All Tax and legislation articles – Page 23
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ArticleHow will the Spring Budget 2020 affect pay and benefits?
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivered the Spring Budget speech to the House of Commons on Wednesday 11 March 2020. Below is a summary of the key announcements that could impact pay and benefits strategies:National insurance contribution threshold to rise to £9,500 from April 2020National living wage projected to ...
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ArticleFrench court concludes Uber drivers should gain employee status
In a ruling made on 4 March 2020, France's Court of Cassation reclassified the contractual relationship between drivers and ride hailing organisation Uber, giving them the right to be seen not as self-employed workers, but employees.In the case, Uber argued that drivers remain free to decide whether to connect to ...
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OpinionKate Gardner: What does the landmark veganism ruling mean for employers?
In a major step forward in employment law, a tribunal has ruled that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief, meaning that an employee could rely upon veganism as one of the nine protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010.While this is great news for employees, how will it affect ...
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OpinionRebecca Thornley-Gibson: Asda’s own Supermarket Sweep
Organisations need to be agile in the way they react to change in their sector and the wider economy. However, changes inevitably have a people impact, and the current Asda employee relations dispute regarding changes to staff terms reflects the challenges in place for employers that need to maintain market ...
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OpinionPhilomena Price: Employment law changes to watch out for from April 2020
April 2020 sees some key changes coming into force that employers need to be aware of. As with any employment law matter, it is beneficial if employers start thinking about how these changes may affect their businesses now, and plan accordingly, rather than waiting.First, all workers, including employees starting work ...
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OpinionJayne Harrison: How to mitigate strike action
Union strikes have a significant impact on business performance and reputation. The walkout by British Airways pilots in September 2019, for example, cost the organisation up to £100 million, affected almost 200,000 passengers and grounded the majority of British Airways' flights around the world. Striking is a type of industrial ...
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OpinionLeah Caprani: The last taboo – menopause in the workplace
Members of Parliament (MPs) have called for the introduction of formal policies to protect menopausal women from being discriminated against in the workplace. While there is currently no specific legislation in this area, Davis v Scottish Courts and Tribunals Services, which was heard in February 2018, provides some welcome guidance ...
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OpinionBlair Adams and Kezia Daley: Brexit and the loss of EU nationals
Employers with European Union (EU) nationals in their workforce have a vested interest in actively helping and encouraging them to apply for settled status before 31 October 2019, in case free movement ends on that date in a no-deal Brexit scenario.EU nationals currently have two options to stay in the ...
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ArticleLabour pledges 32-hour week, end of zero hours and to tackle menopause stigma
During the 2019 Labour Party Conference, which took place from Saturday 21 to Wednesday 25 September, shadow chancellor of the exchequer John McDonnell MP (pictured) committed the party to start work implementing a 32-hour average working week, with no reductions to pay, during its next term in government.The move to ...
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ArticleGovernor of California signs bill redefining employee status
On 18 September 2019, California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that updates and amends various sections of the state's Labor Code and Unemployment Insurance Code, redefining and clarifying the classification of employees versus independent contractors, or gig workers.The bill states that, for the purposes of the provisions ...
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OpinionBoma Adoki and Melanie Shone: Major change to the UK tax regime for contractors
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is continuing its quest to ensure that individuals who work like employees pay tax like employees, even when working via a personal service company (PSC). However, it has had mixed success recently, as a number of its determinations have been overturned in the Tax Tribunal.Set ...
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OpinionLaura Hill: Are employees getting enough rest at work?
The length of both the working day and employees’ breaks are two hot topics, with several high-profile cases having come to light recently, but what should employers take away from the headlines?In 2003, Regulation 12 of the working time regulations entitled workers to an uninterrupted rest of at least 20 ...
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ArticlePoll: 33% feel Good Work Standard will lead to staff being better paid
Employee Benefits poll: A third (33%) of Employee Benefits readers believe that the Good Work Standard, an employment benchmark introduced by Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (pictured), will lead to more employees being paid the voluntary London living wage rate, currently set at £10.55 an hour.A straw poll of www.employeebenefits.co.uk ...
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OpinionDaniel Parker: LGBT employment equality - the journey so far
With a particularly significant Pride Month having taken place this June, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, one might be forgiven for looking to the past and taking stock, with a critical eye, of decades of change for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in the ...
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ArticleThink tank proposes increases to wages and annual leave to boost UK’s productivity
Image credit: NEFBritish think tank the New Economics Foundation (NEF) has proposed that minimum wages and statutory paid holiday entitlement be increased in order to improve the UK’s productivity.The Time for demand: Boosting productivity with public investment, minimum wages and paid holiday report, published in August 2019, suggested that bolstering ...
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OpinionOliver Topping: How to spot personal data breaches and when to report them
In 2018, new data protection laws brought in a requirement for data controllers, like employers and trustees of pension schemes, to make reports swiftly after certain types of personal data breaches occur.Before rushing to pick up the phone to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or emailing affected employees or pension ...
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ArticleWomen and Equalities Committee puts discrimination responsibility on employers
The Women and Equalities Committee has recommended that the emphasis for raising workplace discrimination issues should lie with employers, public authorities and service providers, rather than individual employees.The Committee published its tenth Enforcing the Equality Act: The law and the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission report on ...
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ArticleEY, London City Airport and Schroders sign up to new Good Work Standard
Professional services organisation EY, London City Airport and asset wealth firm Schroders are among the employers that have signed the Good Work Standard, a new benchmark that recognises businesses for implementing and maintaining high employment standards, such as paying staff at least the voluntary London living wage.The Good Work Standard ...
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ArticleNearly two million UK employees do not receive their minimum paid leave entitlement
Nearly two million (1.96 million) UK employees do not receive the minimum entitlement of paid annual leave, according to research conducted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).The analysis, based on the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour force survey data for quarter four of 2018, also found that 1.145 million ...
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ArticleBEIS to consult on workplace protections and flexible working, following Good work plan
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has launched a consultation on workplace protections, aiming to tackle the issues identified in its Good work plan report, published in December 2018, including the introduction of a single labour market enforcement body.The consultation, which launched on Tuesday 16 July 2019 ...