Whatever you’re up to have a great weekend, and do try to relax, won’t you?

The man who shoots Apple’s iconic product shots opens up his studio to The Verge – you’ll be amazed how complicated the setups are for simple photos.

ClearLeft’s Jeremy Keith deals with a website ‘homage’ in just about the classiest way imaginable. Golf clap to that man.

If you haven’t heard of Code Club, it’s well worth a look – they’re filling the massive hole in the UK’s IT curriculum by giving parents the resources to put on extra-curriculur programming classes – this is the results of one web design class!

Some recently-discovered footage of London in 1927 in glorious technicolour!

Mega-addictive game powered by Google’s Street View. You get dumped somewhere in the world, can you deduce where you are?

Sharpen those freelancing skills

One of our local coworking spaces is hosting a freelancing workshop in a fortnight’s time – get signed up here if you’re in Brighton!

Photo by Moyen Brenn

The post Freelancers weekly digest appeared first on Freelance Advisor.

The news, from Freelancer Financials, is a major step forward for freelancers and contractors who struggle to secure mortgages despite earning the same, or often more, than their full-time counterparts.

Halifax has proven one of the lenders more open to dealing with the self-employed, and has up until now offered a mortgage product for IT contractors. They are now opening the same deal up to all freelancers and contractors of all flavours, provided they have a day rate of £300 or more.

Ian Wilson, Head of Sales at Halifax Intermediaries said:

“We are pleased to be able to extend our existing IT Contractor policy. This is a natural step forward in supporting self employed customers in their aspirations to get on the property ladder. We hope that in widening our policy we will be able to help more customers benefit from our range of products and services.”

Many contractor mortgage specialists offer similar deals, but require two years of records as proof of income. Halifax’s new deal does away with these requirements, and freelancers could potentially take a mortgage from their very first contract.

Working out how much you can borrow is a relatively simple affair – multiply your day rate by 48 weeks to calculate your annual income (for example the base day rate of £300 would equate to an annual income of £72,000), then multiply that figure by five. So a freelancer on a £300 day rate can borrow £360,000.

Photo by Steve Cadman

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Kindly provided by our caring accounting overlords at Crunch, here is the only accounting terminology guide you’ll (probably) ever need!

Accruals

Year end accounts are produced using the “accruals” accounting concept. At its simplest, this means matching your sales and expenses to the year the work was done.

An accrual journal is typically an expense which occurred in the next year of trading but which relates to the prior year. It should therefore be included in those accounts to accurately reflect the profit reported for that year of trading.

Aged Creditors

Aged Creditors is a report which provides a list of the suppliers to whom your business owes money and how old the debt is.

Aged Debtors

Aged Debtors is a report of the customers who owe you money and how old their debt is.

This report can be used to see how much each customer owes you along with how much all of your customers owe you in total.

Amortisation

The writing-off over time of the value of an intangible asset, such as goodwill.

Annual Return

An annual return is a snapshot of certain company information at a particular date known as the ‘made up date’. This is the date at which all the information in an annual return must be correct.

The made-up date is usually the anniversary of:

• The incorporation of the company; or
• The made-up date of the previous annual return registered at Companies House.

It is a separate document from a company’s annual accounts.

An annual return contains the following information:

• The name of the company;
• Its registered number;
• The date to which the annual return is made-up (the made-up date);
• The principal business activities of the company
• The type of company it is, for example, private or public;
• The registered office address of the company;
• The address (single alternate inspection location – SAIL) where the company keeps certain company records if not at the registered office, and those records held there;
• The details of the company secretary (corporate or individual), where applicable; and
• The details of all the company’s directors (corporate or individual).

If the company has share capital, the annual return must also contain:

• A marker to indicate whether the company was a ‘Traded company’ at any time during the return period;
• A statement of capital; and
• Details of the shareholders

Assets

In the broadest terms, an asset is something that is:

• Owned / controlled by the company.
• Going to last for more than 1 year.
• Intended to be used in the company to generate more income.

For example, a telephone used to make business calls, or a tool for your work such as a laptop, would qualify. You might decide to bring an item under company ownership as an asset so you can obtain certain benefits.

