by Clair Mooney | May 12, 2022 | Covid hub
The Covid-related relaxation to the rules on claiming expenses for working from home has now been abolished. What this means is that if your employees *can* work from home if they choose but you have not *required* them to work from home, they can no longer claim home office expenses (they should check their 2022-23 notice of coding).
There is a clear statement from HMRC that “You cannot claim tax relief if you choose to work from home” which you can find here and there is a “check your status” tool employees can complete for themselves here.
May is a busy month of deadlines which members are encouraged to factor into their planning.
- 19 May If you are not paying electronically, this is the deadline for PAYE/NICs/CIS/Student Loan for the month ended 5/5 and for CIS returns. These payments need to clear HMRC’s bank account by 22 May.
- 31 May deadline for employees to have received P60s from their employers.
- 31 May Companies House should have received 31/8/2021 private company accounts and 31/11/2021 accounts for plcs.
- 31 May CT self-assessment returns for companies with accounting periods to 31 May 2021.
This issue of Newsline, exclusively available to FIS members, also includes as update on when a non-construction business can be “deemed” to be within CIS, avoidance schemes and National Insurance Contributions. Read the latest issue here.
by Clair Mooney | Mar 24, 2022 | Covid hub
From Friday 1 April, the Government guidance to stay at home for five days following a positive COVID‐19 test will be removed, along with the Working Safely During Coronavirus guidance and the health and safety requirement for employers to explicitly consider COVID‐19 in their risk assessments. As a result, the Build UK COVID‐19 flowchart will be withdrawn and the Site Operating Procedures and the Use of Face Coverings in Construction will remain available as reference documents only from 1 April.
The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme has now closed, and the deadline for submitting final claims is today at 11.59pm. Government guidance on travel to the UK has also been updated and people are no longer required to take any COVID‐19 tests or fill in a passenger locator form when arriving from overseas.
by Clair Mooney | Mar 16, 2022 | Covid hub, Health and Safety
A COVID-secure titled risk assessment is no longer legally requiredk however COVID-19 still presents a risk to the workplace which employers are required to manage in line with the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992.
If FIS members already have a risk assessment in place, they’ll need to review the content and controls, as it is now over to employers to formulate a policy on employee self-isolation.
With the responsibility of keeping workplaces safe and COVID-secure now sitting even more heavily on the shoulders of employers, FIS Associate Member Citation has seen an increase in enquiries on how to manage COVID-risk. To help address this, they have created a free checklist covering everything employers need to know.
The free guide can be downloaded from https://tinyurl.com/fislearningtolive2022
by Clair Mooney | Mar 3, 2022 | Covid hub
Following the lifting of the remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, Build UK has updated its COVID‐19 flowchart to reflect the latest Government guidance. Individuals who test positive are now advised to stay at home, rather than it being a legal requirement, and they are no longer required to tell their employer if they need to self‐isolate.
Following the end of routine contact tracing, the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme has ended. Individuals who were required to self‐isolate before 24 February can still submit an application for payment up to 42 days after their first day of self‐isolation until 6 April.
The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme will close on 17 March, and employers with fewer than 250 employees can submit claims for up to two weeks of coronavirus‐related SSP until 24 March.
Face coverings are no longer mandatory on the London transport network but customers are still strongly recommended to wear them.
by Clair Mooney | Feb 25, 2022 | Covid hub
The Prime Minister has announced the Government’s Living with COVID‐19 plan, which will see the remaining coronavirus restrictions in England lifted from 24 February 2022. Emphasising the need to ‘begin to treat COVID‐19 as other infectious diseases such as flu’, the Government has confirmed the restrictions will be withdrawn as follows although the updated guidance has not yet been published:

Different restrictions remain in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
by Clair Mooney | Feb 25, 2022 | Covid hub, Labour Shortages
Temporary changes to right to work checks introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic have been extended again and will now end on 30 September 2022. Employers can continue to undertake checks via video calls and use scanned copies rather than original documents until this date.
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