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Maternity / Paternity / Adoption Pay & Leave
Flexible Parental Leave
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012In May 2011, the Government published a consultation entitled ‘Consultation on Modern Workplaces’, which involved proposals in four areas: Flexible Parental Leave Flexible Working Working Time Regulations, and Equal Pay In June 2012, the Government published its response to topic 4 on Equal Pay; however, we have been waiting for the responses to the other [...]
Maternity and Child Care Q&A
Friday, November 11th, 2011Any time we publish an article about maternity matters on payroll help, whether it’s about maternity pay or leave it’s always popular, and given the relative intricacy of the subject I suppose that’s hardly surprising. This week we have been inundated with questions on the subject and thought we should share them in full rather than include them as [...]
Conflicting views on EU maternity pay proposals
Friday, June 24th, 2011EU Member States are critical of 20-week full pay proposed, but are criticised for their disrespect for the wishes of the European Parliament In May 2011, the UK government began consulting on proposals to introduce a system of flexible parental leave that would guarantee 6 weeks full pay and 12 weeks reduced pay for mothers, [...]
New technical guidance on SMP and Maternity Allowance
Friday, April 8th, 2011DWP has updated its NI17A Guide to Maternity Benefits HMRC’s E15 Helpbook provides general guidance on most aspects of maternity leave and Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), aimed at employers. In contrast, the NI17A – A Guide to Maternity Benefits, just republished by the Department for Work and Pensions, provides technical guidance and includes references to [...]
Reduction in the SMP small employer compensation rate
Friday, March 18th, 2011The necessary amendments have been made by new Regulations to reduce the SMP compensation rate for small employers from 4½% to 3% from 6 April 2011. The reduction applies to payments of SMP made on or after that date. Further information: The Statutory Maternity Pay (Compensation of Employers) Amendment Regulations 2011 Explanatory Memorandum to the [...]
Questions from our forum 13/01/11
Thursday, January 13th, 2011Each 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: Backdating SMP If an employee has been on maternity leave, for around 6 months, but has continued to be paid her full salary as normal, for whatever reason, is [...]
Questions From Our Forum 30/12/10
Friday, December 31st, 2010The following questions have been posted over the past week. Can you contribute to any of the discussions?… How long can I delay my staff from taking holiday? We have recently had some employees leave the company, we have decided not to replace them. We have adequate staffing levels until a member of staff goes [...]
Questions From Our Forum 17/12/10
Friday, December 17th, 2010Personal mileage costs in Company Car Some of our employees who have a Company Car have been provided with a company credit card to pay for their fuel. This means that they are using the fuel for business and private use. How do we make the employee pay for their private usage? I have suggested [...]
Statutory payment rates and thresholds for 2011/12
Friday, December 10th, 2010The new tax and NICs rates and thresholds for 2011/12 were announced by the Treasury on 2 December, followed by the new statutory payment rates from the Department for Work and Pensions. In general they reflect the 4.6% increase in retail prices in the year to September 2010. The legislation for the increases in the [...]
Questions From Our Forum 10/12/10
Friday, December 10th, 2010The following questions have been posted over the past week. Can you contribute to any of the discussions?… Holiday pay – Self employed I am from Romania and because of this I have the right to work in UK just being self employed. According to this statute I have very few right excluding holyday paid. [...]
Questions from our forum 07/12/10
Monday, December 6th, 2010Each 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: Holiday Pay Entitlement/Accrual for Rec Agencies Have noticed much input on Holiday Accrual and Holiday Pay Accrual and read with interest previous advice and posts that have been made. [...]
Extending entitlement to the Maternity Grant
Monday, November 29th, 2010New amendment Regulations extend the circumstances in which a person is eligible for a Sure Start Maternity Grant to those people awarded residence orders; guardians; those with whom children are placed for adoption and those who have adopted a child under a recognised adoption which takes place outside the UK. They also add the father [...]
New guidance for employers and employees on maternity rights and the new paternity leave options from April 2011.
Thursday, November 4th, 2010The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published two new booklets, one for employers, the other for employees, which explain the new maternity and paternity rights that apply in the case of babies due on or after Sunday, 3 April 2011. Further information: Pregnancy and work: what you need to know as an [...]
Further guidance from HMRC on tax relief restrictions on employer-supported childcare
Thursday, November 4th, 2010The following notes appeared originally in a newsletter in March 2010. They have been updated in line with newly published HMRC guidance for employers and employees. In September 2009, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced that the tax exemption for childcare vouchers would be phased out from 2011. Following widespread dissent, this decision was reversed [...]
European Parliament takes another step closer to 20 weeks maternity leave on full pay.
Thursday, October 28th, 2010On 18 October, the European Parliament debated the Commission’s relatively moderate proposals to extend the protection afforded by the Pregnant Workers Directive and a range of more radical proposals put forward by the Parliament’s Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee. The speeches made by the many MEPs who took part in the debate are available [...]
Guernsey: Consultation on Guernsey employment law and protections
Thursday, October 28th, 2010On 25 October, the Commerce & Employment Department published a consultation paper entitled A Review of Employment Law and Protections in Guernsey. The Paper asks if the existing employment protections are set at an appropriate level or if more are required. Options for potential legislation are proposed and comments are requested by 5 January 2011 [...]
Questions from our forum
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010Each 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 Alabaster and Total Pay Cuts We have an employee who is going on maternity leave shortly and the period of earnings that we need to look at to calculate [...]
Does a seven-week gap between employments break continuity of employment?
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010In a relatively short written decision given on 8 September 2010 (although only just published), the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled in the case Hussain v Acorn Independent College Ltd that, on being dismissed from his post as a teacher, Mr. Hussain had more than one year’s continuous employment, in spite of a break in the [...]
Government announces extension of flexible working rights and a new flexible parental leave system
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010On 30 September, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced the Government’s plans to develop flexible, family-friendly workplaces. These include: the extension of flexible working (i.e. the right to request a contractual change to working hours, times of work and place of work) to parents of children under age 18, from April 2011, [...]
What is the difference between a “pay period” and an “earnings period”?
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010Pay period The term “pay period” does not appear, as might be expected, in the income tax legislation. The term appears frequently in employment and social security legislation in the context of maternity, paternity and adoption pay periods, e.g. “maternity pay period”. It is used once in the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001 in connection [...]
