Yearly Archives: 2016

According to a recent article in The Guardian, seven in 10 landlords do not understand their obligations under the controversial new ‘right to rent’ rules. Effective as of this February, the new right to rent laws mean that the onus to check tenants’ right to live in England is now placed firmly in the hands of landlords. Announcements concerning implementation of the rules in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected at a later date.

Under the new law, landlords that fail to comply and monitor the immigration status of their tenants could face penalties of up to £3,000. So, what do people up and down the country think about the law changes? Read on to find out.

The West Midlands Trial

Before the new law was rolled out across the country, it was trialled in the West Midlands. From 1^st December 2014, private landlords in the region were required to check whether prospective tenants had the right to live in the UK before granting them a tenancy.

As a result, landlords were expected to request proof of identity documents, such as a passport, or face the prospect of being fined if their tenants were found to be living in the UK illegally. Within six months of the trial being launched, the first West Midlands-based landlord received a fine of £2,000 for failing to check a tenant’s immigration status.

Speaking to the Property Industry Eye, Phil Stewardson, owner of 135 rental properties in the West Midlands, accused the authorities of using landlords as “free labour” for border control. So, even before the new laws came into full effect, it was clear that at least some landlords were unhappy with the changes.

Are Landlords Doing the Job of Border Control?

Landlords like Phil Stewardson are essentially arguing that the new right to rent law is a thinly veiled attempt by the Government to pass some of the burden for monitoring immigration on to everyday people. And it’s a point of view that has gathered some political support.

Writing about the subject on the Politics Home website, Baroness Hamwee, a Liberal Democrat Peer, had this to say:

“I find it a bit rich that landlords should risk imprisonment for housing an illegal immigrant when it is the Government’s failure in their duty to protect the borders of this country that has resulted in the illegal immigrant being here in the first place.”

On the opposite side of the fence, however, there are landlords who are happy to comply with the new right to rent laws. Supporters of the changes argue that the right to rent checks are quick and easy to perform, and that there is an abundance of supporting documents and Government published literature to help any landlords that are struggling.

Furthermore, the new laws will also make it a lot more difficult for people to stay in the country when they have no right to do so. Plus, they will act as the first line of attack against an increase in criminal landlords that exploit illegal immigrants by renting out unsafe and often overcrowded accommodation.

A Huge and Difficult Market

It’s no secret that the rental market is huge in the UK. In fact, research suggests that, by 2025, there could be more people renting than who have a mortgage in the UK. In part due to the growing size and complexity of the market, there is doubt whether landlords are sufficiently able to carry out checks on tenants’ right to live in the UK.

In an article published by the Financial Times, policy director of the Residential Landlords Association, David Smith, raised concerns about landlords’ lack of expertise verifying documents:

“How familiar are you with a passport of Liechtenstein? Can you spot a forgery? I certainly can’t. But that is what landlords are being asked to do and if they don’t they will be at risk of a financial penalty.”

Some Landlords Could Be Exploited For Profit

In addition to securing the relevant data, the extra costs of performing the initial checks are going to place a significant burden on the shoulders of many landlords. It is entirely feasible that many landlords will now prefer to pay for the services of independent companies to perform tenant checks on their behalf.

A recent article in The Telegraph highlighted that a handful of companies are already charging £100 for bespoke immigration checks in an effort to profit from the law changes. However, the same article warns that certificates from such companies are not official documents, and it is unclear if the Home Office considers these services to be legitimately recognised.

As a result, the only way for landlords to legally escape liability for these checks is to pay a letting agent to do them on their behalf. Therefore, the right to rent laws could force more DIY landlords to hire the services of letting agents, which, in turn, will increase the costs involved in running a rental property.

The Course of Least Resistance

The new laws have also drawn criticism because they could, potentially, increase the chances of some landlords flouting anti-discrimination laws. With the introduction of right to rent, The Telegraph wrote an article stressing that campaigners against the law changes might only “rent to white tenants with British-sounding names” in a bid to avoid red tape.

When you add the prospect of a £3,000 fine into the mix, in theory, the chances of this happening probably increase. Therefore, even sub-consciously, some landlords may take the course of least resistance to ensure they avoid fines and the likelihood of additional Home Office bureaucracy.

Final Thoughts

Are you a landlord? What are your thoughts on the new right to rent laws? Are they a necessary burden or an example of the Government relinquishing its responsibilities? Join us in the comments section below for a discussion.

At Simply-Docs, we provide a wide selection of ready to use property template documents and legal contracts for DIY landlords. For more information, contact one of our expert team today.

Technological innovation, accumulation of capital, and productivity are three of the most important factors that determine a country’s long-term economic growth. What underpins all of these, though, is the contribution made by people in the collective form of the labour force.

But what if half of this workforce were not being utilised to their full potential? Or, worse still, they were not being rewarded fairly for an equal contribution?

In reality, this is the situation the world’s economy currently finds itself in. At present, women, who make up approximately half of the global workforce, only earn 77% of the amount that is paid to men and enjoy fewer job benefits.

