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SSP
The Percentage Threshold Scheme
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013On 17 January 2013, the Government published its response to the review into sickness absence that was published on 21 November 2011. The report, ‘Health at Work – Independent Review of Sickness’, was jointly sponsored by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and had a [...]
Computer-Generated Fit Notes
Friday, July 27th, 2012The Fit Note replaced the Sick Note to allow GPs (General Practitioners) to indicate to employers (and employees) the tasks that the individual may be able to perform, even though they may not have fully recovered from a period of sickness. Therefore, in addition to the ‘not fit for work’ option, there is a ‘may [...]
Sickness – SSP and Linking Letters
Monday, May 21st, 2012A key issue in SSP processing is the concept of linking. This is the action that occurs when one Period of Incapacity for Work (PIW) is separated from the following PIW by a period of 56 days / 8 weeks or less. The effect of this is to treat the two PIWs as one, ensuring [...]
SSP daily rate errors in E14 booklet
Friday, June 24th, 2011Rounding errors identified in the “Daily rates table” where there are 7 qualifying days in a week. Vince Ashall, one of The Learn Centre’s tutors, recently identified errors in the SSP Daily rates table on page 6 of the E14 booklet for 2011. Similar errors appear in the Basic PAYE Tools. Some of the figures [...]
Tax tribunal comments on disputes over SSP payments
Monday, April 18th, 2011The First-tier Tax Tribunal comments on the quality of doctors’ comments on sick notes and the use of the Tribunal to resolve employee/employer issues. In a decision given on 9 March 2011 in the case Janicki v Revenue & Customs, the First-tier Tax Tribunal ruled that medical reports issued by Medical Services were more persuasive [...]
Contract variations, sickness absence review, time to train, 2011/12 coding notices, NICs toolkit, P60s, Blue Badges, cars for disabled employees.
Friday, February 25th, 2011When an employer makes a change to contractual terms and conditions, can an employee later argue that the changes does not apply? Yes – in the circumstances described in the recent Morgan v Network Europe Group case. But the situation can be prevented, as the EAT reveals. An important Government announcement this week is that [...]
Review of sickness absence system
Friday, February 25th, 2011On 17 February, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced a review of sickness absence provisions to explore what can be done to help more people stay in work and examine whether the balance of costs are shared appropriately between individuals, employers and the State. The review will look at short-term sickness absence, where costs are [...]
NICs and Statutory Payments Toolkit
Friday, February 25th, 2011In recent months, HMRC has begun to provide “toolkits” for tax agents and advisers to help them check that returns are completed correctly, focus on key areas of potential error, and meet the “reasonable care” requirement. A particularly useful toolkit, on Expenses and Benefits from Employment, was issued in October 2010. One of the latest [...]
Phasing out the default retirement age
Thursday, January 13th, 2011As expected, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) confirmed on 13 January that default retirement age (DRA) will be abolished completely in three stages during 2011: from 6 April 2011, employers will not be able to issue any notifications for compulsory retirement using the “DRA procedures” (see below) between 6 April and 1 [...]
HR problems page
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011Here we take our weekly look at answering some of the tricky HR questions we’ve been emailed. If you have a tricky HR question you needs answering email it to help@payroll-help.com and we’ll post the best here with an answer each week. Bullying boss I am secretary/PA to a man who is a bit of a [...]
Dealing with long-term sickness
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010Inevitably at some stage every organisation will find that it has an employee who is likely to be or has been on sick leave for a long time. This may present a problem because managers have to balance efficiency with humanity, yet the situation is not difficult to handle if you understand clearly what you [...]
Consultation on draft legislation for Finance Bill 2011
Friday, December 17th, 2010The policy of the Coalition government is to confirm most of its new tax measures at least three months before the introduction of a Finance Bill. The draft text of the legislation that will appear in the Finance Bill 2011 was published on 9 December and is open for technical comment until 9 February 2011. [...]
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 [...]
Latest HR News
Friday, December 3rd, 2010What do you know about stress? Yes, I know – you suffer from it. But do you really understand what it is? And do you know how to detect it in the workforce? Do you know the difference between healthy and unhealthy stress? You have a duty under both statute and common law to safeguard [...]
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 [...]
Questions from our Forum
Thursday, November 4th, 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 An employee with two jobs with the same employer is made redundant in both. Does the £30,000 exemption apply to each job, or to both combined? What if the [...]
Is an employee who is repeatedly off sick with football injuries entitled to SSP?
Thursday, October 28th, 2010In a decision given on 29 September 2010 in the case Aber Roof Truss Ltd v Revenue & Customs, the First Tier Tax Tribunal ruled that an employee with a long history of absences caused by football injuries is nevertheless entitled to SSP. In June 2008, Mr. Adams sustained a football injury, a strained knee [...]
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 [...]
Dismissal – which sort?
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010Dismissal of course means that the employment of an employee has been brought to an end by the employer for some reason or another – but if that reason is not fully understood, the employer may find itself in serious difficulty if the affected employee complains and goes to law. Dismissal comes in various forms [...]
Return-to-work Interviews
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010A highly successful tool in the effort to reduce absenteeism is the return-to-work interview. It is far more effective than general warnings or occasional clamp-downs which can seem unfair and thus cause resentment. These interviews are simple to carry out but require structure and careful preparation if they are to produce good results. You are [...]
