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PROFESSI NAL
Official publication of The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
in Payroll, Pensions & Reward
Issue 23
September 2016
Improvements to your
membership services
Brexit and UK pension schemes
Impact of the referendum result
AExit?
Radical reforms erased?
The more things change
Diminishing payroll software development
CIPP update
|
Policy hub
|
Professional development
WE
BRINGIT
HUMAN RESOURCES
TALENT MANAGEMENT
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
PAYROLL
Your organisation wants innovation and they
are looking to you, the one with the potential
to be a true visionary. Our British engineers
are constantly evolving our software solutions
to give you the answers and insight you need.
Come and talk to us, we don’t just set the
pace - we bring it.
0115 9456 000
midlandhr.com/bringit
welcome
Editor’s comment
I’ll not forget the United Kingdom
referendum on membership of the
European Union, as the date coincided
with my 65th birthday. The astounding result
has brought political turmoil and uncertainty.
Inevitably Brexit will affect payroll, pensions and
reward procedures and strategies – see page 39 for discussion
of what it means for pensions. As regards payroll I imagine that
Brexit may well bring changes to maternity leave and pay and to
working time rules (such as holiday pay). Perhaps some might
think these changes cannot come fast enough?
A part of business that will surely persist and perhaps flourish
with Brexit is the ‘war for talent’. Pages 48–53 feature several
revealing and insightful articles on performance and talent
management.
Irrespective of whether Brexit precipitates breakup of the UK
and/or causes federal union instead, the ongoing devolution
of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will anyway
increase complexity in our industry. See page 12 for a CIPP Think
Tank report on this topic.
A couple of other notable things: on page 32 there’s the first
in a series of articles on payroll in Africa; and, on page 20, Bryan
Monkman says farewell after a remarkable career in payroll and
pensions spanning six decades. (I’ll not forget Burton’s made to
measure suits, too.) Very best wishes, Bryan.
Mike Nicholas MCIPP AMBCS
Editor
This month’s contributors
Sarah Bradford BA (Hons),
ACA, CTA (Fellow)
[email protected]
Diana Bruce MCIPPdip
[email protected]
Danny Done
portfoliopayroll.co.uk
Stuart Earle
eversheds.com
Stephen Frost
frostincluded.com
Lisa Gillespie
moorepay.co.uk
John Harling
pstax.co.uk
Jeanette Hibbert
[email protected]
Adam Reynolds
webexpenses.com
Henry Tapper MSFA MA Cantab
firstactuarial.co.uk
Samantha Mann MCIPPdip
[email protected]
Sharon Tayfield MCIPP
praxima.com
Nicola Mullineux
peninsula-uk.com
Neil Tonks MCIPPdip
midlandhr.com
Burke Turner
weareatmosphere.com
Claire Warner MSc, FCIPP
[email protected]
Issue 23 | September 2016 | Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
1
PROFESSI NAL
Also available online at
payrollpensionsandreward.org.uk
in Payroll, Pensions & Reward
Contents
September 2016
48
How to lead
inclusively
Stephen Frost reveals key traits
and requirements of leadership
Features
22
28
Presentation skills to
engage your peers
Claire Warner provides useful tips and
advice
34
Sarah Bradford sets out effects of a
clause in the 2016 Finance Bill
35
Office holders in the public
sector
John Harling discusses HMRC’s recent
challenging activity
2
Benefits in kind and the
fair bargain rule
New hire reporting in the
USA
Billy Meyerkorth explains what is
required
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | September 2016 | Issue 23
32
Remuneration options for
businesses expanding into
South Africa
Sharon Tayfield outlines the options
37
What business advisers need
to know about postponement
The Pensions Regulator provides
guidance
38
42
Editor
Mike Nicholas
01273 412 836 | [email protected]
Advertising
AExit?
Henry Tapper expresses despair and
concern
The changing role of HR
Burke Turner explores the changes
amidst digital transformation
Design
James Bartlett and Nicole Gumery
[email protected]
Printing
53
50
Jill Bonehill and Jack Grinnell
0121 712 1033 | [email protected]
Warwick Printing Company Ltd
Chief executive
Lindsay Melvin BSc (Hons), MCIPPdip, ACA, CIOT
Performance and talent
management
Jeanette Hibbert discusses this complex
but vital part of an organisation’s
strategy
CIPP board of directors
management strategies
Lisa Gillespie discusses what it means
for organisations
54
Gordon Cresswell FCIPP
Michelle Crook MSc FCIPPdip
Jason Davenport ACIPP
Eira Hammond FCIPPdip
Ros Hendren MSc FCIPP, Mgr, FCMIdip, FHEA
Paul Rains MCIPP
Cliff Vidgeon FCIPP
Ian Walters Msc, FCIPP, FHEA
Ian Whyteside MCIPP, FMAAT, ATT
Useful contacts
Membership
Why it’s time to move to a digital mindset
Adam Reynolds explains that digital offers a smarter/simpler way
[email protected]
0121 712 1073
Qualifications
[email protected]
0121 712 1023
Regulars
05
06
Chair’s and CEO’s message
Events, news and developments
Membership insight
On your behalf, Advisory,
Five minutes with, National
forum, Devolution think tank,
CRM update, Hanging on the
telephone
17
18
CIPP update
Professional development
Tutor training event, End of an
era, Diary of a student
24
26
27
Event horizon
Payroll news
Payroll insight
Industry monitor: The more
things change
Training
37
Pensions insight
The Pensions Regulator,
Pensions bulletin: Brexit and UK
pension schemes
40
Pension news
Events
[email protected]
0121 712 1013
Marketing and sales
[email protected]
0121 712 1033
General enquiries
41
Reward insight
The business case for payroll
giving, Employment law cases,
Training agreements and NMW
48
54
55
[email protected]
0121 712 1013
Feature insight
0121 712 1000
[email protected]
cipp.org.uk
Articles
Please support this magazine so that it can continue to be a part
of your membership package.
Trademarks
Technology insight
Confessions of a payroll manager
The CIPP logo, the initials ‘CIPP’ and the words ‘Professional in
Payroll, Pensions and Reward’ and ‘CIPP Consult’ are trademarks
of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals. Copyright: The
Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals 2016. The Chartered
Institute of Payroll Professionals, CIPP, Goldfinger House, 245
Cranmore Boulevard, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands, B90 4ZL.
Switchboard 0121 712 1000 Fax 0121 712 1001
Copyright
This magazine is published by The Chartered Institute of Payroll
Professionals in whom the copyright is vested. All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retreival system,
or transmitted in any form or any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. The views expressed in this publication are
not necessarily those of the CIPP or the editor. The information and
comment contained in this publication are given in good faith, their
accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed.
3
FREE
Employment
Law advice
We’re offering CIPP members FREE* access to our experienced team
of HR & Employment Law subject matter experts during 2016
(*T&C’s apply). Call the CIPP/Moorepay Employment Law & Advice
Helpline quoting CIPP001 on 0845 1844607.
*T&Cs: Telephone advice & guidance only. The service is available from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday until 30th November 2016.
A Fair Usage Policy applies (maximum of 3 calls on one ongoing HR case).
Payroll & HR Solutions
The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge
and the dissemination of truth.
John F Kennedy (1917–1963)
Chair’s message
Throughout July and August, the CIPP has been running our
annual benchmarking survey amongst our full and fellow
members. This survey looks at the four key strands of providing a
payroll service:
● accuracy, timeliness, completeness and the evaluation of
the effectiveness of your end to end human resources/payroll
process
● compliance with statutory filing/payment deadlines
● data security/confidentiality, and
● average cost per payslip.
The exercise closes on 9 September and results will be
analysed for discussion at the Annual Conference and Exhibition
on 6 and 7 October. In addition, all members who have
completed this survey will have a personalised report, looking
at how their payroll service compares with others in their
geographical location and/or industry. The analysis provided
within the report provides an excellent basis to support decision
making, measure performance and identify trends which
will provide a baseline for future development. During the
conference, the session will explore how the results from the
benchmarking exercise could be used to identify improvement
opportunities and set performance expectations for payroll within
your organisation.
Also at the Conference in October, we shall be hosting our
Annual Excellence Awards. The shortlist for the Awards will be
announced following the judging on 26 August; and, although
the judging is yet to take place, at the time of writing I have been
extremely pleased to see such a high standard of nomination for
2016.
Each year the award nominations increase in their calibre and
make me extremely proud to be a payroll professional. When I
read about the initiatives and improvements that you have taken
on during the last twelve months, I think about the overall impact
that this will have on business operations. Payroll is no longer the
back-office function that it was perceived as being years ago; it
plays an important strategic role in the growth of UK businesses.
Your payroll strategy will impact upon your recruitment
and retention of employees, another topic at this year’s
Annual Conference. It can attract or detract talent within your
organisation; talent which then requires development and
management, something that is covered throughout this month’s
magazine.
So, finally, enjoy this issue and the insightful pieces on
performance and talent management, and I look forward to
seeing you at the Annual Conference and Exhibition where you
can discuss these themes in greater detail.
CEO message
As we enter September we celebrate National Payroll Week
(NPW). Taking place 5–9 September NPW recognises the
contribution which payroll makes to the UK economy through the
collection of £282bn in income tax and national insurance and
the positive impact that payroll has on your organisation.
Too often payroll is taken for granted as something that just
happens ‘at the push of a button’; through our ‘it pays to learn:
educating the nation’ theme we aim to educate our colleagues
outside of the payroll department about their payslips, deductions
from pay and ways that they can save money through payroll
initiatives such as salary sacrifice. In addition, we highlight to
those in senior positions the importance of payroll strategically in
raising morale and employee motivation, which ultimately leads
to business growth and a positive impact on the bottom line.
During National Payroll Week the CIPP is holding a networking
event for our fellow members at the House of Commons which
will address the results of our latest research, as well as hosting
the only payroll conference in Scotland on Thursday 8 September
which sees many of our Scottish members coming together to
hear about legislative developments which are specific to them,
and how recent events may lead to increased devolution and
change in Scotland.
I would like to thank our headline National Payroll Week
sponsor Portfolio Payroll, as well as the other sponsors, AHC and
The People’s Pension.
The October issue of this magazine will include a follow-up
of our National Payroll Week activities, as well as the activities of
members who have participated. So don’t forget to send details
and photos of what you have been doing to [email protected]
and take part in the conversation on Twitter using #NPW16.
As an organisation we have recently, in the first week of
August, had the auditors in and have released the financial
accounts for approval at our annual general meeting (AGM) on
6 October; these are available to members on the AGM page
of our website. One of our recent investments has been in
developing and implementing a new CRM system and website
to improve your membership experience, details of which can be
found on pages 14 and 15.
5
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
On your
behalf
Policy team update
Diana Bruce MCIPPdip, CIPP senior policy liaison officer, provides an update on
developments
TPR/DWP re-enrolment
workshop
A workshop was held in early summer,
hosted by The Pensions Regulator (TPR),
to discuss the challenges of re-enrolment
for advisors and professionals. Many
issues were discussed and clarified; one
being that during the communication
stage and prior to re-enrolment, the
employer will need to notify TPR again of
the contact person to write to – even if
this was done at staging. This was queried
from an administrative burden perspective
on the day, but to no avail; however, there
will be an increased drive to highlight that
employers should make contact with TPR
to ensure that contact details are updated
particularly where an adviser or agent is
used.