Here, we take a look at some of the causes behind this gender-based inequality and consider how long it will be before the gender pay gap might close.

Education

Fresh out of university is surely the time when men and women should be paid the same. After all, this is the phase in life when men and women are most likely to compete for the same jobs with just as much work experience and similar grades to one another.

As it turns out, even in their first year of work after higher education, female graduates with similar qualifications and experience earn less than men. In fact, a report recently published by Futuretrack   has revealed that male graduates in the UK earn an average of £24,000 to £26,999, while female graduates earn between £21,000 and £23,999.

On this evidence, it is clear that the gender pay gap starts early. And, unfortunately, it’s a pattern that typically continues, even as both sexes continue to climb up the career ladder.

More men are in top jobs

In an article published by The Guardian, it was revealed that only one in 10 executive directors at the UK’s top companies are female. What’s more, in countries such as France and Germany, the ratio of females in boardroom-level jobs is even worse.

This statistic suggests that finding a way to get more women into better paid jobs would be an obvious way of closing the gender pay gap. Nevertheless, there is strong evidence to suggest, that even when women are in jobs that traditionally pay well, they still earn less than men.

Taking the high paid position of a doctor as an example, there are now more women GPs than men in the UK. In the medical profession as a whole, the split of female to male practitioners is nearly 50-50. Even so, female doctors still earn around 29% less than men, and the gap has only widened since 2004.

More women balance their career with children

A recent report by the International Labour Organisation revealed that women face a ‘motherhood pay gap’. In other words, this means that women are much more likely to take time off work or quit their job to look after their children and will earn less than men as a result.

Furthermore, statistics suggest that mothers earn a lot less than women that don’t have children, and the difference increases with every child a woman has.

In 2015, the UK Government made fundamental changes to paternity leave that gave fathers more flexibility to take time off work after the birth of a child. All the same, in many cases, women are still more likely to clear their work schedule to look after children, which will arguably help prolong the gender pay gap that currently exists.

Women earn less because of discrimination

In the UK, the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970. This made it illegal for companies to pay men more than women for doing the same job. Over four-and-a-half decades later, a report by the recruitment company Robert Half has revealed that UK women earn, on average, £300,000 less than men over the course of a working life.

Historically, one of the main issues with legally enforcing equal pay is that women have carried the responsibility of filing a complaint if they suspected a man in the same role was being paid more. This, of course, means that women need to prove they are being discriminated against, which, in many cases, has proven difficult.

In a recent bid to counteract this, the government announced new rules that would force companies with more than 250 employees to reveal their gender pay data. Those companies that fail to address the gap will subsequently have their data published in a league table.

Although this is an obvious step in the right direction, the rules are expected to affect only 8,000 employers across the UK, which, hypothetically, means it will only start to scratch the surface of unmasking gender pay discrimination in the UK.

So, when will the gender pay gap close?

The gender pay gap starts from the first day of work and continues all the way to retirement. Between males dominating top jobs, women balancing careers with children, and discrimination, it is clear a lot has to change before the gender pay gap even nears closing.

Because of these factors, if the pay gap continues to close at its current rate, the World Economic Forum has calculated that it will take another 118 years before men and women are paid the same. Or, to put it another way, the best guess for when the gender pay gap will close is 2133.

Have you got an opinion on anything you have read, or on the gender pay gap in general? Then join the conversation in the comments section below.

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Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)can be an excellent source of income for the buy-to-let landlord. HMOs tend to yield a higher rent than a home let to a single household. However, owners of HMOs have a heavier management burden and must comply with more legal requirements than other residential landlords.

If you are the owners of a HMO, or are considering adding a HMO to your investment portfolio, here are 10 essential tips to help you.

1. Engage with the local housing authority

Some HMOs need a licence, either because they are large HMOs affected by mandatory licensing or because the local housing authority has introduced additional licensing for certain types of smaller HMO. Check what the rules are in your area.

Also check what standards, rules and regulations apply locally. Each local housing authority will have requirements as to safety, room sizes and facilities.

If you are converting a family home into a HMO, check whether planning permission is required. Generally, no planning permission is needed for a HMO housing 3-6 residents but larger HMOs require a specific planning permission. Take advice from the local authority planning department at an early stage,

2. Obtain or renew your HMO licence

If a licence is required, be sure to obtain one before letting any rooms in your HMO. The local housing authority will carry out an inspection before granting (or refusing to grant) a licence. A fee will be payable. Licences usually last 5 years.

A criminal offence is committed if a landlord does not have a licence for a HMO that should have a licence. A fine of up to £20,000 can be imposed. It is also an offence to allow overcrowding or to breach a condition of the licence.

3. Check that your mortgage permits HMO use

Not all buy-to-let mortgage products are suitable for HMOs. Some standard buy-to-let mortgages will allow “small HMO” use, i.e. 3 or 4 tenants, but owners of larger HMOs will need a specific HMO mortgage product.

Shop around and consider using a broker to source the most suitable product. Lenders tend to offer the best products to experienced property investors.

