Yesterday, I was a guest presenter at Forth Construction Forum talking about the proposed changes to the way construction workers are taxed. This was the 8th session I have done on this subject across various construction groups in Scotland and the North East of England over the last couple of months and has also involved various press releases, a radio interview and a detailed technical response to HM Treasury on the proposals.
Hopefully things will calm down on this front for now as the consultation process is now closed and we will just have to wait and see what the Government comes back with in due course.
Whilst it has been pretty hard going at times with this, I am pleased to say it has been worthwhile both from the point of view of significantly raising the profile of Optimum PAYE but also in terms of spreading the word about these potentially damaging changes to a few hundred construction businesses. It has actually amazed me how many businesses operating in the sector were not actually aware of the consultation paper that was published in July on this despite this potentially being disastrous for many operating in the sector if it becomes law.
So, the learning points from all of this activity are:
- Businesses need to keep their ears to the ground at all times - it seems to be the modus operandi of this Government to sneak important issues out when no-one is looking.
- Appreciate that the communities in business and in each sector are small and this can be put to good use in terms of spreading the word and combining efforts.
- Remember to switch off your blackberry when doing radio interviews ! A school-boy error.
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Regards
Brian
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