TPR has also decided, based on
feedback from large employers, that they
will move to a two-letter journey at minus
six months and minus three months rather
than the four letters as originally used.
TPR will be developing a key set of
articles aimed at human resources (HR)
and ideally to be delivered through
trade press to strengthen the message
about clarifying who will complete the
declaration of compliance. Will it be the
agent or client? This needs to be clearly
established at the outset.
The impact of errors, particularly where
the employer may have changed payroll
providers and/or pension providers, was
discussed. It was confirmed that the
consequences of non-compliance are the
same as at staging. It was suggested that
if may be helpful if the issue of errors and
correcting mistakes is addressed more
widely in guidance and in frequently asked
questions that cover a broad range of
situations.
Samantha Mann attended this
workshop on behalf of the CIPP along
with members of the Professional Bodies
Forum.
If you have any experiences that you
feel other members would benefit from
hearing about, please contact Samantha
by email at [email protected].
If you would like any issues raised
at the TPR/Department for Work and
Pensions (DWP) Software Developers
Forum or the Professional Bodies Forum
who meet regularly throughout the year,
the same contact details can be used.
Student loans
The Collection of Student Loans
Consultation Forum met at the end of
June, unusually at Bush House in London,
and saw the coming together, both in
the room and across the phone lines, of
the Collection of Student Loans Forum,
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and
the Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills. This was the first meeting
since plan 2 student loans came into
repayment and the go-live of employer
prompts (generic notifications), which for
the first time sees the student loan team
maximising the opportunities presented
by real time information data to ensure
employer compliance in making not only
the correct deductions for repayments but
also making them on time. At the time
of meeting it was too early to establish
what the most common reasons were for
employers not making timely deductions.
...there is no process as such for
the employer to bring a halt to the
employer prompts
6
As a reminder the employer prompts
are ‘nudge’ techniques that are being used
by HMRC this year to prompt an employer
to action with a first ‘gentle reminder’
followed by a second in the event that no
student loan deduction is made, followed
by a telephone call in the event that the
two written prompts have no effect. It is
at the phone call stage that the employer
will have the opportunity to explain why
they haven’t actioned the SL1 notice –
and at this stage we can only guess at
the reasons. Threshold validation will be
carried out by HMRC before issuing the
employer prompts thus reducing the risk
of them being issued in error; however, as
has been highlighted many times in recent
months, an attachment of earnings could
impact on the amount of pay available
for making a student loan deduction and
the phone call gives an opportunity for
the employer to explain if that is the case.
Until the phone call there is no process
as such for the employer to bring a halt to
the employer prompts.
Fixes to prevent pensioner payrolls from
being issued with unnecessary employer
prompts are to be initiated by HMRC.
Work is ongoing with the development
of post graduate loans (PGL) policy. At
the time of writing the loans application
programme had just recently, and
successfully, gone live – applications were
being received within 24 hours – and
discussion was ongoing as to the benefits
or otherwise of a switch v stop process for
dealing with PGL and student loans plans
1 and 2 when PGL come in to repayment
in April 2019.
Stakeholders favoured a separate
process that takes account of differing
thresholds and % deductions for student
and post graduate loans including
separate start and stop notices. From a
software development perspective this
was seen as the most straightforward to
implement, which would provide greater
Policy hub
clarity for the employer and the borrower.
But discussions continue.
...49% said that it
would affect them
either slightly and
directly...
Statutory Payments
Consultation Group
administering payroll obligations or in
relation to employment tax issues more
generally.
The EPG meet on a bi-monthly basis.
The Statutory Payments Consultation
Group met in July and one of the
areas discussed was the importance of
highlighting any problems members are
encountering with the guidance with
the online calculators, with employees
using the online calculators and with
the complexity of explaining the
shared parental pay and leave rules to
employees.
This was also raised at a couple of the
CIPP’s national forums and we would be
interested to know how widespread these
issues are. If you would like to comment
or share your thoughts, please email
[email protected] with ‘SPCG’ as the
subject header.
Extending shared parental leave
and pay to working grandparents was
discussed briefly.
A consultation was due to be
published in May 2016 on how to
implement this extension and to look
at options for streamlining the system;
however, this publication has been
delayed due to ‘purdah’ restrictions.
Given the recent changes at
Whitehall there may well be a review of
consultations in the pipeline, but at the
time of writing we are still waiting for
updates.
Off-payroll working in the
public sector
Employment and Payroll Group
Payslip statistics survey
The June Employment and Payroll Group
(EPG) meeting was Elaine Gibson’s last as
CIPP co-chair. Helen Hargreaves, associate
director of policy and research, was
introduced to the Group and will take over
as co-chair from September 2016.
The EPG is the principal forum
for HMRC, and other government
departments, to engage with the
employment and payroll community.
It focuses on high-level operational
policy and process issues. It provides
a forum through which members can
raise and discuss issues or problems in
BA (Hons) in
If you have any agenda items or any
issues you would like the CIPP to raise,
please email [email protected] with
the details using ‘EPG’ as the subject
header.
Applied Business and
Management (CIPP)
From April 2017, responsibility for deciding
whether intermediaries legislation will
apply, will move from personal service
companies (PSCs) to public sector
employers and their agencies/third
parties. We ran a CIPP poll earlier in the
year to find out how this change would
impact you. Almost half of those who
responded (49 in total) said the change
would affect them in some way. 51%
said that the change would not impact
them at all, and the remaining 49% said
that it would affect them either slightly
and directly (16%), significantly (16%) or
slightly and indirectly (16%).
At the end of July and into early
August we ran a short survey to collect
more detailed comments about how
the proposals included within HMRC’s
Off-payroll working in the public sector reform of the intermediaries legislation,
would impact those affected. Thank you to
those who were able to respond as your
feedback supports our written response
(available on the consultation area of our
website).
Enrolments now open
Aimed at both payroll and pensions
professionals who wish to further enhance
their work based skills and knowledge
in relation to generic business and
management, this qualification was
developed to demonstrate the link between
payroll/pensions and business strategy.
For more information, please visit
cippqualifications.org.uk or email
[email protected].
Please take a moment to complete the
latest CIPP poll at cipp.org.uk.
We ran our annual payslip statistics
survey – which is now in its ninth year
– throughout July. The information you
provide helps us to understand the latest
trends in respect of pay frequencies,
payment methods and payslip distribution.
This year the survey also included
questions on payroll giving, salary sacrifice
and automatic enrolment. Thank you
to those of you who took the time to
complete our survey. Keep an eye on our
news pages to read our summary report
and full comparison report to previous
years. n
7
cipp.org.uk
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
Advisory
Advisory Service
is available 9a.m. to 5p.m.
Mondays to Thursdays, and 9a.m.
to 4.30p.m. on Fridays. It is free to all
embers*, students and attendees
CIPP m
of approved CIPP courses and conferences
in the last six months. Call 0121 712 1099,
email [email protected] or
visit cipp.org.uk for frequently asked
questions.
*please see summary at cippmembership.org.uk for details.
Q: One of our employees has been
given a Rolex watch worth £3,000 as a
prize for a competition we recently ran
in-house. How do we treat this?
A: Because the competition is not open
to the general public, and the prize would
be classed as a readily converted asset,
the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions)
Act 2003 sets out the treatment.
As a readily convertible asset, the value
of the benefit falls within the scope of
being a notional payment and is therefore
added to the employee’s pay at the point
they receive the watch so that pay as you
earn (PAYE) and Class 1 national insurance
contributions (NICs) are operated. The
value of the notional payment added
to the employee’s pay is the cost of the
provision of the Rolex, which you say
is £3,000.00. There are specific rules
concerning notional payments.
The following links are to HMRC’s
guidance:
● https://goo.gl/CHUhHR – showing
that prizes given to an employee must
reported in accordance with the nature of
the prize
● https://goo.gl/GiUi37 – understanding
when a readily converted asset is being
provided to an employee
● https://goo.gl/uYXFy8 – confirming
tax and NICs are applied to a readily
converted asset through the payroll
(i.e. apply PAYE and Class 1 NICs to the
payment).
Q: I recently read that HMRC will not
accept a list of benefits for Class 1A
NICs from 2016/17. Does this mean
that we cannot use a list for the tax
year 2015/16, or does it mean that we
cannot report in list format from the
beginning of the 2016/17 tax year?
8
A: You are able to report in list format for
the 2015/16 tax year; see the links below
that explain that you can still report in a list
format for tax year 2015/16. However, you
do need HMRC’s permission to do this.
● https://goo.gl/j9uM4n – this links to the
relevant Employer Bulletin: please refer to
item 3.
● https://goo.gl/wwbvSj – this links to
the 480 booklet; please refer to paragraph
25.6 to view guidance on provision of year
end information.
You will not be able to report the
benefits for tax year 2016/17 in list format.
Q: We did not pay an employee who
commenced employment on 1 April
2016 until 30 April 2016, and we have
not issued a P60 certificate. Is this
correct?
A: The legislation regulating the P60
provision is the Income Tax (Pay As You
Earn) Regulations 2003.
Though regulation 67 prescribes that
an employer should provide an employee
with a P60 certificate if they were
employed on the last day of the tax year,
paragraph (1b) of this defines another
condition. The employee has to have had
earnings which were subject to PAYE in
the old tax year so if they were not due to
be paid until 30 April then the employee
cannot be issued with a P60.
Q: A member of staff left our
employment on 31 May, but sadly died
on 4 June.
We have a further payment to make;
how should we process this?
A: When an employee dies and the
employer has a final payment to make to
the employee’s estate you would need
to change the national insurance table
letter to X, as the payment will not be
subject to Class 1 NICs; neither primary nor
secondary.
As the employee left on 31 May 2016
you should have already sent off the P45
so you must now apply tax code 0T on
a non-cumulative basis. However, if the
employee had died in service you would
not issue a P45, and would use the tax
code which was already in place and the
date of death as the leave date in the full
payment submission.
You must ensure that you are paying
the correct person, i.e. the recipient of the
employee’s estate.
Q: When calculating the car benefit
to report in a P11D return for tax year
2015/16 for an employee who was
provided with a company car from 1
September 2015, do I use 366 days
instead of 365?
A: Yes, as 2016 is a leap year due to
inclusion of 29 February. Using the actual
number of days in a tax year is relevant if,
amongst other things, the car is unavailable
on any day before the first day on which it
is available to the employee.
Section 121 of the Income Tax (Earnings
and Pensions) Act 2003 sets out the
various steps for calculating the car benefit
for the tax year. Steps 1 to 6 give the
total amount for the year, with step 7
(which is prescribed in section 143) giving
the following formula for calculating a
deduction from that amount for periods of
unavailability:
U
XA
Y
where: U is the number of days in the year
on which the car is unavailable, Y is the
number of days in that year, and A is the
amount carried forward from step 6 (see
https://goo.gl/YmJQjA.)
Q: The company is planning to pay off
an employee’s student loan (either in
full or part) and also where an individual
is still at university but expected to join
the company following graduation.
Can you tell me what the tax and NICs
implications would be?
A: If the employer pays off the student
loan, the employer is paying the
employee’s personal bill which is classed as
a meeting pecuniary liability.
Policy hub
It depends on the how the employer
pays the personal bill as to how the
employer has to treat it. If the employer
pays the Student Loan Company directly,
the amount would be reported in a P11D
return at box B for tax, but if the employer
reimburses the employee it is subjected to
PAYE. In each case, the amount is liable to
Class 1 NICs through the payroll.