4. Obtain specialist insurance

Insurance is essential to protect your investment but many insurers do not offer policies for HMOs as they are perceived to be higher risk. As with mortgage products, landlords need to shop around or use a broker.

Ensure that your insurance covers the buildings, any landlord’s contents and loss of rent if the property is damaged or destroyed.

5. Attend to safety & maintenance

HMO landlords have various duties under The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006. These are listed below. Landlords should ensure that the property is up to standard before allowing any tenants to occupy.

Landlords must:

• Provide the landlord’s contact details to the occupiers and displaying them in a prominent place in the property
• Take fire safety and other safety measures
• Ensure a supply of water and drainage
• Maintain a supply of gas and electricity and testing gas appliances annually and electrical installations every 5 years
• Maintain common parts, fixtures, fittings and appliances
• Make sure living accommodation is clean at the start of a tenancy
• Provide waste disposal facilities.

6. Monitor safety & maintenance

Landlords need to carry out regular inspections of the HMO to keep the safety and maintenance issues above under review. If tenants report faults, the landlord should respond promptly.

7. Choose tenants carefully

All landlords need to take care when taking on a new tenant. HMO landlords need to be particularly careful. In many cases, HMO tenants are young professionals looking for economical accommodation in a convenient location. However, HMOs can also attract unreliable tenants and tenants with financial problems.

As well as checking on reliability and creditworthiness, Landlords need to consider whether a new tenant will fit in with the other tenants in the HMO. Landlords should seek references and do financial checks. Click here to see our Simply-Docs template reference request letters.

8. Have a written tenancy agreement

Having a written tenancy agreement will ensure that both landlord and tenant know what to expect and will reduce the scope for disagreements during or at the end of the tenancy.
Click here to see the Simply-Docs range of bedsit agreements and other assured shorthold tenancy agreements and here to see our student letting agreements.

9. Keep detailed records

Make sure you keep a written records of any inspections, correspondence and conversations with tenants. This will provide evidence of your actions in the case of a future dispute.

Also keep detailed financial records. These will be essential when it comes to filling in your tax return.

10. Connect and keep up to date

Connect with other local HMO landlords or join an online forum to learn from others and share your experiences of being a HMO landlord. Make sure you know about any planned changes to HMO legislation so you are well prepared.

How can Simply-Docs help?

Simply-Docs has a huge range of template letters, forms and documents in our Residential Landlords folder, including tenancy agreements for HMO and non-HMO properties. Our documents are customisable and easy to edit.

Our new HMOs and Licensing documents help HMO landlords to comply with the HMO Management Regulations.

For more information about our services, please do not hesitate to contact one of our expert team today.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published a consultation document in respect of tips and gratuities responding to a call for evidence, which ran from 1 September 2015 to 10 November 2015.

Why is a consultation taking place?

Since 1 October 2009, employers have been prohibited from using tips, gratuities and cover charges to make up payment of the national minimum wage. But tips and gratuities remain a contentious issue. Recent reports suggest that some companies have allegedly reduced the amount of tips being given to workers in order to fund the national living wage and, last year, there was widespread negative publicity over the deduction of administrative fees of 8-10% from customer tips at Pizza Express and other restaurant chains. This is legal and many employers said the charges were a way of covering the cost of pooling and distributing tips.

What is the consultation aiming to do?

In general terms, the policy objectives of the consultation are to make it clear to customers that payments are voluntary, ensure that workers receive a fair share and to increase transparency to workers and customers as to how the payments are treated. Consultation proposals include making it clear on bills that any service charges are voluntary, prohibiting or limiting employers from charging an administrative fee to workers who receive tips and placing the voluntary Code of Practice on a statutory basis. The voluntary Code of Practice was introduced in 2009 to improve the information available on tips, gratuities and service charges and how they differ from cover charges. If the voluntary Code were put on a statutory basis, it could be taken into account in certain tribunal proceedings.

This consultation will close on 27 June 2016.

From 1 April 2018 it will be unlawful for landlords in England and Wales to grant a new lease or tenancy agreement of a commercial or residential property with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of F or G. There are some exceptions – which we mention below – but for the most part landlords will need to ensure that their properties have a rating of E or higher by 1 April 2018. In this blog we look at different aspects of the law on energy efficiency standards and consider what steps landlords should take between now and 1 April 2018.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)

EPCs were introduced in 2007, with the regime applying to all residential and commercial properties by October 2008. An EPC must be prepared and made available to potential buyers and tenants when a property is being sold or rented.

An energy assessor visits the property and assesses the energy features such as heating, insulation and glazing. A report is generated giving the property a rating from A (the highest) to G (the lowest).

Green Deal

The green deal was introduced in 2013 to help owners of residential and commercial properties to make energy efficiency improvements at no up-front cost. Take-up levels have not been as high as was hoped and the Government stopped funding the Green Deal Finance Company last year. It is still possible to get funding from other providers.

Property owners can request a green deal assessment. The assessor will produce an advice report recommending energy efficiency improvements and giving an estimate of likely savings on energy bills. The “golden rule” is that any recommended improvements must pay for themselves through reduced energy costs.

