A few months back, I came across a Facebook advert for Lima – a cloud storage solution that removes the subscription from the model. After reading up on it, it sounded great and I put my order in for one…
National Minimum Wage increases from 1st October 2016
As they do every year, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates will increase on 1st October 2016. If you run a business and employ staff, you need to be aware of the changes and introduce them in your first payroll period…
Things I’ve Learned Over The Last 12 Months
You learn a lot in the space of a year. Some information sticks with you. Some is more fleeting but still important. Some is just funny. Here’s my quick run down of things I’ve learned in the last 12…
Finding Efficiency Savings Is Just The First Step
I think the vast majority of business would agree that there are inefficiencies in their day to day operations. The scale of these inefficiencies varies depending on any number of variables including the size of the business, the number of…
5 Things To Know If You Work Cross-Border
Given the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as the relatively small size of the island, cross border working is a very common practice. In fact, Ireland has the highest level of in-bound (10.55%)…
Did you know you can make over £37k a year without paying tax?
Up until 5th April when the Government abolished the 10% tax credit on dividends in favour of a new £5,000 allowance, it was easy to earn £37,000 a year without paying tax. However, you typically needed to own your own…
What I want out of #NewryHour
In the past couple of years, the local business communities in Ireland have ramped up their engagement with other businesses on Twitter. There are numerous hashtags for numerous locations around the country where, for one hour a week, businesses get…
Boaty McBoatface is too good an opportunity to pass on
It’s official. Boaty McBoatface has topped the polls in a public vote to name the new £200m artic explorer. However, after receiving almost 125,000 votes, it appears as if the Natural Environment Research Agency (NERC) and the government will pass…
Newry Market being put to good use
A few years ago I wrote a piece about how I felt we could help save the Cathedral and Creamery Quarters in Newry. Among the suggestions I had were making the most of Newry Market. I still maintain this is…
Minimum wage increase on 1st April will cost employers almost £1,200 extra per employee
From the 1st April, the National Minimum Wage for employees aged 25 or over increases from £6.70 per hour (the current rate for all employees aged 21 or over) to £7.20 per hour to fall in line with the Living Wage.…