Archive for January, 2011

A few, relatively brief, items this week.  The government has published new proposals for reducing the number of claims to Employment Tribunals; the NICs changes from April make their first appearance in the next tax year’s PAYE forms; and HMRC protests against the latest press allegations.  Ireland announces its own plans to enforce online filing [...]

On 27 January, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Tribunals Service published a joint consultation document entitled Resolving workplace disputes: A consultation, setting out the latest Government proposals for reforming employment laws. These new proposals are set against a backdrop of an ever increasing number of Tribunal claims – 236,000 in [...]

HMRC has released draft versions of form P11, P32, P14 and P60 for the 2011/12 tax year for the use of payroll software developers.  They show the way in which the NICs-related changes are being handled on these paper documents. The split of NICable earnings (columns 1a to 1d), as already announced, uses the lower [...]

HMRC has responded with some indignation at recent press reports that £billions in NICs have been lost to employees.  For example, one newspaper stated “A HUGE blunder by the taxman could rob millions of people of part of their pension savings.”  This followed the release of figures by HMRC of substantial monies not allocated to [...]

Online filing of PAYE and PRSI forms P45 and P46, annual returns P30 and P35, and monthly payments of PAYE and PRSI became mandatory for most government bodies and many large employers in two stages, from January 2009 and January 2010. On 24 January 2011, Revenue published eBrief 04/11 Mandatory Electronic Filing and Payment of [...]

Each week we receive a number of payroll questions on our forum, and here are this week’s batch. Can you help with any answers? Forum posts: Joining the Childcare Voucher Scheme whilst on SMP One of our employees, who is currently on maternity leave, has asked for information on our childcare voucher scheme (I think [...]

The First-tier Tax Tribunal decision in the Deborah Wade case back in September 2009 had the potential to throw the maternity leave period and the maternity pay period out of alignment.  This week we tell you what the Upper Tax Tribunal decided on appeal. The period up to the start of automatic enrolment into workplace [...]

In September 2009, the First-tier Tax Tribunal gave its decision in the case North Yorkshire Police and Mrs Deborah Wade v The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs.  This was the first judicial decision on a matter concerning statutory payments since administration of the SMP/SAP/SPP schemes was transferred to the Inland Revenue (now HMRC).  The [...]

On 17 January, the Government confirmed its intention to introduce a new system of flexible parental leave from 2015.  The introduction of additional paternity leave from April 2011 is viewed by the Government as a “step in the right direction” and an “interim measure”.  The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) will be publishing [...]

The Government’s reforms to higher education and student finance include proposals to increase the annual earnings threshold above which students are required to have their loans recovered by payroll deduction.  The 9% repayment rate will not change, and all outstanding loans will be written off after 30 years. The current £15,000 threshold was due for [...]

The national minimum wage (NMW) rules allow employers who provide accommodation for workers to include it, up to a specified limit, as a benefit in kind towards payment of the NMW.  The current limit is £4.61 per day, or £32.37 for a full week. On 18 January, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) [...]

The following is an extract from the latest weekly informal update (dated 14 January) from HMRC to employer representatives. We are about to start the annual coding exercise to set the tax codes for the 2011-12 tax year. You will remember that that during the 2010-11 annual coding exercise at the beginning of 2010 there [...]

The latest Pensions Bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 12 January.  The two key areas of interest are the revised timetables for increasing the State Pension age for women to 65, and for both men and women to 66, and amendments to the existing provisions in the Pensions Act 2008 for the [...]

The new national minimum hourly wage rate of €7.65 will come into effect on February 1 following the signing of the order on 19 January. This is reduction of €1 on the current rate of €8.65. The latest data from the Central Statistics Office shows that about 47,000 workers, or 3.1% of the employed labour [...]

The following increases in the income tax exemption limits are proposed for 2011, reflecting the 1.1% increase in average earnings during 2010. The historically generous tax thresholds in Jersey mean that many Islanders still pay less tax than in most neighbouring territories. The income tax payable by a married couple in 2010 with a joint [...]

Each week we receive a number of payroll questions on our forum, and here are this week’s batch. Can you help with any answers? Forum posts: Calculating Leavers Salary We are all part time employees and we are paid on the 15th of each month in 12 equal payments. On Tuesday 23rd November, after finishing [...]

Just before publication came confirmation of the abolition of the default retirement age between April and October this year.  The pros and cons have been fiercely argued in recent weeks and some statistical information from DWP about older workers helps to retain perspective. Many of this week’s news items have an international slant, with a [...]

The Low Pay Commission, in its 2009 Report, recommended that a “name and shame” policy be put in place to expose those employers who show a wilful disregard for the National Minimum Wage (NMW).  On 30 September 2010, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced that such a scheme would be introduced from [...]

On 11 January, the Department for Work and Pensions published Older Workers Statistical Information Booklet.  Older workers in this context are those aged 50 to 64.  The key findings are: There are 21.0 million people aged 50 and over in the UK.  Of these 11.2 million are “older workers”, i.e. aged between 50 and 64, [...]

The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) has published the first version of a phrasebook which puts unfamiliar pension terms and expressions into more readily understandable English.  For example: “retirement income” is used instead of “annuity”, and it is defined as a “regular income stream for the rest of your life” “opening your retirement pot” is [...]