If the property owner proceeds with the improvements and uses a green deal finance plan (rather than self-funding the improvements), the loan repayments will be made via the energy bills for the property. The energy company passes the payments to the loan provider. There should be no increase in the energy bills for the property because of the “golden rule”.

Tenants’ Energy Efficiency Improvements

From 1 April 2016, assured shorthold tenants (and some other residential tenants) in England and Wales have the right to request their landlord’s consent to make energy efficiency improvements to rented property. Landlords must not unreasonably refuse consent to improvements.

The new rules apply where the tenant wishes to make a “relevant energy efficiency improvement”. Relevant energy efficiency improvements are those that either qualify for Green Deal funding or are measures taken to connect a property to mains gas.

The improvements must be financed at no cost to the landlord. They may be financed through a Green Deal Finance Plan, provided free of charge by an energy company, financed by a grant from central or local government or another source or funded by the tenant (or a combination of these methods).

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES)

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 introduce the concept of a “sub-standard” property. This means a commercial or residential property with an EPC rating of F or G.

From 1 April 2018, it will be unlawful for a landlord to enter into a new letting (or extend or renew an existing letting) of such a property. From 1 April 2020 it will be unlawful to continue to let a residential property with an F or G rating and from 1 April 2023 it will be unlawful to continue to let a commercial property with such a rating.

There are exemptions from this prohibition on letting, the main exemptions applying where:

  .      The landlord has in the previous five years already made all relevant energy efficiency improvements or there are no relevant energy efficiency improvements that can be made.

  .      The landlord has in the previous five years been unable to increase the energy performance rating of the property to E or above:

  .    due to the tenant’s refusal of consent or refusal to give a confirmation required under a green deal finance plan;

  .    due to a third party’s refusal of consent or granting of consent subject to unreasonable conditions; or

  .     because an independent surveyor has advised that this would result in a reduction of more than 5% in the market value of the property.

Steps for landlords to take between now and 1 April 2018

Landlords need to have a strategy in place to comply with the law on energy efficiency standards. Landlords should consider taking some or all of the following steps:

• Carry out an audit of your rental properties to identify any with an F or G rating. Consider extending this to properties with an E rating as the “sub-standard” definition may include E rated properties in the future.
• Take advice on energy efficiency improvements. Consider whether any exemptions apply. If they don’t, take steps to make the recommended improvements. Liaise with tenants to arrange access or arrange to do the works when the property falls vacant.
• Respond to residential tenants’ requests for energy efficiency improvements.

Further Information

Landlords and tenants can access our guidance notes and template documents relating to tenants’ energy efficiency improvements here. For more information about the 1 April 2016 changes please see here.

Private companies have traditionally been the weak link in corporate transparency but as of 6th April, 2016, this is all about to change. Publicly listed companies are subject to a much more stringent disclosure regime and for many companies, even larger ones, the lack of disclosure around who owns or controls a private company has been one significant reason to operate through this vehicle. A private company has not, up to now, had to look beyond who its registered shareholders are, allowing private trust and nominee arrangements to flourish. This has meant some companies may not even be aware of who actually owns or controls them, let alone anyone outside the company knowing.

What is changing?

The Government has stated that in order to tackle tax evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing as well as to increase trust in UK corporates more generally, it will require UK companies, Societates Europaeae and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) to become more transparent. It will do this by requiring companies to keep a register of individuals or legal entities that have control over them (a PSC register). The only entities to which the new regime will not apply are UK listed companies (those subject to DTR 5 of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure & Transparency rules). Broadly this means companies listed on the London Stock Exchange and AIM, and UK companies with voting shares admitted to trading on a regulated market in another EEA state or on specified markets in Switzerland, USA, Japan or Israel. All other UK incorporated companies limited by shares or guarantee, including dormant companies and community interest companies are within scope, as well as UK Societas Europaea and UK LLPs. The regime is therefore all-encompassing in its scope.

Overseas entities operating in the UK, whether through a branch or otherwise, are not subject to the new regime.

When is it changing?

All UK incorporated entities within scope will need to keep a PSC register from 6th April 2016. As one of the main stated aims of the PSC regime is to increase transparency, from 30th June 2016, they will also need to file their PSC information at Companies House when making their annual confirmation statement (which replaces the annual return). The information at both Companies House and on a company’s individual register will be publicly available. Although residential addresses will remain private and will not be publicly disclosed, for the rest of the information, companies or affected individuals will have to prove that there are “exceptional circumstances”, i.e a serious risk of violence or intimidation, in order for it to be suppressed.

Non-compliance with the PSC register requirements is a criminal offence.

What will need to be registered?

The details of any individual or legal entity that owns or controls (directly or indirectly) more than 25% of a company (or LLP) will need to be registered. Who is a PSC and a registrable relevant legal entity and what details need to be registered for each, are set out in the legislation and there is also Government guidance on the meaning of significant influence or control.

The PSC regime requires companies to take five steps:
Identify PSCs;
Obtain and confirm this information;
Record the details in the PSC register;
Provide this information to Companies House;
Monitor and update this information.

A PSC register can never be blank. Even if a company has no interests to register, for example it has 5 individual shareholders each holding 20% of its shares, it must still maintain a register and include prescribed wording in it to reflect that it has no individuals with registrable interests.

Sounds confusing – what about the Government’s stated aim of reducing red tape for SME businesses?

In many ways this new regime does fly in the face of reducing red tape for SMEs. However the difficulty a company has in obtaining the information to include in the PSC register, completing and then maintaining it, will very much depend on how complex a company’s structure is. The Government has produced comprehensive guidance that is user friendly and designed for directors, shareholders, company secretaries and designated members (LLPs). However it is still fairly weighty for those unused to wading through guidance and applying it to one’s own company without the help of professional advisers.

What can we do to help?

We’ve tried to take the stress out of this looming change for you by producing a comprehensive package of new template notices, documents and guidance to assist you in getting your PSC Register up and running and making sure you comply with the many statutory requirements of the new regime. Our package includes templates to cover all the main aspects of the regime. These are now ready to download here.

You’ll need to act quickly however, the obligation is to have your register in place by 6th April 2016 and as the information in it needs to be confirmed, notices need to start being sent out to PSCs now.

A recent study by HR Magazine has found that UK employees have some of the lowest levels of engagement with their work in the world. But, with business cultures differing from country to country, are there any lessons from abroad that we can learn to make our companies more efficient and profitable?
With that that thought in mind, and using Sweden, Denmark, Japan and Germany as examples, we’ve decided to take a look.

Sweden

In many ways, Sweden is well ahead of the curve in relation to many socio-economic issues. Unemployment is low, as is the national debt and inflation, and labour productivity levels are well above the global average. In addition to this, the Swedish public enjoy excellent standards of living.
So what is the Swedish business culture like that has helped guide our Scandinavian cousins to such success?

Flexible working hours

Sweden is a country obsessed with creating a good work-life balance. In fact, The Independent recently reported, in a bid to improve happiness and productivity, Sweden is currently moving towards a six-hour working day.

Indeed, many of the country’s most successful businesses have already successfully implemented this change – including the Toyota centre in Gothenburg, which made the switch 13 years ago. Since then, the company have improved staff morale, reduced their employee turnover rate and increased profits.

Free perks and healthcare

In recent years, Swedish businesses have made giant strides in promoting health and wellbeing within their workforces. And, among the plentiful perks provided by many Swedish companies, free or subsidised healthcare schemes are high on the list.

For example, employees over 50-years-old are often provided with free medical examinations every couple of years. Plus, many companies provide their workforce with free fruit and subsidised daily meals to help encourage healthy eating.

What can we learn?

Want proof? Inspired by the Scandinavian model, a Liverpool-based marketing agency recently started trialling a six-hour work day and is already enjoying the benefits.
Companies that support health in the workplace typically have a greater percentage of their employees at work every day. For this reason, productivity levels are typically high within Swedish companies. Furthermore, after retirement, Swedish citizens enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world, so they must be doing something right.

Denmark

As with their Scandinavian neighbours in Sweden, corporate culture in Denmark focuses on cultivating a happy and motivated workforce. Arguably, though, the Danes place an even greater emphasis on the Law of Jante. For the uninitiated, the Law of Jante dictates that team success is more important than individual achievements. Consequently, the typical Danish corporate hierarchy reflects this principle.

Flat management structures

Many Danish businesses work in small teams without managers, thus creating a flat hierarchy. Without a manager to steer proceedings, teams have to find a way to work together effectively, with all members contributing equally to the cause.

Similarly, many Danish companies make a special point of celebrating their successes together. As everything is a team effort, no individual is worthy of more praise than another when it comes to celebrating company wins. As such, everyone gets recognised for their efforts – no matter how big or small.

What can we learn?

In British business culture, power relations and hierarchical organisations are common. For this reason, Brits tend to defer to seniority and lines of communication get passed down by rank.
However, as a rule, employees in Danish companies are encouraged to work independently. The benefit of such a structure is that all employees feel empowered by a sense of responsibility towards achieving the same goals. This, in turn, makes them feel more motivated, while celebrating successes as a team means everyone gets to feel valued.

All in all, then, a flat management structure can help to cultivate a workforce of empowered employees that feel valued and responsible for a company’s success.

Japan

Japan is an ancient culture with many unique traditions, customs and rituals that extend into the country’s business culture. Although such formalities might seem mysterious from a Westerner’s perspective, you’d be hard pressed to argue that they don’t work given the fact that Japan have developed into an economic powerhouse.

Daily motivational rituals

Many Japanese companies start the day with a morning assembly where workers meet to sing a company song or recite motivational slogans in unison. To the casual observer, this might seem strange. However, to the Japanese, these rituals act in the same manner as a daily pep talk, or other such motivational techniques.

