The impact of poor physical health in the workplace is plain for all to see – but the effect of poor mental health can be just as, if not more damaging.  A recent letter signed by industry leaders from across business and education highlighted that one in every six workers will experience mental ill health – which includes depression, anxiety, or stress-related issues.

This represents about 5 million people in the UK, so the costs are significant.  Mental health issues are estimated to cost the UK economy nearly £35 billion each year, with 15.4 million working days lost to mental ill health.

What can be done?

There is still a lot of stigma around the issue of mental health, which often makes it difficult for someone experiencing problems to come forward and ask for help.  One of the challenges, then is to make the issue of poor mental health as important as poor physical health.

Mental Health First Aid

Awareness is so important here, and a training programme called Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) aims to tackle these issues.  The aim of MHFA is to try and change attitudes in society around mental health, by developing skills to look after our own and others’ wellbeing.  The outcomes of the training are an increased knowledge of the range of mental health problems, including substance misuse, and an increase in the supportive behaviours towards individuals with mental health problems.

The courses teach people to spot the symptoms of poor mental health, and then offer initial help and guide a person towards appropriate support.  What it is not about is training people to be therapists themselves – but rather, to help people develop listening and responding skills.

To find out more about MHFA, the skills involved and courses available, go to their website here.  There are a range of courses available, including some which focus specifically on young people, and people who are or have been in the armed forces.

This week’s Budget 2018 has brought a few changes in to effect individuals and businesses. We will summarise a few of these now and will revisit some of these topics in our future pieces to give more detail.

• The personal allowance will rise to £12,500 in April 2019, a year earlier than expected. However, national insurance, for those that pay it, still begins at the lower threshold. The basic rate band is extended to £37,500. In total, this allows earnings of £50,000 before paying higher rate tax.
• The National Living Wage will increase to £8.21 per hour from next April. The Minimum Wage will increase for age 21-24 to £7.70 per hour, age 18-20 £6.15, under 18 £4.35 and apprentice rate will increase to £3.90 per hour.
• Selling property you have lived in for the whole period of ownership usually is exempt from Capital Gains Tax if the property is your Principle Private residence (PPR). However, if you sell a property that you haven’t lived in the whole time can bring a charge to capital gains tax on the profit. There are reliefs which can lower this if you have lived in it for part of the period of ownership, one of these reliefs allows you to reduce the profit based on time you have lived in the property and, in addition, the last 18 months could count towards this even if you have moved out by that stage. It has been announced that this 18 month rule is being reduced to 9 months from April 2020. There is also another relief which allows you to reduce the capital gains tax if you have let the property out during ownership. This letting relief which was worth up to £40,000, will also be lost in most cases from April 2020.
• Capital Gains Tax on residential properties will also be payable within 30 days of completion of sale from April 2020, this brings the tax payable forward by up to 19 months in the most extreme case.
• Annual investment allowance is going to increase from 1^st January 2019 for 2 years. Currently annual investment allowance allows a business to claim 100% tax relief on expenditure on certain plant and machinery used within the business. The current allowance gives 100% tax relief on £200,000 spent on capital expenditure in each financial year. The new allowance will give 100% relief on £1 million expenditure for a 2 year period from 1 January 2019.
• There is a new capital allowance for qualifying expenditure on structures and buildings. From 29^th October 2018 new non-residential buildings will qualify for 2% capital allowances, similar to the old industrial buildings allowance. This will give 2% allowance on the cost of the building as tax relief for 50 years. The unused allowance will transfer with the transfer of ownership.

If you believe you may be affected by any of the above changes and wish to know more please contact Nickie and her team nickie@barwellaccountants.co.uk