December Key Dates

Newsletter issue - December 2023

19^th

For employers operating PAYE, this is the deadline to send an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) to claim any reduction on what you'll owe HMRC

22^nd

Deadline for employers operating PAYE to pay HMRC. For those paying by post, the deadline is 19 December.

30^th

Deadline for submitting online Self-Assessment Tax Returns to HMRC - for those who are both self-employed and employed and want to spread their payments throughout the year via their PAYE tax code, rather than paying one lump sum

Coronavirus (COVID-19) update

As a valued member of our community, we appreciate the trust you place in us to make sure all your critical services continue.

We are committed to an evidence-led and common-sense approach to containing the coronavirus outbreak and mitigating its impact on employees, customers and our wider business operations.

Please be assured we are preparing for our services to continue as normal. We have business continuity plans in place to minimise the risk of infection and make sure we can continue to deliver a business-as-usual service to our customers should an infection occur at an office. These include implementing clear guidelines for employees, providing support and advice for anyone who needs to self-quarantine, and issuing guidance on following safe hygiene practices across the organisation.

You can find further information on Covid-19 below to keep you updated:

Service	Name	Purpose	Expires
	PHPSESSID	This cookie stores a visitor's unique, randomly generated, session id and is used to pass information between site applications to enable them to function correctly. It is forcibly expired when the user closes the browser.	Expires on browser close
	nc_status	This cookie is used to optimise website traffic and distribution of services.	1 day
	nc_sid	This cookie is used to optimise website traffic and distribution of services.	Expires on browser close
	cookie_analytics	This cookie is used to define the option to enable or disable analytic and marketing cookies used for the website.	1 month
	ow_ac	This cookie is used to define whether cookiebar is displayed or not.	1 month
WordPress	wordpress_sec	This cookie stores a visitor's unique, randomly generated, session id and is used to pass information between content management system called WordPress to enable it to function correctly. It is forcibly expired when the user closes the browser.	Expires on browser close
WordPress	wordpress_logged_in_xxxx	Creates a session of the user currently logged into the website through the WordPress login page. This expires upon browser close.	Expires on browser close
WordPress	wp-settings-x	Wordpress sets a few wp-settings-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. This cookie is only applied to persons logging into the website through WordPress.	Expires on browser close
WordPress	wp-settings-time-x	Wordpress sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. This cookie is only applied to persons logging into the website through WordPress.	Expires on browser close
WordPress	_icl_current_language	This cookie allows the built in WordPress Multilanguage plugin, to store the user’s current language. This is critical for allowing the site to function properly.	1 day
WordFence	wfwaf-authcookie-(hash)	This cookie is used by the Wordfence firewall to perform a capability check of the current user before WordPress has been loaded. This cookie will only be applied for users who have logged into the website.	Expires on browser close
Litespeed	_lscache_vary	This cookie allows Litespeed to store the user’s login status, the role of current user and if it has admin bar showing or not.	2 days
Litespeed	ls_smartpush	This cookie allows Litespeed to store server settings to help with performance.	2 days

Name	Purpose	Expires
_ga	This helps us count how many people visit by tracking if you’ve visited before.	2 years
_gid	This helps us count how many people visit by tracking if you’ve visited before.	24 hours
_gat_irisOpenWebsite	This helps IRIS Software Group, the developer of the website, to monitor site performance for . The data collected is anonymous and is only used for analysing website performance overall.	24 hours
_gat	This is used for managing the rate at which page view requests are made.	Expires on browser close