In our last meeting of 2023, we’ll be back on January 8, 2024, we covered the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement and its effects on the Revenues and Benefits department, along with its impact on citizens and stakeholders. We went through various topics, including changes in business rates, unexpected effects on council tax reduction schemes, and how shifting public sector financial support to tax cuts affects services and taxpayers alike. Gareth Morgan from Ferrett Systems pointed out that this shift is less beneficial for taxpayers and more advantageous for the Treasury, as the tax cut ultimately results in more tax being paid. In the case of the increase in the minimum wage and the national insurance cut to a hefty tax burden on employers. Employee costs are of course one the main factors driving councils into 114 measures. In the long run this is likely to fuel more AI development and more redundancies. Especially as the tax breaks for business in investing in AI development will be more attractive than the cost of employing a real person.
We also discussed the government’s approach to helping long-term sick individuals return to work, including working from home. This was surprising since I thought the government was not in favor of home working.
There’s a comprehensive set of slides with analysis and other updates available. On our website, you’ll find links to all the documents and reports we talked about.
Lastly, I want to remind you about the changes to our payment plan for the popular Council Tax Reduction Scheme rewrite product. We now have a five-year subscription option that makes it more affordable. You can check out the new pricing and details at https://bit.ly/CTRP23.
Oh, and one more thing, have yourselves a very merry cost-reduced Christmas and a happy 2024. Remember we have that election to look forward to.
The recording for this week can be accessed through this link: https://bit.ly/VNR231127. The slide pack, and the reports and tables mentioned in both the slide pack and recording can be found below.
We also have a WhatsApp group where you can stay connected and participate in further discussions. You can join us here: https://bit.ly/3Qjrkqe.
Please note that the slide pack contains additional slides covering other items of interest in the news and job adverts, which are provided in partnership with Business Smart (https://www.businesssmartsolutions.co.uk/).
Files and reports to be downloaded:
