News

Pension schemes

Pension Contributions During Maternity Leave: A Practical Guide for Employers and Payroll Teams

Pension treatment during maternity leave is a frequent source of queries and potential payroll errors. The rules combine employment law protections, auto-enrolment duties and the terms of the pension scheme itself. Correct application protects employees’ pension rights and reduces compliance risk for employers. Statutory Maternity Leave lasts up to 52 weeks and is divided into […]

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Pension Contributions During Maternity Leave: A Practical Guide for Employers and Payroll Teams

Pay, Benefits & Expenses

Employment and wages continue to grow

The employment rate is at a joint record high of 75.7 per cent, while regular pay is up 3.3 per cent on the year. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics have been welcomed by the Minister of State for Employment, Alok Sharma, who said the latest figures highlighted the “enduring strength” of […]

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Employer Compliance & Best Practice

Large businesses should reveal how many disabled staff they employ

Large organisations should reveal the numbers of disabled people they employ to help build a more inclusive society, argued the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Sarah Newton. With around one-fifth of the working age population living with a disability or health condition, the government has launched a new framework to encourage businesses to report how […]

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Employment Rights & Workplace Policy

Service sector employees to claim a rebate on expenses

Those working in the service sector, including nurses, hairdressers, construction workers and people working in retail and food sectors, may be able to claim expense rebates. HMRC is encouraging staff who work in these types of roles and are paid through Pay As You Earn, to investigate whether they can claim back some of their […]

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HMRC Guidance & Employer Bulletins

Class 1A NICs employer charges delayed until April 2020

HMRC has announced that Class 1A National Insurance contribution (NIC) employer charges on termination payments of more than £30,000 and on sporting testimonials of more than the £100,000 lifetime exemption are now due to come into effect in April 2020. This provision was expected to be included with the other changes to the taxation of […]

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HMRC Guidance & Employer Bulletins

HMRC outlines stance on unpaid work trials

Advice on unpaid work trials has been added to HMRC’s guidance on calculating the National Minimum Wage (NMW). Work trials are sometimes offered for legitimate reasons as part of a recruitment process. However, some employers may use unpaid work periods to obtain work or services that should be paid. This is often a grey area because there […]

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HMRC Guidance & Employer Bulletins

Government confirms auto-enrolment earnings thresholds for 2019/20

The government has confirmed the auto-enrolment earnings trigger and qualifying earnings bands for 2019/20, following its annual review. The auto-enrolment earnings trigger determines who is eligible to be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by their employer in terms of how much they earn. The qualifying earnings band is in place in respect of which contributions […]

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Employment Rights & Workplace Policy

Long-term disability benefits and dismissal for incapacity

Employers cannot dismiss employees who are receiving contractual long-term disability benefits for incapability due to an implied term, found the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). In the case of Awan v ICTS, Mr Awan worked as a security agent for American Airlines at Heathrow Airport. As part of his contract he was entitled to an insured long-term […]

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HMRC Guidance & Employer Bulletins

HMRC urged to postpone Making Tax Digital for VAT

HMRC has “failed to adequately support” small businesses with the introduction of Making Tax Digital for VAT, and recommends that the government’s introduction of the digital service be delayed by at least one year. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee has published a damning report on HMRC’s Making Tax Digital for Business programme and […]

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Pension schemes

Pensions dashboard given the go-ahead

Proposals to give people greater access to their pensions information have been unveiled by the government. New free, user-friendly ‘pensions dashboards’ would allow people to access their information from most pension schemes in one place online for the first time. The aim is to give people accurate, easy to understand, secure information about their pensions. […]

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Employment Rights & Workplace Policy

Lack of clarity around holiday pay remains

The case of King v Sash Windows has been settled following several years of debate over the rights of workers to recover holiday pay where they were wrongly treated as being ‘self-employed’. In December last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that workers who have not taken paid leave because they were […]

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News

Pension Contributions During Maternity Leave: A Practical Guide for Employers and Payroll Teams

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