Balance Sheet

A snapshot of the business at a particular date, showing the amounts owed to other people, and the assets (such as stock, and money in the bank) that the business owns. The total at the bottom shows the value of the business at that date (ignoring goodwill and other intangible assets).

Bank Deposits and depositing cheques

When you pay cash or cheques in to your company bank account, this is classed as a bank deposit and you should enter this in Crunch to ensure your banking records are up to date. From the ‘Banking’ tab you can select ‘New bank deposit’ to do this. If you are recording any cheque deposits, you’ll be able to select them from a list of cheques you’ve entered into Crunch as client payments received.

Bank deposits can also include money lent to the company by its directors in the form of electronic transfer from a personal bank account, cash or cheque.

Benefit in Kind

Benefits in kind are various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. They may be thought of as perks.

Common benefits include:

• A company car
• Private health insurance
• Personal tax return fees paid for by the company
• Interest free loans from the company to an employee
• Travel and hotel accommodation (HMRC require travel to be reported even though it’s not taxable)

Due to the fact that these benefits effectively increase your income, they may incur National Insurance contributions. Any National Insurance contributions owed should be paid to HMRC by the company, not an individual employee.

A P11D form informs HMRC of the value of any benefits in kind employees of a company have received during the tax year.

Capital Allowances

The allowing by HMRC of a certain amount of money spent by a company on fixed assets to be taken off the profits of the company before tax is imposed.

Capital allowances are only allowed for certain kinds of assets.

See what you can claim capital allowances for here.

Corporation Tax

A tax levied on the taxable profits of a company. Corporation Tax must be paid within 9 months of the end of your company’s accounting period.

Cost of Sales

Any purchases made in order for a sale to have happened, such as an item that is resold. So, for a restaurant this would be food and drink, or for a computer repair shop this would be computer parts.

Credit Note

A credit note is a document sent to a buyer from a seller stating that an amount has been credited to the buyer’s account.  Credit notes are usually used to correct mistakes on invoices or to document the fact that a refund has been given.

Creditor

A person or other company that is owed money.

Current Assets

Those assets that are short-term in nature. Includes cash, bank balances, and assets that you expect to convert into money within a year’s time, such as amounts owed by customers, and trading stock.

Current Liabilities

Amounts owed to other people, which have to be paid within one year.

Debtor

A person or other company that owes you money.

Depreciation

The decrease in the value of a tangible asset, such as a computer, over time.

Dividend

Dividends are payments made to company shareholders from the profits of the company after corporation tax. If you draw dividends that take your income beyond the basic rate tax band, you may incur a personal tax liability depending on your annual earnings. You do not pay National Insurance on dividends.

It is up to the director/s of a company to decide if and when a dividend is paid to the shareholder/s. If the company has not made a profit then it cannot pay a dividend. Dividends can be issued to shareholders in accordance with how many shares they hold.

First accounting Year End date

The end date of the company’s first accounting year. For limited companies this is usually one year after company formation (and the end of that month).

Fixed Assets

Fixed assets are assets that have a long-term, ongoing role in the business. This includes property, equipment, vehicles and goodwill overheads: Those expenses that are less likely to vary with short-term ups and downs in the business. Examples of fixed assets include premises, computers, expenses and office salaries.

IR35

IR35 is a piece of government legislation that affects how much tax you should pay if you work for an organisation via a Limited Company but would be considered an employee of the organisation if it were not for your Limited Company. It is designed to combat false self-employment.

You can read more in our IR35 guide.

National Insurance Number

Your NI number is your personal identifier for the social security system. This identifier ensures that your National Insurance contributions and tax are properly recorded.

P11D

A P11D is a form required by HMRC that details any benefits in kind that have been claimed during the past tax year (6th April – 5th April).

Details of any benefits in kind are required for:

• All directors and employees of the company who earn over £8500 per year
• Any director own owns more than 5% of shares in the company

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This week a study of almost 10,000 business from Swedish credit management firm Intrum Justitia has shown just how far the issue of late or unpaid invoices spreads across the continent. According to their findings firms across the EU lost somewhere in the region of €350 billion due to overdue or entirely unpaid bills. This hefty figures amounts to 3% of all company income, and was up 7% from last year when companies wrote off €340 billion.

