Hillier's Headlines

My lighthearted roundup of industry news and updates here at People Group Services.

I hope you all had the opportunity to soak up a little sunshine at the weekend. For the Hillier household this was the first decent weekend weather for quite some time. Along with the usual dog walks, and a large bonfire it was lovely to catch up further with family and enjoy my mother’s Sunday roast for the first time in months!

Today we’ve been told we must all wear masks in shops from 24 July and also being warned that a second peak over the winter could result in 100k to 120k further deaths from COVID19. The fine for not wearing a face mask is ￡100, so don’t forget!

Plenty of updates in this week’s edition, starting off with Rishi’s big announcements last week.

Industry updates

Government Summer Economic update

Last Wednesday 08 July chancellor Rishi Sunak laid out the government’s plans to boost the economy and stimulate jobs in his summer economic update.

Heavily weighted towards the protection and creation of jobs whilst also giving the hospitality sector a vital boost to gets things moving, the announcements were substantial. Here are some of the highlights:

Job Retention Bonus - The government will introduce a one-off payment of ￡1,000 to UK employers for every furloughed employee who remains continuously employed through to the end of January 2021.

Kickstart Scheme - This will be a ￡2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality six-month work placements aimed at those aged 16-24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment.

Apprenticeships boost - From August to January, any firm that hires a new young apprentice aged 16 to 24 will receive ￡2,000, while those that hire new apprentices aged 25 and over will be paid ￡1,500.

Six-month VAT cut for restaurants, hotels and attractions - Value added tax cut from 20% to 5% from 15 July to 12 January 2021 for selected areas.

You may also have seen the "Eat out to help out" scheme which offers 50% discount for every diner, up to ￡10 a head, from Monday to Wednesday throughout August, which again will hopefully boost this important economic sector. If you do book with a restaurant please make sure you attend, or at least advise if you can’t attend. There’ve been a number of restaurants reporting taking lots of bookings and finding only a handful have turned up, which has had a further negative impact on them.

For the full list of Rishi Sunak’s announcements go here.

Post Brexit immigration

Yesterday, Secretary of State for the Home Department Priti Patel announced government plans for post Brexit immigration. The announcement includes a fast track health and care route as part of the points based system. You can help support a visa route for independent professionals by completing the APSCo’s Brexit Impact Survey

CJRS

No big news on CJRS. There was an update on Friday looking at the wind-down, how to amend wrongful claims and providing updated calculators. Nothing ground breaking!

People Group updates

Home office continues!

We continue to work from home although we have completed all risk assessments and set the office up for staff to return. We’re not rushing this but do expect some movement in the coming weeks of which we’ll keep you informed.

Latest resources

Last week we released the latest Learnings from Leaders videos featuring Mark Bull who amongst other roles was Chief Executive at Randstad UK and Middle East. It’s a really interesting listen if you not got any plans this lunchtime. You can see the full set of leaders’ interviews on our Learnings from Leaders web page.

The Star Wars collection

You guessed it, the Star Wars collection continues to grow. The latest additions are a few of the Dorling Kindersley (DK) books. DK books have always been a safe bet, and these are a lovely set to add to the collection, once the kids have had their turn (if I let them!) The detailed encyclopedias explore characters, creatures, locations, vehicles and technologies found throughout the entire Star Wars galaxy.

If you’ve got Star Wars fans young or old in your household I’d recommend these books which you’ll find online.

Well I’m excited

Any apple/Technology fans will be excited about apple’s biggest iOS update being on its way, apparently the best in a long time and definitely something I’m looking forward to! More info here.

Enjoy the rest of your week. It looks like the weather is going to improve from Thursday and continue reasonably fair for quite a time, although don’t quote me on that.

Stay safe and remember your face mask when shopping from 24 July.

Terry Hillier, CEO People Group Services.