Sage has launched Sage One Payroll, the first addition to its family of software as a service tools, offering small business owners a simple, secure, low cost way to manage their payroll. Designed to help entrepreneurs who have no specialist payroll knowledge or IT skills to effectively and efficiently run their payroll, the software automatically takes care of all legislative updates and calculates statutory payments and deductions, giving business owners confidence that their payroll is accurate and peace of mind that that they are always compliant.

Sage One Payroll has been created to help firms with 15 or less employees to pay staff quickly and accurately. It contains a number of features that save entrepreneurs valuable time, including:

• Automatic recording and updating of P11 records;
• Retrospective correction facility that means if a mistake has been made with pay earlier in the year it is easy to correct and ensures employees are compensated in the current pay run;
• Ability to export data for payroll year-end reports directly to HMRC website, eliminating the need to re-enter data.

Because the software integrates with Sage One Accounts, it helps provide a real time perspective on a business’ cash flow and can automatically make the information available to your accountant.

Chris Stonehouse, head of Sage Online, commented: “Sage has a fantastic pedigree within the payroll software space and this expertise has helped shape and inform our first SaaS payroll product. We also spent a lot of time consulting with small businesses and their insights fed into every element from the design to the language used, enabling us to create what we believe is one of the industry’s most user-friendly pieces of software for processing the pay run.”

Costing £5 per month for up to 5 employees, £10 per month for up to 10 employees and £15 per month for up to 15 employees, Sage One Payroll is one of the best value for money payroll software packages available. Until July 2012 it is available to businesses for free.

 

High street sales volumes fell on a year ago in November, for the sixth consecutive month, with retailers expecting another decline in December, according to the CBI. Meanwhile, retailers are reducing their headcount at the fastest rate in two years.

The CBI’s latest quarterly Distributive Trades Survey revealed that 26 per cent of retailers saw the volume of sales rise in the year to November, while 44 per cent said they fell. The resulting rounded balance of -19 per cent was weaker than expected (a balance of +4 per cent), and represents the fastest decline in sales since March 2009 (-44 per cent).
Sales volumes were considered below average for the time of year, with a balance of -39 per cent, the weakest figure since March 2009 (-42 per cent). That was slightly weaker than October’s balance of -34 per cent. The decline in sales volumes was driven by pressure on grocers (-21 per cent), specialist food & drink stores (-51 per cent), department stores (-49 per cent) and clothing (-27 per cent).
The volume of orders placed with suppliers fell in November (-25 per cent), at the fastest rate since March 2009 (-47 per cent). Orders are set to continue falling next month -18 per cent).

Employment across the sector fell at the fastest rate since November 2009 (-27 per cent) in the year to November. The survey showed that 13 per cent of retailers increased their headcount, while 40 per cent reduced numbers, giving a balance of -27 per cent. 

Looking ahead to December, retailers expect the pace of decline in sales to ease somewhat (-6 per cent).
Ian McCafferty, CBI chief economic adviser, said:

“Retailers remain hard-pressed, even as we get closer to Christmas. “The relatively mild weather this autumn has hit clothing stores particularly hard, and retail sales are down year-on-year for the sixth month in a row. “Retailers may be hoping that shoppers will loosen their purse strings in the run up to Christmas, but consumers are likely to remain cautious about spending given the uncertain economic outlook.”
Price inflation on the high street remained well above average, with a balance of +56 per cent of firms saying average selling prices rose in November, and it is expected to stay at similar levels in December (+54 per cent).

Retailers are scaling back investment plans over the next 12 months (-4 per cent), though to a lesser extent than in August (-16 per cent).

A net balance of 8 per cent of retailers said they feel more negative about the business situation over the next three months than they did three months ago.
Looking at wholesalers, sales volumes growth turned negative in November (-13 per cent) and they expect sales volumes to decline at the same rate next month. The three-month moving average, which smoothes out volatility, was flat (+3 per cent) and is expected to remain so next month (-1 per cent). Average selling prices rose rapidly on a year ago (+48 per cent).

In motor trades, the volume of sales declined steeply (-45 per cent) albeit at a slower pace than October (-55 per cent). Sales volumes are expected to continue falling at a faster rate next month (-52 per cent).

Sage UK and Mercer have launched of Sage Employee Benefits, a new service designed to make it easier and more affordable for SMEs to introduce staff benefits packages.

Sage Employee Benefits offers small business owners the opportunity to provide benefits packages including medical, life insurance, income protection, pensions, travel and dental insurance. Provided via Mercer’s mercer-elect solution, the service harnesses Mercer’s strong relationships within the insured benefits market developed from its work with multi-nationals. The proposition is designed to give SMEs – looking to provide cover for up to 100 employees – access to competitive rates and leading benefits normally only available to larger organisations.

“Whilst most employers understand the significance of offering a benefits package, SMEs still have concerns regarding costs and the time required for administration. That’s why Mercer and Sage launched Sage Employee Benefits with mercer-elect. Designed with small business owners in mind from day one, it makes bespoke benefit packages simple to roll out and easy to manage at an affordable price,” explained Matthew Forrest, head of services, Small Business Division, Sage UK.

