News

July 13, 2026

Proposed offence for reckless, untrue tax statements

HMRC have proposed a new criminal offence for making reckless, untrue statements or declarations about what's known as 'direct taxes' - Income Tax, National Insurance and the like. For Customs and Excise and VAT ('indirect taxes'), it is already possible to prosecute individuals who make untrue statements or submit incorrect documents either knowingly or recklessly, without the need to prove dishonesty. The penalties for such offences can be severe, including substantial fines and imprisonment. The direct tax regime does not currently contain an equivalent offence.

July 9, 2026

Britain's yearly £44m health & safety violations bill

A new Freedom of Information (FOI) request has discovered that health and safety violations cost British employers over £44 million per year. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that serious breaches have resulted in an increasing number of prosecutions between 2023 and 2025.

November 6, 2024

Businesses count the cost of increases to Employers National Insurance

As has been widely expected in the last few weeks, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, made some significant changes to the Employers National Insurance (NI) rate and threshold in the Autumn Budget.

November 4, 2024

Autumn 2024 Budget speech: History in the making?

On 30 October 2024, Rachel Reeves delivered her first Budget speech. As the first Budget speech ever delivered by a female Chancellor of the Exchequer, the occasion was bound to be one for the history books regardless of what was said.

October 31, 2024

New regulations of Buy-Now, Pay-Later proposed

The UK government has announced a consultation on new legislations designed to regulate Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) products. The forthcoming rules, which will bring BNPL products under the supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), are designed to provide the same key protections for BNPL as exist for other consumer credit products.

October 30, 2024

Employment Rights Bill progresses and consultations are launched

Following the release of the Employment Rights Bill, its Impact Assessment was published last week showing that the new Bill will have a “positive direct impact on economic growth.”