As children return to school after the summer break, HMRC is reminding parents that they may be eligible to use the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme to help pay for any approved childcare.

The TFC scheme can help parents of children aged up to 11 years old (17 for those with certain disabilities). The TFC scheme helps support working families with their childcare costs. There are many registered childcare providers including childminders, nurseries, breakfast and after school clubs and approved play schemes signed up across the UK. Parents can pay into their account regularly and save up their TFC allowance to use during school holidays. 

The TFC scheme provides for a government top-up of parental contributions. For every £8 contributed by parents an additional £2 top up payment will be funded by Government up to a maximum total of £10,000 per child per year. This will give parents an annual savings of up to £2,000 per child (and up to £4,000 for disabled children until the age of 17) in childcare costs. 

The TFC scheme is open to all qualifying parents including the self-employed and those on a minimum wage. The scheme is also available to parents on paid sick leave as well as those on paid and unpaid statutory maternity, paternity and adoption leave. In order to be eligible to use the scheme parents will have to be in work at least 16 hours per week and earn at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage. If either parent earns more than £100,000, both parents are unable to use the scheme.

HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said:

‘Starting back to school and arranging childcare for the term ahead can be costly for working families. Tax-Free Childcare offers financial help so families can save on the cost of childcare. Search Tax-Free Childcare on GOV.UK and sign up online today.’

Recognising the need to maintain access to cash withdrawal facilities, the government is stepping in to set out a new access standard in the UK.

The vast majority of people and businesses are set to be no further than three miles away from withdrawing cash under a new framework set out by the Treasury.

A government statement recently published sets a minimum expectation on banks to protect services for people and businesses wanting to withdraw or deposit cash.

They can expect to withdraw cash without any fees – something that has been set out in law.

As part of this move, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been provided new powers by the government to protect the provision of cash access services. This includes protecting cash access without any fees for those who hold personal current accounts.

Building on laws granted through the government’s Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, the FCA will use these new powers to make sure banks and building societies are keeping up to these standards – and have the power to fine them if they do not.

While we are moving further away from using coins and notes – with the number of online payments rising from 45% to 85% in the past ten years – cash can still be an integral part of many businesses and people’s lives. This is particularly so for disadvantaged groups and old persons who may not be able to access online or card payment services.

Charities in Scotland are regulated by an independent body. This body is called the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). The OSCR is the regulator and registrar for over 25,000 Scottish charities including community groups, religious charities, schools, universities, grant-giving charities and major care providers. 

The OSCR was established under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act). The 2005 Act sets out the powers that OSCR has to regulate charities. This includes publishing and maintaining the Scottish Charity Register.

There is currently a Bill making its way through the Scottish Parliament that will update the 2005 Act.

The bill is intended to:

• give OSCR wider powers to investigate charities and charity trustees;
• amend the rules on who can be a charity trustee or a senior office-holder in a charity;
• increase the information that OSCR holds about charity trustees;
• update the information which needs to be included on the Scottish Charity Register; and
• create a record of charities that have merged.

These changes will keep Scottish legislation in line with changes that have been made in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to improve charity legislation since the Act came into effect in 2005.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 2 August 2023 and voted 6-3 in favour of raising interest rates by 25 basis points to 5.25% in a move to further contain inflation. One member of the MPC voted to keep the rate at 5% whilst two others favoured an increase to 5.5%. This is the fourteenth consecutive time that the MPC has increased interest rates with rates now the highest they have been since 2008.

This means that the late payment interest rate applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC charges interest on increases by 0.25% to 7.75%.

These changes will come into effect on:

• 14 August 2023 for quarterly instalment payments; and
• 22 August 2023 for non-quarterly instalments payments.

The repayment interest rates applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC pays interest on will increase by 0.25% to 4.25% from 22 August 2023. The repayment rate is set at the Bank Rate minus 1%, with a 0.5% lower limit.

The bankruptcy process applies to people living in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. There is a separate process known as sequestration in Scotland. Bankruptcy is a form of insolvency and is normally only suitable for those people who are unable to pay back their debts in a reasonable time. Most applications for bankruptcy are made by those who are in debt, but it is also possible for a person to be made bankrupt.

You can be made bankrupt if you:

• do not pay your debts and you owe £5,000 or more;
• break the terms of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA); or
• gave information that wasn’t true to get an IVA.

This process is usually seen as a last resort for creditors as there are significant costs involved and creditors will want to be sure that they will get back the money they are owed.

Initially, creditors are required to try other legal ways to get someone to pay their debt. This is usually a statutory demand or a court judgment.

If you’re made bankrupt:

• your assets can be used to pay your debts;
• you’ll have to follow bankruptcy restrictions; and
• your name and details will be published on the Individual Insolvency Register.

Are we about to see the end of phone calls selling sham financial products?

An 8-week consultation by the Home Office and other government departments is aiming to do just this.

The consultation, published on 2 August, covers proposals to ban cold calls offering any financial products and to clamp down on fraudsters seeking to trick people into buying fake investments. Once in force, people receiving a cold call offering these types of products will know that it is a scam, and fewer people will become victims.