The Sage Employee Benefits solution simplifies the administration associated with running a benefits scheme by providing a secure online portal, which both employers and employees can access via their PC anytime they need information. The ‘anytime access’ helps free up entrepreneurs’ time allowing them to spend more time focusing on running their business.

Users of the service also benefit from access to Mercer’s teams of specialist advisors who provide expert guidance and insight on the latest legislation and market developments. This is all aimed at ensuring that SMEs are getting the most value from their packages.

“To think that employee benefits packages are the exclusive preserve of big business is simply wrong. When the changes brought about by the Pensions Act 2008 start to come into effect from next year, employer provision and contribution to pensions will switch from ‘nice-to–have’ to legal necessity for all organisations over the next few years,” commented Simon Griffiths, principal at Mercer. “At a time when pay rises, if they occur at all, are below the rate of inflation, employees are placing great value on the other benefits that their employers provide. We’re very pleased to be working with Sage and making the type of benefit that multinational employees enjoy as standard, available to the small business community.

 

New figures from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) show that sickness absence costs small businesses on average £1,500 per year.

Long term sickness absence does not affect the smallest of businesses frequently, but when it does it has a big impact and the costs can be high. The FSB’s ‘Voice of Small Business’ survey panel shows that on average small businesses only experience 2.4 days sickness absence per employee each year – much lower than the national average 7.7 days per employee – 25 per cent said that they experienced no sickness absence at all and 81 per cent said that they were not at all affected by long-term sickness absence.

However, in the last 12 months sickness absence cost firms on average £1,500, but for nine per cent it cost more than £5,000. So it is important that the Government does more to help with the costs of sickness absence in the smallest firms.

Currently, some small businesses can feel confused by the Percentage Threshold Scheme – the current system used to calculate how much SSP an employer can claim back. This means that many small businesses either have to spend time doing difficult calculations or they have to spend money on buying in help.

With 40 per cent of small business employers claiming that dealing with holiday entitlement and sickness absence was one of the most difficult aspects of employment law, the FSB believes that recovery needs to be simplified so micro firms can reclaim all SSP costs more easily to stop them from being hampered at such a difficult time.

The FSB is calling on the Government to introduce a small employer’s relief for all firms with an annual National Insurance Contributions bill of less than £45,000 to recover SSP. This relief would be like that used for reclaiming statutory maternity pay and would use the same calculations. As a result, it would ease the administrative burden, as well as helping businesses manage sickness absence better.

Small firms care about their staff and want to invest in their health where they can. However, Government must understand the pressures small firms are under, and that this is one pressure among many. This needs to be recognised within the soon to be published independent review into sickness absence.

It will also need to recognise that small firms are not able to cope with an increase in the burden of responsibility or an increase in regulation, but that by better supporting small businesses, they could be able to improve the way that they manage sickness absence.

The Government should look at improving the way the Fit Note is used by making it electronic and increasing the training that GPs are given on how to use it.

Small businesses also need better access to free occupational health advice either through GPs or via the national occupational health phone line to make this issue easier to manage.

John Walker, national chairman, Federation of Small Businesses, said:

“Small firms act like a tight knit family and value the contribution their staff bring to the business. And research shows that staff in smaller firms are more often committed and loyal. But sickness absence is one of the most complex pieces of employment law they have to deal with. It can also be costly with small businesses paying around £1,500 over the past 12months. The Government must provide a small employers relief for statutory sick pay in the same way they do for statutory maternity pay so those small businesses that experience a member of staff on long-term sickness absence, are not hampered and are given the support they need.”

Towergate Financial, the national financial planning and consultancy business, has launched a new pension solution specifically for SME customers.

The new ‘Workplace Pension in a Box’ has been developed in partnership with HSBC and has agreed service standards, which have been specifically designed for businesses with fewer than 20 employees. It is a simple, plug-and-play pension scheme, which is easy to administer and will be used to meet the employer’s pension reform duties.

The new pension solution comes at a time of wide-ranging reform to pension provision in the UK. From October 2012, phased in by size of firm based on number of employees, employers will have to automatically enroll eligible staff into a pension scheme. Business owners will have to pay a minimum percentage of an employee’s salary into the company scheme.

However, a majority of SMEs are concerned about the potential financial implications of government plans to overhaul pension provisions, a new survey has indicated.  Research conducted by the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) found that 53 per cent of the 404 SMEs polled believed the reforms will “significantly add to costs”, while 29 per cent said they may cut pension contributions as a result.

David Taylor, managing director of Towergate Financial, said: “We know that small firms do not feel confident in choosing a pension scheme because of its complicated nature and costs. So we have developed with HSBC a simple and cost effective solution, our ‘Workplace Pension in a Box’, which will enable SMEs to be ahead of the new legislative changes which will also help with their budgetary planning. Acting now is also a positive move for staff who will be reassured that their employer is making plans for their pension provision.”

Rob Pearce, head of workplace retirement services, HSBC, adds, “Many employers and their advisers want to offer a pension which meets and exceeds the minimum standards of NEST. A lot of emphasis is placed on larger schemes, but we have developed with Towergate Financial an ideal solution that meets the requirements of NEST and the demands of the SME market.

“HSBC is committed to helping individuals prepare for their futures and we will continue to work in partnership with corporate advisers to put in place the right solutions for employers and their employees.”