Home - Payroll News
- Recent HR News
- FREE Newsletter
- Payroll and HR FAQs
- Payroll Forum
- Payroll Calendars
- Payroll Tools
- Monthly Brain Teaser
- The Authors
- About Us
- Contact us
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
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 [...]
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 [...]
Deadline Approaches for Comments on PAYE Review
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010The deadline for submitting responses to HMRC’s discussion document on improving the operation of PAYE is 23 September so any concerned readers wishing to make comments on HMRC’s Discussion document on improving the operation of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) have only until then to do so. On that date, the eight-week period for feedback [...]
Holiday policy problems
Thursday, September 9th, 2010Yet again holiday problems have been a source of worry to many HR people we speak to. Most have, as they see it, adequate holiday policies in the sense that employees are told how much time they can have off in a year, how they will be paid, and what happens if they fall sick [...]
National Minimum Wage – DEFRA announces abolition of Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales
Monday, July 26th, 2010On 22 July, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced reforms to 30 of its public delivery bodies. Included in the reforms is the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales. There are currently three Agricultural Wages Boards; for England and Wales, for Scotland and for Northern Ireland. They [...]
Statutory Sick Pay – Earnings below the NICs lower earnings limit
Monday, July 19th, 2010An employee is not entitled to SSP if the employee’s average earnings in the eight-week relevant period prior to the payday before the first day of the period of incapacity is less than the NICs lower earnings limit (currently £97 per week/£421 per month). But what happens if an employee receives no wages during the [...]
What payment should be made for a bank holiday that falls during paid statutory leave?
Monday, June 21st, 2010A bank holiday may occur while an employee is away on maternity, paternity or adoption leave. What action, if any, the employer takes with regard to payment for the bank holiday is a contractual matter. In the case of salaried staff, for example, where an employee’s salary is paid as normal when there are one [...]
Statutory Sick Pay – Fake Fit Notes for sale on Internet site
Monday, June 21st, 2010A recent IPP newsletter highlighted a recent BBC news item about a website, www.doctorsnotestore.com, that sells fake “fit notes” from £25 each, with a money-back guarantee if they fail you get the purchaser our of work or school. Selling sick notes is apparently not illegal, only using them fraudulently to obtain payment of SSP. Employers [...]
One in six employees are using their annual leave to watch the World Cup
Thursday, June 10th, 2010[Press Release] With the World Cup kicking off this Friday, the Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP) is alerting payroll and HR departments to be prepared for an increased number of staff booking annual leave in order to watch the football. New research by the IPP has revealed that one in six employees (16.3%) are planning [...]
