there is a thin barrier between inner and outer parts that lead to easier heat transfers.

3. What brand is my commercial fridge unit?

• It is imperative that your business invests wisely when purchasing commercial fridges and chooses a reliable brand. The quality of services which you provide to customers often relies on how reliable the tools and es which you use are. Always look for a reliable manufacturer of commercial fridges to reduce risks of equipment failure.

4. How much space does my business have for a refrigeration unit?

• Businesses should take some time to carry out careful space planning before choosing your commercial fridge unit. First, measure the available area at your premises. Do you have the capacity for swinging doors? If not, perhaps consider sliding doors for your commercial fridge instead.

• Additionally, consider measuring the entrance which leads to wherever you plan on keeping your walk-in freezer whilst performing your space planning.

5. How much does my commercial fridge cost?

• Finally, make sure your business establishes a clear budget when selecting a commercial refrigeration unit. Should you have a limited budget, weigh up the pros and cons of a lesser-known brand. Although they may cost less than a household brand, the maintenance expenses which they may incur in the future might outweigh any initial costs.

• While refrigeration units from reputable brands might be more expensive, investing in the services of reliable commercial refrigeration equipment supplier would help prevent unnecessary expenses for your business.

Considering it makes up around 70% of our bodies, it’s no
surprise that humans need plenty of clean water in order to function. In fact,
the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that we need to use at least 20 litres per day — for drinking, as
well as washing and cooking — in order to take care of our basic hygiene and
food needs. And while the planet’s freshwater sources are the same as
they have always been — around 2.5% of Earth’s water is considered fresh — the
planet’s population has exploded in recent times, leading to a clean water
crisis around the world.

While you may think that first-world countries would be safe
from having to worry about access to freshwater, this couldn’t be further from
the truth. An increasing number of developed countries lack access to clean
water, the most notable example perhaps being the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. This came
about after the government failed to add corrosion inhibitors to the water,
having switched sources from the treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
water (which was sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River) to the Flint
River. As a result, it was found that lead was leaching into the water supply,
poisoning thousands of citizens. While thousands of families in Flint continue
to rely on water donations in order to survive, officials maintain that the
water is safe to drink.

Here, we’ll look at some of the most innovative technologies
being developed in order to solve the water crisis, prevent incidents like
these, and provide clean, fresh water to billions around the world.

Grundfos: providing solar-powered water pumps

As previously mentioned, not even 3% of the planet’s water
sources are directly usable for humans and, considering that around 71% of the
Earth’s surface is made up of water, this is a tiny percentage of
freshwater that can be used by a constantly growing population. But in many
places around the world, the problem isn’t a lack of water — it’s that the
available sources are contaminated. It’s estimated that around 2 billion people
use drinking water that has been contaminated with faeces, which can lead to a
range of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio,
and cause around 485,000 deaths each year. However, groundwater is being
increasingly used as it’s considered safer and easier to treat, if it needs to
be treated at all, provided pollutants haven’t leached underground.

Many businesses are looking at extracting groundwater, which
can be particularly useful in developing and rural areas. Grundfos,
for example, has developed solar-powered water pump products with the aim of
providing clean and sustainable water for customers around the world, whether
that’s for a small village or an entire building. These are perfect for rural
areas which perhaps cannot afford electricity or diesel to run traditional
water metering pumps, but still need a clean water supply for agriculture.

The rapid growth of Grundfos on a global scale meant it had
to quickly streamline its business processes in order to improve customer service by gathering accurate
data and reviews. The company looked to SAP software to address this, which
resulted in a threefold growth in purchases from the top 25% of customers.
Headquartered in Denmark, a leader in agriculture, manufacturing, and energy
sectors for SAP specialists, it meant that Grundfos could
quickly hire the required experts to get the project moving as quickly as
possible, and maximise sales.

LifeStraw: manufacturing portable water filters

Designed for people living in developing nations and for use
in humanitarian crises, LifeStraws have since been adopted by hikers,
survivalists, and general outdoor adventurists. The straw itself features a
hollow fibre membrane, as well as activated carbon in some models. Water is
drawn up via suction — like a traditional straw — then passes through hollow
fibres that filter water particles in order to make it drinkable. The device
claims to filter out any dirt, bacteria, and parasites, making it ideal for
cleaning water from lakes and rivers — an especially helpful process for a
water crisis.

While most entrepreneurs look at their businesses as having
a corporate social responsibility, LifeStraw instead looks itself as being a
“global public health company with a retail program”. Speaking to Forbes, managing director Alison Hill
explained how the company leverages products targeted specifically at
schoolchildren from the world’s developing areas. On the other hand, the retail
products developed by LifeStraw include water bottles, pitchers, and universal
filter attachments. And with every retail sale made, the business’ Give Back
scheme allows them to continually provide fresh water to communities around the
world.

Dar Si Hmad: capturing water from the atmosphere

Some regions, such as Peru, Bolivia, and Morocco, are chronically
dry, making water collection more difficult. However, while it isn’t possible
to use conventional methods to gather water from natural sources, experts have
managed to harness water from the atmosphere. Foggy regions, like Sidi Ifni in
Morocco, are ideal areas for utilising this technology, as made evident by the
nonprofit organisation, Dar Si Hmad.

On the slopes of nearby Mount Boutmezguida, they installed
fog collectors — large, vertically-installed nets — creating the world’s
largest fog harvesting, or cloud fishing, project.

The nets harvest around 6,3000 litres of water every day —
as the fog passes through the fine mesh, the mist gets caught, trickling down
into the collection system, where it is filtered through. The water is then
mixed with groundwater, and piped into five nearby villages, providing clean
water for around 400 people.