February 2009 Commercial Update

So Valentine's Day has been and gone and Easter now seems just around the corner.

787 billion dollars. It's an amazing figure isn't it. That's the total amount of the recovery package that the US Senate approved this month. That amount makes the £500m the UK Government is proposing to insure banks against toxic assets look like small change.

It's clear that in these tough times, cash is even more of the king than we all know it to be. If you need help with chasing slow payers then please remember that we offer a full debt recovery service.

Now on to this month's news from the firm and from the legal arena.

Legal News
Hopefully you will not need this advice, but the proposed set of rules for ‘pre-pack’ administrations (where a company goes into administration with the prospective purchaser already in place and the sale of the business is pre-arranged) has been given the thumbs-up by insolvency practitioners.

Businesses that have websites may need to think again about the contact information they provide for users, following a surprise ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The rules are pretty simple and any business would comply in the normal scheme of things. It's really aimed at businesses trying to "hide" behind a website.

The VAT man is not generally regarded with much affection by businesses but, with times getting tougher, there are several ways in which cash-flow can be eased by optimising your VAT arrangements that we cover in the story below.

The number of Employment Tribunal applications received in the year to 31 March 2008 was 42 per cent higher than anticipated. A substantial reason for the increase was that the number of equal pay claims brought by low-paid female workers. You might want to read through this story if you think you might be affected by this.

Useful Site of the Month
Ever wanted to get some "animation" on to your website? The problem is it takes time and time costs money. Animoto.com is a brand new site that does it all for you. It lets you upload some photos, select some music and then it converts an incredibly professional video animation for you. I'm seriously thinking about doing something like this on our site.

STOP PRESS: Long Term Sick Workers Entitled to Paid Holiday
After years of uncertainty, the European Courts have now decided that employees on long term sick leave continue to accrue their statutory holidays even whilst of sick.  The practical implications of this are that employers will have to decide whether it is better to allow employees to take the paid leave whilst off sick or whether it is better to have the leave accrue until the employee returns or leaves.  Either way, it will be an added cost.  The possible impact of this is that employers will look to offload long term sick employees quicker than they would have previously in order to minimise this hidden liability. If you require advice on this, please do contact us.