Local News
New appointment at HFS Milbourne signals further expansion HFS Milbourne, the Surrey-based financial specialist has appointed John Hutton-Attenborough to the senior position of Chartered Wealth Planner with immediate effect. Photo: John Hutton-Attenborough
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ohn will be responsible for managing HFS Milbourne’s expanding high net worth client portfolio as well as further developing the company’s professional connections, particularly in the legal sector where he is a certified Society of Trusts and Estate practitioner (STEP) and also a Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA) accredited member.
There are significant plans in place for further expansion of the business and I am delighted to be able to play an active part in that growth and development too,” said John.
John has over 30 years’ experience in financial services, most recently spending three years advising high net worth clients in a similar role at Arbuthnot Latham private bank. Prior “HFS Milbourne is highly respected within the industry and I am very much to that John has held various positions at Berry Birch and Noble, PKF looking forward to joining the team.
Accountants, John Scott and Partners and Barclays Wealth Private Bank. Colin Hayden-Cook, Joint Managing Director at HFS Milbourne said “With John’s background in private banking and his extensive experience and knowledge he will be an excellent addition to our team. We are looking forward to working with John as we expand our services and reach across the south east.”
Budget news – was there anything for the legal sector? The Chancellor Philip Hammond took to the despatch box on Wednesday 22nd November to deliver his second Budget of 2017, and it could be said that autumnal budget was a damp squib in terms of changes for businesses with little room for the government to manoeuvre.
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owever, the headline grabbing SDLT changes will be of interest to conveyancing law firms.
The OBR’s forecasts for growth were revised down significantly from the March forecast and this reduction in anticipated growth prevented the naturally cautious Chancellor from providing further business incentives and reliefs. The Budget seemed to be more a case of celebrating what the Chancellor ‘didn’t do’ for example not lowering the registration threshold for VAT (to avoid risking the antagonism of ‘white van woman/man’ again!) and not lifting the freeze on fuel duty. The Chancellor did announce that the government would be bringing forward measures to ensure business rate increases are calculated based on the lower CPI rate of inflation rather than RPI in 2018, and claimed that this measure would be worth over £2billion to small businesses. It would be hoped that this will provide a little help for those in the legal sector who maintain a presence on the high street. The government’s SDLT Changes could provide a boost for the legal sector The Budget headlines were saved for the abolition of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) for most first time buyers. This, along with the commitment to building new homes, will be welcomed by legal practices across England where for many, conveyancing services form the bed-rock of the firm. The changes to stamp duty land tax will work thus: • SDLT free for first-time buyers purchasing homes up to £300,000
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• For first-time buyers purchasing a property up to £500,000, SDLT will only be payable after the first £300,000 and at a rate of 5% from £300,000-£500,000. The Treasury estimates that the changes to SDLT will help over one million first-time buyers get onto the housing ladder over the next five years with the average SDLT bill for the first-time buyer in London halving from £10,500 to £5,500. First-time buyers in Wales will benefit from the changes until April next year, when the matter will be devolved to the Welsh Government with the introduction of a land transaction tax. If the government’s aim of creating more houses and households works, that would signal positive news for firms dealing with conveyancing, planning, construction, property and ancillary disciplines. The Chancellor returned to a favourite topic of his predecessor George Osborne - the issue of tax avoidance. The government is aiming to raise £4.5 billion by 2022-2023 from tax avoidance after introducing a package of measures. The Chancellor didn’t specify what would be in the ‘package of measures’ and as is always the case with the Budget - the devil will be in the details which will be released in due course. If we take time to review the Chancellor’s Budget from a business stand point, it’s clear that if the government want to help business further, then the Spring Statement needs to contain creative ways of supporting small to medium sized practices.