Maternity pay for self-employed mums

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Full article with thanks to https://www.freeagent.com/guides/small-business/maternity-pay-leave-self-employed-mothers/ Navigating the ins and outs of maternity leave while you’re in full-time employment is one thing, but figuring out maternity leave when you’re self-employed can be even trickier. Fortunately, there are a few different options available for self-employed mothers. From applying for Maternity Allowance to freelancing during your maternity leave, there are a number of different ways you can protect yourself financially during this time. What is Statutory Maternity Pay? Statutory simply means ‘required by law’, and Statutory Maternity Pay is the pay that employers must provide to their eligible contracted employees. Am I eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay if I’m self-employed? Unfortunately not. To be eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), you must have a full-time employment contract with a company that pays you through PAYE and deducts National Insurance and tax for you. You’d also have to have worked for that company for at least 26 …

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Starting a food business from home

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Full article with thanks to https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/starting-a-food-business-from-home Guidance on how to get compliant and protect your customers when starting a food business from home during COVID-19. This guidance is for individuals starting food businesses from home. Read in conjunction with our food hygiene and food safety guidance, following these steps will ensure hygiene standards are met, and your customers are protected. During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic many have turned to the kitchen during lockdown. While a pastime for most, others have looked to turn this into an income. With more people cooking and baking from home, some have started to sell to their local community or online as a source of revenue and a potential career. Equally, some catering and hospitality workers have switched to their own kitchen to operate food delivery businesses from home. As part of our Here to Help campaign we are providing support and guidance to help food businesses further adapt during COVID-19. …

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Tax Changes For The Self Employed In 2021/2022

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Full article with thanks to https://www.moneydonut.co.uk/blog/21/03/tax-changes-self-employed-2021-22 If sole traders want to prepare for the 2021/22 tax year, they need look no further than Rishi Sunak’s much-talked-about Budget. In it, the chancellor promised to do whatever it takes to protect jobs and livelihoods and outlined how the government intends to support the self employed. To save you the trouble of researching each change, we’ve asked Mike Parkes from GoSimpleTax to list the three big updates and explain how they might affect you. Additional COVID-19 support Both the Coronavirus Job Support Scheme (or furlough scheme) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) are set to be extended until September 2021. There will be two remaining SEISS grants, amounting to five grants in total. The fourth will cover February 2021 to April 2021 and, provided you filed your 2019/20 tax return before midnight on the 2nd March (and meet similar criteria to the previous rounds of funding), you’re likely …

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How to get a mortgage being self employed

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Full article with thanks to https://afiaus.com/how-to-get-a-mortgage-being-self-employed/ How To Get a Mortgage Being Self- Employed Here is a step by step guide on the process to enable you to get the best mortgage for your particular needs. The first step is getting your accounts in order. Most lenders are happy to give mortgages to self-employed people who have been trading for at least three years and have two years of accounts or self-assessment tax returns available. However, if you are unable to get three years accounts you may still be able to get a mortgage. Speak to an accountant Lenders prefer borrowers to employ an accountant to prepare self-employed workers’ accounts. Some lenders state the accountant must be certified or chartered – so bear this in mind when choosing one. Make sure your credit is good Make sure your credit is good and that you are permissible to be lent to. …

How to register as self-employed with HMRC

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Full article with thanks to https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2019/11/how-to-set-up-as-self-employed-with-hmrc-uk/ So you’ve decided to take the leap and set up as self-employed? Congratulations – you’re at the beginning of an exciting journey. Before you really get stuck in, there are a few things you should have covered. The first is setting up as self-employed with HMRC and, most likely, registering as a sole trader. Use our how to register as self-employed guide to tick this task off your to-do list. How to register as self-employed with HMRC – step by step We’ll take you through the process in depth, but here’s a quick overview of how to register as self-employed: Check your work counts as self-employment using the Employment Status Indicator Register for an online account with gov.uk Wait for your details, which will arrive by post Complete your registration using your Government Gateway details, as well as information about your business, like trading name and contact …

Understanding Bounce Rate in Google Analytics

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Full article with thanks to https://yoast.com/understanding-bounce-rate-google-analytics/   What is a bounce rate and why is it important? Do your research. Build your website. Launch your business. Pay for advertising….and…..nothing happens. There are lots and lots of reasons why this might have happened – and without taking a look at your business model, website and advertising I can’t immediately tell you what the issue is (happy to offer you a free consultation so I can try to do just that though – book on my website). But your website stats – and your bounce rate will certainly give you a clue. The questions you need to ask are: 1) Is my advertising working? (if your advertising has resulted in more people going to your website then potentially yes – if no then you need to relook at your advertising and who you’re targeting). 2) How long are people staying on your …

SEO Guide

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Full article with thanks to https://www.practicalecommerce.com/seo-how-to-part-1-why-use-it Search engine optimization is the practice of configuring your site to increase organic traffic and conversions driven by Google, Bing, and others. Part science and part art, SEO includes elements from site development, user experience, content creation, and community relations, as well as an understanding of search engines and their algorithms. This post begins a weekly primer in SEO, with the goal of addressing all foundational aspects. In the end, you’ll be able to practice SEO more confidently and converse with others regarding important SEO challenges and opportunities. There are three core aspects of SEO: Indexing: Search engines’ ability to crawl and index your web pages. Relevance: The relevance of your content. Amplifying: Through links, strengthen your content’s relevance and authority signals. Optimizing the relevance and authority signals your site sends to search engines can increase your rankings, which drives visitors to your site. The more relevant …

How to price your services

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Full article with thanks to https://www.starlingbank.com/resources/business-guides/how-to-price-your-services/ When you provide a service with minimal cost other than time, it can sometimes be difficult to know what you should be charging. That’s why service pricing is different to product pricing. There are three main pricing methods: cost-plus pricing, market rate pricing and value-based pricing. 1. Cost-plus pricing This method is based on what you would pay an employee. It’s traditional to multiply the notional salary cost by a factor of around three. This would cover the salary, plus a contribution towards overheads, plus an element of profit for the business owner who is taking the commercial risk. For instance, if the employee is paid £10 per hour this would be closer to £13 with national insurance and pension. If the job takes four hours, then you would charge £13 x 4 x 3 = £156. Of this, £52 would pay the employee and …

Business Partnership Agreement Writing Guide

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Full article with thanks to https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15756-business-partnership-agreement-writing-guide.html   Thinking about going into business with a friend, colleague, family member? 100% you need a partnership contract. Right now everything may seem exciting and you’re both/all passionate about the business but entering a partnership is a little like entering a new romantic relationship. The fact is you DON’T know everything about what your partner/s expectations are, what they want from this business. You may ‘think’ that you do but believe me when I say you don’t. And like any romantic relationship, a business partnership has just as much chance to go wrong. Give your partnership (and business) the best possible chance of success by ensuring you have discussed every element you can think of what ‘could’ happen. And get it all into a signed agreement. Some questions to ask yourself – and each other…. 1) What do you want/need to earn out of …

Is The Middle of a Pandemic the time to Start a Business?

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By Cressida Johns of Sandcress Small Business Consultancy Millions of people have had to adjust to a ‘new normal’ throughout this pandemic. Covid has caused unmeasurable loss – but there have been positives too. With so many people now working from home parents have been able to eat with their children every day, play with them, put them to bed. With less travel families have had more time together, have felt more connected than ever before. As a result, I’m getting daily calls from people who have had a taste of this new life and don’t want to go back. They want to start their own business. And one of the questions I frequently am asked is ‘But is NOW, the right time to start a business?’ The simple answer is absolutely! This pandemic is NOT going to last forever and as it takes between 3 to 12 months to …