HMRC’s online calculator for working tax credit and child tax credit is back online, after a gap of several years. It allows you to enter your details to see if it’s worth claiming – you’re not asked for a name. The over 50s are one of the groups most likely to NOT claim tax credits they are entitled to.
Alternative link if the first one doesn’t work.
Lots of interesting charts about how the UK’s population is using the Internet, phone and other digital media in Ofcom’s annual communications market review.
Fast Internet access, or “broadband”, is now obtainable almost everywhere in the UK, so the key measure is adoption, or how many take it up. Overall take up of broadband reached 68 per cent of households in the UK by the end of the first quarter of 2009. This is up from 58 per cent on the previous year, an increase of 17 per cent.
Adoption in highest in England (70 per cent of households), but the other nations are catching up fast. Take up of broadband rose by 13 per cent in Scotland (up from 53 per cent to 60 per cent); by nearly 25 per cent in Northern Ireland (up from 52 per cent to 64 per cent); and by a third in Wales (up from 45 per cent to 58 per cent).
The total number of UK fixed broadband connections increased by 10.7 per cent to 17.3 million during 2008, up by 1.7 million on 2007. Take-up of mobile broadband also grew substantially over the year. More than 1 in 10 households (around 3 million homes) had a mobile broadband connection by the end of Q1 2009. Of these, three-quarters (75 per cent) also had access to broadband through their landline. This suggests that many consumers are using mobile broadband to complement their landline connection rather than replace it.
AGE GAP NARROWS FOR TECHNOLOGY USE
Ofcom’s research suggests that the gap in take-up between age groups is narrowing. It was among older consumers that technology take up grew the fastest during 2008. For mobile phone, digital TV and internet take-up, the largest growth in absolute terms wasamong the 65+ age group. The only other age group to see double-digit growth across all platforms was the 55-64 year olds.
What sectors will suffer worst as people cut back their spending in response the economic downturn? Ofcom polled people as part of it’s recent research into technology use, and produced some interesting answers.
When asked which items they were likely to cut back on in the recession, 47 per cent chose to cut back on going out for dinner, 41 per cent on DIY and 41 per cent on holidays. This compares with only a fifth (19 per cent) who would cut back on mobile phone spend, 16 per cent on TV subscriptions and 10 per cent on their broadband services. Only spending on groceries and toiletries/cosmetics were less popular economies to make.
Two big changes affecting the way government deals with small business have emerged out of the current political turmoil.
Firstly Alan Sugar, the business star from TV’s The Apprentice has accepted a new role promoting enterprise from within government. The role is unpaid, but Sir Alan is expected to accept a peerage, which will enable him to speak on business topics from within the House of Lords.
Text of official announcement below.
Press comment: Sugar
Secondly the government department with overall responsibility for business in the UK, BERR, is disappearing in a merger with DIUS, the department in charge of higer education. The new merged department, called BIS or “Business, Innovation and Skills”, will be taking over both roles – under the control of the current Business Secretary Peter Mandelson.
From BERR site Sir Alan will act as an adviser to small businesses and Government and will work closely with Small Business Minister Shriti Vadera and Trade and Investment Minister Mervyn Davis. Sir Alan is expected to give advice on how to ensure small firms and entrepreneurs make the most of the real help available from Government and other organisations. He will champion the causes of viable small companies with banks and help to ensure the voices of small firms and entrepreneurs are heard by Government, suppliers and other entities. Areas he may look at include access to finance, prompt payment, how to handle the downturn and how to start a new business. The post will be unpaid.
Sir Alan Sugar has been appointed as the Government’s Enterprise Champion.
The Government has today created a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whose key role will be to build Britain’s capabilities to compete in the global economy. The Department will be created by merging BERR and DIUS.
According to the official announcement the new department’s tasks include:
Advocating the needs of business across government, especially of UK small businesses;
Promoting an enterprise environment that is good for business and good for consumers;
Investing in skills … to help people through the downturn and to prepare Britain for the future.
More in BERR press release
Expect the fear of a pandemic and measures taken to combat it to have an impact well in advance of the disease itself, if or when it arrives.
Most of the advice so far seems to be aimed at large businesses, but many of the principles still apply. Have everyone’s mobile phone numbers to hand, backup computer and web data properly in case services go down. Observe enhanced hygiene practices. Think through the implications of things like restrictions on travel, the closure of venues and the unavailability of key services and staff.
