Before coronavirus, we were all discussing Brexit and Post Brexit Immigration was the hot topic. Details of the UK’s proposed post Brexit immigration regime has been announced. This is a guide to the new points system and how you can begin to prepare for workforce planning. The implementation of the new legislation is planned for January 2021. It was announced by the government that there would be a new points-based scheme. It has caused concern in some sectors the government terms as employing ‘low-skill, low-paid’ workers. However, you will be able to put plans in place for non-UK workers you wish to retain. And begin exploring how your workforce and talent pipeline may be arranged in the future. Companies may want to look at internal development through schemes such as apprenticeships, which will help to retain staff. But you may also want to think about flexible working or making roles more attractive to existing employees. However, with just nine months remaining before the introduction of the new restrictions, you will need to familiarise yourself with the new system. And perhaps adapt your workforce planning strategies accordingly. The Proposed Scheme Under the proposed scheme, overseas workers who want to come to […]
With all the news of Coronavirus and Furloughing, it may have passed some employers attention that there is new maternity and paternity legislation for employees in place. The chancellor has announced in the recent budget that extra maternity and paternity pay will be made to parents of premature babies. They will be given extra paid leave on top of the current allowance. The policy will see parents of sick children given statutory paid leave of around £160 a week while a child is in neonatal care for up to 12 weeks, in addition to standard maternity or paternity allowance. The new leave will be available to all parents with a newborn child in care for more than a week. Currently, parents of premature children are not entitled to any extra leave, and can often spend the majority of their statutory maternity or paternity leave with their child in hospital. The government estimates around 40,000 children spend more than a week in neonatal care. Bereaved parents will also be entitled to get two weeks’ paid leave. Kemi Badenoch, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said the government would “incur almost all the cost” of the new policy. It is thought that a […]
Many Clients have asked what the difference between furlough, redundancy and lay off is because at different times you may want to be aware of your options. Furlough The majority of employers are beginning to understand what furlough is and how it works. These are the important aspects of furlough. Furloughed employees: remain employed by you, they continue to accrue service and they continue to accrue annual leave entitlement must agree to any reduction in pay from their normal pay. If you don’t get their agreement potentially you have breached the contract and made an unauthorised deduction from wages are furloughed for a minimum of three weeks but there is no maximum period of furlough return to their normal terms of employment at the end of furlough from 1 July 2020 flexible furlough is available but we won’t know the details of this until 10 June 2020 There is no criteria for selecting those who are furloughed, other than you have no work for them and they do no work for you whilst they are furloughed. Beware of making arbitrary decisions about who is furloughed if you have some work but not enough for everyone. Redundancy Redundancy terminates the employee’s […]
Many clients have been asking these last few weeks about Furlough and the Job Retention Scheme. We have some guidance from the government on the subject, what it is and what you are entitled to do as an employer. In Summary Fees and commissions will not be included in the 80% refund Employees can do voluntary work whilst on furlough as long as you the employer don’t generate any revenue from that activity Employees must be furloughed for a minimum of 3 weeks No employee starting work with you after 28 February 2020 can be part of the scheme It gives guidance on calculating the average working week if you have employees who work variable hours The employer remains liable for paying NI and pensions contributions but you can claim the NI and pension contributions back through the scheme Employees on sick leave or self-isolating should get Statutory Sick Pay, but can be furloughed after this. Employees who are shielding in line with public health guidance can be placed on furlough. The CJRS covers those employees who were made redundant after 28 February 2020, providing they are rehired by their employer. For full time and part time salaried employees, the […]
We have had a few of our clients ask for more information on the Good Work Plan 2020 for Agency Workers. We have tried to establish the status of the legislation surrounding Agency Workers. However, it’s still showing as a draft piece of legislation, which is likely to be in place on 6 April 2020. However, the General Election may affect this. Consecutive Contracts to be Banned Assuming that the legislation goes through, from 6 April 2020 you will be required to provide your workers with a statement of their rights on day 1 of their engagement. This means, what you will not be allowed to do is to offer a worker consecutive 12-week contracts in the same role. That is to say, this practice is expected to be banned from 6 April 2020 as an exploitative method of employing people. Same Rate of Pay Your obligation to pay temporary workers the same rate as employed staff remains unchanged if they are on an assignment in the same role for longer than 12 weeks. Agency workers can, at the moment, opt out of receiving the same pay as employed staff after the 12 weeks, this will no longer be the […]
