Last week we released the first two of a series of training videos on how to use Xero. 

Our Xero trainers have been busy and the next two videos are now available! The latest videos explain how to create bank rules and how to manually post purchase invoices.

Click here to see all of the training videos we have released so far

Next week we will release new videos which will explain how to create sales invoices and how to post purchase invoices from scanned documents, cutting down on data entry and saving space.

During this period of constant change we wanted to draw your attention to the latest guidance from HMRC on the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme that is available to employers who meet the criteria for the scheme.

Your practice may be eligible to make a claim.

You can use the scheme as an employer if:

• you’re claiming for an employee who’s eligible for sick pay due to coronavirus 
• you have a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started on or before 28 February 2020
• you had fewer than 250 employees on 28 February 2020

On this basis, most if not all GP Practices should be eligible. The online service to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) should be available from today 26 May 2020.

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Friends and colleagues of Dr Saad Al-Dubbaisi, a respected doctor from Bury, Manchester,  have following his untimely death produced a safety assessment and decision score card based on a number of factors including age, ethnicity, gender and other medical factors. The scoring system is named after him.

We felt this tool will be invaluable in assessing the risk to your staff as mild, moderate or high risk when interacting with patients.

Click here for details of the card and how to use it 

We at Sandison Easson & Co hope you keep well and safe and trust we have in some small way helped in bringing to your attention this invaluable asset to help keep you and your staff safe.

Primary care networks or PCNs have been with us for a year or so now in England and we are now at the stage where the PCNs will need to produce an account of its finances.  Over the last 12 months there has been much talk of how monies will be spent and in some cases the PCNs will have a surplus of funds which needs to be considered as HMRC may treat this as income earned by the practice and expect individual practices to pay tax on this surplus.

The accounting treatment of the PCN monies from an individual practice perspective is therefore important as is the sharing of resources and the clinical director role.

We can help with the preparation of the PCN finances and can discuss the best approach to minimise the tax impact on practices. If you would like to engage us to prepare the finances of the PCN, please get in touch. 

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Click the webinar above to hear details of the new bounce back loan scheme.

If you need any assistance at all then please do not hesitate to contact any of the partners or associates here at Sandison Easson & Co.

Finally, thank you for listening to our webinar and also the wonderful job you are doing for all of us and our families during this difficult time.

The government announced yesterday a new type of loan that is 100% guaranteed by the state.

The initial details suggest that you can borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 with no fees or interest for the first 12 months with no repayment for the first 12 months and a loan term of up to 6 years.

This new scheme is a follow up to the criticism over the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL) where banks were slow to respond and the take up was low as detailed information was needed based on ‘normal’ lending requirements.

More details of the new loan will be available from Monday 4 May 2020.

Very few details have been released but what we know so far is that to be eligible for this new loan you must be:

1.      Based in the UK

2.      Have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus

3.      Were not in ‘difficulty’ on 31 December 2019

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With all that is going on at the moment it can be difficult to keep up with financial updates, of which, at this time of year, there are many. To help we have pulled together the financial changes from the GP Contract for 2020/21  into a single article for you to refer back to. Below we start with the headline announcements and finish with the usual annual changes.

New Partnership Payment

To help with recruitment of partners, from April 2020 first time partners will be offered a guaranteed one-off payment of up to £20,000 per full-time partner and £3,000 of business training allowance to support them as a new partner. 

This payment is initially in the form of a loan and only converts to a permanent payment after a fixed period of time as a partner.

Pay Transparency

From October 2020 contractors and sub-contractors are required to submit self-declarations annually if their NHS superannuable earnings are over £150,000 per annum – starting with 2019/20 in February 2021.

This threshold will rise each year in line with predicted CPI rises giving an expected threshold for 2020/21 of £153K and 2021/22 of £156K

Premises Costs Directions

Commissioners can now award improvement grants funding up to 100% of project value.

Primary Care Networks

Further to the revised network contract DES 2020/21 there has been further updates relating to the COVID-19 pandemic which have resulted in specific changes to the DES

Full details of the changes can be found here

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In this months' publication of Independent Practitioner, one of our partners, Ian Tongue, explores some of the more common ways consultants work together.

You can read his article here

One of our partners, Aaron Swinton, has been invited to speak at the next Dinner and Conversation Evening held by DGL Practice Manager.

The event will be at the Swan, Shakespeare's Globe in London on Wednesday 20th June 2018 from 6.30pm onwards.

Aaron will discuss ways to minimise the effect that Tapering of the Annual Allowance has upon Consultants' tax affairs.

If you would like to attend this event then please contact Lisa Goodall on 01625 527 351 or send her an email to lisa@sandisoneasson.co.uk

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency has announced it will now accept a scheme pays election from members who become subject to an Annual Allowance tax charge even where the charge or part of the charge relates to pensions growth ('pension input amount') between their reduced tapered Annual Allowance and the Standard Annual Allowance of £40,000.

This applies from the 2016/17 tax year and this will be welcome news for members of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency.

Without this option, if a member had pension growth of say £40,000 but was only entitled to a tapered annual allowance of £10,000 then they may have faced an annual allowance tax charge of up to £13,500 payable by 31 January following the tax year. In the first year this applies, they may also need to make a payment on account towards the following tax year which increases the amount due from £13,500 to £20,250. 

As far as we are aware, the NHS Pension Scheme in England has not introduced the same voluntary option.