Status equals power

In Japan, face-to-face meetings are a crucial part of building working relationships with clients and colleagues. When meeting in person, it is customary that the highest ranking attendee sits at the head of the table and is addressed first when discussions commence. This behaviour is representative of Japanese culture, which values the wisdom of its elders. From a business perspective, it’s an illustration that respect is earned as a virtue of experience.

What can we learn?

Daily motivational rituals are a great technique for ensuring the long-term goals of a company remain fresh in employees’ minds. Although you might not want to go to the lengths of the Japanese, motivational talks and slogans can help boost staff morale, when used appropriately.

Older generations seem to never tire of telling younger people that they lack respect for older generations. Although this is a sweeping generalisation, in relation to how you conduct yourself in the workplace, there is a lesson to be gleaned.

In most cases, people are promoted within companies because they have displayed high levels of skill and aptitude. Therefore, if you disagree with a manager, it’s probably best to remember they are where they are on merit, and to air any grievances in private.

Germany

It’s perhaps too easy and not always accurate to summarise German business culture into a list of stereotypes. Nonetheless, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Germany is Europe’s industrial powerhouse, the world’s second largest importer and the only country rich enough to save the eurozone from recession. So, those traditional stereotypes must carry some weight, right?

Structure is function

Many German companies choose to enforce strict rules, regulations and processes to ensure all tasks get completed correctly and on time. In some companies, non-compliance to enforced regulations carry penalties, which vary based on the severity of the offence. Although this method for conducting business offers little flexibility, the Germans believe that the benefits of a high degree of consistency far outweigh the negatives.

Plugging the skills gap at source

The Germans treat education very differently to most other major European countries. In upper secondary schools, for example, many students take vocational courses and enter into apprenticeships. For this reason, a far greater proportion of Germans leave the education system 100% job-ready.

For jobs that require a higher form of qualification, in the majority of cases, state-run universities complete the education of potential employees on behalf of German companies. Nonetheless, in Germany, there is no stigma attached to vocational qualifications. Therefore, if you are talented enough, there is no reason that you can’t rise to the top of a German company, even if you don’t have a degree.

What can we learn?

Although the typical British workplace is also governed by rules and regulations, as a rule, they tend to be far less implicit than in Germany. For instance, verbal agreements, unwritten rules and ‘gentleman’s agreements’ still play a vital role in the organisational structure of many UK-based businesses. In theory, therefore, lifting more liberally from the German template should allow more British businesses to attain a higher level of consistency and reliability.

In regards to qualifications, in the UK, intense competition for jobs means that three-quarters of employers require a 2:1 degree. Historically, this has meant anyone without a good degree grade – or a degree at all – has struggled to climb up the corporate ladder in Britain.

Hypothetically, this has curtailed the progress of many talented individuals and stopped them from reaching their full potential. However, this year, several British companies such as Penguin and the graduate recruiters Ernst & Young, have removed degree classification from their job requirements. As a result, more talented but underqualified people will have a better chance of winning top jobs in British companies, just like in Germany.

At Simply-Docs, we provide a wide selection of ready to use business documents and contracts. For more information about how we can help reduce the amount of professional legal input your business needs, contact one of our expert team today.

Many people dream of opening up their own restaurants, but very few are brave enough to take the plunge. That’s not surprising – any restauranteur will tell you that starting a restaurant isn’t easy. And, while the oft-quoted statistic that 90% of restaurants fail in their first year is not actually true, it is a fact that opening a restaurant is not a business venture for anyone looking to get rich quick.

Still, new restaurants are opening in the UK every day. With the right business idea, a bit of expertise, some start-up funding and a lot of hard work, there’s no reason you can’t make your own restaurant succeed.

To help get you started, here are our top 10 tips to starting a restaurant.

• 1.     Be realistic

Ah, to be a restaurateur. Long lunches over a bottle of wine. Friendly regulars who are always smiling. Escaping the nine-to-five grind. What’s not to love?

If you think running a restaurant is going to be anything like that, think again. That’s the fantasy; the reality is very different. If you already work in the restaurant industry, you’ll know this. If you don’t, go get some experience. If you don’t fancy quitting your day job to wait tables and wash dishes, then the realities of running a restaurant probably aren’t for you.

• 2.     Decide what type of restaurant you want

Ethnic eatery or traditional British fare? Family friendly or more for the millennials? Fine dining or fast food? Before you do anything, you need to have a clear idea of your restaurant concept.

By far the most important thing about your restaurant concept is that it’s something you’re passionate about and can honestly imagine devoting yourself to, day in and day out, for years to come. Be honest with yourself and what your skills and interests are, and don’t try to jump on any food trend bandwagons just because they’re popular at the moment.

• 3.     Do your research

Once you’ve got a restaurant concept in mind, it’s time to research its viability. Where should your restaurant be located? Is there a market for your concept there? What is the competition like? And how much do business rentals in the area cost?

You might have to adjust your initial concept at this stage – in fact, you almost certainly will. Just ensure that you don’t end up wandering too far from your original idea without realising, in the spirit of making compromises. It’s surprisingly easy to do.

