http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/ The latest Blog feeds from www.hippey.co.uk en-us Fri, 11 Sep 2026 22:00:28 +0100 Rocketspark http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/27077/optimise_review/ As energy prices continue to fluctuate, more homeowners are looking for ways to maximise the value of their solar panels and battery storage systems. E.ON Next Optimise is a new type of domestic electricity tariff designed specifically for households with solar PV and battery storage, combining dynamic half hourly pricing with AI-powered automation to help customers reduce costs and increase export earnings.... Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:54:14 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post27077 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/27009/getting-vat-and-ccl-wrong/ Many charities, village halls, and community centres are being told by energy brokers and utility consultants that they can automatically reclaim Climate Change Levy (CCL) and benefit from reduced-rate VAT on their energy bills. We’ve even received calls ourselves about the ‘savings’ we can make – the sales consultant was completely unaware of the rules.Unfortunately, the reality is far more complex.While genuine reliefs do exist, blanket statements that "all charities can reclaim CCL" o... Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:48:53 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post27009 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/26296/be-tax-aware/ A very common request we get from new clients just joining us, and to be fair a comment we sometimes get from existing clients too. Michaela gives us some pointers to help discover why tax seems so high and what could be done. But first, in a lot of cases you'll being paying tax because you've taken the money from your business. As business advisors, we prefer clients to talk to us first when they need to extract more money from the business. We can explore tax-efficiency and need firs... Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:54:10 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post26296 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/25844/from-free-to-fee/ Crezco, one of the last providers offering free bank-to-bank payment solutions in the UK, has announced the end of its free product. For many small businesses and charities, this could be a big change and an even bigger cost.What’s Changing?Crezco’s Account Receivables feature allowed businesses to add a simple “Pay Now” button to invoices, enabling customers to pay directly from their bank account—fast, secure, and free. Payments were processed via the UK Faster Payments system, meani... Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:00:20 +0000 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post25844 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/24778/acsp/ A really big change for Limited Companies and others is coming in 2025. From the Autumn all Directors & PSC will be required to verify their identity with Companies House. The process aims to cut down of fraud, shell companies and unscrupulous agents. No matter how long you’ve been a Director or Person of Significant Control, you will need to verify your identity and address before any changes are made to your Company or filings – this includes your annual accounts.One side effect of the... Tue, 15 Jul 2025 14:36:49 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post24778 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/24604/whyxero/ We’ve been a Xero practice for over 10 years, and we still genuinely love it. Why? Because when it's set up properly — with the right categories, rules and connections — it becomes the heartbeat of your business. You can see what’s coming in, what’s going out, and how things are really going, all in one place.We pair Xero with Dext, which takes the pain out of the paperwork. Snap a photo of a receipt or email in an invoice, and Dext will do the hard work — reading the details, matchi... Mon, 16 Jun 2025 15:59:30 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post24604 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/22450/hiring-your-first/ So, you're on the brink of expanding your business by hiring your very first employee. It's a thrilling milestone, no doubt about it.But as you gear up to welcome a new member to your team, there's something important you need to wrap your head around: Payroll and PAYE costs. Yep, it's time to roll up those sleeves and dive into the financial nitty-gritty.Let's talk numbers for a sec. When you hire an employee, it's not just about their salary. There's a few other costs and regulations to consid... Tue, 30 Jul 2024 13:23:33 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post22450 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/22089/have-i-got-the-energy-for-this/ There’s been loads of interest over the last few years about energy prices, certainly since the Ukraine / Russian conflict energy prices rocketed. Whilst domestic consumers suffered some of the largest price increases since the 1970’s, most were cushioned from the volatile wholesale costs.Businesses however, suffered the most with energy costs sometime going up as much as ten times previous prices! And whilst the Government had some support for businesses, there has been no price cap like do... Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:21:02 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post22089 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/21971/going-solar/ With the rising energy prices in 2022 we decided to look at fitting solar panels to our home, it’s fair to say we’ve learnt a lot along the way both in terms of planning the system, using it and things you’re often not told or explained; I’ll try and break down our experience here so you can make up your own mind if it’s actually worth it.... Sun, 19 May 2024 12:37:37 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post21971 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/post/21953/satr/ Let's talk tax!It’s that time of year again, you’ve had that email from HMRC asking you to complete a tax return this year.Tax time can be a bit of a headache, right? But hey, understanding and getting through it is super important. So, grab a cuppa, and let's dive into the why, how, and what-ifs of this whole tax return thing, in a way that's easy to understand and maybe even a tad enjoyable.Why Should I Bother with a Tax Return?Okay, so here's the deal: If you're self-employed, running a b... Thu, 16 May 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.hippey.co.uk/blog/#post21953