All Tax and legislation articles – Page 34
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ArticleDeath of an employee does not end right to holiday pay
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that an employee who dies with outstanding holiday pay should be paid this after their death. In the case Bollacke v K+K Klass and Kock, the ECJ ruled that the “right to paid annual leave is a particularly important principle of social ...
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OpinionMatthew Kelly: The effects of equal pay legislation
Pay refers to any contractual entitlement bonus, holiday and pension, not just basic salary.The effects of equal pay legislation have recently hit the higher education sector, with 23 male workers who were caretakers and tradesmen at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David suing for sex discrimination, claiming they were ...
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Article79% of employers support the government’s pension reforms
More than three-quarters (79%) of employer respondents are supportive of the government’s pension reforms, according to research by JLT Employee Benefits.Its research, which surveyed 250 employers and 2,000 UK employees, found that a quarter of employer respondents would amend their pension scheme’s rules to allow flexible retirement, while another quarter ...
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ArticleUniversity of Wales pays out £460,000 in equal pay case
Nearly £500,000 (£460,000) has been paid out to 18 men in an equal pay case against the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.The group of support staff, which includes plumbers and caretakers, won the case in April 2014, after taking the university to an employment tribunal on the grounds of ...
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ArticleConsumer Rights Bill to impact salary sacrifice benefits
(Article UPDATED on 24 June 2014: see additional information below)The Consumer Rights Bill (CRB) could impact the provision of flexible benefits schemes and salary sacrifice arrangements.The CRB, which has passed through the House of Commons and has had its first reading in the House of Lords, with a second reading ...
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Article£4.6m paid out to 22,000 staff in minimum wage arrears
More than £4.6 million has been paid to more than 22,000 employees in wage arrears following investigations by HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) national minimum wage enforcement teams.In the past year, HMRC has conducted 1,455 investigations and issued 652 financial penalties worth £815,269.HMRC found arrears in 47% of cases and ...
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Article43% expect to have to plug NHS support gap
Some 43% of employers expect to have to plug the support gap created by the National Health Service (NHS) without the government introducing tax breaks on health and wellbeing products and services, according to the Employee Benefits/Lorica 100 Club research 2014.A large majority (85%) of 54 respondents believe tax breaks ...
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ArticleQueen’s Speech sets out collective DC pension plans
Collective defined contribution (CDC) pension schemes will be included in primary legislation in next year’s pensions bill, announced the Queen during the state opening of Parliament.The Private Pensions Bill would:Make provisions for a new legislative framework in relation to the different categories of pension schemes. It would establish three mutually ...
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ArticlePersonal allowance increase confirmed
The Queen has confirmed the personal allowance limit will be increased from £10,000 to £10,500 in 2015/16.The increase was first announced in the 2014 Budget in March. It means the first £10,500 of an employee’s annual salary will be exempt from income tax.Consequently, the average basic-rate taxpayer will pay £805 ...
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ArticleQueen's Speech confirms higher minimum wage penalties
The Queen has confirmed that higher penalties will be imposed on employers which fail to pay their staff the national minimum wage, first announced in January 2014.The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill will introduce an increased penalty of up to £20,000 for employers that do not pay staff the ...
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ArticleDOD’s blog: Is tax legislation hampering workplace pensions?
Yesterday the Labour party put forward proposals to lower the earnings threshold at which staff will be auto-enrolled into pensions to £5,772. In this way, more low-paid staff would be brought into workplace pensions savings.This follows tens of thousands of employees earning less than £10,000 a year finding that they ...
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AnalysisTessa Gutteridge: Enabling young people with dementia to continue working
‘Young onset’ dementia affects people of working age, usually between 30 and 65 years old. This is also referred to as ‘early onset’ or ‘working-age’ dementia. Young onset dementia is thought to affect more than 64,000 people in the UK, many of them in the midst of their careers when ...
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ArticleCourt rules holiday pay should include commission
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has held that the Working Holiday Directive should require commission to be taken into account when calculating holiday pay.The finding in Lock v British Gas Trading Limited and others follows the Advocate General’s opinion in the case in December 2013.It means ...
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ArticleState pension reforms receive royal assent
The Pensions Bill 2013-14, which includes reforms to the state pension, received Royal Assent on 14 May.The reforms, which were first announced in the 2012 Autumn Statement, aim to create a simple flat-rate pension, the full level of which will be set above the basic means test, currently at £148.35.The ...
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ArticleGovernment to amend definition of money purchase for pensions
The government has published proposed final amendments to the definition of money purchase pension schemes.The Department for Work and Pensions launched a consultation in October 2013 to attempt to clarify the definition of money purchase included in section 29 of the Pensions Act 2011.The consultation followed the Supreme Court’s July ...
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ArticleDOD’s blog: Should HR get more involved in politics?
On Wednesday I stood for several hours in a queue on Trafalgar Square, London, in order to cast my vote in the South African elections (us overseas nationals get to do it a week in advance of our compatriots back home). The passion, dedication and persistence of people from around ...
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ArticleHMRC publishes templates for share scheme returns
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has published templates for organisations to use in order to comply with their online filing responsibilities for employee share plan returns.All employers need to submit their first annual share plan return for 2014/15 online through HMRC’s pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) online service by 6 July 2015.The templates ...
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ArticleMale staff win equal pay case against University of Wales
More than 18 male employees have won an equal pay case against the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.The support staff, which includes plumbers and caretakers, took the university to an employment tribunal on the grounds of sexual discrimination after discovering female colleagues on the same pay grade were being ...
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ArticleAsda staff launch equal pay case
More than 400 female employees at Asda have launched legal action against the supermarket around equal pay.The cases are aimed at determining if the mainly female-staffed retail jobs are of equal value to higher-paid jobs in Asda’s male-dominated distribution centres.If the case is successful, the employees who have alleged they ...
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OpinionJill Clucas: How the lifetime allowance reduction will impact benefits and charges
The lifetime allowance (LTA) was reduced from £1.5 million to £1.25 million on 6 April 2014. When an individual draws pension benefits, the value of the benefit drawn is tested against the LTA (reduced by the value of benefits taken previously). With a reduced LTA, more individuals will be subject ...