To a prospective employee it could be
classed as a ‘golden hello’ which would
be both subject to tax and Class 1 NICs.
You also have the issue of whether you
are restricting their employment by making
them stay with the company for a period
of time as a condition of the payment;
or making a request for payment if the
contract is terminated by the employee
within a timeframe; or, lastly, the employer
could make the payment without putting
any conditions in place.
Although it doesn’t relate directly to
student loan repayment, this useful link
https://goo.gl/UvgYTo relates to the
employer paying the employee’s personal
bill.
Q: A temp, who my company has just
taken on for four weeks, has provided
me with her Canadian social security
number and said that a UK national
insurance number (NINo) is not needed
as we have a bilateral agreement with
Canada. Can you advise on whether she
is correct?
I can’t record her Canadian social
security number as it’s not in the same
format as a UK one, so presumably I
leave that field blank?
A: It is correct that a Canadian who has
been given right to work in UK can be
exempt from NICs, as long as they have
been given a certificate of coverage by the
Canadian Revenue Agency. It is issued by
the Social Security Unit after the employer
has applied for the certificate.
Unless the employee has provided you
with this certificate you must apply UK
NICs.
This link to the Canada Revenue
Agency takes you to an explanation of who
can apply for the certificate http://goo.
gl/81LOJZ.
If the employee does not have a
certificate she will need to get a UK NINo
from Jobcentreplus. This link – https://
goo.gl/aGbq9l – explains exactly what
the employee needs to do to obtain a
NINo. The employer should still pay the
employee even though you may not
immediately have the NINo, but you will
need details of the name, address, date of
birth and gender.
Q: We have a client who has resigned
as a director but is remaining employed
by the company although he/she is
resuming the position they had before
becoming a director. How do we
treat his/her NICs calculation; would
it continue under the NICs annual
earnings period, or do we change him/
her to the normal earnings period i.e.
weekly or monthly?
A: If the directorship finished in this
tax year, 2016/17, and the person then
reverts to their original job, all earnings
are processed using the annual earnings
period for this tax year. You would add
the earnings of the employment after the
directorship ends to the earnings under
the directorship, as the Class 1 NICs must
be calculated on an annual earnings
period.
Booklet CA4, National Insurance
for Company Directors, which covers
how to process director’s NICs can be
downloaded from https://goo.gl/TLluMM.
Please refer to point 34 as this relates
directly to your scenario.
MSc in Business and
Reward Management
Enrolments now open
Aimed at payroll, pensions and reward
professionals who wish to further enhance
their skills and knowledge in work-based
business and management; the MSc
in Business and Reward Management
was developed to provide a strategic
understanding of advanced industry issues
in the workplace to demonstrate the link
between industry and business strategy.
The qualification cover focuses on workbased topics such as project management,
managing relations, improving financial
performance, research skills, strategic
planning and much more.
For more information or to enrol, please
visit cippqualifications.org.uk or email
[email protected].
Q: An employee reached state pension
age in March, but they did not provide
the employer with the relevant proof
in time for the March pay run. Is it
possible to refund the primary NICs for
March?
A: This occurred in a closed tax year so
the employer has to amend the payroll
and complete an earlier year update and
indicate that the employee has not been
refunded the NICs. Direct the employee to
this webpage – https://goo.gl/pllUBM – as
this explains how an employee can obtain
a refund of NICs. n
9
cipp.org.uk
cipp.org.uk
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
Hanging on the telephone
Samantha Mann, senior policy and research officer for the CIPP, provides the findings of a
recent survey about your experience with HMRC contact centres
I
n September 2015, the CIPP’s policy
team published a survey that aimed
to provide the team with a benchmark
of where our members (and other payroll
practitioners) sat with regards to their
experiences when using HM Revenue &
Customs (HMRC) contact centres. The
survey results are available on page 8 of
Issue 18 (March 2016) of Professional in
Payroll, Pensions and Reward and page
32 of the CIPP Policy News Journal for
2015–16 which can found be at http://
goo.gl/UVPEqJ.
...the need to
ensure that GOV.
UK continues to
expand its range
as well as its
search facilities...
We planned to re-run the survey six
months later to see whether there would
be any noticeable difference to response
times and service following the additional
investment by HMRC to expand the
numbers of staff being made available to
serve the contact centres.
The follow-up survey
The follow-up survey ran from 10 March to
31 March; of the 41 respondents six were
non-CIPP members. As with the previous
10
survey we received responses from a
range of payroll professionals and as ever
we are extremely grateful to those of you
who took the time out of your very busy
schedules in order to complete this survey.
● Is HMRC your first port of call? – It
would appear that for survey respondents,
confidence in turning to HMRC as a first
port of call is largely in the same vein as
that in September with ‘Yes’ still firmly
behind ‘No’ and ‘Sometimes’. Once
again comments also provided a similar
picture, with reasons given for responses
ranging from: takes too long to answer; no
confidence in the response; inconsistent
responses; last resort only if unable to
resource an answer elsewhere; and lack of
subject specialist knowledge.
Alternative sources of information are
being found: online; from colleagues or
online peer forums; other helplines; and
paid specialists.
Comments were largely consistent with
the previous survey finding confirming that
if the information was available and easy
to find on GOV.UK then many of the calls
would never be attempted. This, yet again,
speaks strongly of the need to ensure that
GOV.UK continues to expand its range
as well as its search facilities to help in
delivering good customer services.
● Satisfaction levels – We asked
respondents to rate their overall levels of
satisfaction on the service received since
October 2015, and registered a very slight
increase on those returned for September.
See charts for comparison.
● Improvement since October 2015? –
When prompted about any changes since
the previous survey we received a range of
comments that highlighted how much the
employer helpline has been in demand
and has resulted in a significant number of
hours spent ‘hanging on the telephone’ by
payroll professionals. The following mixed
comments illustrate that the picture wasn’t
bleak in all instances:
❍ “Prior to January 2016, my average
call time to either the employee helpline
or the employer helpline was 43 minutes.
Since then it has reduced dramatically
– in February it reduced to less than 15
minutes.”
❍ “I have rung the employer helpline
twice during this period; my first call I was
holding for 24 minutes, and my second
call just two minutes.”
❍ “The most recent occasion was
yesterday when I had to wait 20 minutes.
Previously occasions were around the
30–40-minute mark.”
❍ “Have to wait for about an hour.”
❍ “On average 40 minutes to get
through.”
❍ “Employer helpline has taken
anywhere between 15 minutes and 50
minutes to get through.”
A useful tip from a member highlights
the importance of not being put off by a
little bit of huffing and puffing if it is your
aim to get a successful outcome from
your call: “… the Debt Management (DM)
Policy hub
line are quicker at answering, generally
around 15 minutes. However, they are
not always helpful. A client had received a
letter saying they owed some money so I
called the DM line to query what payments
had been made and was told that they
could only confirm three payments and
then I would have to call the employer
helpline. I asked why didn’t they have all
the payments in front of them. Then the
advisor huffed and reluctantly confirmed all
the payments for the current tax year. This
solved the query.”
...no call would
have been
needed had the
information been
made available
online
And when asked “Do you stay on
the line until you are able to speak to
someone, or do you disconnect the call
after a period time?”, it would appear that
the same pattern of patience and tenacity
is being demonstrated in March 2016 as it
was in September 2015 with almost 65%
of respondents staying on the line until the
call is answered.
All comments were consistent with
previous survey returns; however, we had
to applaud one member whose star tip is
“I used to hang up, but as it is so difficult
to get through to them, I now stay on
hold until I do. On one call, I was reading
Professional in Payroll, Pensions & Reward
whilst waiting and by the time the call
was answered I had forgotten what I was
calling about!”
● Alternative solutions – Survey
respondents called upon a wide range
of solutions when they failed to achieve
success with their first call attempts
including: ringing HMRC again; ringing
another helpline; turning to an online
forum; writing to HMRC; employing the
services of specialist; and self-resolving,
with further research.
The fifty-million-dollar question
We asked “If you completed our previous
survey in September 2015 please indicate
how your recent experiences compare”.
The small number of comments in
response to this might suggest – just
might – that there may be a very small
September 2015
March 2016
chink of light at the end of the very long
tunnel for some: 11% returned the view
that they had experienced some level of
improvement and no-one reported further
deterioration since they last completed
the survey in September. However, with
almost 42% of respondents returning an
“is the same” response, we take this to
be an indication that as at March 2016
there was still work to be done – a finding
that we know is recognised by HMRC and
has since been confirmed by the National
Audit Office.
On a final note…
It would be wrong to suggest that
with 41 responses the March survey
outcome is reflective of the experiences
being encountered by the entire payroll
profession but with few exceptions the
findings are consistent with the September
survey findings. So, when put together with
previous quick poll findings and anecdotal
evidence they provide a reasonable
benchmark against which we can measure
and monitor improvements to future
service delivery being experienced by the
payroll professional when using HMRC
contact centres.
We welcome the 2016 Budget
announcement that Government:
● recognises that more needs to be done
now to improve customer service delivery,
and
● will invest £71 million to improve the
service it provides to taxpayers to deliver
an improved telephone services and
reduce call waiting times by recruiting over
800 new staff into HMRC call centres.
This we applaud, but what has been
made very clear throughout both surveys
is that for many members – and in the
majority of cases – no call would have
been needed had the information been
made available online. So we continue
to urge Government Digital Services to
expand its coverage on GOV.UK to include
more in-depth guidance written accurately
and with the payroll and employment
taxes specialist in mind.
To support this request and as a
demonstration of user need, we have
shared the responses to the service
specific questions with HMRC. n
11
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
The impact of devolution
on the payroll function
This CIPP Think Tank roundtable, which was kindly hosted by Cintra HR & Payroll Services,
discussed the effect of widening devolution
T
here are three vital elements to
a successful roundtable Think
Tank: a generous and considerate
host; CIPP members attending with the
attitude to share their experiences openly;
and a subject that is worthy of our time,
delivered with policy experts on hand to
provide essential technical detail, along
with some of the essential context under
which we are meeting to discuss and
debate.
For this CIPP Think Tank, all these
elements were satisfied, with the first
well-met by Cintra HR & Payroll Services’
chief executive officer Carsten Staehr and
personal assistant Alexandra Watts.
This Think Tank roundtable, which
was held on 24 February at Newcastle
University Business School, comprised:
● Graham Bell, payroll service delivery
lead at Balfour Beatty
● Linda Shotton, payroll manager at
Homes & Communities Agency
● Julie Maddison, payroll manager
● Ian Holloway, head of legislation and
compliance, Cintra
● Kevin McEvoy, head of development,
Cintra
● Simon Moulden of HM Revenue &
Customs’ (HMRC’s) Scottish Rate of
Income Tax Policy
● Alan Clark, Department for Work and
Pensions’ (DWP’s) Fraud, Error and Debt
Strategy and Policy – in attendance for the
discussion on higher rate direct earnings
attachments (DEAs)
● Samantha Mann MCIPPdip, CIPP
Variations have been observed for
many years in the way a small number
of policies and functions impact payroll
processes between United Kingdom
nations. Accordingly, attendees recognised
that Scottish devolution, along with greater
autonomy for Wales, will add to existing
complexity.
