Back in August, the Child Poverty Action Group flagged up a problem caused by the interaction between an employer’s choice of pay dates and their employee’s entitlement to universal credit. Although the recent budget did include some changes to universal credit, this particular problem wasn’t addressed. So, what can employers do about it?
The company behind AccountingWEB, a popular website for accountants, has completed its 2018 survey into the opinions of people who use accounting software. After each survey, an award is given to the best software product in each category. However, this year, the awards were a little different from usual.
We sometimes get enquiries from people who are self employed, asking about setting up a payroll, but the truth is, most of them don’t need it.
Universal Credit is a monthly payment that is replacing six benefits, including Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. It gives essential support for people who need it, including those in low paid jobs. However, the way it is calculated makes it highly sensitive to the exact dates when the worker is paid. As a result, employers choosing certain pay patterns can inadvertently make life very difficult for staff who receive Universal Credit.
We have owned the trade mark ‘The Payroll Site’ for ten years now. Companies choose to protect their brand names for different reasons, but, in our case, it was prompted when a competitor did something very cheeky.
Around this same time in 2016, Sports Direct faced an inquiry for violating minimum wage laws. Facing Members of the Parliament, the company’s founder Mike Ashley admitted the retailer’s “unacceptable” practice of deducting 15 minutes worth of pay for being late to work for one minute.
Read more “The Time Is Now: How to Help Your Employees Embrace Time Tracking”
As anyone who has watched a thunderstorm will know, clouds can be powerful and fascinating phenomena. The term cloud, when applied to computing, shrouds a useful idea in an unnecessary air of mystery.
Until recently, there wasn’t any apparent connection between an employer’s automatic enrolment duties and hacking, but this changed earlier this month, when The Pensions Regulator announced that it was to prosecute a recruitment company, Workchain Ltd, and seven related individuals. The regulator has a statutory objective to maximise employer compliance with automatic enrolment and it uses a range of tactics to achieve this. In this case, it employed a new tactic, which involved using legislation that had no direct connection with pensions whatsoever – namely, the Computer Misuse Act, 1990. Read more “Why is Opting Staff out of a Pension like Hacking the CIA Chief?”
We have a terrific skills and resource crisis in the payroll profession just around the corner. Not enough people are coming into the profession, and payroll training does not always equip existing staff with the relevant skills. Whilst they have always been a route into a career or used for career changes, apprenticeships have achieved a higher profile in recent months and years. Read more “The Payroll Apprenticeship”
Back in June, I explained that entering false information on The Pension Regulator’s declaration of compliance is a criminal offence, albeit one which hadn’t as yet seen any prosecutions. However, on 7th March 2018, Crest Healthcare and a related individual pleaded guilty in the first prosecution of its kind.
