Hale Independent Issue 173

DECEMBER 2024 18 Independent BUSINESS AZETS Wealth Manage- ment has expanded its team with the addition of Adam Bickell as director based at the firm’s Stock- port office. His role will be to sup- port the development of a fully integrated wealth and financial planning service for businesses, directors, entre- preneurs, individuals, and families across England. With more than 20 years of experience, Adam, pictured, is a wealth management and private banking professional working with individuals, families and business leaders throughout the North, spe- cialising in high-value court protection awards and deputy accounts. He will be based in Azets’ Stockport office on Greek Street, covering clients across the North West. Mark Parkinson, chief executive of Azets Wealth Management, said: “With the growth in demand for financial planning advice, from investments to inher- itance tax and retirement planning, we’re delighted to expand our specialist team who are experts in strategic wealth management. We look forward to contin- uing to develop our skills and team across the UK with the addition of Adam.” the email from all mailboxes including your deleted items.” That same advice is also given to anyone who receives a suspicious email requesting a correction. Other scams targeting businesses include an email request to use an a-Sign plat- form to download documents. To find out more about scams currently in use and how to deal with them visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ reporting-scams-pretending- to-be-from-companies-house BUS and coach hire com- panyBelleVueManchester has launched accredited training courses for drivers employed by other operators. The move is part of the Stockport headquartered company’s mission to drive up standards throughout the industry. Matt Turner is spearhead- ing the company’s initiative after being promoted to become Belle Vue’s training and compliance manager. Its driver training courses are accredited by the Road Transport Industry Train- ing Board. Matt, 42, who has worked in the industry since he was 16, spent many years as a globe-trotting coach driver and then as a supervisor. His career behind the wheel took him to places including South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, and numer- ous European capital cities. His new role involves run- ning a host of courses for the company’s own drivers, and refreshers for its transport managers, office staff and senior leaders, as well as staff employed by other companies. Award-winning Belle Vue, which is based at Discovery Park in Stockport, carries two million passengers a year across the UK and Europe. It provides branded trans- port to a wide customer base, serving the education and corporate sectors, private hire and touring groups, as well as express inter- city services in partnership with fast-growing coach net- work FlixBus. Belle Vue has invested a six-figure sum to create a dedicated training suite, as well as new offices for HR and accounts staff, improve- ments to its garage oper- ations and an additional coach park to accommodate its growing fleet of vehicles. Alongside this, the com- pany has also invested over the past 12 months in CCTV for its private hire fleet, a new vehicle tracking system and driver monitoring sys- tem for added safety. Phil Hitchen, managing director of Belle Vue, said: “In my opinion, the standard of drivers in the industry has left a lot to be desired since the pandemic, and so we want to improve customer service delivery levels not just within our business but on a wider scale too. “It’s important to provide ongoing training to drivers for them to work more safely and be up-to-date with current laws and compli- ance requirements. “All of the training is done in our suite, and having our own in-house provision helps us to recruit, retrain and retain staff ourselves, and ensure we continue to deliver a high-quality performance and the highest standards of customer service. “Matt has decades of first- hand experience having been a driver himself for many years, and he is a great trainer. He runs engaging sessions and the response to his courses has been very good. “As well as providing training for our own driv- ers, transport managers and office staff, he also organises refresher courses for other managers and senior leaders in our team.” Matt, who gained his pub- lic service vehicle licence on his 18th birthday while work- ing in his father’s transport business, said: “I’m loving my role and the opportunity it brings to make a difference at Belle Vue and across the industry as a whole. “Having been in the indus- try for my entire working life since I was 16, when I started in the garage at my dad’s business, I feel I have lots of experience and knowledge to pass on to others. “I like to train the drivers to the highest possible stand- ard and to gain all the quali- fications they can. “We cover driver induction, CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves has announced a series of changes to the Inheritance Tax (IHT) rules which she says will add £2billion a year to gov- ernment coffers. Among those Budget changes is the inclusion of inherited pensions for IHT purposes from April 2027. There will also be new rules on combined business and agri- cultural assets, such as farms, that need to be considered. The changes to the IHT regime prove a good start- ing point when it comes to turning your attention to estate planning. Now it’s a good time to ensure it is up to date and is fit for purpose. It should meet all your wishes when it comes to the distribution of your assets through your family. IHT is charged at 40 per cent on the property, posses- sions and money, external of somebody who has died, above a £325,000 threshold. It is only charged on the part of the estate that lies above the threshold. For example, on an estate worth £335,000, the tax would apply to the additional £10,000. The chancellor said this threshold will remain in place for an extra two years, until 2030. The rate of IHT is reduced to 36 per cent for estates where 10 per cent or more is left to charity. The additional nil rate band for passing on the family home to direct descendants will also remain at £175,000 until 2030. This means that married couples and civil partners will generally not pay inheritance tax where their combined estate is val- ued below £1million. However, the residence nil rate band continues to be tapered where the value of the estate exceeds £2m. Gifts made by an individual in the seven years before their death are classed as ‘poten- tially exempt transfers’ and can give rise to an IHT lia- bility on death. Despite spec- ulation in the run up to the chancellor’s speech there will be no changes to this. However, it is proposed that, from April 2027, most undrawn pension funds and death benefits will be included within the value of a person’s estate for IHT purposes. In a controversial move, the government is also planning the reform IHT agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) from April 2026. Relief of up to 100 per cent is currently available on qualifying busi- ness and agricultural assets with no financial limit. However, from April 6, Training: Belle View’s Matt Turner Bus firm’s standards drive PSVR training, manual han- dling, vehicle familiarisation and wheelchair compliance as well as helping them towards their Certificate of Profes- sional Competence qualifi- cation, and we are offering this training to drivers at our current trading partners and all other companies as well. “For our transport man- agers, we provide refresher courses on topics such as legislation, and customer service training for our office staff. “I wish there had been people who trained like this when I first started in the industry. It’s a really good initiative for Belle Vue and Phil and his co-di- rector Ian Olsen have been extremely supportive.” A wealth of experience Beware Companies House scams Estate planning: Is yours up to date? BUSINESSES are being urged to be on guard against scam letters, emails and telephone calls claiming to be from Com- panies House. The government has issued guidance on what companies should do if they think they’ve spotted a scam or believe an approach to be suspicious. The guidance includes examples of the wide range of scams that are currently targeting businesses includ- ing a ‘convincing’ scam letter demanding payments to Com- panies House. Other examples given include companies being con- tacted over the telephone and asked for payment of a late fil- ing penalty. Companies House stresses that it does not ‘cold call’ businesses to take a payment and will never ask what your authentication code is – or other secure information - over the phone. It adds that if you receive a suspicious email, you should report it immediately at phishing@companieshouse. gov.uk And it stresses: “Do not dis- close any personal informa- tion or open any attachments.” There is also currently a scam email circulating which is impersonating Com- panies House about a ‘com- pany complaint’. Here, the advice is clear: “Do not click on any links, reply to the email or open any attachments. Please delete 2026, it is proposed that 100 per cent relief will only apply to the first £1m of combined agricultural and business property, with the relief reduc- ing to 50 per cent on the value that exceeds £1m. Under the current rules, small family farms - includ- ing land used for crops or rearing animals, as well as farm buildings, cottages and houses - have been handed down through the generations without attracting IHT. The change has been con- demned by the National Farmers Union. Its president Tom Bradshaw said: “The current plans to change Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) need to be over- turned and fast. “It’s clear the government does not understand that family farms are not only small farms, and that just because a farm is an asset it doesn’t mean those who work it are wealthy. “Every penny the chancel- lor saves from this will come directly from the next gen- eration having to break up their family farm. It simply mustn’t happen.” TO ADVERTISE CONTACT OUR TEAM 01204 478812