With income tax, HMRC looks to
12
work with increasingly divergent policy
instructions i.e. for Scotland and the rest
of the UK. Though Scotland is maintaining
income tax rates for 2016–17, in future
Scotland’s Parliament could set whatever
rates and thresholds it wishes. However, as
so much hangs on the basic rate of income
tax, Scotland must designate this rate.
Further consultation is expected as
there is much detail to absorb along with
the impact and wider implications that will
occur as a result of any changes. ‘Resigned
acceptance’ would be a good way of
describing attendees’ mood about how
these changes might impact those working
in payroll. What was clear though is that for
these changes to be delivered successfully
we need:
● clear and detailed payroll software
specifications delivered in time to allow
for development and testing of payroll
software
● clear guidance for employers, payroll
providers and advisers, and
● clear guidance aimed at employees who
could increasingly see a difference in net
pay simply by virtue of where they live.
Attendees viewed the impact that this will
have on employer/employee relations as
an area of concern.
Looking ahead we know that a
referendum will not be needed to
implement Welsh rates of income tax.
(At the time of writing, the Wales Bill had
received its second reading in the House of
Commons.)
The meeting moved on to discussing
higher rate DEAs. As policy and operational
scope for these is only Great Britain (GB)
attendees wanted to understand why
Northern Ireland (NI) is thereby excluded.
Though differences in social security
between GB and NI have existed for many
years, there is largely agreement that NI will
have parity with GB albeit there are timing
differences when changes are introduced
Though, by and large, the introduction
of DEAs for payroll practitioners and
employers has been relatively smooth it
has not been trouble-free, and members
were critical of start notices being lost
enroute and stop notices also not arriving
in a timely manner. This impacts the work
of payroll professionals who will receive an
increase in communications and workload
as a result.
Looking ahead to the roll-out of
universal credit, it is predicted that the
number of DEAs being issued will reduce
as income data flows to the DWP from
HMRC in real time. Again, there was a
roundtable call for the need for an updated
and centralised resource that informs
payroll professionals on the complete
range of ‘pay attachments’. [The CIPP
continues to lobby HM Courts & Tribunals
Service for an updated handbook.]
Following the Think Tank Cintra’s Ian
Holloway summed up the challenge, “The
big message that I hope got through to
the employers is that there will be no
such thing as a United Kingdom in years
to come. The UK is becoming increasingly
federalised and we have to embrace this.
Things are different in Wales compared to
England and different again in Scotland and
Northern Ireland.” n
The subject of devolution and the
differences in payroll legislation affecting
all four UK nations is included in the
programme for the CIPP’s Scottish
National Conference and Exhibition 2016
which is being held at the Stirling Highland
Hotel on 8 September 2016.
The CIPP policy team intend to hold
three further Think Tanks on the impact
of devolution on payroll, in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland – if you
would like to attend or would be
interested in hosting one of the events
please contact Samantha Mann at
[email protected].
Membership insight
Consult
5
Delivering tailored
minutes with…
solutions for the
payroll profession
Tim Kelsey
CIPP’s international
payroll trainer
What is your role at the CIPP?
I am the international payroll trainer and
teach basic payroll rules for 25 countries, as
well as specialist courses covering expatriate
employees and global mobility.
Can you give us an insight into your
background?
I worked for twenty years as a payroll
manager for a publicly funded international
organisation with employees across
the globe. It was expected that I would
understand and interpret payroll legislation
in all of the countries in which we operated,
and in an era before the internet existed
this was a challenge. As well as a large
expatriate population I also managed the
UK payroll covering 7,500 employees and
pensioners. So, whilst the UK provided me
with that essential payroll background, over
the years I have had the opportunity to see
how payroll is practised in many countries.
How does your role impact the CIPP’s
overall strategy?
I hope that my work plays a small part in
raising the Institute’s profile on a global
stage. For example, I recently spent time
training a company’s in-house payroll team
in Krakow, Poland.
What does the future hold for
the payroll, pensions and reward
departments?
Only one thing will be constant, and
that will be change. Given my interest in
international matters, I have to say that
increased exposure to international issues
is likely to be a feature of our professional
lives. Brexit will only make this more likely
– this country will have to earn its living
globally, and if we have decided to loosen
ties with Europe we will have to expand in
other regions.
Where would you like to see the CIPP
in five years from now?
I would like to see the grassroots
membership play a more active role in
determining what the Institute delivers
for members. I would also like to see us
become more vocal in advocating policy
changes that make employers’ lives easier.
At CIPP Consult, our experienced
and qualified consultants specialise in
reviewing payroll operations with a ‘fresh
pair of eyes’ to recommend innovative
improvements to processes and ways of
working; leaving you to focus on ensuring
that your employees are paid ‘on time
and accurately’.
For more information on the range of
services we can offer, please
visit cipp.org.uk or
email [email protected].
What has been your biggest career
highlight?
I expect most payroll managers have
three of four things they are really proud.
of, but for me it has to be setting up and
then finally closing down an entity for my
former employer in France. It is such a
complex country to do business in, so the
satisfaction of having seen the whole job
through from start to finish some ten years
later with no compliance issues is probably
the thing I’ll most remember about my
career to date.
What do you do in your free time to
unwind?
Well, I like travelling which is just as well in
a job that sees me spend about 100 nights
a year in a hotel! I occasionally breed pigs
and also specialise in Cypriot barbecue at
village events serving up to 200 people a
time. Quite different from payroll. n
13
cipp.org.uk
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
Improvement to your
membership service
T
he CIPP has recently invested in a new
customer relationship management
(CRM) database and website to
enhance your membership experience and
benefits. This article covers some of the main
improvements and changes.
Policy hub
One of the top rated membership
benefits is the CIPP policy and research
team who bring together the views and
concerns of thousands of payroll, pension
and professionals to influence policy and
legislative change. (See Image 1.)
Our new policy hub brings together all
of the information that members will need
regarding the consultations which we are
attending on your behalf, the consultation
documents relating to proposed changes
and the surveys which will collect your views
to formulate our response. This is also home
to the Policy News Journal, making it easier
to find the latest version without having to
trawl through previous news items. We will
still notify you of changes via News On Line.
Resource library
The resource library is home to a wide
variety of publications and tools which will
assist members day to day; including:
● The online version of Professional in
Payroll, Pensions and Reward magazine
which can be viewed as an interactive
magazine or downloaded as a PDF to save
and read later
14
● News items which are added to the site
daily to keep you up to date on the latest
industry developments
● The CIPP payroll factcard; you’ll be able
to download the latest version as a PDF, or
follow the link to get the free app on Apple
and Android devices
● Policy research papers; this is where we
will provide papers and commentary on
benchmark surveys which we run such as
the payslip survey, the results of which will
be published here during National Payroll
Week
● Our useful contacts directory which will
come in handy when you are looking for
a new supplier. The online directory has
been improved so that it is easier to find the
organisations that you are looking for
● The automatic enrolment directory;
enabling you to find suppliers and advisers to
support you through automatic enrolment.
There is also a separate search function
for the resource library which will make
searching for content easier. You can search
using keywords or use our new ‘browse by
topic’ search functionality to bring up all of
the resources which have been categorised
by that particular topic. (See Image 2.)
My CIPP
We have improved the My CIPP section and
introduced some new features, including the
ability to let us know what you are interested
in. (See Image 3.)
This links to our new CRM database,
which means that every time you log in, the
content you see will be related to your areas
of interest.
You can also save items to your favourites
so that they are easily accessible the
next time that you login; handy if you are
interested in an event but not able to book
at the time you are viewing.
The My CIPP area also enables you to
update your contact details, view events and
training courses which you are booked on,
log your CPD, change the frequency of News
On Line to weekly or daily and upgrade your
membership online. You are also able to pay
your membership fees online, when you
are due for renewal via a secure SagePay
connection. My CIPP links straight back
to the CRM database meaning that your
changes are made in real time.
We’ve also made it easier to view the
different benefits available at each level of
CIPP membership through our new join
online page; making it easier for you to see
the value that you receive and ensure that
you can maximise your membership by
taking advantage of the benefits available to
you. (See Image 4.)
We have also moved our specialist interest
groups (SIGs) to the CIPP website and
improved the communications which are sent
if you are a member of any of the groups. You
can now join and leave SIGs directly through
the CIPP website, which means you don’t
have to wait to be added to the basecamp
site for SIG membership. Your contact
details and login details are all managed
within one site and database, ensuring that
if you change your email address, other
contact details and login information; it is all
within the CIPP website and does not need
changing on another site to maintain your SIG
membership and access.
The discussion forums work in a similar
way to LinkedIn and other social networking
sites so that if you post a discussion item the
other group members will receive notification
of this. This will go some way to improve the
Policy hub
Other improvements
Some of the other improvements which we
have made are:
● Responsive designed website so that it
adapts and optimises to the device on which
you are viewing
● Contact us page link on every page of the
website, making it easier for you to contact
the CIPP during office hours
● Share link on all web pages to share
content via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
● Jobs in payroll page; the CIPP jobs in
payroll section enables you to register with
our preferred supplier Portfolio Payroll
quickly and easily, as well as use our
jobsboard to search for available payroll jobs
in your area
● Related content; each page of the website
now has a related content section, making
it easier for you to find additional content
related to topics which interest you. n
engagement of the specialist interest groups
and provide members with a confidential
discussion forum. Chairs of the SIGs will
be able to add events directly within the
forum and send email communications to
all members so that they are notified of the
event and can book online in the usual way.
We will be using this area to manage
the CIPP policy think tanks, so if you wish
to receive notification of the policy think
tank events, regardless of their location,
make sure that you join the policy think tank
specialist interest group within My CIPP.
you, so make sure that you remember your
login details. To make this easier for you we
have changed the login details to your email
address and password.
If you are booking multiple training
courses where discounts are applied, these
will be picked up via the website link to the
CRM so you don’t have to wait until you
receive your invoice to receive your discount.
We are sure that you’ll find the new
website, and the fact that it is linked to our
CRM database, of benefit to you and we
are interested in hearing your views so
please provide feedback to [email protected].
uk. We shall be continuing to look for new
ways in which we can improve our service
to you, so let us know any suggestions that
you have.
Training and event bookings
Following your feedback, we have made it
easier to book training courses and events
online. Instead of the date and location
listing at the bottom of each training course,
there is a drop down menu with the
available dates and locations at the top of
the page, with a simple ‘book now´ button.
(See Image 5.)
You’ll see the date, location, prices and
the number of places still available.
If you are logged into the website, your
personal details will pre-populate in the
booking form and the member rate will
automatically be added to your booking.
We have changed the way in which
you login so that it is at the top of the
booking form instead of a separate form as
previously, this will reduce the time taken to
login and completed the booking process.
(See Image 6.)
If you are not logged in when booking
the member price will not be available to
15
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
CIPP’s national forum events
The spring/summer 2016 events enabled members to network and obtain important
up-to-date information
T
he events, which were kindly
sponsored by SD Worx, Hays, Portfolio
Payroll, i-Realise and Sage, were held
in Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, London,
Manchester and Newcastle in the two-month
period from 10 May to 19 July.
● Event opening and closing sessions
plus CIPP update – delivered by CIPP
board members: Michelle Crook MSc
FCIPPdip, Jason Davenport ACIPP, Eira
Hammond FCIPPdip, Ros Hendren MSc
CMgr MCMIdip FCIPPdip, Lindsay Melvin
MCIPPdip BSc (Hons) ACA CTA, Ian Walters
MSc FCIPP FHEA, and Ian Whyteside FMAAT
MCIPP ATT.
