Rolls-Royce staff are safe

MORE than 80 jobs have been safeguarded from compulsory redundancies for at least five years at the Rolls-Royce aerospace factory in Coventry.

A deal was struck between the company and trade union Unite for around 85 roles at the plant in Ansty, which makes where engine fan cases are made, and more than 575 jobs at its sister site in Renfrewshire which produces turbine blades and aerofoils.

Memorandums of understanding (MoU) have been signed for the two sites which state that Unite and Rolls-Royce will work together to bring new business to the plants including that related to climate change and green technologies.

Earlier this month, the company was considering temporarily shutting its jet engine plants for two weeks over the summer after the pandemic grounded thousands of jets, leading to fewer servicing demands.

GLOBAL insurance provider Axa has agreed a new 10-year lease at a Birmingham city centre office block.

The company has taken the newly refurbished, 14,208 sq ft first floor at St Philips Point, in Temple Row, where it has already been a tenant for 15 years.

Landlord Ediston Property Investment Company has recently invested £1 million refurbishing the property.

In addition to Axa, law firm Weightmans and accountant practice RSM occupy the ten storey, 102,000 sq ft building.

Commercial property consultancies Savills and Avison Young represented Ediston.

Ben Thacker, a director in the national offices team at Savills, said: “Axa undertook a review of their property requirements last year.

“A number of alternatives were considered but the business opted to remain at St Philips Point, surrendering part of their space on the upper floors and consolidating occupation into a large single floorplate on the first floor.”

Axa now occupies a total of 27,990 sq ft in the building across three separate floors.

Lambert Smith Hampton advised Axa.

SELF-assessment taxpayers will not be charged a five per cent late payment penalty if they pay their tax or set up a payment plan by April 1, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced.

The payment deadline for self-assessment each year is January 31.

Interest is charged from February 1 on money still owed – and normally a 5% late payment penalty also kicks in on any unpaid tax that is still outstanding on March 3.

But this year, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, taxpayers are being given more time before the penalty would apply. They need to have paid their tax bill or set up a monthly payment plan online at gov.uk by the end of the day on April 1 to avoid being charged the late payment penalty.

More than 97,260 people have so far set up a “time to pay” arrangement online.