Voluntary overtime and holiday pay calculations

Employment law states that holiday pay should be equivalent to a normal week’s pay so as not to place employees at a financial detriment when taking a period of annual leave. For employees working fixed hours each week, this is a straightforward calculation. However, calculations are more complicated when employees work varying hours. In these […] Read more »

Calculating Holiday Pay

Summer season is here and especially during school holidays, many workers are looking to take time off work, so employers need to check their workers are getting the holiday they are owed. The definition of a worker according to the government is a person that has a contract or other arrangement to do work or […] Read more »

The Apprenticeship Levy

The Apprenticeship Levy will be introduced in April 2017 to all employers operating in the UK, with a pay bill over £3 million each year, to invest in apprenticeships. Your annual pay bill is all payments to employees that are subject to employer Class 1 secondary National Insurance contributions such as wages, bonuses and commissions. Apprenticeship […] Read more »

New auto-enrolment guidance and re-enrolment guidance

Hundreds of thousands of small employers will need to meet their pension duties in 2017 and so The Pensions Regulator has refreshed and updated their website with new auto-enrolment guidance and re-enrolment guidance to make it simpler for employers to understand their duties. They have made choosing a pension scheme for staff easier with the […] Read more »

National Minimum Wage

The largest ever legal claim against the care sector has been launched in what could turn out to be one of the worst breaches of pay rules ever seen. Seventeen care workers claim to have been paid less than half the minimum wage, the company says that is not correct and that it pays its […] Read more »

Tracing your Pension: Is it Lost?

Tracing your pension is not always easy, especially if you’ve been in more than one scheme or have changed employer throughout your career. But it’s important that you do claim your pension, so the sooner you trace a lost pension, the better. Many people are concerned about lost pensions. Fortunately, there are several ways you […] Read more »

No Employers NICs for apprentices under 25

From 6th April 2016, the government have zero-rated the employer National Insurance for apprentices aged under 25. This is to encourage employers to employ more apprentices. The employer must ensure the apprentice is in a statutory apprenticeship scheme. Via the Gov.uk website, there are a number of links the employer can use to check. Assuming […] Read more »

Auto Enrolment: What if no staff are eligible?

Many small employers may have employees that are not eligible for automatic enrolment and therefore assume that they do not need to set up a pension. Whilst there is no need to set up a pension if you have staff that are not eligible because they are too young or do not earn enough, those […] Read more »

Under 21’s National Insurance

From 6th April 2015, a new NI band called the Upper Secondary Threshold (UST) has been created to facilitate the abolition of employer National Insurance contributions for employees under the age of 21. The Upper Secondary Threshold is £815 per week. Earnings above this threshold will remain subject to secondary Class 1 National Insurance Contributions. […] Read more »

Shared Parental Leave

On 1st December 2014, new regulations giving Shared Parental Leave and Pay came into force in Great Britain. This applies to eligible couples whose baby is due to be born or the child is placed with the adopting couple on or after 5th April 2015. This will replace Additional Statutory Paternity Pay and leave. If […] Read more »

HMRC error affects 5 Million UK taxpayers

The Daily Telegraph has reported that HMRC have made miscalculations in millions of taxpayers’ pay and tax calculations for the 2013-14 tax year. We have already been contacted by many of our clients whose employees have received form P800 which they believe to be incorrect as the forms show they have earned more than they […] Read more »

New National Minimum Wage Rates

From 1st October 2014 the National Minimum Wage rates are increasing. Please ensure you review and amend the rates for your employees from this date. The hourly rate for employees under 18 years of age increases from £3.72 to £3.79 per hour The hourly rate for employees between 18 to 20 years of age increases […] Read more »