Hi,

Welcome to March’s newsletter, covering all the latest from Farillio:

• New Features: Our workflow tools have now turned collaborative as promised! You can now assign tasks, set deadlines for them to be completed and jointly monitor progress on your Farillio projects.

• New content: This month, you’ll find more new resources in your Farillio account, covering:

  • How to handle conflicting holiday requests among staff – including at busy periods for your business
  • New pensions video FAQ guidance for employers (and individuals), produced in collaboration with the government’s Money and Pensions Service
  • Expert insights into how to choose a cofounder/co-partner for your business – whether you’re at the start, or you’ve been in business for a while. Serial business owner and founder Alex Strang narrates a very insightful master checklist of what to cover (and avoid!).

• Community Spotlight: our spotlight for March’s feature is on our customer, Melodee, and their dynamic founder, Eddie Ephraim. Find out how to send a really rather unique gift to your loved ones using Melodee.app in time for Easter!

• Expert corner: Meet Brian Gannon from the government’s Money and Pensions Service, with whom we’ve been collaborating on a huge suite of financial education and wellbeing materials. See Brian in action on workplace pension schemes below…

• In the News: This month, we’ve listed our top picks for essential small business news. Your March edition therefore covers:

  • National minimum wage and national living wage increases from 1 April 2022.
  • Tax – or more specifically VAT – goes digital for ALL VAT-registered businesses (irrespective of how much money they’re making), from April 2022. (Digital income tax returns remain delayed until 2024.)
  • How to make sure your marketing campaigns and messages to customers are trusted and not labelled ‘scams’. There’s new guidance on this from the National Cyber Security Centre.
  • Sitting at work is seriously damaging our health; but there’s a new campaign by Get Britain Standing, encouraging us all to take James Brown at his word and ‘get up offa that thing’, that all employers and their staff can get involved with on 28 April (See below to use their rather ominous ‘sitting calculator’ that shows just how damaging to health our sitting and working habits are.)
  • The British Chamber of Commerce downgrades expected UK GDP growth in 2022 & calls on the Chancellor to take 5 clear actions to save business and protect everyone from an imminent costs crisis.
  • Long Covid is now a major cause of long-term job absence, reportedly affecting 25% of UK employers. Should it be treated as a disability by employers? A number of reputable organisations are lobbying for it to be recognised as a disability, but the experts aren’t convinced. Instead, they recommend focusing on making the right adjustments to support affected staff. There’s more on what this means below, including how to decide on those adjustments.

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