What a month. Lives have changed beyond anything most of us had imagined.
Dealing with the impact of Covid-19 has kept JTC Private Office very busy. In family owned businesses, where employees are often more loved than fellow family members, huge effort has gone into keeping everyone safe and paid. It is not a fun time to own a restaurant or hotel, but the mutual loyalty between some business owners and their staff will be remembered for a long time after the virus has been obliterated.
There is a renewed appreciation of scientific and medical expertise. Families have wanted us to gather up to date information on drug trials, as well as track the use of various testing kits and their approval in different locations. Lockdown meant one family was away from their normal doctor – we put them in touch with a top local medical team, which they found reassuring, and we co-ordinated the transfer of relevant information.
Other families have had the opposite problem and found themselves locked down in London where they are not resident and had already spent their allowed number of days in the UK. Not great when it was the end of the UK tax year. Happily for the family we are looking after, HMRC has indicated they would disregard these days as “exceptional”.
As families have resigned themselves to sitting tight and waiting for the infection curve to flatten, our team have had to, in some instances, find families accommodation more suited to lockdown than their normal abode. We have also reviewed household staffing arrangements to ensure key staff members are isolated where possible with the family, and in instances where that staff member is unable to isolate with the family, we have put in place alternatives. There has also been demand for new live-in staff – in particular, tutors.
Until next month.
Rebecca Bettany
Please note that some of the facts have been changed to protect the identities of our clients. These scenarios are typical of the type of requests we respond to at JTC Private Office.