The CIPP update session ensured
attendees were up to date with the latest
developments from their Institute, including
information about: individual chartered
status; the next annual general meeting;
overall CIPP business performance against
objectives; how to benefit from the CIPP’s
annual benchmarking exercise; and National
Payroll Week 2016 and how to get involved.
● Payroll legislation update – delivered by
CIPP’s policy and research team members:
Helen Hargreaves MSc FCIPPdip, Samantha
Mann MCIPPdip, Beverley Smith ACIPP, and
CIPP tutor Michelle Sutton MCIPPdip.
The team enlightened delegates with
outlines of the next round of legislative
changes, including: Budget 2016
announcements: travel and subsistence;
intermediaries and IR35; holiday pay and
leave; construction industry developments;
devolution; making tax digital; salary sacrifice;
automatic enrolment and re-enrolment; real
time information late filing penalties; student
loans; and the apprenticeship levy.
● An update from the Office of Tax
Simplification (OTS) – delivered by OTS
members: John Whiting (tax director), Angela
Brown (senior policy adviser), Andy Richens
(senior policy adviser), Marian Drew (senior
16
policy adviser), and David Halsey (head of
office).
In this session, the OTS members
provided an update on progress with OTS’s
previous recommendations and discussed
the income tax and national insurance
contributions closer alignment project.
● Membership benefits and working in
partnership with the CIPP – delivered by
Tara Betham (senior recruitment consultant),
Anthony Macey (director), and Gemma
Creamer (senior recruitment consultant)
of Portfolio Payroll which sponsored
Manchester, London and Birmingham
events.
Tara, Anthony and Gemma introduced
Portfolio Payroll, which has been the
preferred recruitment supplier to the
CIPP since 2009 , and explained how the
business works in partnership with the CIPP.
The presentation included information about:
partnership offers; activity in the public
sector; payroll tests (online/telephone); the
permanent salary overview covering Greater
Manchester and London; a market update
plus news and demand areas.
● The Sage Group plc – an introduction
– Steven Johnson (client account manager)
of Sage which sponsored the Newcastle
event.
Steven’s presentation provided an
introduction to Sage outlining what Sage
does, key facts about the organisation, the
software and support, its strategic pillars and
The Sage Foundation.
● National living wage and other cost
challenges – David Ford (corporate
development director) of Ceridian which
sponsored the Glasgow event.
David outlined the challenging
environment employers are facing:
productivity is low compared to peer
countries, training budgets are being cut and
new legislation like the national living wage
(NLW) are driving up costs. David delivered
a macro view of the NLW (and others)
challenge and highlighted some options for
mitigation.
● Solving the payroll problems that
keep you awake at night – Simon Puryer
(managing director) of i-Realise which
sponsored London events.
Noting the unprecedented current rate
of change in payroll legislation, which puts
pressure on payroll department as workloads
increase, Simon explained how i-Realise
manages change, bringing people and
systems together to make these changes
work, helping new payroll implementation
run smoothly and improve the efficiency of
payroll operations.
● The evolution of the payroll profession
– William Prest (managing consultant) of
Hays Payroll Management which sponsored
London events.
William observed that over the past
few decades there has been a shift in the
perception and technical responsibility
required of a payroll professional. Payroll
professionals in the modern age are seen
as a crucial focal point within a business
and a bridge between key stakeholders
such as finance, human resources and IT.
The presentation covered evidence of the
evolution of the payroll profession and
discussed the contributing factors to the
growth of the industry. n
Thank you to our sponsors:
BENEFITS DELIVERED
PORTFOLIO
PAYROLL LTD
CIPP update
CIPP
update
Payroll Assurance
Industry bodies collaborate
THE CERTIFICATE in Pensions Automatic Enrolment, which is the UK’s only accredited
automatic enrolment (AE) qualification, has been revised by the CIPP, the Pension
Management Institute (PMI) and SimplyBiz Group in order to increase focus on the
realities for smaller employers and reflect the challenges to payroll and business advisers.
The exam syllabus provides a thorough understanding of employer duties, the
practicalities of implementing AE and the interaction between AE advice and the practical
operational implications to payroll. With the first sittings taking place from 14 September,
the Certificate in Pensions Automatic Enrolment is designed to help business advisers
develop and demonstrate an understanding of the needs of employers, and help ensure
that payroll professionals can identify qualified partners to support their clients.
Elements of the study material, including revised small- to medium-size enterprise
(SME) case studies, are also mapped-across to the CIPP’s AE training support for payroll
professionals, which include ongoing compliance and re-enrolment activities.
Tom Nall, workplace solutions director of the SimplyBiz Group, commented: “Over 80%
of SMEs haven’t offered a pension scheme before, so they need help with both pension
scheme selection and automatic enrolment compliance. Many accountants and payroll
professionals are finding their clients expecting them to become a pension adviser as well
as running automatic enrolment processes. This adds complexity and risk, which I believe
is best mitigated through a partnership with a financial adviser and, to protect their clients’
interests, they need to be able to easily identify a competent and qualified adviser.
“It was vitally important to us that the revision of the Certificate in Pensions Automatic
Enrolment was a collaborative piece of work representing professional bodies, payroll
professionals and business advisers as we need to work together to deliver good outcomes
for employers and their employees. I believe it’s the first time this level of integrated crossindustry support has been delivered, and I’d encourage all those involved in automatic
enrolment to go to www.getaheadinAE.co.uk to ensure they make the most of these
resources.”
Gareth Tancred, chief executive officer of the Pensions Management Institute, added:
“Automatic enrolment is one of the largest societal changes to impact the workplace in
decades. Already, over 6.5 million people have been automatically enrolled into pension
schemes. The Government’s plan sees the larger companies adopting automatic enrolment
first, with small and medium sized enterprises following later. By definition, the larger
companies already have a great deal of in-house expertise and external advice. PMI have
been running the Certificate in Pensions Automatic Enrolment qualification, the only
recognised qualification in this area, since 2012, and it has proved incredibly popular with
organisations planning for and coping with adopting AE.
“However, the SME market is very different, with far less in-house expertise and a
reliance on advisers. The PMI are proud to be working with the SimplyBiz Group and the
Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals to bring this qualification to SMEs with the same
rigour and professionalism of the original qualification. I encourage all business leaders
to seriously consider using this qualification as part of their team development and risk
mitigation, ensuring their employees get the very best value for their long-term future
retirement.”
For those taking the qualification, there is a comprehensive training programme provided
in the weeks preceding the exam. More information is available at www.getaheadinAE.
Scheme (PAS)
The CIPP Payroll Assurance Scheme
consists of two modules focusing on both
the payroll processes; and the learning
and development of your payroll staff.
Provides assurance your organisation has:
Payroll and associated processes
that are fit for purpose, comply with
government legislation and that
appropriate controls are in place to
reduce payroll errors
Suitable processes are in place
for preparing for legislative and
organisational changes
Committed to best practice in the
learning and development of their payroll
people including diagnostics of skill
levels, objective setting and appraisals
For more information, please
visit cipp.org.uk or
email [email protected].
cipp.org.uk
17
XX
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
Tutor training
event 2016
Annually the CIPP holds a training event for its tutors. CIPP’s Elaine Gibson, who hosted
the event, provides a report of proceedings
Well, it is hard to believe another tutor
training event has passed us by once
again. The event just tops off the
academic year. The qualifications team
took great pleasure in hosting the day
and it was great to meet up with you
all once again. Feedback received to date
suggests that the event was enjoyed by all.
We work hard but in true traditional style we play hard and the
social evening was well deserved. The Foundation Degrees in
Payroll and Pensions Administration and Management would not
work without your interaction and the fact that we had such a
great attendance shows your dedication. For this we thank you.
Each year we endeavour to provide tutors with a learning
and development opportunity which also provides activities to
log your continual professional development. There was a real
buzz about the event and particular highlights being the financial
education provided by David Joy and Henry Tapper of First
Actuarial, Pam Hadfield providing a session on understanding
your students and the passion and enthusiasm from tutors
who expressed an interest to further their educational skills in
supporting work-based learning. Tutors are the backbone of
the Foundation Degree programmes and significantly assist the
CIPP in raising the profile of the payroll and pensions industries,
the result being the number of successful professionals who
graduate year on year.
It was extremely satisfying to see new tutors attending the
event and once again we had great pleasure in welcoming our
international partners from NGA Human Resources India. The
interactive sessions were very positive and the passion for the
tutor role was more than evident – welcome to you all.
Hopefully, next year it will be your turn to welcome another
tranche of new tutors into the fold. Each year we acknowledge
all of you who have interacted with the Foundation Degree
courses in one way or another. Following last year’s theme, we
have again provided a list of tutor
names to include the various
interactions throughout the
academic year.
We appreciate that some
tutors, through no fault of
Adele, Joanne, Vicky, Lindsay and Chloe members of the qualifications team
their own, have not been in a
position to interact; however, we
acknowledge and hope that you will be included on next year’s
list.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the CIPP’s qualifications team
who did a fabulous job in organising and looking after us at the
event.
Thank you all for the academic year about to close. Here’s to a
successful autumn 2016 intake and long may it continue.
