Editorial and sourcing policy
SoloDesks publishes tax thresholds, statutory interest rates and trade benchmarks that people use to price work and pay bills. This is how those numbers get on the page, how they are kept current, and what will not be published here at all.
1.Every figure has a named source
Not “widely reported”, not a summary of a summary. Statutory rates come from gov.uk and HMRC; the Bank of England base rate comes from the Bank of England; our own analysis links the exact statistical release it was derived from. If a number cannot be traced to a primary publisher, it does not go on the site.
2.Every figure has a date
Rates change and pages rot silently. Tax and statutory figures on the free tools carry the month a human last checked them (currently July 2026); benchmark blocks quoting the Bank of England base rate carry the day, because the rate can move at any MPC meeting (currently 30 July 2026); the research pages carry their own check date (currently 31 July 2026).
3.Facts and estimates are labelled differently
A VAT rate is a fact set by government. A typical day rate aggregated from trade cost guides is somebody else's estimate. The two are never presented as the same kind of number: estimates say who estimated them and warn that they are not official statistics.
4.No invented statistics
The guides are written under a standing rule against made-up market rates, invented percentages and named customers who do not exist. Worked examples appear where they help, and are clearly illustrative rather than dressed up as data.
5.Legal and tax content stays general, and points at the official route
Late payment interest, small claims and CIS status are legal-adjacent. The site explains how they work and links the government page that governs them. It does not tell an individual what they are entitled to in their situation, because that depends on facts we do not have.
6.Our own analysis shows its working
Where we derive a figure rather than quote one, the arithmetic is printed on the page along with the assumptions it rests on and the limitations a statistician would raise. A derived number you cannot check is a number you should not use.
Review schedule
Figures are not left to drift until somebody notices they are wrong. Each class has a trigger:
- Income tax, National Insurance, VAT and CIS — reviewed at the start of each UK tax year, and whenever a Budget changes a threshold. Currently describing 2026/27; last checked July 2026.
- Bank of England base rate — reviewed after every Monetary Policy Committee decision, because statutory late-payment interest is calculated from it. Last checked 30 July 2026.
- Day rate and cost benchmarks — reviewed annually against the published trade cost guides they are aggregated from. These are third-party estimates and are always labelled as such.
- Original research — re-run when the underlying statistical releases are updated, which for the business population data is each autumn. Last checked 31 July 2026.
Where the statutory figures come from
You do not have to take our word for any of it. These are the official pages the rates are checked against:
Corrections
If a figure here is wrong, we want to know, and we would rather hear it from you than leave it up. Email support@solodesks.com with the page and the number. Corrections to a published figure are made on the page, and the check date moves with them.
Written and maintained by Sage Vinson, Founder of SoloDesks. More about who that is on the about page.