Discounts and Savings

Christmas is around the corner, the office parties will be in full swing with presents galore! Although it is the most wonderful time of the year, it can drastically influence our bank balances but it doesn’t have to with careful planning. One way to help your employees is by giving them access to corporate perks, savings and discount codes.

The EB Partnership can help set this up for your employees. Once enrolled your employees will be able to use the corporate perks throughout the year, not just for Christmas.

To find out more information regarding Perks at Work and the Employee Assistance Program please contact enquiries@theebpartnership.co.uk

Lasting Power of Attorney

Despite the importance of having LPAs in place, it is still a widely overlooked aspect of prudent financial planning and I thought it useful to share some recent personal experiences.  

Both my wife and I have parents with failing health, so we needed to get more involved with managing their financial and health affairs.   We have now put LPAs in place for each of our parents, which allows us to make decisions on their behalf. For instance, I can now log into their bank accounts and manage any payments as well as keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.  The Health & Welfare LPA allowed my sister to instruct the hospital to release Dad from the hospital after a short stay, something that would have been much harder without the LPA. 

While you can engage the services of a solicitor to manage the LPA process, it is possible to do it all yourself.  I should add, however, that if your family circumstances are particularly complicated or one of the ‘donors’ (the person the LPA is being set up for) wishes to stipulate the circumstances in which others can act, then seeking legal advice may be the best option.  It costs £82 to register an LPA. 

In my family’s case, Dad had been the one to take care of the finances but as he entered his 80s and his health took a downward turn, we could see bills were being left unpaid and he was no longer able to manage day-to-day finances.  Dad agreed to an LPA and appointed Mum, myself, and my siblings as ‘attorneys.’  The HMRC LPA website is the place to start and you need to enter everyone’s details and pay the registration fee. Then you print off the application and get everyone to sign.   The LPA needs to have a ‘certificate provider’, who is an impartial person who helps protect the donor’s interests by checking that the donor understands the LPA and is making it of their own free will.  This person can be their GP or solicitor but doesn’t have to be - and we found it quite time-consuming liaising with the GP for signatures – so, if possible, you may find it preferable to use a closer contact to act in this regard.  The donor, certificate provider, and attorneys all need to sign the respective sections and be witnessed.  Please note that the application needs to be signed in order, so do pay attention to the instructions! 

Once you have posted the completed application to the Office of the Public Guardian, it can take 20 weeks(!) before confirmation is sent out. Then there is a 6-week cooling off period. After this time, the LPA should be set up and the attorneys can start to share the LPA with banks and any other providers.

As well as appointing attorneys, the donor can appoint ‘replacement attorneys’ and the donor can give instructions to guide the way the attorneys make their decisions. Apparently, most donors do not add any specific instructions, but this is a personal choice.  The following HMRC websites explain how LPAs work and how to begin the process:

HMRC website on LPAs

Online form to make an LPA

From my perspective, having LPAs in place for my parents has been a real-time saver.  Mum is delighted that someone else can take care of the family finances and it is one less thing for her to worry about. It does take time to get an LPA in place and it may be too late to apply if the donor is not deemed to have the mental capacity for the application.

Make a lasting power of attorney - GOV.UK

Make a lasting power of attorney

National Eyesight Week

Vision really matters. Sight is the sense people fear losing the most, yet many of us don't know the best way to look after our eyes. National Eye Health Week (18th to 24th September) aims to change all that.

Annual eyesight testing is a must especially for employees that work on the computer all day. You can provide your employees with a Health Cash Plan so employees will be able to get their eye tests, along with costs for glasses reimbursed.

To find out more information about providing a health cash plan for your employees please contact enquiries@theebpartnership.co.uk

2023/24 Tax Year

The 2023/24 tax year begins on 6th April. Companies will need to upload pension contributions before the end of March to guarantee the money is applied in this tax year.  For companies that are not yet offering ‘salary sacrifice’, there is even more reason to do so.

Here at the EB Partnership we understand that the new tax year can create queries regarding pensions, tax, and allowances which can be tricky to answer. We can help assist you by providing individual and group financial 1-2-1 sessions. These can either be face to face or online depending on your preference.

Please contact us on enquiries@theebpartnership.co.uk to receive more details about our financial wellbeing sessions with our advisers to answer any queries that you may have.

New Year, New Financial Goals!

Happy New Year from everyone at The EB Partnership! The new year is a great time to get you and your companies’ finances in order and we would love to assist you.

At the EB Partnership we provide financial wellbeing 1-2-1 sessions for both individual clients and companies. Financial wellbeing sessions can either be face to face or online and can cover a wide range of topics such as:

  • How much should I be paying into my pension?

  • Should I be consolidating my pensions?

  • What are ISAs, GIAs, Trusts & Bonds?

  • When should I start planning for my retirement?

  • How to plan for private school fees

  • Inheritance Tax Planning

  • What kind of Insurance do I need?

  • Tax Planning

  • Divorce and Pension Sharing

To find out more information and the help we can provide you, please contact enquiries@theebpartnership.co.uk

Need help with your Pension?

Do you feel uneasy when you hear the word pensions? Do you have a variety of pots which you don’t know what to do with? Do you know how to answer your employee pensions queries?

Here at the EB Partnership we are more than happy to offer impartial pensions guidance about your defined contribution pension options. We can speak to individual clients, along with employees at a company. An appointment with our advisors will help you understand what your overall financial situation will be when you retire.

 Contact us on enquiries@theebpartnership.co.uk to book your appointment with a financial advisor today!

Benefits Communication

Employee benefits are proven to increase employee engagement, reduce employee turnover and raise company morale. To ensure your employees have an easy process to access their benefits, consider implementing a benefits portal.

Here at the EB Partnership we have created our own secure benefits portal, BORIS which we can launch to companies for their employees. BORIS is a cloud-based employee benefits portal with full self-service functionality. This means we can keep our price low and more importantly give you full control of the information you display to your employees.

Have a look at benefitscommunication.co.uk to find out more and contact us directly!

Nutrition and Hydration

Nutrition and hydration are key to the human body. This week brings people together to create energy, focus and fun to highlight and educate people on the value of food and drink in maintaining health and wellbeing in health and social care.

 

At the EB Partnership we advise on Health Cash plans and Private Medical Insurance schemes to best support the health of your employees.

To find out more information regarding private medical insurance and the help we can provide your employees please contact enquiries@theebpartnership.co.uk