Elaine Gibson MSc FCIPP, MCMI, FHEA
Associate director of professional education
Long service tutor awards
Each year we recognise our long service tutors whose professionalism and commitment ensure that the CIPP delivers the highest standard
of professional study. This year we would like to celebrate the following tutors:
Also awarded but
not in attendance:
Vicky Jenkins (payroll)
10 years service
Lisa Hindmarsh (payroll)
10 years service
18
Vivien Piper (payroll)
10 years service
Pete Statham (payroll)
10 years service
Valerie Woodland (payroll)
10 years service
Professional development insight
Congratulations to the following tutors that have successfully completed the Award in Education and Training
Anne Anderson
Paul Gibbons
Diane Barclay
Claire Hey
Sue Edes
Stuart Hough
Rebecca Gargini-Hill
Hayley Ryder
Certificates presented by Ian Walters MSc FCIPP FHEA, CIPP board director
Our tutors and invigilators
Julie Aghanti-Akinremi MCIPPdip
Mike Aldous MCIPPdip
Anne Anderson MCIPPdip
Adele Anderson-Fryer ACIPP
Mark Astill MCIPPdip
Diane Barclay MCIPPdip
David Beckley MCIPPdip
Kelvin Bell FCIPP
Michele Bennett MCIPPdip
Tricia Brogan MCIPPdip
Sean Brosnan MCIPPdip
Susan Budden MCIPPdip
Andrew Christie ACIPP
Anne Clark ACIPP
Gillian Clarke MCIPPdip
Lee Clayburn MCIPPdip
Tanya Clements MCIPP
Brian Comber MCIPPdip
Patricia Conway FCIPP
Paul Cooper MCIPPdip
Tracey Crank MCIPPdip
Matthew Davies MCIPPdip
Chris Davis MCIPPdip
Donna Day MCIPPdip
Olivia Dunham MCIPPdip
Susan Edes MCIPPdip
Theresa Gall MCIPPdip
Rebecca Gargini-HillMSc FCIPP
Paul Gibbons MCIPPdip
Dawn Gibbons MCIPPdip
Elaine Gibson MSc FCIPP
Dee Goodwin MCIPP
Sonia Grant MCIPPdip
Toni Green MCIPPdip
Eira Hammond FCIPPdip
Steve Harford MSc FCIPP
Julia Harris MSc FCIPP
Ros Hendren MSc, CMgr MCMI dip,
FCIPPdip, FHEA
Claire Hey MCIPPdip (pensions)
Michael Hollingsworth MCIPPdip
(pensions)
Dianne Hoodless MSc FCIPP
Stuart Hough MCIPPdip
Sally Hurle MSc MCIPP
Vicky Jenkins FCIPPdip
Caroline Jones MCIPPdip
Lisa Kelly MCIPPdip (pensions)
Colin Keown MSc FCIPPdip
Christine Lane BA (Hons) FCIPPdip
Liz Lay MSc FCIPP
Julie Lewins MCIPP
Sandra Lingwood MCIPPdip
Jane McDonald MCIPPdip
David McKinlay MCIPPdip
Carole Mellis MCIPPdip
Lynne Miller BA (Hons) FCIPPdip
(pensions)
Jacqueline Milward MCIPPdip
Andrea Musson MCIPPdip
Melanie Noon MSc FCIPPdip
Julie Northover MCIPPdip
Catherine O’ConnorMCIPPdip
Steve O’Reilly MSc FCIPP
Dawn Parry BA (Hons) FCIPPdip
Vivien Piper MCIPPdip
Dino Pistacchio MCIPPdip
AlexanderPorter MCIPPdip
Devila Rabadia BA (Hons) FCIPPdip
Raymond RonnpageMCIPPdip
Jackie Rose ACIPP
James Ross MSc FCIPP
Craig Ruxton MSc FCIPP
Hayley Ryder BA (Hons) FCIPPdip
Joanne Sankey MCIPPdip
Karen Service MCIPPdip
Linda Shotton MSc MCIPPdip
Polly Sinclair MCIPPdip
Lesley Sinclair MCIPPdip
Cathy Smith MSc FCIPP
Craig Smith MCIPPdip
Brian Sparling MCIPPdip
Pete Statham MSc FCIPP
Diane Stevenson MCIPP
Michelle Sutton MCIPPdip
Margaret Thomson FCIPP
Karen Thomson MSc FCIPP
Colette Tierney MSc FCIPP
Ian Walters MSc FCIPP FHEA
Alison Ward MSc FCIPP
Clare Warrington MSc FCIPPdip
Julia Watkin MSc FCIPPdip
Karl White MCIPPdip (pensions)
Thelma White MCIPPdip
Kate Winson MCIPPdip
Valerie Woodland MSc FCIPP
Introducing our new tutors
Alister Baldwin MCIPPdip
Stacey Edwards MCIPPdip
Michael Mullen MCIPPdip
Linda Pemberton MCIPPdip
Tracy Ward MCIPPdip
19
End of an era
Bryan Monkman FCIPP reminisces on retirement from his long-term pensions role with
the CIPP
I
n September 1963, I started as a junior
clerk in the Treasurer’s Department at the
rather sooty County Hall of Lancashire
County Council. (It’s near the train station
and steam trains were the order of the day
then.)
My first week in the income tax section
involved filing a big heap of papers in the
basement in my Burton nine-guinea suit.
I complained to my dad but he just said
“Stop moaning, it’s all part of your job so just
get on with it!” So I did, and moved on to
dealing with tax codes and queries.
I asked my boss once why we only got
calls complaining about paying too much
tax and never from those who had been
mistakenly given tax refunds. He said “Bryan,
you have a lot to learn.” He was right. In the wages section I spent five years
on an education payroll inputting hours
on punch cards and learning all about the
vagaries of national insurance, tax and sick
pay deductions.
After a spell as a senior clerk dealing with
the famous quarterly national insurance
card exchanges, I made my first foray into
the dusty world of superannuation – you
were expected to know how to spell it from
day one – and the the wonderful world of
manual calculations, massive filing cabinets
containing members’ personal folders and
heavy dusty binders in the basement.
Keen for new challenges after local
government reorganisation (LGR) I moved
to Cheshire County Council in 1975. During
my thirteen years there, pensions were
dragged into the twentieth century with the
development of the computerised local
authority superannuation system that was to
be used by all local authority pension funds.
It proved to be a very successful public/
private partnership.
Here began my involvement with the
Association of Payroll and Superannuation
20
Bryan
Monkman
FCIPP
Administrators (APSA) – as education/
publicity officer I produced a newsletter
for our regional members. We had regular
meetings with authorities in the North West
and North Wales, with lively debates on
payroll and pension issues that continued in
the pub afterwards.
In 1989, my ambition to become a
pensions manager was met when I moved
to Clwyd County Council. In 1991, I was
promoted to payroll and pensions manager.
It was back into the cut and thrust of payroll
much to the chagrin of the pensions staff
noting I spent 60% of my time on payroll.
Not long into this job, the IT system
suffered meltdown and I was asked to
extend the BACS processing dates. I rang
BACS – no joy; and the Treasurer tried too –
no joy. His pithy comment to BACS was “Do
you mean to say in this age of instant news
of Mr Maxwell walking off his yacht you can’t
extend your deadline by one day?”
Challenging times beckoned in the
1990s: development of a bespoke payroll
system, transferring weekly paid staff to
monthly pay and bank credit payments,
another LGR, and back to being a pensions
manager at Flintshire County Council. I
also became chairman of our pensions
managers’ group which gave the opportunity
for meetings in London in a specialised
group discussing local government pension
scheme (LGPS) legislation with senior
civil servants. It was a chance to use my
diplomatic skills to adopt a practical and
simpler approach to pensions legislation –
but I’m not sure I succeeded.
In 1998, when APSA and the British
Payroll Manager’s Association merged to
form the Institute of Payroll and Pensions
Managers (IPPM), Bill Fulton and I were
asked to take the first batch of pension
students through the second year of the
new Diploma in Pensions and also to attend
the weekend school. This was the start of a
long journey with IPPM and later the CIPP
on pensions: tutoring, writing assignments,
updating course material and becoming a
moderator.
Despite retiring in 2006, I returned to
pensions in Cheshire for 2.5 years with
another LGR in 2009. A short spell at
Flintshire County Council in 2012 finally
brought my local government employment
to a close. If you’re not at the coal-face, it’s
difficult to keep up with the changes – hence
my decision to hang up my LGPS boots.
I have seen big changes from manually
based systems to online interactive
computerised systems both in payroll and
pensions, and I feel proud to have played
a major role in making this happen. I’m not
sure radical changes like this will happen in
the next ten years, rather smaller incremental
changes; maybe online payroll/pension
information to mobile phones to satisfy
the millennial generation who check their
phones every ten minutes.
I am pleased that the world of payroll and
pensions is now recognised as a professional
vocation. It’s been a long journey to fruition
of the Foundation Degree in Pensions with
the CIPP and I felt honoured to be awarded
pensions tutor of the year in 2007 and
receive a lifetime achievement award in
2011. I hope I have, in a small part, inspired
all those students I’ve met on the way to
take the opportunity when it arises and
move onward and upward in their careers as
I have. o
Diary of a student…
Rebecca Gotch ACIPP
Payroll adviser,
The Rowleys Partnership
Why did you decide to study the
CIPP’s Foundation Degree in
Payroll Management?
Although I had previously processed payrolls
within other job roles, I had never worked in
a ‘payroll only’ position until 2009. During
this time, I snapped up the opportunity to
undertake a payroll qualification funded by
the company.
I was given a number of options but
decided on the Foundation Degree in
Payroll Management. I chose that particular
qualification as the course was over three
years, gaining a qualification at the end of
each year. By the end of the second year,
I had the Practitioner’s Certificate and the
Advanced Practitioner’s Certificate in Payroll.
I then took a break from my studies to
get married and have my first child. When
the time came to return to work, being a
busy young mum, I hadn’t really thought
about embarking on the final year. However,
when I joined The Rowleys Partnership
as payroll adviser, I found them to be
extremely enthusiastic and supportive about
training and development. Although I was
unsure about fitting everything in, Rowleys
agreed to fund my studies and I gratefully
accepted their offer.
What have you gained from
studying the qualification?
Not only has the qualification helped
me to increase my knowledge of payroll
legislation, it has also given me the skills
to help improve the payroll processes and
services I provide for Rowleys’ clients. I have
a greater knowledge of flexible benefits,
finance and budgets and it has provided
me with a greater awareness of my
personal effectiveness and development.
I have the confidence, the knowledge and
specialist expertise to advise my clients and
I get a real sense of satisfaction when I’m
able to help them make good business
decisions.
How has it helped you in your
career and how you manage
payroll?
I now have a recognised and respected
payroll qualification which has increased my
self-confidence, enabling me to perform my
duties to a very high standard and achieve
the excellent service levels that everyone
at Rowleys strives for. It has completely
changed the way I look at processing
payrolls. When I first began working in the
sector, I found I only really focused on the
end result, but now I look at the bigger
picture; from the ever-changing payroll
legislation to the detailed procedures
behind each process, I’m able to find
efficiencies and make informed decisions to
the benefit of my clients and Rowleys.
For someone who is thinking
about studying for a CIPP
qualification what would your
advice be to them?
Take each year as it comes and if you do
take a break, always consider going back to
gain the full qualification. After having my
daughter and returning to work, I wasn’t
sure that I would be able to fit my studies
in as well. But with the backing of a very
supportive and encouraging employer, I feel
that completing the course has been a huge
personal achievement and I am delighted
that I have finally got my degree.
Studying towards a qualification
alongside a full time job is no
easy feat. How did you cope
with the pressure as, like a
qualification, payroll is very
deadline driven?
Time management is key and forward
planning of workloads as well as module
deadlines is a must. I was very fortunate to
be completing my final year whilst working
at The Rowleys Partnership as they have
been flexible with regard to my family
responsibilities as well as my studies. My
husband was also a great help at home and
with our daughter, ensuring that I had the
time I needed to meet my study deadlines
as well as being a second pair of eyes
reading over my assignments. I also found
that, as I passed each module, it gave me
the drive to go on and complete the next
one. Rowleys recognise success and my
achievements were acknowledged each
step of the way.
How important would you rate
qualifications to the payroll
profession?
Payroll is fast becoming an even more
complex profession and employers are
beginning to realise that it is a lot more
complicated than just ‘pressing a button’.
Automatic enrolment has really changed
the landscape and an increasing number of
payroll vacancies now require a qualification.
With CIPP being a well-respected,
recognised organisation within the sector,
a large number of companies are now
specifically asking for that qualification.
With regard to my current role, I feel
that my qualification and expertise enable
me to provide Rowleys’ clients with the
best service available. Our department has
grown as we continue to take on more
clients and our reputation for reliability,
accuracy and specialist expertise increases.
The success of the department is really
rewarding and I’m proud of what my
department has achieved. I find myself
being able to mentor my colleagues and
advise my clients in the more complex
areas of payroll which I think is essential to
the profession. n
15
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
Presentation skills to
engage your peers
Claire Warner MSc FCIPP provides useful tips and advice
D
o you dread giving presentations
of any sort, or do you thrive on
them? For some people it’s a
pleasure, but for others a torment. For
some it’s easy to present to a room full of
strangers but they can’t present to a small
group; for others small groups are easier
than large groups.
