All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 602
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Article
Government to extend public sector pay rise cap by a year
Budget 2013: The government has extended its 1% cap on public sector pay rises by a year to 2015/16.The cap applies to the civil service and workforces with pay review bodies, which Chancellor George Osborne said will be tasked with determining appropriate levels of award based on their affordability and ...
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Article
£2,000 national insurance allowance for employers
Budget 2013: The government has announced that all employers will get the first £2,000 taken off their national insurance contribution (NIC) bill.George Osborne said that the reform, aimed at small organisations, will come into effect from April 2014. The Chancellor has labelled the policy the employment allowance. He gave the ...
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Article
Government pledges to make savings through progression pay reforms
Budget 2013: The government has pledged to make significant savings through reforms to public sector progression pay.As part of his 2013 Budget speech on 20 March, Chancellor George Osborne said that some public sector employees have continued to receive annual pay increases in excess of 7% due to progression pay ...
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Article
Government confirms removal of contracting out
Budget 2013: The government has confirmed that defined benefit (DB) pension scheme members will no longer have the ability to contract out of the State Second Pension (SSP) from 2016/17.The SSP will end as a result of the introduction of the single-tier state pension, which will begin from 2016/17.From this ...
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Article
Government confirms state pension brought forward to 2016
Budget 2013: Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed that the government will bring forward its plans to introduce a new single-tier £144 per week state pension by one year.As Employee Benefits previously reported Osborne first announced the changes on 17 March on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.The new state pension was originally ...
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Article
Government brings forward increase to personal allowance
Budget 2013: The government has brought forward its plans to increase the personal allowance to £10,000 to 2014/15.It means the first £10,000 of an employee’s annual salary will be exempt from income tax as a result of the increase, which was originally intended for 2015.Consequently, the average basic-rate taxpayer will ...
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Article
TPR tasked with new objective on DB pension funding
Budget 2013: The government has tasked The Pensions Regulator (TPR) with a new objective to support defined benefit (DB) pension scheme funding arrangements, which are compatible with sustainable growth for the employer and fully consistent with 2004 funding legislation.The precise wording of the new objective will be set out in ...
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Article
Employee ownership sector to receive £50m boost
Budget 2013: The government has announced it will provide £50 million annually from 2014-2015 to incentivise the growth of the employee ownership sector.In its 2013 Budget, the government said this will be used to respond to recommendations from the Nuttall Review and other relevant organisations that aim to encourage employee ...
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Article
Armed forces exempt from progression pay reforms
Budget 2013: Armed forces employees are to be exempt from the government’s civil service progression pay reforms, due to the unique nature of their careers.As part of his 2013 Budget speech on 20 March, which marks the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war, Chancellor George Osborne said: “We are also ...
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Article
Employee owners to receive tax breaks
Budget 2013: Following on from the introduction of a new employee ownership status in October 2012, Chancellor George Osborne has announced in the Budget 2013 that the first £2,000 of share value that any employee receives under the new status will be free from income tax and national insurance (NI) ...
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Article
Clampdown on offshore payrolls
Budget 2013: The government will end the use of offshore employment companies in tax havens such as Jersey and Guernsey from April 2014.This confirmed an announcement made by the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander about the use of offshore payrolls.A full consultation will be announced in May. Budget ...
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Article
Government brings forward NI increases for DB pensions
Budget 2013: The government has brought forward an increase in national insurance contributions (NICs) for employers with contracted-out defined benefit (DB) pension schemes by a year.The move results from Chancellor George Osborne’s confirmation in his 2013 Budget speech that members of a DB scheme will no longer be able to ...
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Article
Personal allowance increase could impact auto-enrolment
Budget 2013: The increase in the personal allowance to £10,000 a year could mean fewer employees are auto-enrolled into a workplace pension scheme.The increase, announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the 2013 Budget, will take effect from 2014/15.But Zoe Lynch, a partner at law firm Sackers, said: “The numbers being ...
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Article
Tax exemption for travel season ticket loans doubles
Budget 2013: The threshold for tax exemption on employment-related ‘taxable cheap’, low-cost or interest-free loans, such as travel season ticket loans, will double.Chancellor George Osbourne revealed in his 2013 Budget speech that the current threshold of £5,000 will increase to £10,000 for the 2014-15 tax year. As long as the ...
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Case Studies
Utilitywise uses share plan to engage staff
It launched a sharesave scheme for its 300 employees in November 2012.The only stipulation the employer applied for staff joining the scheme was for them to have passed their probationary period. At the launch of the scheme, 214 employees were eligible to join and 110 did so. The scheme is ...
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Article
Confessions of a benefits manager: Transfer rumours
We have yet another person in charge of mobility. It seems to come with the job that the incumbent is rather mobile too. No sooner have they unpacked their desk tidy than they are off looking for another job. I can understand why. Head of mobility is on the list ...
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Article
Kudos launches flexible benefits platform
Employee benefits consultancy Kudos has launched a flexible benefits platform in response to the growing need for technology to assist employers to deliver benefits to staff.The platform, called Create, is a total reward and flexible benefits service, which is designed to assist organisations to create a suitable, cost-effective and engaging ...
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Article
Lloyds Banking Group to reward staff on customer satisfaction
Lloyds Banking Group will base its variable pay to staff on customer feedback rather than product sales from 1 April 2013.The incentive scheme was first piloted by 70 of the bank’s 1,800 UK branches, including Lloyds TSB and Halifax branches.The other requirements of the scheme include:Employees must pass the organisation’s ...
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Article
Barclays awards senior staff with £40m in shares
Barclays Group has awarded nine of its senior managers with shares worth £40 million.According to the bank, the shares are provided in respect of long-term incentive plans (Ltips), which are currently held in an account on behalf of the individual, and to satisfy awards made under a range of share ...
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Article
Employee ownership scheme blocked
The government’s employee ownership scheme has been blocked in the House of Lords.The scheme, which was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in October 2012, would allow employees to give up some employment rights in return for shares in their employer. It was defeated by 232 votes to 178.The scheme was ...