A NEW team to help employers maximise the opportunities for tax breaks within the UK tax system has been formed by York chartered accountancy firm Garbutt & Elliott.

The Employment Rewards and Solutions (ERS) team will be based at the practice’s office but will offer advice throughout the region, focusing on how employers can reward their staff with tax benefits and breaks.

It will be led by Ray Cadman, an employment tax specialist who has been with Garbutt & Elliott for 17 years. He will be supported by Nick Davies and Richard Whitelock.

Mr Cadman said: “One of the main gripes from companies today is that they are over-regulated and over-taxed. The aim of our new team is to ease the burden of taxation and to strengthen the loyalty of staff by providing first-class tax advice on rewards and benefits.

“The advantages of this pro-active approach are clear, especially with the punitive tax changes which have come in recently for the new tax year. We will be looking closely at every opportunity to make life financially easier for employers and employees.”

Mr Davies said: “In the post-recession world, there will be challenges.

“For some companies, this will include how to motivate and engage a demoralised workforce to ensure that key staff members are retained.

“There will be a new demand for excellent people who can assist businesses to take full advantage of the recovering economy and employers will need to know how to safeguard their workforce.

“Our new team will help employers to do exactly that.”

Nick Scull, head of tax at Garbutt & Elliott, said: “We are always looking at ways to improve the service we offer to our clients and this new team will provide valuable and focussed advice in testing economic times.”