• 4.     Learn about the rules and regulations

If you’re not one for paperwork, forget about starting and running your own restaurant. Before starting a restaurant, there are a number of regulatory hoops that have to be jumped through – from registering your business with the local authority to ensuring your staff have the right food hygiene certificates.

Fortunately, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have a number of useful resources to help get you started, including a guide to starting a food business and a Safer Food, Better Business for Caterers information pack.

• 5.     Write a business plan

A comprehensive business plan is essential to ensuring that you stay on budget and on track. It should include market research and financial information, and provide anyone reading it with an in-depth understanding of your business idea, not to mention the initial start-up costs and long-term financial forecasts involved.

If, at the end of compiling your business plan, you realise your start-up costs are sky high, go back and refine it further until it seems more manageable. A sound financial plan is essential to the next step.

• 6.     Secure start-up capital

Whether you’re launching a Michelin restaurant or a hot dog stand, a restaurant is always going to require significant start-up capital – enough to cover initial costs and at least six months of running costs.

Ideally, you’ll be able to cover these initial costs using your own savings, or with the help of loans from friends or family, but if this isn’t an option then you’re going to need a business partner or bank loan. Whatever the case, this is where having an airtight business plan is of paramount importance – no one is going to invest in someone whose numbers don’t add up.

• 7.     Hire the right people

A restaurant owner can’t do everything at once, so bring a great team on board who are just as passionate and excited about this project as you are.

In particular, take your time when it comes to finding the right chef. Your restaurant is only as good as the food it serves, and if your chef can’t deliver, no amount of marketing or quality service can compensate for that.

• 8.     Get the restaurant ready to launch

Once you’ve signed a lease on a property, it can be tempting to rush preparations and open your doors to the paying public at once. But you only get one chance to make a first impression – so hold fire, and make sure you get it right.

If your restaurant needs any renovations or alterations, get them done now. Use this time to make sure that everything’s up to code. And decorate the interior and exterior to ensure that they accurately reflect your restaurant concept and create an inviting ambience.

• 9.     Make a menu

Work together with your head chef to create the perfect menu. Try to keep it short and sweet – it’ll keep your kitchen running smoothly and food waste to a minimum, and customers generally find long menus overwhelming anyway.

It is advisable to provide at least some options for customers with dietary requirements, or at the very least to clearly mark which dishes can be adapted to accommodate special diets if required.

• 10.  Get ready for hard work

Once the restaurant is open, say goodbye to weekends and holidays for the foreseeable future. The hard work doesn’t end here; in fact, it’s only just begun. As the owner, it’ll be your job to keep the hundreds of plates required to keep your restaurant running spinning – from marketing and hiring staff to tapering menus and filing taxes.

But, if you love the restaurant business, it’ll all be worth it.

How can Simply-Docs help?

Starting a business is difficult enough, so why waste time and money drafting complicated documents or paying a solicitor to do it for you? At Simply-Docs, we provide a wide range of fully customisable, ready-to-use documents that are ideal for entrepreneurs.

Restaurateurs may be particularly interested in our employment documents, which include all the policies, forms, letter templates and employment contracts necessary to recruit, manage and dismiss employees. We also offer a variety of health and safety documents, plus food and hygiene documents which include all the H&S documents and templates a restauranteur will need when starting a business,

For more information about our services, contact our friendly team today.

Starting a new business is an exciting time, where everything and anything can seem possible. Yet, while it’s important to dream, if you don’t forge a concrete plan for success then failure is almost inevitable.So, if you’re a budding internet entrepreneur, here are 10 essential tips that will help you start your own online business.

• 1.     Identify your market

If you’re considering creating a new business, it’s important to remember that a good idea is worth nothing. Good ideas are ten a penny, and from an entrepreneur’s perspective, the most important thing is to ensure that a good idea can turn into a profitable business.

When starting out, many businesspeople make the mistake of concentrating on an idea or product, rather than a market. However, it’s the viability of a market – or, more accurately, the likelihood of demand for what you’re selling – that will determine success.

For this reason, before pressing ahead, you will need to do research. Survey your audience and look at competitors to determine if the product or service you want to offer is viable for a particular market. When researching online audiences specifically, you can also do keyword research that will allow you to determine the types of problems that people are searching for a solution to online.

• 2.     Don’t quit your day job straight away

The ultimate dream for anyone starting a new online business is to make enough money to quit their day job. Unfortunately, unless you’re either really good or really lucky, this isn’t going to happen straight away.

Budding online entrepreneurs who quit work before their new businesses really get going are often forced to take money out of that business to support themselves. However, in the initial start-up phase, where a cash cushion can make the difference between success and failure, the extra income provided by your day job could become crucial.

So, unless you have enough money in the bank to support the life to which you’ve become accustomed, it might not be the best idea to quit your day job straight away.

• 3.     Website builder tools provide the cheapest option

Once you’ve zoned in on your market and product/service, the next important step is to build a website that does everything you need it to.

Luckily, there are a wide range of creation tools such as WordPress, SquareSpace or Weebly that make the process relatively cheap and easy. As an added bonus, most website creation tools also offer hosting services, which provide crucial storage space and internet connectivity capabilities for people visiting your website.