The government has published The Good Work Plan April 2020, which is designed to implement the proposals of employment reforms which are due to come into effect in April 2020. The primary purpose is to ensure that individuals have better access to, and a better understanding of, their employment relationships. Statement of Written Particulars There will be a new requirement for you, as employers, to provide a more comprehensive statement of written particulars or contract of employment. You will also have to provide these statements to workers and not just employees. In addition, the new statement must cover more terms and must be issued on the first day of employment, unlike currently, you have 8 weeks to issue your contracts. HMRC Clamping Down The Good Work Plan has also made a commitment to further align the tribunal assessment of employment status with HMRC’s. Currently there are three categories of employment status in the tribunal forum: employee, worker and self-employed, while as far as HMRC is currently concerned there are only two, as it does not recognise ‘worker’ status. This can at times cause confusion for both the company and the individual. Tribunal Claims There will be an introduction of sanctions […]
In April 2019 new legislation on payslips and employers’ responsibilities were introduced by the government. The new law states that itemised payslips must be given to employees or workers. But a recent report shows that one in ten UK workers still doesn’t get a payslip, and thousands of businesses are at risk of prosecution. Today, you need to give itemised payslips to all workers, including staff on casual, agency and zero-hour contacts. It can be difficult to tell the difference between employees and workers, and many UK businesses hire a mix of both. In short, employees have a “contract of employment” with you and workers don’t. For now, the most important thing to remember is that all workers and employees need payslips and all payslips must be itemised. That means they must show: Gross and net pay. Deductions from pay. The number of hours worked where pay varies based on the amount of time worked (more on this shortly). How you pay your workers’ wages if you use multiple payment methods (such as if you pay part in cash and part in BACS). Depending on the types of contracts you have with your staff and what hours they work will […]
If You Pay Any Of Your Staff National Minimum Wage please read on as this could affect you and your business. The frozen food stores Iceland have fallen foul of a HMRC inspection regarding National Minimum Wage and face a huge bill for underpayment, PAYE and NIC of £21million. This eye watering amount is based on £3.5million over six years plus there are potential penalties yet to be considered. Iceland who employ 25,000 people are fighting this decision. The size of the underpayment has caused the Treasury Select Committee to question HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) approach to NMW decisions. The underpayments centre around two issues: • A voluntary staff Christmas club – where they take a voluntary agreed amount from employees who wished to be part of the Christmas club fund and despite staff being able to withdraw their savings at any time and is managed by an independent Trustee. HMRC argues that this deduction brings the workers’ pay below NMW even though Iceland do not benefit from the deduction and the money comes back to the workers when they withdraw funds from the club. • Shoes for staff working in the stores where Iceland’s company policy for staff […]
We have been asked in the past who should pay National Minimum Wage? The answer, quite simply is everyone. Some employers think they are above the law when deciding what they will pay their employees. The National Minimum Wage applies to every employee in the UK regardless of the number of hours they do, what work they perform or even what age or nationality they are. Employees may make a claim against their employer any time with the tribunal service if they believe they are being underpaid the national standards. Those employers who have been questioned and fined by HMRC have come up with some great excuses, here are just a few: Unbelievable Excuses why Employers do not pay National Minimum Wage. The employee wasn’t a good worker so they didn’t deserve to be paid the National Minimum Wage. Offer a performance review meeting, do some training or discipline the employee for poor performance. Don’t under pay them. It’s part of UK culture not to pay young workers for the first three months as they have to prove themselves. No it is not. Although younger workers (under 25) are given a lower wage band, employers still have to adhere these […]
As an employer you may have looked at monitoring staff at work for various reasons. The Data Protection Act doesn’t prevent employers from monitoring workers, but you must remember that workers are entitled to some privacy at work. You must tell your employees about any monitoring arrangements and the reason for it. Why Monitor? It is advisable to have written policies and procedures in place regarding monitoring at work. Monitoring shouldn’t be excessive and should be justified. Staff should be told what information will be recorded and how long it will be kept. However, if you want to monitor workers by collecting or using information, the Data Protection Act will apply. Therefore, Any information collected through monitoring should be kept secure. Monitoring staff at work may be needed for a variety of reasons. It can be used to safeguard employees, for example to ensure workers aren’t at risk from unsafe working practices. In some sectors you may have a legal or regulatory need to carry out some monitoring. The information gathered through monitoring should only be used for the purpose it was carried out for. Unless it leads to the discovery of other things such as a breach of health […]