Fraudulent investment schemes represent a significant threat to the UK economy, consumers, and society, with victims losing £750 million during 2022-23, according to data from the City of London Police.

A specialist team which provides support to victims of fraud, known as the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit, has also been rolled out to all 43 police forces across England and Wales since the Fraud Strategy was announced.

Part funded by the Home Office; the service has existed as part of City of London Police since 2015 and is estimated to have stopped more than £2.8 million being lost to fraud. Last year its teams supported more than 113,000 victims and its rollout to all police forces will ensure more people receive the help and support they need.

The consultation aims to lead to the banning of cold calls for financial products such as sham cryptocurrency schemes, mortgages and insurance. The process marks the next step in delivering the government’s Fraud Strategy.

A public consultation process has been launched to look at how to conduct financial risk checks for problem gambling and at what level stake limits should be set for people playing online slot games.

The move is the next step of the Government’s gambling white paper to update gambling rules for the smartphone era and protect those at risk of gambling harm including young adults.

The gambling industry, clinicians, academics, those with firsthand experience of harm, and the general public are invited to share their views.

Online slot games are deemed a higher-risk gambling product, associated with large losses, long sessions and binge play.

According to NHS England surveys, 8.5% of online slots, casino and bingo players report experiencing problem gambling, which is nearly 20 times higher than the adult population average. But unlike gaming machines in pubs, arcades and bookmakers, online slot games have no stake limits, which can make it too easy to incur potentially life-changing losses in minutes.

The Government is consulting on a maximum stake of between £2 and £15 per spin.

Public Health England research has also shown younger adults can be particularly vulnerable to gambling harms, due to a combination of common factors such as ongoing cognitive development and managing money for the first time.

The Government is also consulting on options to introduce greater protections when playing slots for 18 to 24-year-olds, such as lower stake limits of £2, £4, or requirements on operators to consider age as a risk factor for gambling-related harm.

Legislation Day (L-Day), 18 July 2023, was the date when the government published the draft legislation for Finance Bill 2023-24. This Finance Bill will be colloquially referred to as Finance Bill 2024. Alongside the publication of the draft legislation the government published accompanying explanatory notes, tax information and impact notes on each measure.

There is a consultation on draft clauses that is intended to ensure that the legislation works as intended. The consultation will close on 12 September 2023.

The publication of the draft Finance Bill is in line with the current approach to tax whereby the government committed to publishing most tax legislation in draft for technical consultation before the legislation is laid before Parliament.

This Finance Bill will see the introduction of a number of measures including:

• Enterprise management incentives: extension of the time limit to submit a notification of a grant of options.
• Abolishing the pensions lifetime allowance.
• Pensions tax relief — amendments to the relief at source legislation.
• Corporation Tax draft legislation.
• Additional tax reliefs for research and development (R&D) intensive small and medium-sized enterprises and potential merged R&D scheme.
• Creative industry tax reliefs: administrative changes.
• Clarifications of the rules for cultural tax reliefs.
• Reform of audio-visual creative tax reliefs to expenditure credits.
• Increasing the capital allowance limits for leasing into tonnage tax.
• Changes to the geographical scope of agricultural property relief and woodlands relief for Inheritance Tax.
• Increasing the maximum prison term for tax fraud.

HMRC is awarding £5.5 million to voluntary and community organisations to support customers who may need extra help with their tax affairs.

HMRC is inviting eligible organisations to bid for the funding, worth £1.8 million a year from 2024 until 2027, through HMRC’s Voluntary and Community Sector Grant Funding programme. Bids can be submitted between 24 July and 21 August 2023 with successful organisations being announced in October ready for the new funding to start from 1 April 2024.

This is the 12th round of funding HMRC is awarding as part of its commitment to help everyone get their tax right. The programme builds on more than a decade of partnership funding, worth in excess of £20 million.

Successful organisations will receive funding to provide free advice and support to customers who:

• may face barriers in understanding their tax obligations and claiming their entitlements;
• are digitally excluded from accessing HMRC services; and
• have any other difficulty in interacting directly with HMRC.

As well as providing support to customers who may need extra help, organisations will provide valuable insight to improve HMRC’s understanding of customers in vulnerable circumstances. This will allow HMRC to reduce barriers and improve the customer experience when dealing with the department.

HMRC’s Voluntary and Community Sector Grant Funding programme complements the work of HMRC’s Extra Support Team, who are on hand to help customers whose health conditions or personal circumstances make contacting HMRC difficult.

More information on eligibility and how to apply can be found online at GOV.UK.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 21 June 2023 and voted 7-2 in favour of raising interest rates by 50 basis points to 5% to continue to tackle inflation. The 2 remaining members voted to keep the rate at 4.5%. This is the thirteenth consecutive time that the MPC has increased interest rates with rates now the highest they have been since 2008.

This means that the late payment interest rate applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC charges interest on increases by 0.5% to 7.5%.

These changes will come into effect on:

• 3 July 2023 for quarterly instalment payments
• 11 July 2023 for non-quarterly instalments payments

The repayment interest rates applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC pays interest on will increase by 0.5% to 4% from 30 June 2023. The repayment rate is set at the Bank Rate minus 1%, with a 0.5% lower limit.