My biggest fear is presenting to a group
of my peers – people like me, who I know
and who know me, who I work with and
see on a regular basis.
So, how to cope and deal with a
‘normal’ presentation?
Attention and engagement
How can you get the attention of your
audience? Research shows that the first
fifteen seconds of a presentation will
make a lasting impression on ninety
per cent of attendees, and you have
marginally less than fifteen seconds to
make a first impression. So be aware of
that, and present yourself the way you
want to be viewed.
How do you engage your audience?
Think about using some form of ice
breaker; whether it’s something simple or
a bit more complex doesn’t matter.
The aim is to wake-up and engage the
audience, especially those you know will
not be paying attention. I also try to scope
out where they are in the room, and will
try and address them by name if I can
thereby making them aware that I know
where they are.
So, what do I mean by ‘engage your
audience’? As a verb, ‘engage’ means to
...wake-up and engage the audience,
especially those you know will not be
paying attention
22
involve someone, to participate, establish
a meaningful connection. So why should
we engage people, members of our
audience? It’s simple really – if we engage
there is higher achievement, greater
productivity, more support, higher selfesteem, we learn more and we enjoy it.
Content, images and aids
Think about the content of your
presentation and how you can get the
attention of your colleagues. Think about
using pictures, not just words on your
slides, as they say a picture paints a 1,000
words. It is well-established that people
engage better with visual images than with
audio or the written word, but the picture
should be relevant (or so obscure that it
makes people wonder what its relevance
is).
Images often make things easier to
understand. Consider, for example, a
cookery book; a recipe is great and the
instructions are helpful, but working
through these blind without any idea
Chart 1
what the end result is meant to look like
is daunting. I know a lot of people who
won’t purchase a cookery book without
pictures.
Now consider instruction manuals/
leaflets for, say, flat-pack furniture (my
personal favourite right now). Almost
all include pictures and diagrams – and
thank goodness for that, as sometimes
the words just aren’t very clear, or the
translation doesn’t quite work.
Something to consider in any
presentation you give: words give detail,
pictures give clarity (well, at least they are
meant to).
Some people love visual aids, some not
so much. Some like to make their slides
fancy – all singing/dancing, with items
flying in from all directions. And some
cram slides so full of data they can’t be
read from any distance.
Use a variety of aids, props, technology,
tools and tones to keep your audience
engaged.
There is, in my opinion, nothing worse
than sitting at the back of a presentation
where the speaker refers to the slide
saying “as you can see”, but actually you
...slides should be
clear and concise,
not fussy or
overcrowded, and
mostly readable
can’t see because it’s too small for the
room.
In general, slides should be clear and
concise, not fussy or overcrowded, and
mostly readable. So consider the size of
the room you will be presenting in.
Animation can have an impact. It can
enhance but it can also distract from the
message you are giving, so use with care.
Chart 2
Communication methods
We all learn differently and we all absorb
data in different ways. Some of us will
only learn by actually completing the task
in question (doing) whereas others can
learn from watching. So, ensure that your
presentation includes a variety of different
media: visual, verbal, discussion, nonverbal.
But take care when using humour –
what some people find funny, others find
insulting or even embarrassing; so if you
are at all concerned, leave it out.
What communication tools should you
use? We all use a variety of methods to
communicate – verbal and non-verbal
(see Chart 2). Think about body language
and facial expressions; for example, are
your words saying one thing but your
body language/expression says something
totally different? (Try saying ‘No’ and
nodding your head ‘Yes’ – it’s not at all
easy.)
Impact
Now let’s have a look at the impact you
make, and which is not limited to the
content of the presentation. In fact, in
many cases people won’t remember a
word of it as 55% of your impact is your
visual look. You would, for example, make
an instant impact if you turned up dressed
as a clown, and though people would
certainly talk about your presentation
there is a danger that that is all they would
remember, not the content.
How you sound also has a large
impact: 38% is how you sound and a
very minor 7% of the impact is actually
the words you say (see Chart 1). I can
give many examples of presentations I’ve
attended where I can recall the speaker in
detail, but not a single word they said.
Your colleagues
In most presentations you are trying to
impart some additional knowledge to
your colleagues. So you therefore know
something that they need to know.
But with knowledge of the people who
will be listening to you, it should be easier
to find ways to ensure you engage them.
You can ask opinions on areas which
might impact them, or that you know they
will have a view on.
If someone is very shy, but you know
they will have a valid response, you might
want to warn them in advance and maybe
ask them to give you a written response
you could include.
Timing
Practise your presentation and be
constantly aware of the time. Keep to your
scheduled time, and get a reputation for
keeping to time. Understand that time is
valuable, and respect others and recognise
that people have busy lives and other
things to do. n
Some facts
● 91% of people admit to day-dreaming during a presentation.
● 39% admit to falling asleep during a presentation.
● 60 seconds is the average time it takes a professional to tune out of the presentation.
● The average audience attention span is just five minutes; ten years ago this was twelve minutes. So keep it moving, keep it
interesting.
For colleague presentations the figures vary slightly. Fifty per cent of colleagues/peers do something else during a presentation:
28% text, 27% check emails and 17% fall asleep. So the figures are in your favour, but capture their interest early – tell them there
is information they need to know within the presentation. Engage them!
Initial engagement takes place in less than fifteen seconds, first impressions in around ten seconds, and there is an average
attention span of just five minutes. Keep the content moving, keep it focused and keep it relevant.
23
Event
Horizon
Full details of events and training courses can be found
at cipp.org.uk or you can email [email protected] for
more information.
The CIPP’s Annual Conference
and Exhibition and Annual
Excellence Awards
Thursday 6 and Friday 7 October 2016
The Celtic Manor Resort, Wales
Why should you attend?
● Learn about the forthcoming changes to payroll, pensions
and reward legislation and what you should be doing to
prepare and comply
● Have the opportunity to hear from, and ask questions of,
industry experts and speakers from government departments
who can clarify the legislation
● Network with other like-minded professionals and learn
from their experiences
● Ensure that you are on the right track to achieve your CPD
● Find out what the CIPP is working on and how you can
benefit as a member
Main conference sponsor
The CIPP and AAT hot topics events
These workshops provide educational and interactive sessions on the latest
payroll, pensions and reward legislation and the recent changes relating to
holiday pay and shared parental leave and pay.
Why should I attend?
● Gain an update on the forthcoming changes in legislation affecting payroll
in practice or business
● Find out what issues you will need to consider when deciding on the level
of automatic enrolment support you will offer your clients
● Gain an overview of the legal requirements and daily practicalities of
handling holiday pay and leave
● Hear about the key issues that employers will face with shared parental
leave and understand how to advise your clients on the new processes
● Network with other members and speakers at the event to learn from their
experiences and build your network of support
Thank you to our sponsor
“Very useful - able to
start really focussing on
things which we have been
preparing for years.”
Thank you to all our 2016 sponsors, please see page 31 for details.
Please note that bookings close one week before the event date
Nick Bouette, The Karro Food Group Ltd
For full programmes for all of our events or to book your attendance, visit cipp.org.uk and look for events.
Alternatively, email [email protected] or call 0121 712 1013 for more information.
24
Training courses
Course
Certificate in Payroll Practice
Challenges of automatic
enrolment and re-enrolment
Employment status and
employment intermediaries
Date*
Course
Date*
Location
13 September
London
15 September
London
4 October
Manchester
6 October
Manchester
20 September
Manchester
13 October
Edinburgh
27 September
London
27 September
London
26 October
London
18 October
London
13 September
Birmingham
13 September
London
11 October
Birmingham
19 October
Manchester
13 September
London
4 October
Manchester
11 October
Edinburgh
11 October
Bristol
14 September
London
5 October
Manchester
12 October
Edinburgh
12 October
Bristol
Holiday pay and leave
Introduction to payroll
Location
Learning day one introduction to
PAYE and NIC
Learning day two introduction to
statutory payments
* Dates are subject to change
Learning day three essential
additions to payroll basics
National Payroll Certificate exam
day
13 October
Bristol
23 September
Birmingham
30 September
London
21 October
Manchester
28 October
Edinburgh
28 October
Bristol
Irish basic PAYE and PRSI
regulations
12 September
Birmingham
17 October
Manchester
Irish advanced payroll
regulations
13 September
Birmingham
18 October
Manchester
12 October
London
P11D, expenses and benefits
Pensions for payroll and
automatic enrolment
7 September
Leeds
13 September
Bristol
14 September
Manchester
Salary sacrifice
20 September
Manchester
Processing payroll for
educational establishments
28 September
Birmingham
4 October
Manchester
10 October
London
US payroll practice essentials
Counts
towards
Training course
CPD
US payroll practice essentials
10 October 2016, London
Three day duration
The US payroll practice essentials course teaches fundamental US pay
calculations through hands-on exercises and complex pay calculations
and concepts.
The course covers:
● Calculating gross and net pay
● Recognising taxable vs. non-taxable fringe benefits
● Withholding, depositing and reporting federal income taxes
● Identifying an employee
● Preparing and filing Forms 941 and W-2
● Using forms provided by new employees, including Forms W-4 and I-9
For full details or to book your place, please visit cipp.org.uk,
email [email protected] or call 0121 712 1063.
cipp.org.uk
25
Payroll
news
Immigration Act 2016
CERTAIN PROVISIONS of this Act, which received Royal Assent in May, came into force on
12 July. Sections 1–35 provide for:
● new sanctions on illegal workers and rogue employers
● appointment of the post of director of labour market enforcement to set the strategic
priorities for labour market enforcement
● data sharing
● a new undertaking and enforcement order regime, with an associated criminal offence
to tackle serious breaches of the law by employers
● transforming the Gangmasters Licensing Authority into the Gangmasters and
Labour Abuse Authority, with a broader remit and stronger powers to deal with labour
exploitation.
RTI data requirements
HMRC HAS released details of the changes to real time information (RTI) reporting
requirements for the 2017–18 tax year. New data items 175–186 are for reporting details
of company car and fuel benefits in the full payment submission (FPS); and 187–189
are for reporting details of the apprenticeship levy in the employer payment summary
(https://goo.gl/i3UvNQ).
Personal tax account
EMPLOYEES CAN access their personal tax account (PTA) to view information about
their tax affairs and tell HMRC online about changes that may affect the tax they pay.
Amongst other things, they can check their tax code and inform HMRC of changes to
their company car and address.
Employees who have not yet used their account can register at https://goo.
gl/1ORp2p. They will need their national insurance number and P60 certificate.
Later this year employees will be able to use their account to: view a tax calculation
for the previous year(s); make payments online; check their employment history.
And briefly…
● Expat starter checklist – An updated version of the expat starter checklist for
employees seconded to work in the UK by an overseas employer has been published,
including a printable version (https://goo.gl/cvS7Kz).
● Prefix ‘KC’ NINOs – Although national insurance numbers (NINOs) prefixed ‘KC’ are
valid, HMRC’s systems are currently rejecting any RTI FPS record that has a NINO with this
prefix. Where this prefix would otherwise be present in a FPS the NINO field is to be left
blank and the employee address field completed until further notice.
