Tuesday 31 March 2015

The Budget

What does the 2015 mean for your organisation?  NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) has blogged about the top 5 things to be aware of. This includes an increase in the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) claim threshold from April 2016. (That means that charities will be able to claim Gift Aid on up to £8,000 of small donations (under £20 each) which do not have an accompanying Gift Aid declaration form).

Don’t crack open the bubbly though – the flip side are further cuts in local government funding and other departmental budgets, such as welfare and further financial pressures for the sector.

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E-Learning on financial controls

Are there rules and procedures in place to make sure that your organisation’s money is properly used?  We are running our popular E-Learning course again from 20 April 2015.  The course can be worked through in your own time at your own computer.  The materials are accessible for 4 weeks. Further information is available here.

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Employment status workshop

An issue WYCAS often flags up in our annual accounts management letters is the employment status of those paid by the organisation.  If this has been raised with you, or you just want to be clear on how to judge the nature of the relationship and what this means, then WYCAS has commissioned a workshop to help you.

Led by Anne Gilchrist from the Pay and Employment Rights Service (PERS) the workshop will enable you to:

• Distinguish the key differences between being employed, self-employed and being a worker
• Understand the different employment and tax requirements and how to treat them
• Know how and where to seek advice if the position is unclear

The workshop is on 2 June from 10:00am till 12pm. There is a small charge of £10 to help cover costs. You can book your place here.

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Employer’s NI Allowance

Budgeting for your staff costs, or looking at your April payroll figures?  The £2,000 deduction from the employer’s NI bill will again apply in the tax year from April 2015.  This offsets the Employer’s NI charge, until the £2,000 total is reached.

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Auto enrolment - free e-book

We’ve referenced the importance of and need to act on the issue of auto enrolment previously. As a further resource, Quick Books has created a free auto-enrolment eBook with some practical, simple information that will help explain and guide you through the process. It includes:

• A concise guide on how to stay compliant with workplace pensions

• A timeline to keep on track through the process

• A jargon buster to help make sense of auto-enrolment

Please note WYCAS are not pension advisors and can not give advice or guidance about potential pension providers.

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Small Charities Finance update

Charity Finance Group (CFG) has issued a newsletter aimed at small charities, with lots of potentially useful nuggets of information.  The current edition includes articles on how to win a public contract, SORP changes and auto enrolment lessons learned amongst others.

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Making the accounts process easier!

Year end is approaching for many organisations.  If we do accounts work for you, please remember to look at our short guide.  This aims to make the process as efficient and effective as possible and will help us to give you the best service we can.

Following the simple steps outlined will help us to turn your accounts round promptly. The guide also includes some hints and tips and covers important things such as timescales for filing your accounts with relevant regulators.

If you have any queries please do let us know.

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E-Bulletin

Our e-bulletin is issued on a monthly basis and sent directly to registered subscribers. It is also available from our website. Please note that information and resources contained in the e-bulletin are general in nature and not intended as specific advice or recommendations. We welcome any feedback on the content and format so that we can improve it and make sure it meets your needs. Please let us know  if you have any comments or suggestions.

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