Traditional Big OE Getting Tricky for Young Kiwis

Young New Zealanders planning to take their big OE in the UK are finding it increasingly difficult to get visas and jobs, according to the founder of the International Working Holidays, the specialist overseas employment agency.

Vicki Kenny, IWH chief executive warns that the situation has worsened significantly over the past 18 months. She says: ` It used to be simple to get a UK visa, but these days if you make just one mistake the application will get sent back and you will have to reapply and pay another application fee. Since they don’t tell you what you have got wrong you might end up doing it all again and still have the application rejected. It’s a big risk if your flights are already booked and you get it wrong. A lot of kids choose bargain flights, which don’t allow refunds or date changes.’

A report from the Commonwealth Exchange in January pointed out that visa restrictions had cut the number of New Zealanders and Australians going to the UK, prompting British MPs to call for a better deal for Australasians.

Vicki Kenny explains: `About 18 months ago the UK changed the rules and made the visas harder to obtain. We get up to 10 questions a day about UK ancestry visas and working in Britain from young people wanting to go on the traditional OE. It seems that people can’t get that information from the British High Commission in New Zealand anymore because all the visa processing is now done off shore.

‘You really do need a specialist service these days. We’ve been doing this for so long, we know exactly what the UK immigration authorities are looking for. We fill out the form for our clients, which takes the stress out of it and have never had an application declined.’

IWH also helps arrange work and accommodation in the UK for young travellers from New Zealand, cutting out the uncertainty of arriving unprepared.

Vicki Kenny says: `We get a lot of young Kiwis who call us and say they’re in the UK and can’t get a job. We usually can’t help at that stage because they won’t have had a police check done and that takes time. The UK is barely out of recession so it’s hard to find a job there. It is even more difficult if you don’t have a job before you get there.

`It can easily cost £100 a day when you are in London looking for work. You soon eat through a lot of savings in the four or five weeks it may take to get a job. We can get them earning ASAP, maybe in a pub or as a nanny, and somewhere to stay, while they are looking for that ‘perfect’ job.’

Further information:

http://www.iwh.co.nz

Vicki Kenny, IWH: 027 670 9968

Peter Boyes, BPR: 0275 540 500

End of Provisional Tax Would be Lifesaver for SME Companies Says Business Mentors NZ

Proposals to end provisional tax and replace it with a business PAYE system would be a lifesaver for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) says Ray Schofield, CEO of Business Mentors New Zealand, the only national, volunteer business mentoring organisation.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has announced the proposal to axe provisional tax and introduce a form of "business PAYE" among a raft of other possible reforms contained in a green paper seeking public submissions by May 29. 

Mr Schofield says: ‘It would be the end of a nightmare for many SMEs, which run into trouble early in their development and get hit by what is in effect a double whammy at year two. No wonder that 50 per cent of new businesses fail at that stage and don’t make it into year three. A move to a PAYE basis would be good news because it would ease SME cash flow over that difficult period from startup.

‘It would also reinforce the message that income tax is an ongoing liability best managed in monthly installments. Businesses would be forced to keep track of their monthly net profit - in the same way that the introduction of GST forced them to prepare regular sets of accounts.

‘Managing tax is a major challenge for many people during those first months and early years of setting up a business. Our business mentors have to address SME cash flow problems arising from failure to pay tax (both income and GST) far too often - and worse still, far too late in the piece. We know from mentoring them that many SME's forget that 30 per cent of their gross turnover doesn't belong to them.’

Mr Schofield points out if only owner operators got themselves a business mentor earlier, more of them would survive: `Our volunteer mentors often arrive just in the nick of time but there are still many business people who won’t ask for the help that could see them through a rough patch. By the time provisional tax really kicks in it is often the final straw and because most of these companies have such fragile cash flows it’s often an insurmountable hurdle. For this reason alone - early intervention by a mentor is of critical importance.’

Business Mentors New Zealand helps around 250 businesses find a mentor every month and has assisted more than 70,000 small to medium-size enterprise owners in New Zealand since 1991. Business Mentors provides access to almost 2,000 volunteer mentors. Clients of the Business Mentoring Programme pay a $225 plus GST registration fee.  After registration the mentoring is free for up 12 months. The registration fee helps to cover the operational costs of the programme.

For more information please visit www.businessmentors.org.nz

Spinal Health Is Brain Health

SPINAL HEALTH IS BRAIN HEALTH, SAY NEW ZEALAND CHIROPRACTORS

The spinal cord is literally an extension of the brain, which means that spinal health is brain health says the New Zealand Chiropractors’ Association, as part of a drive to explain how improved brain-body communication is vital to improving the nation’s well being.

Celebrating International Brain Awareness Week, chiropractor and NZCA spokesman Dr Hayden Thomas explains: `The focus of chiropractic care is on the health and integrity of the nervous system. The health and function of the spine affects the entire nervous system. We already know that the spinal cord is part of the central nervous system and processes information just like parts of the brain do[1] and the latest New Zealand research into the effects of chiropractic care suggests that it may have an important role to play in maximising sporting performance and aiding recovery from a range of conditions where muscle function has been compromised.’

The New Zealand College of Chiropractic Centre for Chiropractic Research has recently published a study in the journal Experimental Brain Research[2], which suggests that full spine chiropractic adjustments can significantly improve brain­ body communication and coordination.

According to Dr Thomas: `Earlier New Zealand research indicated that chiropractic care improves the communication between the brain and body and results in better control of the core muscles during body movements, so that your spine is at less risk of injury. The researchers tell us that just a single session of chiropractic care may improve muscle activation and increase muscle contractions to the same extent as three weeks of gym­ based strength training.’

New Zealand research indicates that chiropractic care may have a role to play in assisting those who display poor proprioceptive function, the ability of the brain to sense the relative position of the body parts in space and the ability to move accurately and precisely without having to look at what you are doing. Without accurate proprioception you would not be able to drive a car safely as you would need to constantly look at what your arms and legs were doing.

As Dr Thomas explains: ‘We know that chiropractic care assists brain function in many ways, one of which is proprioceptive function and this improves the accuracy of the internal brain map so your brain accurately knows what is going on all the time.’

See also www.chiropractic.org.nz

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[1]http://www.queensu.ca/gazette/content/spinal­cord­processes­information­just­areas­brain

[2] Niazi IK, Türker KS, Flavel S, Kinget M, Duehr J & Haavik H. (2015) Changes in H­reflex and V waves following spinal manipulation. Experimental Brain Research. In press. DOI: 10.1007/s00221­014­4193­5 URL link: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00221­014­4193­5