Opinion
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OpinionKaren Hartmann: How can employers incorporate family life into the workplace?
Business reaps rewards with family-friendly policies and more women at work.The good news is that the growing proportion of women in the labour force since 2019 has added around $1.5 trillion to global income, according to Moody’s published research.The disappointing news is that despite progress in recent decades, the participation ...
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OpinionPaul Gilshan: Are employee benefits as important as salary?
Employee benefits are an important aspect of any job, but can be overlooked when thinking about changing roles. Depending on those on offer, benefits can be just as valuable as a pay rise, and in some cases, even more valuable.It is quite natural for us to focus on salary. After ...
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OpinionPaul Gilshan: Salary sacrifice car schemes are a highly-valued benefit
With the current challenges for employers around the recruitment and retention of staff, and research showing that wage increases alone are not enough to combat these challenges, it is widely accepted that employers can instead focus on benefits packages that provide real-world benefits. Packages that employees genuinely value are what ...
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OpinionProfessor Peter Wells: There’s never been a better time for employers to go electric
There has never been a better time for employers to encourage electric car ownership, or for employees to appreciate the benefits.There are major savings to be had for individuals, including with the plug-in car grant, benefit in kind, and salary sacrifice schemes, while several car manufacturers are offering to help ...
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OpinionPaul Hollick: The future of staff travel schemes
Prior to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, mobility was beginning to gain pace as a form of business travel. This took the form of staff travel schemes based around a mobility allowance offering a wide range of options that were not just trains and other forms of public transport, but car ...
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OpinionJim Saker: Electric company cars need a balance between incentives and practicality
The future growth in electric cars provided as a benefit to employees relies on a balance between the hype, the incentives and the practicality. With the government announcement of the 2030/35 ban on the sale of conventional petrol and diesel cars, most of the manufacturers have trumpeted the arrival of ...
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OpinionPaul Hollick: The future of company cars is electric
There’s something that sounds like a common-sense argument about perk cars being made in some quarters during the pandemic. It says that people currently working from home who never really needed a company car for their job won’t want to pay tax on that vehicle and are pushing for a ...
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OpinionAlastair Kendrick: The effect of Covid-19 on staff travel schemes
We have seen, over a number of years, employers challenged to move towards a greener approach to business. This challenge included the question of whether this could incorporate a change to staff travel.These discussions questioned whether there was the opportunity to avoid a physical journey by taking a conference or ...
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OpinionDave Hedges: Optimising the benefit position of the company car
The idea of being provided with a brand-new car, courtesy of an employer with no initial costs or maintenance to worry about, may seem an attractive proposition. However, there are a number of points to consider from a tax perspective.When an employee is provided with a company car, which is ...
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OpinionAlastair Kendrick: Who really benefits from electric car tax incentives?
It is important to note that the benefit in kind (BIK) on electric vehicles applies only for the year to 5 April 2021, after which we will see the rate increase year on year. Therefore in determining the viability of moving across to an electric car, it is essential to ...
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OpinionCaroline Harwood: Company car tax in the Covid-19 world and for the new normal
Higher car benefit costs have pushed many employers away from company cars and towards a cash-based car allowance in recent years. However, there are still employees who have company cars and who could benefit from a reduced benefit-in-kind charge during lockdown by eliminating the availability of their company vehicles or ...
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OpinionSteven Day: Creating a carbon conscious business culture
Last month, Pure Planet did something that, as far as we know, no other business in the UK has ever done: gave all staff a carbon-free commute to and from work.We achieved this by carbon offsetting every one of our 80 staff members’ individual journeys, saving 480 metric tonnes of ...
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OpinionCaroline Sandall: Modern staff travel schemes are a blended-mobility solution
In April 2013, the Association of Car Fleet Operators (ACFO) published a members’ guide entitled From A to B: The ACFO guide to UK journey planning.It provided a thought-provoking basis from which public, private and voluntary sector organisations could look at just how effective, and sustainable, their existing mobility options ...
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OpinionJohn Pryor: Employers need to look at the total cost of mobility as staff travel options unify
Employee travel choices for business journeys have never been more numerous than they are today.Consequently, the opportunities for employers to implement a diverse, multi-faceted, sustainable mobility plan and simultaneously display corporate social responsibility have never been greater.Travel options range from the established, such as cars, whether organisation-provided, a hire car ...
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OpinionSusan Ball: What do the changes to salary sacrifice mean for employers?
With publication of the Finance Bill, the final legislation around changes to salary sacrifice is now available, and considerably more pages have been added. Given the volume of additional legislative text, coupled with the short timeframe between publication and the 6 April 2017 effective date, employers face significant practical difficulties ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Fleet goes futuristic
It’s fair to say that cars and I aren’t the most natural of pairings. I have no interest in regularly upgrading the car that I drive and couldn’t name the latest must-have makes and models if my life depended on it.Yet, this week, my interest was piqued during a discussion ...
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OpinionColin Tourick: Cost efficiency and green credentials among key drivers of change in company car schemes
The biggest driver of change has been the tax system. Benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax is based on the car’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the government cranks up the BIK tax rate every year. This encourages employees to choose cars emitting ever-lower levels of CO2, particularly diesels.Many employers now wish to ...
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Opinion
2 -Sponsor's comment - Cars remain a valued benefit
According to the Lex Autolease 2015 Report on motoring, published in September??, 59% of company car drivers and 20% of employees with privately owned cars say their car is absolutely essential to do their job. Cars remain central to the work life of many employees and while the company car ...
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OpinionMaking the most of tax-free mileage allowances
Whenever the subject of tax-efficient car benefits comes up these days, people naturally think of salary sacrifice.However, there are other travel-related areas where employers and business drivers can maximise the value of tax reliefs and allowances. For instance, anyone who receives a cash allowance in lieu of a company car ...
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OpinionJohn Pryor: A multi-diverse mobility plan has never been greater
Cost management, risk management, carbon footprint reduction, business efficiency and effectiveness and time management are all issues that impact on corporate travel.Too frequently, many employers retain the status quo and simply accept that employees have a company car, will access a pool car or drive their own car and reclaim ...