The amount of money which long-serving staff can receive in retirement if their company folds is set to increase. Long service is not currently taken into account when a person whose defined benefit pension scheme collapses and is then taken over by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). Now the government is to increase the maximum… Read more…

The government has introduced new measures to curb the excessive pay of executives at the largest companies. It is introducing regulations, which will apply to large and medium-sized companies and groups, with effect from 1 October 2013. It says the changes mean that investors will be better informed about how much directors have been, and… Read more…

The Information Commissioner says that businesses that fail to handle their customers’ personal data properly will quickly find themselves losing clients. Speaking at the launch of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) annual report on 20 June, Christopher Graham said consumers were keenly aware of how their data should be handled. An ICO study into public… Read more…

Failure to pay their workers the national minimum wage has cost employers targeted by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) £4 million. HMRC secured an average of £300 in back pay for 26,519 employees, topping up wages that had previously been below the legal minimum rate, in the 2012-13 financial year. A total of 1,693 complaints… Read more…

A freeze exempting small businesses from some new regulations is to be extended to larger enterprises. Business Minister Michael Fallon announced on 6 June that the freeze exempting businesses with fewer than ten employees from burdensome new regulations would be extended to firms with up to 50 staff, and will continue from 2014. Firms will… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to extend the temporary relaxation of new Real Time Information (RTI) reporting rules for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. HMRC originally announced the rule relaxation on 19 March for employers with fewer than 50 employees who pay employees weekly or more frequently, but only process their payroll monthly.… Read more…

Fraud is costing the UK economy billions of pounds a year, new research has found. The Annual Fraud Indicator, compiled by the National Fraud Authority (NFA) and published on 6 June, put the annual cost at £52 billion. Private businesses were estimated to have suffered total fraud losses of £15.9 billion while the public sector… Read more…

A tax tribunal has ruled that PAYE tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) should have been paid on bonuses given to directors through companies set up just to be liquidated and pay out the cash, in a ruling that could trigger more tax investigations. Announcing the decision on 25 July, HM Revenue & Customs said… Read more…