For more information about the options available, check out the post: ‘Choosing the Right Website Builder for Your Needs’.

• 4.     Keep things simple when designing your site

When it comes to creating a website, there’s a whole gamut of design options available. However, because you only have a handful of seconds to grab and then retain a prospective customer’s attention, usability and functionality are key to e-commerce website design.

Consequently, nothing should take more than a few clicks to buy, any and all fonts need to be easy to read, and site-wide navigation must be as clear as possible. Additionally, while graphics and fancy images might catch the eye, these should only be considered if they don’t distract customers from your site’s core sales message.

• 5.     Craft copy that sells

While building and designing your website, it’s important not to forget about the power of words. After all, it’s your website’s copy that will ultimately help guide potential customers through the buying process and convince them into becoming paying customers.

If you don’t have the utmost confidence in your writing abilities, you can check out ‘David Ogilvy’s 7 Tips for Writing Copy That Sells’ for inspiration. Alternatively, hiring a professional copywriter to create sales copy for you can provide a significant return on investment (ROI).

• 6.     Pick the right domain name

It can be tempting to try to be clever when picking your company name and, by extension, your website’s domain name. Nevertheless, in a similar vein to designing your website, it’s best to keep things simple.

Keep your domain name short and easy to type, and include keywords that describe your business and the product or service that it offers. Try and be memorable – without being confusing – and only use appropriate domain extensions such as .com or .co.uk. Avoid using numbers and hyphens where possible.

Once you’ve picked the perfect domain name, it’s advisable to protect your brand by purchasing all the various domain extensions and misspelled versions. If your business becomes a success, this will help prevent potential competitors from piggybacking off your triumphs.

Furthermore, we would also suggest protecting your brand by registering it as a trademark. For more information about trademark registration and fees, go to the Intellectual Property Office website.

• 7.     Don’t forget search engine optimisation (SEO)

For the uninitiated, SEO involves implementing techniques that boost your search engine rankings while increasing the number of visitors to your website. Although SEO is a multi-faceted discipline that requires a fair amount of technical skill, there are several easily comprehensible tricks you can keep in mind.

Firstly, is the content on your website relevant to your business and does it help provide answers for the things users are searching for? Secondly, in terms of performance, is your website fast loading and is it mobile-friendly? And thirdly, does your website provide a good user experience by being easy to navigate, trustworthy and safe?

Making sure you can answer yes to all these questions will help to ensure your website is optimised for search engines and potential customers.

• 8.     Embrace digital promotion channels

The key to marketing your business online is making sure that your products and services are showcased where potential customers are looking.

For instance, both Facebook and Twitter are excellent platforms for engaging with and attracting new customers, so setting up business profiles on both is an absolute must. Likewise, creating and maintaining a blog on your website is the easiest way to establish a ‘voice’ for your brand and is therefore an integral part of almost every online business.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising should also be a consideration, as it is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get traffic to a new website. If you’re unfamiliar with the intricacies of PPC, you can read a great overview on the subject here. But, in short, PPC is a form of internet marketing provided by search engines like Google that allows businesses to create ads related to keywords that people are searching for. Consequently, PPC ads are a great way to get your business in front of a highly targeted audience.

• 9.     Don’t hide behind a screen

Customer service is just as important for online business as it is for brick-and-mortar stores – if not more so. Therefore, you need to make sure that the standard customer service channels people expect are clear and present within the design of your website.

This includes social media channels, an ‘About Us’ page and contact details. More important, however, is regularly checking your business’ emails. This is because not replying to customer complaints in a prompt fashion has the potential to significantly damage your brand.

• 10.  Continually evaluate your successes and failures

Many business niches, particularly in the online environment, are subject to rapid change. For this reason, the key to maintaining success over a longer period is constant evaluation. If you are assessing what does and what doesn’t work for your business on a consistent basis, you’ll know what to do more of and what to do less of.

Likewise, looking for new ideas and fresh concepts to implement always has the potential to provide long-term benefits. For instance, once your business is off the ground, is there scope to introduce back-end sales and upselling? Email marketing campaigns? Value-adding videos and guides? In short, you should never stop looking for ways to improve.

How can Simply-Docs help?

We provide a wide selection of ready-to-use internet and e-commerce document templates as well as website terms and conditions and privacy policies that can help reduce the amount of professional input your new online business will need.

We have invested a lot of time and effort into making sure all our documents are customisable and easy to edit. You can create terms and conditions for your website, goods and services terms and any other business legal document you might need quickly and easily.

For more information about our services, please do not hesitate to contact one of our expert team today.

Zero hour contracts continue to be the subject of media attention and this January sees a further move in the direction of strengthening the rights of workers on zero hour contracts.

As you will know from earlier blogs, exclusivity clauses in zero hour contracts were banned in 2015.

New regulations apply from 11 January 2016, giving employees the right to make an employment tribunal claim where they have been dismissed or subject to detriment by an employer following breach of an exclusivity clause in a zero hour contract.