Scandinavian businesses, Germany, Austria and Switzerland boasted the best credit control while, somewhat predictably, Greek and Cypriot firms had rather more severe liquidity problems. Even the relative safety of the German economy is not enough to assuage concerns about late payment. A third of German businesses report concerns about prompt payment from clients this year, compared with around a fifth last year.

The study certainly paints a worrying picture of the cashflow landscape on the continent – although may provide some consolation for UK freelancers suffering at the hands of late payers – it could be worse, right?

Photo by Nina Matthews

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What do recruiters do?

Essentially, recruitment agencies act as an intermediary between business looking for new employees or freelancers, and the workers themselves. Their function is to source the most suitable person for whatever job vacancy they have been asked to fill.

With many recruiters fuelled by aggressive commission on each placement they make, placing more employees at more employers means more cash for them (potentially meaning a lwoer freelance rate for you), and it’s thanks to this dynamic that they can find themselves subject to widespread criticism, most freelancers viewing them as a little parasitic in nature.

Swelling in size over the past twenty years or so, recruiters are now such a prominent force in the UK job market you’ll have probably come across them even if you only recently started looking for work. I know I have in the past, recruitment consultants regularly offering me jobs in recruitment, weirdly enough.

For freelancers on the hunt for work then, how do you go about getting yourself signed up to a good one, and what are relative benefits and drawbacks of using a recruitment agency?

Finding one

With an overabundance of agencies out there, some are likely to be more suited to your needs than others. As a general rule it’s probably best to sign up to a small collection – say no more than three – otherwise you may find yourself struggling to fend off eager consultants on the phone all day.

Thankfully there’s some that specialise in freelancing; Major Players, Profiles Creative, Character Creative amongst the agencies a little more nuanced to the freelancers needs. Be wary of signing up to more high street based agencies, as you may find your CV and skills given little credence and recruiters pushing you into less than suitable roles.

What are the benefits?

A potential advantage a (good) recruitment consultant brings is from the sales perspective. Carrying the gift of the gab, they should be more capable of selling you over to clients.

Elsewhere, a proactive recruitment agency can spare the lengthy process of job searching, whilst giving you access to jobs that might have otherwise gone unnoticed, potentially putting you at the front of the queue. With close links to companies and industry, their expertise can help temper the feast-and-famine cycle.

In the ideal freelancers / recruiter symbiotic relationship, a recruiter would feed you a constant stream of high-quality, suitable work. This means you can get on with the work you love, and leave the job hunting to the recruiter. In reality, most freelancers mix agency work with gigs they’ve sourced themselves.

What are the drawbacks?

As with any industry, there are some unscrupulous operators out there. Incessant phone calls from ill-informed recruitment consultants offering you work that you cannot undertake is a frequent complaint. Another widespread ruse used by recruiters to ensnare new talent is the posting of fake jobs on online job boards. You apply, they get your CV, and pitch you out to their clients, all without you knowing. If a client bites, they call you with the offer of a job out of the blue while taking a hefty slice of your day rate.

Every freelancer has their own recruiter horror stories, but with a bit of research you can hopefully avoid the worst culprits. There are some good agencies out there, and given that the vast majority are free to join, really, you’ve little to lose.

Photo by dust and fog

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Don’t let it happen to you – here are my four top tips on how to keep the freelance work flowing!

Make marketing a priority

Many freelancers work by the maxim of ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ and concentrate on the jobs they have on, rather than thinking about where the next one is coming from. This can often lead to the familiar scenario of a manic period of working all hours, followed by a period of doing absolutely nothing.

To avoid this you need to set aside time each and every week, no matter how busy you are, for marketing your services and publicising yourself. This could be through networking, responding to job adverts, advertising, social media, cold calling or a multitude of other methods. However you do it, just make sure it is a set part of your schedule, rather than being done in a haphazard fashion when you have nothing else on.

Keep in touch with existing customers

The most likely source of any new work is from existing customers, as they already know you and value your skills. This means keeping in touch with your clients is vital – try sending out a newsletter, connecting through social media, meeting at networking events or making the odd phone call.

Even something as simple as sending out a card at Christmas fosters this vital relationship and creates a positive image. I even know a freelance accountant who invites all his clients past and present to a barbecue each summer. That’s obviously not going to work if your client base is spread across the world – or if you live in a flat – but it has worked well for him in strengthening provider / customer relationships.

