Archive for the ‘Legislation’ Category
New guidance on workplace pension reform
The Pensions Regulator has today published an updated version of its detailed guidance on automatic enrolment and the new employer duties under pensions reform, for large employers and their advisers.
The detailed guidance, which forms part of the regulator’s suite of educational materials for all UK employers, has been updated to reflect recent legislative changes including the Pensions Act 2011 receiving official approval via Royal Assent.
Click this link to go to the Regulator’s website for more information.
TUPE & Administrations
Just before we all went off for our break there were two important Employment Tribunal cases involving companies in administration.
TUPE is a minefield as it is when there is a company transaction involved. It’s easy for an employer to come a cropper. Throw into this heady mix one side that is, or has been, in administration and it’s ever more complicated.
We are, therefore, grateful to Dechert LLP for their employment law update that sets out a good summary of the cases and where we stand now in this area. You can click through to the summary here.
As always with these cases the cost of a good legal adviser is a sound investment.
Steve Clark
Cost cutting–alternatives to redundancies
We’re constantly working with clients and prospective clients looking to make sure that the money they spend on benefits is effective.
In the current economic climate we look to save money for the employer. In a previous blog post “Is your advisor saving you this much?” we looked at the money we had saved a client who had recently appointed us. You can read the post by clicking here and find out how we saved them £95 per day!
When things like the benefit spend have been tackled some employers are still looking to save costs and then go on to consider redundancies. We received an update today from McDermott Will & Emery – an international legal firm. There’s a really good article in there that cover alternatives to redundancies. It’s well worth a read if you are looking at this type of exercise. You can click here to read the article.
If you are looking to save money on your benefits programme please email us at talk2us@44financial.co.uk.
Steve Clark
Receivership–the ghost of Christmas future?
As I type what is probably the last blog article I can’t help feeling a lot like the Ghost of Christmas Future in the Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.
This morning we received an update from those very nice people at Nabarro which contained a Guide to Receivership. As we see a growing trend of corporate insolvencies it’s something that some businesses are likely to encounter amongst their customers, clients or suppliers.
For that reason I’ve included a link to the guide here. It’s probably not something that you want to read over the festive holiday. You may just want to keep it to one side as a useful reference if you come across the issue.
That’s likely to be all from us here at 44 Financial Ltd. May we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Wealthy New Year.
Steve Clark
Weight for it! More on employment status
There has been a recent appeal in the Upper Tribunal from Weight Watchers (UK) Limited regarding the employment status of their Weight Watchers leaders that run their classes.
Weight Watchers said for tax purposes they were self employed and not an employee. The Tribunal disagreed and found they were employees. The Upper Tribunal looked at the degree of control Weight Watchers had over the leaders. The crux was that the Tribunal looked at the reality of the situation not just the documentation that Weight Watchers had in place.
What does this mean?
People who Weight Watchers thought were self employed are actually their employees. This means that Weight Watchers now face a huge tax bill. This is a clear warning that the Tribunal will ignore any documentation if this doesn’t accurately reflect the true position.
From a benefits perspective it also means that as employees Weight Watchers may face claims for backdated benefits such as pension that other employees are entitled to.
What should employers do?
You should make sure you regularly review your documentation to ensure that this reflects what’s happening in practice. You may also want to ensure they you provisions in place so you can recover tax and national insurance contributions from your employees.
As always if you have individuals working for you that you have deemed self-employed you may need t get some advice from your usual employment and legal advisers.
Steve Clark