Opinion – Page 6
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OpinionLouise Skinner and Lee Harding: The government’s Spending Review plans for April
Due to come into force from April 2021, the details of the UK government’s Spending Review 2020 on health, education, transport and public services, were particularly high-profile this year due to the financial impact of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. While NHS staff are expected to receive a pay rise based ...
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OpinionRanjit Dhindsa: What do employers need to plan for 2021?
It's been said that 2020 was an unprecedented year, but perhaps 2021 will be an even bigger test. Last year, businesses had to deal with the final countdown to Brexit coupled with a pandemic that still continues to plague the world.This year, employers will again need to juggle a number ...
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OpinionKatie Davenport: CJRS changes to allow furlough of working parents
Following closure of primary and secondary schools on 5 January 2021, HMRC amended its guidance on which employees can be furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). An employer can now furlough an employee if they are unable to work, whether in the workplace or from home, because they ...
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OpinionNick Gilbey: Turning IR35 changes into an opportunity
The new IR35 changes, also known as the Off-Payroll Rules, come into effect on 6 April 2021. As UK organisations struggle to maintain a flexible labour force while attempting to rebuild following the pandemic, employers that use limited contactors will now face a tax and regulatory change that has caused ...
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OpinionLora Murphy: Pay strategies in 2021 will be affected by uncertainty
When people think of the year 2020, it would be plausible to state that the word ‘uncertainty’ springs to their minds. As Covid-19 (Coronavirus) spread and impacted individuals all over the world, employers and employees alike could not be sure what to expect.In response to this, the government introduced a ...
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OpinionCharles Cotton: Key factors that will impact pay strategies in 2021
There are several issuesthat will affectthe confidence and performance of organisations,and consequently pay strategies, in 2021. This will, however, varybetween industry. The most obvious issue is the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic and the continuing economic fallout that many organisations are having to contend with due to restrictions. At the time of ...
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OpinionFergal Dowling: Employment cases that will shape 2021
As we work our way into 2021, there are cases which will have a big impact on employment law, and HR policies and practices over the next 12 months. Holiday pay: are the 'rules' which limit a series of deductions correct?In 2019, the Nothern Ireland (NI) Court of Appeal in ...
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OpinionAlice Meredith: Employee international travel and quarantine
Fluctuations in infection rates in other countries have resulted in short-notice changes to the countries included within the 'travel corridor' exemptions from quarantine requirements. How can employers minimise disruption?PracticalitiesAny employee travelling into England from a non-exempt country is required to self-isolate for a period of 14 days (unless an exempt ...
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OpinionJoanne Moseley: Government clarifies how furlough fraud will work
In October 2020, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published a compliance factsheet which explained how it intended to recover furlough grants paid to employers which were not entitled to receive them. It advised organisations to check their calculations and repay what they owed if they wanted to avoid income tax ...
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OpinionGemma Wilson: The investigation into BBC pay discrimination
Following reports of a significant number of women being underpaid by the BBC, in March 2019 the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launched an investigation into the issue.There have been a number of cases in which women who have worked for the BBC have been successful with equal pay ...
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OpinionLee Harding: Takeaways from the latest furlough scheme guidance
On 10 November, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) provided updated guidance for its headline job support measure, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), also known as the furlough scheme. While most aspects of the CJRS remain unchanged, there are some significant developments of which both employers and employees should be ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Equal Pay Day highlights ongoing issues
Friday 20 November marks Equal Pay Day 2020 in the UK. This is the date calculated by gender equality charity The Fawcett Society on which, on average, women effectively stop earning relative to men.On the face of it, this date is somewhat encouraging, having moved six days later from 14 ...
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OpinionRanjit Dhindsa: The additional extension of furlough
On 5 November 2020, the UK government announced it would be extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to March 2021, a leap from its previous announcement on 31 October, which stated that it would only be extended for four weeks.This was a shock to many organisations, somewhat making it ...
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OpinionLucy Lewis: What the extension of the furlough scheme means for employers
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) had been expected to end on 31 October 2020, but Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, announced the very same day that it would be extended until December 2020 in light of new lockdown measures introduced in England.The CJRS aims to keep people in work ...
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OpinionTamsin Nicholds: Protecting low-paid employees on Universal Credit with employee ownership bonuses
The start of 2020 saw press coverage relating to organisations which had seen their good intentions thwarted when they had paid cash bonuses to employees only to see that those employees lost a corresponding amount of their benefits provided through Universal Credit.In practice, paying bonuses often has a negative effect, ...
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OpinionHannah Disselbeck: The Equal Pay Act 50 years on
First one of those annoying lawyerly clarifications, while the Equal Pay Act received Royal Assent in 1970, it did not in fact come into force until December 1975. Equal pay has, therefore, only been provided for under domestic legislation for 45 years, rather than 50. It is, therefore, perhaps more ...
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OpinionMelanie Stancliffe: The legal landscape of reclassifying workers provides extensive implications
Were it not for the right-sizing of businesses, all eyes would be focussed on the impending Supreme Court’s decision whether Uber’s drivers should still have been classed as workers. The Uber decisions have changed the legal landscape and afforded protection to many off-payroll workers, which the businesses engaging them had ...
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OpinionStefan Martin: The future of remote working post Covid-19
A few months ago it would have been inconceivable that so many people would have been working from home for such an extended period of time. Now employers and employees are actively considering the role of remote working when the current crisis ends.Even before the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown, the government ...
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OpinionScott Cawood: Investing in post-pandemic workforces through total reward
As we trend toward the recovery phases of the economic meltdown triggered by Covid-19, people will begin returning to their workplaces. Many organisations will welcome back furloughed workers. The workforce we had prior to the pandemic will not be the same that returns. The pure mental and physical fatigue that ...
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OpinionCacy-Leigh Neilson: The end of the furlough scheme
Significant job losses and business closures are on the horizon as the end of the furlough scheme fast approaches. It is imperative that businesses consider their ability to continue to employ and pay staff now and in the coming months, which, no doubt, will become particularly precarious when the government ...