Nov 2016
7
New Living Wage Rates Announced
Annually, the first week in November is Living Wage Week and as part of this week, the new living wage rates details are revealed. The Mayor of London announces the London rate for the Living Wage whereas the UK rate is announced countrywide at the same time.
The new London Living Wage, announced by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has increased by 3.7%, from £9.40 to £9.75 per hour. This helps reflect the higher cost of living facing families in the city. The UK Living Wage rate has increased by 20p from £8.25 to £8.45, an increase of 2.4%. The Government's current minimum wage for over 25s is £7.20, which is £1.25 less than this rate.
There are nearly 1000 London-based employers that have agreed to pay their staff the Living Wage hourly rate, this is an increase of 300 employers. In total nearly 1,000 employers have signed up since Living Wage Week last year bringing the total number of accredited Living Wage organisations to nearly 3000. New companies that have signed up are RSA Insurance Group, Curzon Cinemas, the British Library.
For information about the Living Wage Foundation and Living Wage week visit the Living Wage Foundation website
- See more at: https://www.cipp.org.uk/news-publications/news/voluntary-living-wage-rates-announced.html#sthash.3zt9o68v.dpuf
Sep 2016
21
National Living Wage Increase 1st of October
The Government's National Living Wage was introduced on 1 April 2016 for all working people aged 25 and over, and is set at £7.20 per hour. The current National Minimum Wage for those under the age of 25 still applies.
From October 2016, the national minimum wage will rise by 3.7% to £6.95 for 21 to 24 year olds, and by 4.7% to £5.55 an hour for those aged 18 to 20.
The minimum wage for 16 to 17 year-olds will rise to £4.00 and apprentices will see their wages go up to £3.40. Almost half a million young people will benefit from the increases introduced.
Aug 2016
17
Employers failing to pay National Minimum Wage details published
The current National Minimum Wage was introduced on 1st October 2015 and will change on 1st October 2016. The current rates are:
• Workers aged 21 and over: £6.70 an hour
• Development rate for workers aged 18-20: £5.30 an hour
• Young workers rate for workers aged 16-17: £3.87 an hour
• Apprentices under 19, or over 19 and in first year of the apprenticeship: £3.30 an hour
197 employers have failed to pay their employees the National Minimum Wage. These employer details have been published, this list is the largest list to date. These employers range across a number of industries such as hairdressers, hotels, football clubs and care homes.
A total liability of £465,291 was owed by the 197 employers to their employees and The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have confirmed that all these monies have been repaid to the employees. Since the scheme was introduced in October 2013, a total of 687 employers details have been published and a total liability of £3.5 million.
The onus is on the employer to ensure the correct rate of pay is paid to the relevant employee, depending on their circumstances. The National Living Wage was introduced on 1st April 2016, for employees aged 25 and over, which is £7.20 per hour. The National Living Wage will be enforced equally along with the National Minimum Wage!
Aug 2016
15
BrightPay shortlisted for Payroll Product of the Year Award
The Payroll World Awards finalists have just been announced. We are delighted to reveal that BrightPay has been shortlisted for the ‘Payroll Software Product of the Year’ award for the second year running.
A panel of 12 judges now face the daunting task of deciding on winners for each category. 142 companies have been shortlisted for all the awards. For the payroll product of the year, the judges are looking at each finalist to examine where the payroll software can offer business benefits to their customers.
The payroll software industry has become increasingly competitive and the Payroll World judges want to see evidence that BrightPay can provide the following;
- Offering significant cost savings/business benefits to clients
- Customer satisfaction including client testimonials
- Innovative client solutions
A few interesting statistics from BrightPay’s recent customer survey include:
- BrightPay has a 99% customer satisfaction rate and 98% for customer support.
- 99.7% of customers rate BrightPay as excellent, very good or good for overall quality.
- Customers describe BrightPay as reliable, high quality, useful, unique and good value for money.
- 99.5% think BrightPay’s interface is user-friendly.
- 99.8% agree BrightPay is automated.
- 99% of customers save time and money.
- 88% save on administration. 99.5% of customers believe that BrightPay is committed to keeping up with changes in payroll legislation
- 98% of customers rate our customer service as excellent; very good or good.
- BrightPay has a 98% satisfaction rate for customer support.
- 97% agree customer support are knowledgeable and 99% agree they are professional.
- 98% of customers find it beneficial that BrightPay includes free email and phone support.
- 90% of customers agree that BrightPay's customer support has improved in the last year.
The winners will be announced this November at the Payroll World Awards Event. Best of luck to all the finalists.
Check out the list of finalists for the payroll software product of the year here.
Jun 2016
2
Trivial Benefits in Kind - UK Update
For the new tax year 2016-17 HMRC have introduced a new exemption that removes the liability of income tax for certain low valued Benefits in Kind ('Trivial BiKs')
Currently this is subject to Parliamentary approval and will be part of the new legislation Finance Bill 2016. Draft guidance on the new exemption has been published on GOV.UK and will be included in HMRC's Employment Income Manual later in the tax year. Previous treatment of Trivial BiKs was that employers could agree with HMRC that particular BiKs could be treated as trivial and did not need to be returned to HMRC at the end of the tax year and this no longer applies.
