CITY NEWS

Law firm Stone King has teamed up with Tutors United (TU) this academic year to support its work and help boost the employability of the charity’s tutors. Tutors United is a social enterprise that hires, trains and supports undergraduates to deliver small group tuition to primary aged school children from low-income and migrant backgrounds. The charity works with housing associations and primary schools and their tutors deliver attainment-raising tutorials after school.

Stone King will provide careers support and work placement opportunities to the tutor cohort as part of the charity’s employability programme. Volunteers from Stone King will assist in the tutor recruitment process and provide training sessions to give tutors insight into particular professions as well as skills, such as presenting, teamwork, time management, leadership, and communication. The firm hosted an induction session for the new tutor cohort at one of its offices in September (see picture).

Time2Share@WECIL has been offering a Befriending Service for 50 years and is one of a range of services at the Bristol based charity WECIL. The service links Disabled young people with volunteers who provide 1:1 support and a short break to parent/carers. Befriending gives Disabled young people with a range of disabilities the opportunity to build confidence and independence with their very own buddy. Links are based on shared interests and activities which can be enjoyed either in the family home or out in the community. Volunteers usually visit a young person for two hours a week and need to be friendly, caring and reliable. If you are interested in becoming a buddy then please see WECIL’s Volunteering page: wecil.co.uk/volunteering

Members of the University of Bath’s performance rugby programme turned out to help tackle litter during a community action event in Kingsmead, Bath. The student players spent part of an afternoon litter picking in support of BANES’s Clean and Green team, which was working to spruce up the River Avon path and the wider Kingsmead area.

The 40+ volunteers were split into five teams and collected 48 bags of litter. One team worked their way through Royal Victoria Park, while a second team worked from St Johns Road to Tennyson Road. A third team were kept busy on the streets between the Royal Crescent and Marlborough Lane and Buildings, while a further two teams worked from Tim Street through the main shopping areas to the area surrounding Green Park.

Residents and community groups considering organising a community event can contact cleanandgreen@bathnes.gov.uk for advice.

Rare plants and wildlife at a former reservoir near Bath are being given a helping hand to flourish courtesy of a five-year restoration project. The area of limestone grasslands near Charmy Down, just north of Batheaston, is home to a wide range of rare plants and insects, but the habitat has come under threat from dense scrub encroaching across the site.

Wessex Water’s Conservation, Access and Recreation (CAR) team is stepping in to ensure species such as the clustered bellflower, bee orchid, hawksbeard mining bee and Adonis blue butterfly can thrive again on the slopes above Chilcombe Bottom Nature Reserve. The team will return advancing scrub back to the levels seen in the late 1970s, allowing these plants and insects to re-establish over the hillside, with certain areas also being re-seeded with a local grass and wildflower seed mix.

Leaving mature woodland areas untouched, some woodland management, including coppicing, hedge-laying and wood chipping will be completed to ensure the site is a mix of open and densely vegetated habitats. The project is part of Wessex Water’s drive to support and enhance biodiversity on its land by restoring and creating priority habitats throughout its region, including improving the public’s access to them.

ACCOUNTANCY

141 Englishcombe Lane, Bath BA2 2EL Tel: 01225 445507 www.oclaccountancy.com

A claim for the additional household costs incurred when working from home rather than in an office has been possible for many years, but many employees and their employers have only been made aware recently due to the pandemic.

The claim is made under the general deduction of expenses which states that a deduction from earnings is allowed if an employee has incurred more costs than would normally apply if the employee worked in the office; the employee is obliged to incur that additional cost and the amount is incurred “wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of the employment”.

Most people are aware of the £6 a week flat rate allowance, but higher costs can be claimed if proof can be supplied.

No evidence is required to support the flat rate allowance although a claim needs to be made. To be free of both tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs), the flat rate is set at £6 a week (£26 a month).

There has been such an increase in the number of claims due to employees being required to work from home during the pandemic that HMRC has an online claim service where employees can make the £6 a week flat rate claim. The form permits a claim for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 tax years and HMRC has confirmed that even if an employee was required to work only one day at home during those two tax years, then a claim for the whole year can be made (i.e., £312 each year). Claims for 2022/23 onwards revert to the usual rules, with claims being restricted depending on how long the employee works from home.

Normally, for this exemption to apply there must be a homeworking agreement in place and the employee must be required to work from home regularly, such that there is a pattern of working (e.g., one day a week). In practice, any communications such as emails notifying employees of their requirement to work from home should be sufficient to confirm a 'homeworking agreement'.

For 2022/23 onwards HMRC state that you can claim tax relief if you have to work from home because your job requires you to live far away from your office or your employer does not have an office, you cannot claim tax relief if you choose to work from home.

You can only claim for things to do with your work, such as business phone calls, gas and electricity for your work area.

You cannot claim for things that you use for both private and business use, such as rent or broadband access.

The £86,000 cap on care liabilities is the centrepiece of the government’s long-awaited reform of adult social care funding in England, due to come into force in October 2023.

This cap looks generous; however, it is not as simple as it looks, and a lot of people now incorrectly believe that they will not pay more than £86,000 for their later life care.

The cap only relates to ‘personal care’ costs and not costs for ‘hotel’ costs such as accommodation and meals. In addition, the care costs relate to the costs based on what the local authority believes is an appropriate fee, meaning if anyone selects a care home that charges above the average, then the extra costs will not count towards the cap.

For example, someone in care paying £800 per week, where the ‘hotel’ costs amount to £250 and in this case the local authority has deemed the appropriate weekly fee to be £600, the amount that counts towards the care cap is £350.

The actual figure used against care cap would be the local authority care budget figure – in this case £600, less hotel cost – in this case £250, which would mean that only £350 per week will count towards the care cap. Based on the figure of £350 per week this means that the care cap would be reached in 245 weeks or 4.7 years.

Using the example above, someone paying £800 per week for care who does remain in care and reaches the care cap, the person in care will have contributed approximately £196,000 to their care to reach the cap.

So, in summary while the care cap may reduce the amount you pay in the long term it is important to understand that there will still be costs associated with a relatives care that they and/or their family will need to fund.

For more information or guidance on how the cap care will affect you please speak to Chartered Financial Planner Sean McCabe. Mogers Drewett Financial Planning are specialist financial planners, accredited through the Society of Later Life Advisers, and we can provide advice and guidance regarding these new rules. Contact Sean today on 07739 344702 or sean.mccabe@mogersdrewett.com.