Tag Archive for Employees

Expected national insurance hike to cost businesses £3.5bn

By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

UPDATED: The government’s expected 1.2 per cent hike in national insurance will cost businesses up to £3.5bn to match employee contributions, economists have warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that if £10bn of additional revenue is generated by the NI tax increase, businesses will need to find between £3bn and £3.5bn extra from April.

The self-employed will also face the NI rise, though they already make lower contributions.

>See also: Small business owners face increased national insurance contributions

Professor Len Shackleton, research fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, described employer national insurance as a “crude payroll tax” which discourages lower-paid employment and is then passed onto workers in the form of lower pay.

Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses told the Daily Telegraph: “Hiking the jobs tax on employees and employers would make it more expensive for businesses to create and maintain jobs.”

Mike Cherry, chairman of the FSB, told the newspaper: “This regressive levy is yet another outgoing for small businesses and sole traders to worry about against a backdrop of spiralling input prices, supply chain disruption, a deepening late payment crisis, rent arrears, rates bills

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Expected national insurance hike to cost businesses £3.5bn

By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

The government’s expected 1.2 per cent hike in national insurance will cost businesses up to £3.5bn to match employee contributions, economists have warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that if £10bn of additional revenue is generated by the NI tax increase, businesses will need to find between £3bn and £3.5bn extra from April.

The self-employed will also face the NI rise, though they already make lower contributions.

>See also: Small business owners face increased national insurance contributions

Professor Len Shackleton, research fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, described employer national insurance as a “crude payroll tax” which discourages lower-paid employment and is then passed onto workers in the form of lower pay.

Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses told the Daily Telegraph: “Hiking the jobs tax on employees and employers would make it more expensive for businesses to create and maintain jobs.”

Mike Cherry, chairman of the FSB, told the newspaper: “This regressive levy is yet another outgoing for small businesses and sole traders to worry about against a backdrop of spiralling input prices, supply chain disruption, a deepening late payment crisis, rent arrears, rates bills returning,

Read more...

Can I pay remote workers less than in-house staff?

By Charlotte Geesin on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

Let’s start with the basics: any change to an employee’s rate of pay is likely to be a change to the terms of their employment contract. This means that the employer will need the employee’s authority to make such a change, or risk claims for breach of contract and – if the employee resigns because of it – constructive unfair dismissal. 

However, there are some instances where things will be easier to navigate.  If the proposal is to remove allowances or uplifts that are expressly paid because of an employee’s location of work, such as a London allowance, it might be easier for an employer to justify removal of that allowance for employees that are permanently based at a location outside the area that attracts the allowance; but it would need to be clear that these allowances are only paid during a period when the employee meets certain location criteria, and that they can be removed if that criterion is not met.

If a company is based in London (or another capital city), does it need to pay a London-weighted salary to its remote workers based elsewhere?

In

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Can I pay remote workers less than in-house staff?

By Charlotte Geesin on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

Let’s start with the basics: any change to an employee’s rate of pay is likely to be a change to the terms of their employment contract. This means that the employer will need the employee’s authority to make such a change, or risk claims for breach of contract and – if the employee resigns because of it – constructive unfair dismissal. 

However, there are some instances where things will be easier to navigate.  If the proposal is to remove allowances or uplifts that are expressly paid because of an employee’s location of work, such as a London allowance, it might be easier for an employer to justify removal of that allowance for employees that are permanently based at a location outside the area that attracts the allowance; but it would need to be clear that these allowances are only paid during a period when the employee meets certain location criteria, and that they can be removed if that criterion is not met.

If a company is based in London (or another capital city), does it need to pay a London-weighted salary to its remote workers based elsewhere?

In

Read more...

Disciplinary notes

By Alan Finlay on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Here is what you need to know about notes for disciplinary or other formal employee meetings. 
Taking minutes
Minutes taken at a formal meeting with an employee can constitute important evidence in both your company’s internal proceedings and in any subsequent tribunal claims. Be it a disciplinary, capability, absence or grievance meeting, the minutes should be detailed and accurate and, if possible, agreed by both you and the employee.
You should also consider your company’s position on electronic recording and employees secretly record meetings. It is best to set out your position on this clearly in writing, usually in your company’s staff handbook.
Provisions for note or minute taking
If you are holding any kind of formal meeting with an employee, you should have a minute taker present since it can be difficult for the chair to run the meeting and also take minutes. The minute taker should be another employee and ideally, someone who is not involved with the employee or with any circumstances giving rise to the meeting. The minute taker should not actively participate in the meeting and will act only as a scribe to ensure everything

Read more...

Calculating holiday allowances for part-time staff

By Victoria Greaves on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Part-time employees are entitled to equal treatment with full-time employees as a result of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. This means that they should receive the correct pro-rated amount of annual leave as a full-time employee doing the same job. To ensure compliance with this legislation and The Working Time Regulations 1998, you could use the following calculations:
If an employee is contracted to work a set amount of days and works full time five days a week, they are entitled to a minimum of 28 days statutory annual holiday entitlement a year. This amounts to 5.6 weeks. It is up to you whether you allow employees to choose 20 days holiday and require them to take the eight bank holidays as holiday or whether you give them 28 days holiday and no automatic day off on a bank holiday. The minimum statutory holiday entitlement would not increase even if the employee works six or seven days a week.
It doesn’t matter if a part time employee doesn’t usually work on a bank holiday, you still need to make sure that they

Read more...

Disciplinary notes

By Alan Finlay on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Here is what you need to know about notes for disciplinary or other formal employee meetings. 
Taking minutes
Minutes taken at a formal meeting with an employee can constitute important evidence in both your company’s internal proceedings and in any subsequent tribunal claims. Be it a disciplinary, capability, absence or grievance meeting, the minutes should be detailed and accurate and, if possible, agreed by both you and the employee.
You should also consider your company’s position on electronic recording and employees secretly record meetings. It is best to set out your position on this clearly in writing, usually in your company’s staff handbook.
Provisions for note or minute taking
If you are holding any kind of formal meeting with an employee, you should have a minute taker present since it can be difficult for the chair to run the meeting and also take minutes. The minute taker should be another employee and ideally, someone who is not involved with the employee or with any circumstances giving rise to the meeting. The minute taker should not actively participate in the meeting and will act only as a scribe to ensure everything

Read more...

Calculating holiday allowances for part-time staff

By Victoria Greaves on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Part-time employees are entitled to equal treatment with full-time employees as a result of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. This means that they should receive the correct pro-rated amount of annual leave as a full-time employee doing the same job. To ensure compliance with this legislation and The Working Time Regulations 1998, you could use the following calculations:
If an employee is contracted to work a set amount of days and works full time five days a week, they are entitled to a minimum of 28 days statutory annual holiday entitlement a year. This amounts to 5.6 weeks. It is up to you whether you allow employees to choose 20 days holiday and require them to take the eight bank holidays as holiday or whether you give them 28 days holiday and no automatic day off on a bank holiday. The minimum statutory holiday entitlement would not increase even if the employee works six or seven days a week.
It doesn’t matter if a part time employee doesn’t usually work on a bank holiday, you still need to make sure that they

Read more...