Make sure you meet deadlines

Nothing destroys trust faster than failing to meet a deadline, as your clients rely on you to turn in work on time so the next stage of the project can get going – if you’re late then this throws everything off kilter and reflects very badly on you. Get a reputation for turning in work behind schedule and your customer base will deplete at an alarming rate.

Turning in work on time or early, on the other hand, will boost your reputation considerably and lead to satisfied clients recommending you to others. Don’t ever be tempted to promise delivery in a timescale you know is unrealistic – it may get you the job but it will harm you in the long run.

Get yourself reviewed

Testimonials are a powerful method of obtaining new business, so it is important to generate a network of reviews. You should look beyond a testimonial page on your own website by inviting customers to leave reviews on Google+ Local and directory listing sites such as Freeindex and Qype. These provide independent proof of your worth and can be instrumental in bringing in fresh business.

Photo by Paul Bica

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Despite ongoing austerity drives, there were 3,285 insolvencies in the first three months of 2013, down from 3657 in the last quarter of 2012, and 4,412 in the corresponding quarter last year. Administrations, meanwhile, fell by almost a third, shrinking from 724 last year to 490 in this quarter. This marks the first time Administrations have fallen below 500 since 2005.

Company Voluntary Arrangements – essentially an agreement between creditors and debtors to construct some sort of achievable debt repayment plan – fell to 104.

In their entirety, the figures suggest that things might be getting better for businesses and that the ‘green shoots of recovery’ we’ve been hearing so much about might be a little closer than previously thought. That said, there was bad news on the retail front, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ stats suggesting that this sector failed to follow the overall positive trend.

Unless you’re a retail business then, this is some good news amongst the litany of bad. Relish it, as with RTI now unleashed, things might get a big confusing for a while.

Photo by Don LaVange

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So what does this actually mean?

For many workers this was great news, as they could carry on working past age 65 if they wanted to. However, this change in the law doesn’t affect the fact that you can still choose to voluntarily retire at age 65 if you wish (and your employer should notify you of this).

Now, Employers who wish to end your employment will either have to:

• Follow a fair procedure under normal fair dismissal rules, e.g. a dismissal for conduct or capability (treated like any other employee), otherwise they could face an unfair dismissal claim and an age discrimination claim from the employee, or
• Keep their own compulsory retirement age for all employees called an EJRA (Employer Justified Retirement Age) but be able to justify this. Such dismissals would be on the grounds of ‘some other substantial reason’ and would also need to follow a fair procedure* – giving the employee adequate notice of impending retirement, allowing them to make representations before a decision is made, which includes considering any requests for them to stay on beyond the compulsory retirement age, allowing a right to appeal.

* It is not clear whether the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance procedures applies to EJRA’s or dismissals for ‘some other substantial reason’ (SOSR).  A recent tribunal case, Cummins v Siemens Communications Ltd said the code did apply to SOSR dismissals but this decision is not binding on other tribunals.

Your Employers Contracts and Handbooks must be amended to reflect this new position.

A recent survey by law firm Eversheds found that half of the employers surveyed wanted the DRA reinstated and only 3% of Employers now had a mandatory retirement age (compared to 69% of employers before the DRA was abolished).

Many of the employers in the survey said the changes made succession planning and finding opportunities for younger workers difficult.  Other employers reported that it had led to:

• Increased costs of redundancies and/or benefits
• More Management time being spent on performance management
• An increase in ill-health absences.

If an employer wishes to keep their own compulsory retirement age they must be able to justify that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate business aim.

An aim can be ‘legitimate’ if it is related to:

• Economic factors, such as the needs of running a business (e.g. workforce planning – the need for the business to recruit, retain and provide promotion opportunities and effectively manage successions)
• The health, welfare and safety of the individual to be retired, their colleagues and the public
• The particular training requirements of the job.

‘Proportionate’ could mean (demonstrating that the compulsory retirement age as a proportionate means of achieving that aim):

• What the employer is actually doing to achieve its aim
• The discriminatory effect would be significantly outweighed by the importance and benefits of the aim and
• The employer should have no reasonable alternative to the action they are taking.

