If you don’t (i.e. it is the calendar year or some other arrangement) then this is not relevant. If you do have a 1st April to 31st March holiday year in your business read on…… In the current 2017/18 holiday year you may have noticed that Easter is split over two holiday years. Good Friday is on 30th March and Easter Monday is on 2nd April. The net effect is that for the 2017/18 holiday year staff may receive an extra day’s holiday. How you handle this will depend on what is in your contracts of employment regarding holiday. Legally, staff are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ holiday annually. In 2018/19 the number of bank and public holidays amount to 7 days ie one day short of the legal minimum and therefore you would be in breach of your employee’s rights. To avoid this, and depending what your contracts say, you may need to top up leave next year by one day. If you want a complimentary review of the position for … [Read more...]
What are the latest HR legal requirements business owners need to implement in April 2018?
For the SME community, the relevant scheduled changes from April 2018 are the rates paid for statutory purposes, a change to the tax treatment of payments made in lieu of notice, and the impact of new regulations from May regarding data protection of staff records. Changes in statutory payments From 1st April: Rates for statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay or shared parental pay rise to £145.18/week The national minimum wage for those aged 25+ rises to £7.83/hour From 6th April: Statutory sick pay rises to £92.05/week Employer contributions into a pension auto-enrolment scheme increases to a minimum of 2% Change to tax treatment of payments made in lieu of notice introduced From 6th April, the rules are being clarified, after years of ‘depending on what my accountant says’ when it comes to the tax treatment of pay in lieu of notice on the termination of an employee’s contract. All payments in lieu of notice … [Read more...]
Dividends, salaries and pensions for company directors – could you save tax by acting now?
If you are a company owner/director you probably don’t need reminding that we live in a constantly changing world of pension and tax regulations. That said, how confident are you that you have acted to ensure you are managing your personal and business tax affairs efficiently in light of recent changes? Below we have listed a few things to consider when talking to your tax advisors. If you take dividends, you have just a few weeks to save future tax - don’t assume that because the new regime affects the year from 6th April 2016 there is nothing you can do now. Instead take the opportunity to both act now and plan ahead. Regardless of when your company year end is, if you have sufficient funds (after corporation tax liabilities have been considered), award yourself higher dividends before the 31st March and save dividend tax that will be payable next year. New tax on dividends – what does it mean for you as a company owner/director? At the moment your dividend income (payments … [Read more...]
Getting maternity leave right with your key employees
Over the last 12 months l have worked with client MDs on 6 cases of maternity leave and on two of these cases, because they have become contentious, I have reflected on the causes of these disputes. Looking at this dispassionately one might say that this reflects a normal distribution – most situations of maternity leave will be managed perfectly well by both employer and employee. However, occasionally, there will be situations where the maternity will cause a rethink in the nature of the employment relationship leading to a dispute. In some cases the maternity accelerates the amicable ending of the employment relationship. I offer these thoughts to better manage the maternity leave process to do the best you can to avoid disputes. As the MD who knows the employee’s situation, you are probably best placed to predict any risks that may emerge. Whether you want to admit to the risks is another matter. If there is any likelihood of a breakdown in the employment relationship, ensure … [Read more...]
