Archive for September, 2008

By Curt Finch, CEO of Journyx, Inc. Why do your best laid plans often go unfulfilled?  You have put the right people in the right jobs, empowered them to achieve, drafted an excellent plan and got the necessary buy-in and funding.  Yet somehow things went into the ditch and now the project is late and [...]

I have taken a break from the Payroll News this week, so there are no new blog entries under UK Payroll News.  Normal service will resume next week.  In the meantime, please take a look at the latest press releases and coming events on the blog.

A quiet week for news this week, for a change, and I hope you will be as entertained as I was by the Special Commissioner’s case reported this week. The decision is worth reading in full. The UK Payroll News is sponsored by HRD & Payroll Solutions

HMRC gives out information periodically about email scams that are reported by employers and individual taxpayers.  Recent emails have been offering tax rebates.  HMRC does not notify taxpayers of tax rebates via email or invite them to complete an online form to receive a rebate. The email addresses used to distribute the tax rebate emails [...]

A new version of changeover form SSP1 comes into use from 27 October 2008. However, as this form may be issued some weeks in advance, DWP has decided to have two versions of the form available to employers on its website from 15 September 2008. The ‘old style’ booklet is for benefit claims made before [...]

In 2004, Christopher Ranson and his wife set up 500 companies, giving them names ZXCV1 Ltd to ZXCV100 Ltd, and NHKL1 Ltd to NHKL400 Ltd.  The accounts for each company at the end of the 2004/05 and 2005/06 tax years show receipts of £1, a payment of  78p for director’s remuneration to Mrs. Ranson and [...]

8-10 October 2008 Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky Amsterdam The Human Resource Summit, now in its 15th year, has consistently provided a high quality networking format for HR decision makers to meet with and discuss their issues with supplier companies. We are pleased to announce that the following UK HR buyers have recently confirmed: In Control Partnerships Pizza Express [...]

Selecting, Integrating and Assessing HR Software to Transform HR Processeses Thursday 20th November 2008 CCT Venues, Smithfields, London http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR082/overview.htm Symposium Events’ Leveraging HR Technology conference is the ideal event for Human Resources operations and systems decision makers to hear how fellow industry professionals leverage their HR software and ensure maximum return on investment. The event [...]

Eradicate Bullying and Harassment at Work Through Best-Practice Policy Design and Effective Investigation Techniques Thursday 27th November 2008 CCT Venues – Smithfields, London http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR083/overview.htm Symposium Events’ essential 3rd annual conference on Bullying and Harassment at Work gives you the unique opportunity to hear from a range of thought-leaders in the field of workplace bullying. Combining [...]

Exploring HR’s Role in Organisational Change from Employee Engagement to Communication and Leadership Training Thursday 13th November 2008 – CCT Venues, Smithelds, London EC1 http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR081/overview.htm Research indicates that organisations are undergoing major change approximately once every three years (CIPD 2007). With this level of frequency, it’s no wonder HR managers see managing change as their [...]

Measuring and Maintaining your Employee Well-Being Initiatives Whilst Developing a Resilient and Productive Workforce Thursday 23rd October 2008, 15 Hatfields, SE1 http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR080/overview.htm Are you struggling to engage your managers in your well-being initiatives? Are you having trouble obtaining financing for your well-being strategies due to lack of evidence of their worth? Are you finding maintaining [...]

Improving Public Sector Efficiency through Effective Performance Management, Partnership Working and Change Management Wednesday 15th October 2008 CCT Barbican London http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR079/overview.htm Join Symposium Events’ 2nd annual conference exploring HR challenges in the public sector. This is an unrivalled opportunity for leaders in the public sector to discuss and debate the issues facing their industry. Key [...]

Nurturing Functional and Leadership Skills, Aligning Performance and Potential and Lowering Recruitment Costs Thursday 9th October 2008, The Hatton, London EC1N http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR078/overview.htm Since the arrival of McKinsey’s notion of the ‘war for talent’ in the mid nineties, talent and management development have been steadily making their way up the business agenda. Today it is widely [...]

Examining Screening Methods, Avoiding Litigation and Assessing how far Employers’ Duties Might Extend in the Future Tuesday 7th October 2008, 15 Hatfields, London SE1 http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR077/overview.htm Symposium Events’ 6th Annual Employing and Vetting Non-UK Nationals 2008 is the authoritative event to demystify the complexities of immigration and screening employers face, both now and in the future. [...]

Bringing your HR into the 21st Century through Added Business Value, Process Innovation and Improved People Performance Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd October 2008 Crowne Plaza Hotel,”Le Palace”, Rue Gineste, 3 Brussels 1210 Belgium http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR076/overview.htm Symposium Events’ European HR Strategy Summit 2008 is Europe’s premier strategic conference focusing on the critical challenges that the European [...]

Improve your recruitment strategies to attract and retain top talent and maintain your competitive edge Thursday 25th September 2008 – CCT – Canary Wharf http://www.symposium-events.co.uk/pages/attending/HR075/overview.htm Featuring a handpicked panel of leading organisations, Smposium Events’ inaugural Reruitment Process Outsourcing forum has been specially designed for senior HR and recruitment professionals and will examine your recruitment and [...]

As soon as we had “gone to press” with last week’s newsletter, we received a response from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to our three questions.  One was resolved, as is explained in the update item  in this newsletter, but the other two issues are still up in the air.  However, [...]

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has published a new 37-page “Simplified Guide” on redundancy.  Despite its title, the information it provides is comprehensive enough guide employers through most redundancy situations.  Links are provided by support information on the BERR, Acas and HMRC websites. The subject of pay  in lieu of notice [...]

Acas has published a new guide to help businesses avoid the risks of equal pay claims through the use of job evaluation. Further information: Advisory booklet – Job evaluation: considerations and risks View the previous news item for Employment Law – Discrimination The UK Payroll News is sponsored by HRD & Payroll Solutions

We have an answer to the question about pension contributions for employees who are not entitled to any paid maternity leave.   The contradictory legislation for adoption leave is not even mentioned and we still disagree with BERR’s interpretation of the term “remuneration”. A detailed article in last week’s newsletter highlighted three issues that had been [...]