General conditions that a 'trivial BiK' must meet in order to qualify are:
• A. the BiK must not be cash or a cash-voucher
• B. the BiK must cost £50 or less
• C. the BiK must not be provided as part of a salary sacrifice or other contractual agreement
• D. the BiK must not be provided in recognition of services performed by the employee as part of their employment, or in anticipation of such services
In a tax year for an employee there is no limit on the amount of BiKs that can be provided where all the conditions are met, unless Condition E applies (see below)
Close Companies
Condition E applies an annual £300 cap where a trivial BiK (that meets conditions A to D) is provided by an employer that is a close company to an employee that is:
• a director or other office-holder in the company member of the family or household of a director or office-holder of the close company
May 2016
16
DWP launches new Pension Tracing Service
The Pension Tracing Service have launched a new DWP website to help people find their lost pension saving. Currently there is an estimated £400 million in unclaimed pension savings. The new website has been designed to help people locate their hard earned savings for their retirement fund.
The wider pension reforms are creating a dynamic market where people have greater freedom and flexibility over their savings. The DWP expect the reforms will increase demand for the Pension Tracing Service. The free online service is simple to use and provides trace results immediately. Individuals enter their former employers’ details into the online database and are provided with contact details for pension schemes they may have paid into.
The new DWP website enables people to search a database of more than 320,000 pension scheme administrators. https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
Mar 2016
17
Increase in National Minimum Wage from 1st October 2016
The Low Pay Commission's (LPC) recommendations for the rates of the minimum wage for employees under 25 and apprentices has been accepted by the Government and this take effects from 1st October 2016.
These include:
21-24 year olds £6.95 per hour an increase of 3.7%
Youth Development Rate - 18-20 year olds £5.55 per hour an increase of 4.7%
16-17 Year Old Rate £4.00 per hour
Apprentice Rate £3.40 per hour an increase of 3%
The Government has introduced the National Living Wage of £7.20 per hour for employees over 25 which takes effect on 1st April 2016.
Feb 2016
11
Automatic Enrolment: Are you prepared to deal with this potential increase in business?
Increasing your prices is never very popular with clients and you may even risk losing a small percentage of your client base. If you are a bureau, deciding what to charge for auto enrolment services can be a daunting task. Your client will want to know what they are getting in return for the additional fee, therefore, communication will be fundamental to your success. If you do get your pricing strategy right, your clients will thank you for taking the automatic enrolment duties off their hands.
Download our free AE pricing guide:
CPD Accredited - Auto Enrolment Training for Payroll Bureaus
Did you know that 44% of payroll advisors have already spoken to their clients about automatic enrolment? This year will be significant with over 500,000 employers due to stage. However, some employers still do not know that automatic enrolment applies to them. Others are burying the head in the sand and avoiding AE altogether. Find out what you need to know on BrightPay’s Auto Enrolment online training session. This training has been CPD accredited and advisors receive two CPD hours by attending.
Guest Speaker - The Pensions Regulator
Have you got a burning question for the Pensions Regulator (TPR) ?? BrightPay is delighted to announce that Neil Wilson from TPR will join us on the webinar. Neil will cover the employer duties that payroll bureaus need to be aware of along with what lesson TPR has learned since AE was launched. HE will also discuss the AE what payroll services you could offer as a bureau. Neil will cover what you need know in relation offering your services and the law.
Get in touch today to see how BrightPay can help you prepare for automatic enrolment. New customers can now get a free BrightPay 2015/16 plus 25% off 2016/17 bureau licence when you switch from a different payroll software provider.*
Book a demo with our sales team today to find out how BrightPay handles auto enrolment and how it can increase the efficiency of your bureau. You can also try out the software with a 60 day free trial.
Jan 2016
6
Apply for Statutory Payments in Advance with HMRC
Recovery rates and National Insurance contributions threshold will remain the same for the 2016-17 tax year, as announced by HMRC. An update has been provided via GOV.UK from HMRC on how to apply for statutory payment types in advance, such as maternity pay, parental, paternal or adoption pay. This is only relevant if the employer requires financial assistance.
In order to apply for the statutory pay in advance with HMRC you will need to either use the online service which you can do through your Government Gateway log in or by completing a form on screen and emailing this to HMRC. You will only need to enter the amount of weeks you are claiming in the 2015-16 tax year. If you are applying for the 2016-17 tax year also you can claim this by indicating that it is for the New tax year. Both can be claimed at the one time but need to be identified on the claim as Current tax year and New tax year.
Further details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/recover-statutory-payments/if-you-cant-afford-to-make-payments
Dec 2015
14
4 Months to prepare and 4 simple ways to prepare for National Living Wage
Businesses are being advised to prepare early for the changes on 1st April 2016 when the new law becomes law for employees 25 years of age and over.
1. Find out which staff are eligible for new rate
2. Know the correct rate of pay - £7.20 for staff aged 25 and over
3. Update the company payroll for 2016
4. Communicate the changes as soon as possible
