Tax & legal news 1 – Page 4
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ArticleAutumn Statement: National insurance contribution rate cut to 10%
Class 1 national insurance contributions (NICs) will be cut to 10% from 6 January 2024.Currently, employees pay 12% NICs on earnings above £12,570, and 2% on earnings above £50,270. From next year, employees will pay 10% and 2% respectively. According to the government, which announced the move in the Autumn ...
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ArticleAutumn Statement: State pension to increase by 8.5% from April 2024
The state pension will increase by 8.5% from April 2024.Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the rise in the Autumn Statement, with the increase based on average earnings data published in September and in line with the government’s triple lock policy on pension changes. Hunt confirmed that the state ...
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ArticleAutumn Statement: Government announces plans to offer pension pot for life
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has announced plans to offer a pension pot for life in the Autumn Statement 2023.This will give employees a legal right to require a new employer to pay pension contributions into their existing pot, avoiding the accumulation of multiple pension pots throughout their working ...
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ArticleTribunal rules stress can be disability without mental health diagnosis
An employment tribunal has ruled that stress can be considered disability without a formal mental health diagnosis from a doctor.At a preliminary hearing to discuss a case brought against Aneurin Bevan University Local Health Board, the tribunal panel in Cardiff found that claimant Mrs Phillips could be considered disabled under ...
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ArticleUK Supreme Court rules Deliveroo riders are not workers
The UK Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that Deliveroo riders do not have the right to be classed as workers and cannot unionise following a seven-year legal battle.In the case of The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain v Central Arbitration Committee and another, Deliveroo riders have been seeking to ...
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ArticleGovernment to legislate to retain rolled-up holiday pay
The government is to legislate to retain rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hours, zero hours and part-year workers and set out that it must be calculated based on total earnings in the pay period.Its announcement follows a consultation earlier this year that sought views on reforms to the Working Time ...
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ArticleLancashire County Council ordered to pay £800,000 in discrimination case
An employment tribunal has ruled that Lancashire County Council must pay out more than £800,000 to a teacher who was made to reapply for her job while on sick leave with cancer and then sacked.Anne Healey worked as an early years specialist for the council’s schools improvement service since 2012 ...
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ArticleHomes England ordered to pay £24,000 in equal pay case
Homes England has lost an equal pay case against a senior employee who was paid £14,000 less than her male colleagues.Jennifer Owen joined the organisation as a quantity surveyor in November 2020 on a salary of £51,258 per year, which was the minimum in her pay band. She was told ...
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ArticleWorker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill receives Royal Assent
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill has received Royal Assent as of this month.The initial bill drafting proposed liability on employers for harassment of their employees by third parties, such as a customer, client, supplier or contractor, which meant an employee could therefore be harassed by simply ...
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ArticleTribunal awards former White Lake Cheese employee £20k for pregnancy discrimination
A former office worker, who was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against on pregnancy grounds by White Lake Cheese, has been awarded £19,700 by an employment tribunal.Storm Botha started working at White Lake Cheese as a cheese-making assistant in September 2020. After two months, she occasionally worked in the office doing ...
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ArticleTribunal rules Starling Bank must pay £1.1m following health-related dismissal
Credit: rafapress / Shutterstock.comA former solicitor employed by Starling Bank has been awarded £1.1 million after an employment tribunal ruled that she had received unfavourable treatment and been unfairly dismissed.As an asthmatic, Gulnaz Raja told her employer that she would need to work from home and have time off during ...
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ArticleSupreme Court rules Police Service of Northern Ireland must pay £40m in holiday pay case
The UK Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal made by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and ruled that it will have to pay approximately £40 million in holiday pay to its officers.In 2018, an industrial tribunal determined that unlawful deductions were made from the holiday pay of nearly ...
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ArticleNational living wage to rise to at least £11 per hour in 2024
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has announced that the national living wage will increase to at least £11 per hour from April 2024.Hunt made this announcement yesterday at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, where he committed to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations.These recommendations, which will be announced ...
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ArticleLeigh Day brings pay and employment status claim against Veezu
Law firm Leigh Day has announced that it is taking taxi operator Veezu to employment tribunal to contest workers’ employment status and pay terms.The firm represents up to 12,500 taxi drivers who work for Veezu, which owns more than a dozen local taxi organisations using booking apps across England and ...
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ArticleWorkers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 gains Royal Assent
The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 has passed through the House of Lords to receive Royal Assent.Brought forward by Blackpool South MP Scott Benton and Baroness Anderson, the new law will give all workers, including those on zero-hours contracts, the legal right to request a predictable working pattern ...
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ArticlePensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Bill receives Royal Assent
The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (No. 2) Bill has received Royal Assent.The bill, introduced in the House of Commons by Jonathan Gullis MP and taken through the House of Lords by Baroness Altmann, will see the age at which eligible workers must be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme ...
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ArticleHMRC publishes consultation on reporting salary advances
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has published a consultation on proposed amendments to regulations that will allow employers to delay reporting advance salary payments made to an employee.The proposed amendments will mean that employers can delay reporting these until the remainder of that salary instalment has been paid and certain ...
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ArticleTrades Union Congress reports government over Strikes Act
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has announced it is reporting the Conservative government to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) over the Strikes Act.In a press conference yesterday (10 September), Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, Esther Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, and two frontline workers, ...
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ArticleTribunal rules refusing pay rise to former Direct Line employee was unfair
Credit: T. Schneider / Shutterstock.comA menopausal former Direct Line insurance worker has been awarded £64,645.07 in a disability discrimination case after her boss refused to give her a pay rise amid claims she was “underperforming”.Maxine Lynskey began working for Direct Line in April 2016 and had no issues until March ...
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ArticleGovernment confirms it will reinstate equal pay protection legislation
The government has confirmed it is to reinstate equal pay protection legislation after previously scrapping the European Union (EU) law behind it.The protection was axed among other laws after the UK left the EU as part of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 which was passed in ...