All the UK’s largest businesses have now passed their staging dates for automatically enrolling eligible workers into qualifying workplace pension schemes. Announcing the landmark on 17 July, the Pensions Regulator, which regulates workplace pensions, said 99 per cent of the employers had met their legal duties without it needing to use its statutory powers. Thousands… Read more…

The government has named the company it has chosen to deliver a new service, designed to help employees and employers better manage sickness absence and reduce the costs involved. Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud said on 25 July that the Health and Work Service would be delivered by Health Management Limited, the UK’s leading… Read more…

A list of tax avoidance schemes whose users may be required to make an upfront payment of tax has been published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The Finance Bill, which is due to receive Royal Assent later this month, will give HMRC a new power called accelerated payments. This will mean users of schemes… Read more…

British businesses must realise the potential of older employees and help people to carry on working, Pensions Minister Steve Webb has said. He was speaking on 13 June at the launch of a new government action plan, which says that the economy could have been boosted by £18 billion in 2013 if the employment gap… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published new guidance for employers to help prepare for PAYE late filing penalties from October 2014. HMRC launched the online helpsheet on the new penalties and appeals on 23 June in response to customer feedback. In-year penalties for failing to file PAYE submissions on time will be introduced from… Read more…

Only one in 100 independent financial advisers (IFAs) believe small businesses are well prepared for auto-enrolment into workplace pensions, a new study has revealed. The survey for business software specialists Sage UK of more than 200 IFAs also found just one in five (21 per cent) agreed that small firms were aware of auto-enrolment, even… Read more…

The government has set out its remit for the annual review of the national minimum wage (NMW) by the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC). Alongside the review of the NMW, which will lead to recommendations on the levels the commission believes should apply from October 2015, the government has asked it to make recommendations on… Read more…

Employees on zero hours contracts will be free to find work with more than one employer after the government moved to ban exclusivity clauses. Exclusivity clauses prevent someone working for another employer, even when no work is guaranteed by the first employer. It is estimated that 125,000 workers on zero hours contracts are affected by… Read more…

Businesses supplying digital services – broadcasting, telecoms and e-services such as smartphone games and other apps – across the European Union will be able to use a one-stop VAT service from January. Using the VAT Mini One Stop Shop, or VAT MOSS, online service will mean that they do not have to pay the tax… Read more…

The government has launched consultations on key changes to employee benefits and expenses. The consultations, which began on 18 June, followed an announcement in the March 2014 Budget of measures designed to simplify the administration of employee benefits in kind (BiKs) and expenses. Separate consultations are being held on each of four proposals: abolishing the… Read more…