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Auto pension

Newchodge
It will take some time if your employer is not to commit a criminal offence.

For once, when the scheme was set up. it was realised that some employers may simply claim that their employees wish to opt out, wthout going to the trouble of actually asking them. So the employer is required to auto-enrol anyone who is eligible and start taking contributions on the first paydate thereafter.

The pension provider will contact the employee with details about the pension and how to opt out. If the employee chooses to opt out they must follow the pension provider's instructions. If the opt out process is commenced within the time limit (I think, 1 month) any contributions paid will be returned. If the opt out takes place after that date the contributions will be held until the employee can access them through retirement (currently aged 55 minimum).

Your employer would commit another criminal offence if they were to inititate discussion of opt out with you or, if you initiate the discussion, if they were to do anything to encourage you to opt out.
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Overseas trip business expense

Millerd
Chris Ashdown said:
Might be wise to check with HMRC prior to going, I guess your invoices for the work done would give a time breakdown etc with full details
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I would not be using the HMRC as a source of guidance. This is an interpretation issue and can differ from office/person to office/person.
Just build a reasonable business case for each trip which can be provided if it is ever queried.
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e-invoicing (electronic invoicing)

I hear what you are saying. And I've automated many systems in the past that take data from the most convenient place, but extracting data from what is effectively a report (PDF print) has inherent risks. Invoicing is important and the data should be pulled from the package that creates the invoice in the first place.

If that is an invoicing module in the accounting system, and your current accounting system cannot produce e-invoicing compatible data, perhaps the accounting system is ready for replacement.

A few years back I was asked to investigate an invoice to PDF to external printing and mailing business where one third of the invoices were simply failing to reach the printing company.
It turned out that the invoicing software was producing a non ANSI character in certain circumstances in the output and the PDF printer was dropping the entire PDF file when that happened. There was no audit trail and the item loss was around 1000 invoices per week. These had to be manually reproduced.

You need a clear, concise audit trail through the process and that is unlikely to be the case in any PDF printing or scraping routine.
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When does a cover position become permanent?

Newchodge
obscure said:
The first quote uses words like "should" while the second quote refers to actual laws.

One is just their opinion while the other is a stating a legal requirement. Understanding the words used will help sift opinion from fact.
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That's certainly true. Context also matters. I imagine that the UNISON quote comes from a webpage discussing equal pay claims, which can only be claimed if the reason for the pay difference is gender. Read in that context, it is correct
(Declare an interest: ex UNISON employee, involved in their equal pay campaigns)
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Independent mortgage broker - obtaining CAS

tony84
Thats not quite right...

You would usually joint a network and get signed off with CAS. Once you have done it long enough, you can than choose to go directly authorised, but you can stay under a network.

You would only get signed off to be directly authorised by the FCA once you have enough experience - 6-12 months will probably not be enough. Aside from that, you would probably be better staying under the network until you are able to dedicate enough time to the venture. The network will take care of things like compliance, gabriel returns, pii etc.

However, from a practical point of view, what happens when your customers want to speak to you during the day? What happens when an underwriter calls you? How can you do CPD (you would not be able to meet up with account managers and go to seminars etc).

You also need to think about whether a network will take you on with no experience, no customers and no real commitment from either of you. I think you may struggle. I am taking on a new girl next week, because she is a single parent and has bills to pay I have agreed to take her phone calls for 3 months. After that she needs to either make the jump, we leave it or she pays for someone to do her admin. 5 years is taking the P a bit, your customers are buying the biggest purchase of their lives but they have a broker who is doing it after work? How will you sell that one to them?
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Invoicing Period Question

idd2
Thanks for the replies everybody.
Newchodge said:
Are you working for anyone else as well as this client?
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It started off being 4-6 weeks to cover someone unexpected leaving, so I am indeed doing a job that was previously done by an employee. Now they're talking about it going on longer. If it does become ongoing I'll certainly be thinking of pushing for employee status, but it's tricky because the reason I stopped working for them previously was that they were moving from contractor to office-based, and I just might push them into re-hiring (I don't live close enough for me to apply). Need to make myself indispensable first and show them they don't need to have someone sitting in their office.
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