Latest on 2009 outbreak from European Centre for Disease Control
Time for preparation not panic (PDF) – thorough discussion of possible impact from insurance broking giant and risk management specialist Willis.
Gartner business continuity blog Frequent updates but from a very American perspective
Basic facts about influenza pandemics – Briefings from European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC)
Personal protective measures – Briefing from ECDC goes into more detail than most.
The Pitch 2009 is a competition run by Sift Media, the company behind the useful BusinessZone.co.uk small business web site. Its aim is to find “Britain’s most innovative small companies”. The winner gets a package of business support including practical help on PR, marketing and doing business online valued by the organisers at £50,000.
To enter, your business must be based in the UK, established for less than three years and employ no more than 20 staff. If you are just starting you don’t have to be fully up and trading yet, but “you must be able to demonstrate a sound business plan and evidence that there is a proven market for your product or service”.
According to the application form “the judges will look for innovation, engagement with customers, sound financial and business planning, and an understanding of where the opportunities exist in the market for your product or service”.
The entry form is a Microsoft Word document that you can download here. Any queries contact Sift Media’s Rita Andrews on 0117 915 9619.
Shortlisted entrants get to attend their nearest regional heat, where they pitch to a live panel Dragon’s Den style. These are taking place on 9 June 2009 in Bristol, 17 June in Manchester, 23 June in Glasgow, 8 July in Birmingham and 14 July in London.
The final will take place in central London during Enterprise Week, the week of 16-22 November 2009.
The application closing dates for the regional heats are as follows:
Chichester College have been awarded funding by SEEDA (the South East England Development Agency) to run an exiting new project called SEED in the South East.
The project, which runs until December 2010, will be self-employment focused and aims to engage and support 50 unemployed or economically inactive clients, that are 19yrs or over, from areas of deprivation within Lewes and Newhaven.
Benna Madan is the community business coach who will be supporting these people. Benna is looking for people who fit the above criteria that she can help overcome individual barriers in their transition to self-employment?
If you are interested you will need to move quickly as this unique opportunity only exists for the first 50 clients that are identified.
Please email Benna Madan if you have any queries.
Benna Madan
Community Business Coach for Lewes/Newhaven
SEED project for Chichester College
info@bennamadan.co.uk
More than five million people are working from home after finishing their day job, according to a report published this week. The survey, commissioned by the office products giant Staples, and carried out by Enterprise Nation, the UK’s largest website for home based business, confirms that the “5 to 9″ trend is spreading across the - – - read more >
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) now has the power to raid ordinary homes without warning – if you are conducting a business somewhere on the premises. Running a home business is of course not itself illegal. The idea is to allow tax inspectors to check up on what you are doing and have a look - – - read more >
Scams are big business. The combined turnover for some firms closed down recently for conducting fake-charity publishing scams came to over £50 million. The Office of Fair Trading has now published new advice for businesses to help them avoid losing money to criminals. “When targeting businesses, the scammers are using increasingly sophisticated techniques”, according to - – - read more >
Peter Mandelson has announced a package of measures to end the business loan famine and get banks lending again. It involves giving the big High Street lenders more taxpayers’ money – this time up to £20 billion to guarantee up to 50% of the value of any loans advanced to small and medium sized businesses. - – - read more >
Entries are now being sought for next year’s awards for women-owned businesses in the North West of England. There are six categories (including the ageist Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award – must be under 30 years of age). The prizes are £2,000 per category, with £1,000 to the runner up, and a top prize - – - read more >
The next step in the drastic simplification of government-funded business support in the UK was today announced by Peter Mandelson, who is Secretary of State for Business. The aim is not to reduce total spending on government assistance to business, but to slash the number of different programmes so they are easier for people to - – - read more >
More than half of the visitors to this site taking part in a recent PRIME mini poll expect to sell their business as a going concern when they are ready to exit the business. A further 16 per cent also expect to keep it going, giving it to family or a friend. Do you expect - – - read more >
The excellent home-business web site Enterprise Nation is now accepting entries for its 2008 home business award. The closing date is Friday the 15th of August 2008, and the winner will be announced on the 1st of September. The free competition is easy to enter, requiring just 200 words under each of three headings on the entry form. - – - read more >
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