Therefore the employer would need to provide evidence of all of this – that they have ‘objective’ justification for the retirement age. Employers can start by setting out the reasons it needs the retirement age; consider whether they have good evidence to support this; then consider if there is an alternative or less or non-age discriminatory way of achieving the same result.

So what’s happened since the introduction of this? There have been a few high profile employment tribunal cases so far.

In a 2012 case for age discrimination bought when a firm retired an employee at age 65, the UK Supreme Court said that an employer could have their own DRA. The Supreme Court said that:

• ‘Succession planning’ (allowing opportunities for promotion and retention of younger staff where there is real business need for this) and
• Avoiding the performance management dismissals of older workers (who were underperforming – referred to as ‘dignity’ by maintaining a congenial and supportive workplace)

are legitimate aims to allow an EJRA (backing up earlier ECJ decisions).

So, what age is a proportionate age to pick? Most employers will find it safer at the moment not to have a compulsory retirement age as it can clearly be difficult to show why it is necessary in their business, in relation to their aims.

Where a company carries out a lot of different functions they would find it difficult to have a standard retirement age – but they may be able to have a standard retirement age based on job categories (although of course this doesn’t take into account an employee’s individual fitness and health levels!).

From now on, employers basically need to plan with each employee their individual retirement age – with workers retiring at different ages depending on their capabilities and the job’s requirements.

It is not unlawful for employers to ask employees about their retirement plans (for example for the purpose of planning their future workforce requirements), but employers should be wary of the risk of age discrimination by, for example, putting pressure on the employee to retire. Employers can do this by not expressly asking employees what their retirement plans are, but ask them about their future aims and aspirations – ideally as part of a regular appraisal discussion (that applies to all workers).

The Government has recently indicated that it intends to review its decision to end the DRA in 2016, so we may have another change in the future.

If you are an Employer and need any help with retirement or any other issues then please talk to The HR Kiosk, a Human Resources Consultancy for small businesses, run by the author of this article, Lesley Furber.

Please note that the advice given on this website and by our Advisors is guidance only and cannot be taken as an authoritative or current interpretation of the law. It can also not be seen as specific advice for individual cases. Please also note that there are differences in legislation in Northern Ireland.

Photo by Jenny Downing

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In what the Forum of Private Business has labelled an ‘unfair tactic’, Selfridges has demanded that suppliers cough up 3% of the value of each invoice within 60 days, with the “option” of paying 5% should invoices need settling within 21 days.

Bearing in mind Selfridges recently posted annual sales of £1bn, the move looks particularly mean-spirited, reflecting another large business forcing smaller suppliers into financial difficulties, despite their considerable riches.

This appears to be part of a wider trend in retail. Debenhams caused controversy last year by moving payments from 90 to 120 days after the transaction and forcing suppliers to bear the cost of price cuts. Boots is reported to have introduced similar fees for their suppliers.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, John Lewis told suppliers they had to pay back up to 5.25% of the money they had made from selling to John Lewis, as a “sign of ongoing commitment”.

With small businesses, freelancers and contractors facing perpetual cash-flow problems, actions like this just spell more bad news for SMEs already up against it. If the big guys are pulling stunts like this, it’s even more worrying to think what the smaller retailers might be up to. Especially given the latest economic statistics.

Looks like Gideon might have do a little more groundwork to build his ‘aspiration nation‘.

Photo by Elliott Brown

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Have a good long weekend!

If you want to make yourself, and indeed all of humankind, feel fairly insignificant this is the website for you. A visual treat.

Excellent entrepreneurial tale from a man who’s built a service that runs rings around Twitter’s own advertising tools, but is in breach of their Ts&Cs. Can he get a meeting with them to discuss a happy ending? Time will tell.

Odd mini-video social network Vine is finally starting to find its feet with art projects, and this is one of the best so far.

A usable and…dare we say beautiful local Government website. Colour us shocked!

Our pals Safe Collections have finally released the Android version of their late payment interest calculator app. Credit control on the go has never been easier!

Fantastic visual storytelling

One of those pages that makes you yearn for a larger editorial and design budget. A great story, told with fantastic animated visual elements.

Photo by Julia S

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