The year is almost at an end so it’s the perfect time to look forward to 2016 and the changes we might see. So what’s in store for the new year and what could it mean for your business?

In the news, there’s concerns that some small businesses won’t be ready for automatic enrolment and poor Christmas trading puts some retailers at risk.

Top news stories

Are small businesses about to fail with automatic enrolment?

MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee are to investigate the impact of the automatic enrolment pension reforms, amid increasing concerns that large numbers of small businesses are about to fall foul of the law.

18% of businesses will change reward packages as a result of national living wage

Research by the CBI and Accenture found that these businesses plan to make changes to their reward package to mitigate the impact of the national living wage.

UK employees lose 8.5 days of work a year from poor sleep

Research reveals that the vast majority of these individuals do not seek remedies for their conditions.

Risk of insolvency hangs over high street retailers after difficult run-up to Christmas

Trade insurers warn of a ‘perfect storm’, with poor Black Friday and mild weather among factors leaving businesses fighting for survival.

Storm Desmond to ‘cost £520m’

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said that nearly 24,000 claims have been made for property damage, due to large-scale flooding in the north of England.

Key dates for your diary

30 December: Deadline for online submission of Self Assessment tax returns for tax year ended 5 April 2015 for HMRC to collect tax through PAYE codes where they own less than £3,000.

1 January: Happy new year

11 January: The Exclusivity Terms in Zero Hours Contracts (Redress) Regulations 2015 comes into force. This puts in place the ban on exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts, so workers can take more than one role. More information on the Government website.

The key changes coming in 2016

Happy 2016. With the new year, we’re seeing several changes. Here, we’ll give you the rundown and help you to understand what it might mean for your business.

In tax and legislation

Here are the most important changes to be aware of:

• National Living Wage: from 1 April the new living wage will come into force, meaning you’ll need to pay all workers aged 25 or older a minimum hourly rate of £7.20.
• Employer National Insurance Contributions abolished for apprentices under the age of 25: from April 2016, you’ll no longer need to make Employer NICs for your younger apprentices.
• Employment allowance: this will rise to £3,000 a year but will no longer be available for businesses with one director who is the sole employee.
• Dividends: a new higher rate of tax will be payable on all dividends over £5,000. This comes into force from April 2016. Find out more about what you should do now to manage the change.

In marketing

There are many changes on the horizon in the coming year. The most notable are:

• Changes to data protection: the EU General Data Protection Regulation is likely to come into force in early 2016. Although it will initially only affect businesses with more than 250 employees who process more than 5,000 records a year, it’s likely to be extended to smaller businesses over time. The main changes include understanding which data is personal, ensuring all data capture is explicitly approved, and allowing people the “right to be forgotten”. There are also additional requirements for reporting and data management.
• Proximity marketing will continue to grow: big businesses like Waitrose and Tesco are already using this to target people’s mobile phones with custom messages. As the number of beacons grow, so too will the opportunities for smaller businesses. Facebook has been offering free beacons to small businesses in the US, although there’s no confirmation if and when this might be rolled out here.
• Facebook Instant Articles offer businesses another place to publish: the launch allows you to publish your content on Facebook before it appears on your website, to help drive more traffic. Reports say that Google may introduce something similar so this could be a big trend next year.

In finance and the economy

It’s hard to say exactly what will happen to the economy but some predictions have been made. They may help you plan for the forthcoming year.

• Interest rates look to stay low: predictions say that the current 0.5% rate is likely to last for the whole of 2016.
• UK growth will be better than average: the Confederation of British Industry recently reduced its forecast to 2.6%, which still makes it higher than average for the economy.

In business generally

Here are some other changes that are likely to happen in 2016:

• Increase in the use of contactless payments: the launch of Apple Pay helped boost a growing trend towards contactless payments. Combined with an increase in limit for this type of payment, from £20 to £30, we can expect uptake to continue to rise in 2016.
• More security risks: 2015 saw a number of high profile security breaches but small businesses are not immune. Next year, the risk is likely to increase, so it’s important that your business is ready.
• Faster and easier acquisition: if you’ve ever faced a last-minute shortage in materials, you know how frustrating it can be. New on-demand delivery services, such as Amazon Prime Now, allows you to get things more quickly than ever, which could help with turnaround times and affect how your business handles stock.