Circular Economy principles in action, establishing whether an individual has the ‘right to work’, working from home allowances and the brand new Areas of Research Interest (ARI) database
Welcome to today’s blog post, a roundup of the latest business news for our clients. Please contact us if you want to talk about how these updates affect your business.
Applying Circular Economy principles in a business
A circular economy (CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible.
CE aims to tackle global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution by emphasizing the design-based implementation of the three base principles of the model. The three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.
CE has been gaining popularity because it helps to minimize emissions and consumption of raw materials, open up new market prospects, increase the sustainability of consumption, and improve resource efficiency.
Introducing circular economy principles into your business offers a range of opportunities that could positively impact your bottom line, brand reputation, and long-term sustainability. Here’s why you could consider adopting CE principles:
- Cost Savings – optimise your resource use and extend the life of products and materials through strategies like repair, refurbishment, and remanufacturing; reducing the need for raw materials leads to lower production costs.
- Competitive Advantage – differentiate your business from competitors by demonstrating environmental responsibility and sustainability, enhancing your brand image.
- Growth Opportunities – encourage innovative product design and alternative business models, which can lead to new revenue streams and business growth.
- Regulatory Compliance – be better positioned to comply with evolving laws and regulations related to waste management, resource consumption, and emissions reduction.
- Enhanced Supply Chain Resilience – strengthen your supply chain resilience by being more innovative and resource-efficient in the face of resource scarcity, geopolitical instability, and increasing climate-related natural disasters.
Transitioning to CE requires a shift in mindset and business strategies. This is made possible by increased knowledge and innovation skills and should be part of any business’s strategic plan.
If you have a vision of what you want your business to look like when it is “complete” then you are in a position to drive your business towards that vision and you can monitor how you are doing as you go along.
If you agree it is hard to accomplish anything without a plan, we can help you start thinking about putting one in place. A strategic plan also helps you determine where to spend time, resources and money to achieve your objectives.
So how do you do a strategic plan?
- Take time to review your own personal objectives – the business is there to provide you with what you want from life; do not forget this.
- Look at where you are now, your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Take external advice so you have a clear understanding of your position in the marketplace, the competition, your systems, the way you do things – what you are good at and what you are not.
- Focus on where you want to be (say) in 5 years; what you want your business to look like when it is “complete” or running profitably and applying CE principles. Then you can determine your priorities – the big issues that you need to focus on – this is the strategic plan!
- Write down your vision and define what you must achieve and the actions you need to take. Monitor how you are progressing towards your vision each month, what actions have been completed and what needs to be done to keep you moving towards your plan.
- Allocate responsibility for taking the actions.
- Monitor, review, and adjust your regular activities to keep you on track towards your plan.
The long-term benefits regarding sustainability, cost savings, and business growth can be substantial, making it a worthwhile endeavour for forward-thinking businesses. Talk to us about helping you achieve your objectives; we have considerable experience in helping our clients take their businesses to new levels.
The UK government’s policy statement on CE can be seen here: Circular Economy Package policy statement – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Understanding the right to work and minimum wage eligibility
All employers in the UK have a responsibility to prevent illegal working. You do this by conducting simple right to work checks before you employ someone, to make sure the individual is not disqualified from carrying out the work in question by reason of their immigration status.
Most people employed as employees or workers must be paid the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, but are you aware of how to check if they are entitled?
Joint HMRC and Home Office webinar: understanding right to work and minimum wage eligibility
The Home Office Immigration Enforcement and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage (NMW) teams are offering joint webinars covering:
• when an employer needs to conduct a right to work check;
• what type of right to work check they need to conduct;
• how to use the Home Office Employer Checking Service;
• civil penalties and prosecutions when employers do not comply with the right to work legislation;
• how to report immigration crime;
• who is a worker for NMW purposes;
• how to establish if someone is self-employed; and
• exemptions to minimum wage eligibility.
Register here for the 17 October webinar: Registration (gotowebinar.com)
Working from home and the £6 per week allowance
During the COVID pandemic the government relaxed the conditions to enable those working from home to be paid £6 a week tax free by their employer, or, where that was not paid by the employer, they could claim relief for £6 a week against their employment income for a tax refund from HMRC. Those relaxed rules applied for 2020/21 and 2021/22. Many employers and employees may not be aware that from 6 April 2022 the rules reverted to the strict statutory position. Employees can claim tax relief if they have to work from home under a homeworking agreement, for example because:
- their job requires them to live far away from the office,
- their employer does not have an office, or
- the office is closed every Friday and employees are required to work from home that day.
Tax relief cannot be claimed if the employee chooses to work from home.
See: Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Working from home – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
New one-stop shop to find the topics government is interested in researching
A new database of Areas of Research Interest has been developed by the Government Office for Science and the Economic and Social Research Council. The new tool which brings together all Areas of Research Interest (ARI) documents from across government departments in a one-stop shop is now live.
ARIs are lists of research questions or topics which government departments and agencies would welcome more research on to inform their policies and help close the evidence policy gap.
This new database allows anyone accessing it to search for particular areas of research interest and find out what are the main research questions facing government departments.
If applicable, the database will also find research already funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and connected to the searched topic, thereby making it easier to identify existing evidence and experts in the field.
This new tool improves accessibility, transparency, and openness around the knowledge priorities of departments, improving opportunities for collaboration and prioritisation. ARIs can be found in the database via keywords, year, government department, and via other basic metadata.
The tool has been developed and co-funded by the Government Office for Science and ESRC, as a response to widespread demand to improve both the awareness and accessibility of ARIs. To date, over 1,500 ARIs have been published and are publicly available in pdf or html format on GOV.UK.
The database was produced by Overton, a pioneering technology start-up whose mission is to support evidence-based decision-making across the world.
See: New one-stop shop to find the topics government is interested in researching – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)