Diary dates
Automatic enrolment staging date for employers with fewer than
thirty employees with the last two characters in their PAYE reference
number: N1–N9 or NA–NZ
1 September
Last day of tax month 5
5 September
First day of tax month 6
6 September
Last day for submitting a real time information employer payment
summary to apply to tax month 5
Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts
Office by non-electronic method
19 September
Deadline for payment of PAYE and NICs etc to HMRC’s Accounts
Office by electronic method
22 September
Automatic enrolment staging date for employers with fewer
than thirty employees with the last two characters in their PAYE
reference number: 38–46, 7A–7Z, O1–O9 or OA–OZ
26
1 October
NAO criticises HMRC’s
customer service
THE NATIONAL Audit Office (NAO) recently
published a report (https://goo.gl/NeSpMi)
criticising HM Revenue and Customs
(HMRC) for periods of poor customer
service. The NAO comments that the
quality of service experienced by taxpayers
may have an impact on compliance.
The NAO found that the quality of
service provided by HMRC for personal
taxpayers collapsed in 2014–15 and the
first seven months of 2015–16. Services
have subsequently improved following the
recruitment of additional staff but whether
this performance is sustainable depends
on HMRC achieving successful outcomes
from its programme to make tax digital.
The quality of service deteriorated in
2014–15 when the full extent of HMRC
staff reductions took effect. Call attempts
handled fell to 71% overall, with HMRC
meeting its target in only ten weeks of
the year to handle 80% of call attempts.
HMRC’s performance deteriorated further
over the first seven months of 2015–16.
Average waiting times tripled compared to
2014–15 levels, peaking at 47 minutes for
self-assessment callers during the deadline
week for paper returns in October 2015.
HMRC recruited 2,400 staff to the
taxes helpline in the autumn of 2015.
Performance has since recovered: call
waiting times improved to an average of
five minutes for self-assessment callers
during the deadline week for online returns
in January 2016.
By moving more staff to its call centres
to help sustain service levels in 2014–15,
HMRC had to defer essential work to
maintain pay as you earn (PAYE) records.
The stock of outstanding discrepancies
in tax records requiring investigation
almost doubled in twelve months from
2.4 million (March 2014) to 4.6 million
(March 2015). Of these items, 3.2 million
were high priority cases, carrying a risk
that employees will have paid the wrong
amount of tax.
HMRC’s recruitment of extra staff helped
reduce the total number of unresolved
items. By December 2015, HMRC had
reduced the stock of unresolved PAYE
items to below three million.
Payroll insight
The more
things change…
Neil Tonks, of MHR’s legislation team, considers whether government demands are inhibiting
payroll software evolution
A
s a software developer working on
payroll systems, I’ve been known to
comment that I spend more time
working for the government than many
civil servants. This is only partly in jest, as
the vast majority of the changes made to
payroll systems for the past five years or so
have been in support of new government
initiatives.
This is vital work, of course, as a payroll
system which didn’t provide its users with a
means to comply with the relevant legislation
would hardly be an attractive product in
the marketplace or have a good customer
retention rate.
Nevertheless, it does make me wonder
just how much further payroll products could
be taken if only the government would give
us a break from the never-ending tide of
legislative changes.
Every software developer has a finite
amount of resource to devote to the
development of our products. To spend this
resource in the most effective way, we start
with some kind of ‘wish list’ of new features,
then estimate their resource requirements
and assign a priority to each. It’s then a case
of seeing how far down the prioritised list the
available resource will stretch. Assuming it’s
not possible to do everything (and it never
is), it’s then a matter of working out how
the best value can be obtained from the
available resource.
Obviously, statutory changes will come
at the top of the priority list. The problem
in recent times has been that these have
consumed most (or sometimes all) of the
available resource.
In earlier times, when there was less
government-driven work, payroll systems
moved on enormously. When I first started
working on them, most users interacted with
the system via a terminal which displayed
lines of fields in light green text on a dark
green background, on which you moved
from field to field using the tab key and
clicked ‘send’ to submit the record. At that
point, any errors were highlighted and you
had to correct and resend the whole screen.
...a finite amount
of resource to
devote to the
development of our
products
Today’s systems, with their multi-coloured,
multi-view windows which respond
immediately to the entry of a value or the
click of a mouse, warning of errors instantly
and re-drawing the screen in response to a
selection, seem light years away. In fact, it’s
only taken twenty years or so to get to this
from those old green-screen systems.
Good though this is, there is still much
to do.
All payrolls need to be validated to
ensure correctness. Many of today’s systems
do this passively. Users run the payroll
calculation as a batch job and then spend
time going through reports or screens,
looking for possible problems. Error logs tell
of data issues detected during processing.
Comparison reports compare gross and
net values this period with a past period
and the user goes through them looking for
suspicious differences (e.g. why was Jane
Smith paid twice as much this period as
last?).
This operation hasn’t changed much in
those twenty years so it’s time it was given
attention. What if the system did all this
checking for you, based on your parameters,
telling you about possible problems rather
than making you search for them? What if it
did this intelligently (e.g. Jane’s doubled pay
isn’t suspicious if she’s changed her weekly
hours from ten to twenty) so people don’t
spend time looking for innocent explanations
for differences?
Accessibility is another area for innovation.
The increasing complexity of user interfaces
has helped most users but may have
disadvantaged people with disabilities.
Integration with technologies such as
screen readers, voice recognition and other
assistive technologies could help enormously
in making sure everyone can enjoy the
advanced features which are now possible.
The days when payroll was a job for a
dedicated team of people in an office are on
the way out. Home and mobile working is
becoming more prevalent, while traditional
payroll tasks are increasingly being delegated
to others. Systems need to keep up with this
trend.
Finally, dashboards are another growing
area. If you run multiple payrolls, do you
have a document or spreadsheet you use
to keep track of where each is in the payroll
cycle? The payroll system could keep track
for you, and alert you via a dashboard when
things drop behind schedule.
Of course, some systems do some of
these things to some extent already. My
point is, though, we’d all have a better
chance of adding real value to our products
if we didn’t spend so much time adding the
latest batch of government-driven initiatives
to our systems. n
Industry Monitor is
sponsored by MHR
27
PAYROLL INSIGHT
Benefits in kind and the
fair bargain rule
Sarah Bradford, of Writetax Ltd, sets out the historic basis of fair bargain and the effect of a
clause in the 2016 Finance Bill
I
t would seem logical, fair even, that for
there to be a tax charge on a benefit in
kind there has to be an actual `benefit’
to the employee; and, conversely, if there is
no benefit, for there not to be a tax charge.
However, legislation included in the current
Finance Bill designed to provide clarification
on the `fair bargain’ rule makes it clear that
in certain circumstances there does not
have to be a benefit to the employee for a
benefit in kind tax charge to arise.
cash equivalent of an employment-related
benefit is the cost of the benefit less any
part of that cost that is made good by the
employee in providing the benefit.”
This is the default provision. It only
applies to the extent that there is no
specific rule for determining the cash
equivalent of a particular benefit. Where
there is a specific rule, as for cars, living
accommodation, beneficial loans etc, the
specific rule takes precedence.
Tax charge on benefits in kind
‘Benefit’ and the fair bargain
rule
The tax charge on employment income –
in section 6(1) of the Income Tax (Earnings
and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA) – includes
amounts treated as earnings under the
‘benefits code’ which is described in Part 3,
Chapters 2–10 of ITEPA.
The tax charge on a benefit in kind
is determined by reference to its cash
equivalent value, which in turn is found
either by reference to specific rules, such
as those that apply to determine the cash
equivalent value of a company car or a
beneficial loan, or, where there are no
specific rules applicable to the benefit in
question, by reference to the general rule.
This general rule is found in Chapter
10 (Taxable benefits: residual liability to
charge). Section 203(2) provides that: “The
For a tax charge to arise under the general
rule, there must be an èmploymentrelated benefit’. For the purpose of this
rule, section 201(2) ITEPA provides that
a `benefit’ is simply a “benefit or facility
of any kind” and that an ‘employmentrelated benefit’ is a benefit – other than
an excluded benefit – that is provided in
a tax year for an employee or a member
of an employee’s family or household by
reason of the employment. The definition
of an excluded benefit includes benefits
which fall within Chapters 3–9 of Part 2
of ITEPA, and as such are taxed according
to the rules set by those chapters. This is
important for what comes later.
The legislative definition of a `benefit’
...in certain circumstances there does
not have to be a benefit to the employee
for a benefit in kind tax charge to arise
28
for the purposes of the general rule is
very wide. This is acknowledged by HM
Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in their
Employment Income Manual at EIM21004
(https://goo.gl/4lINP8) that: “Although the
definition of ‘benefit’’ in Section 201(2)
is extremely wide…it does not cover
everything that may be provided by an
employer to someone who happens to be
an employee or a director of that employer.
“As a general principle, a benefit must
provide an element of `special bounty’ to
the recipient. In other words, the employee
must get something over and above what
the employer gives at a fair bargain, or
would be prepared to give as a fair bargain,
to the member of the public, or to other
independent third party, dealing on arm’s
length terms with the employer.”
Thus, while noting that the legislative
definition is indeed very wide, HMRC adopt
a narrower interpretation in applying the
general rule, taking the everyday meaning
of the word `benefit’ and requiring the
employee to receive more than what
is given as a fair bargain to trigger a tax
charge.
The idea that for a benefit to be taxable
the employee had to receive more than
the employer would give as a fair bargain
on arm’s length terms was considered in
the case of Mairs v Haughey 66 TC 273.
This case concerned a payment which was
made to an employee in return for giving
up rights under an enhanced redundancy
scheme. The Special Commissioners
determined that the payment was not a
Payroll insight
benefit because it did not overvalue the
employee’s contingent right to receive a
payment from the scheme. In reaching
their decision, the Special Commissioners
underlined that while the legislation
covered all benefits they must be capable
of being described as benefits (within
the normal meaning of the word). “[What
was then] Section 154 [of the Income
and Corporation Taxes Act 1988] brings
benefits into charge. All kinds of benefits
are covered; but whatever they are, they
must be capable of being described as
‘benefits’. The legislation is aimed at profits
… which escape mainstream … provisions
for one reason or another. It is not aimed at
receipts resulting from fair bargains.”
This view was supported by the Court
of Appeal (Northern Ireland) which agreed
that there is no benefit where there is a fair
bargain.
HMRC reiterate this point, stating in
their Employment Income Manual at
EIM21004: “Therefore something provided
by an employer, on identical terms both for
employees and for the general public (for
example, ‘free’ refuse collection or state
education), does not become a benefit
within the legislation simply because it
is provided for people who happen to
be employees of that employer. The
employees receive on the same terms
exactly what they would have received
if they had not been employees. That
indicates that what they get is a fair bargain
and there is therefore no benefit. It is not
necessary that the employer actually does
deal with members of the public for this
principle to apply. If an employer provides
something to an employee, and they would
be prepared to provide it to any member of
the public on exactly the same terms, then
that is a fair bargain and not a benefit".
The Apollo case
The issue of whether a benefit in kind
charge arose where an employee leased
a car from his employer and paid the
full market value was considered in the
case of HMRC v Apollo Fuels, B Edwards
and others [2016] EWCA Civ 157. HMRC
contended that although the employee
did not derive any benefit from the lease,
the provision of the car nonetheless fell
within Part 3 of Chapter 6 of ITEPA (Taxable
benefits: cars, vans and related benefits)
and consequently the cash equivalent
should be determined in accordance
with that Chapter. HMRC’s arguments
...the special rules for taxing those
benefits prevail and a tax charge can
still arise even if there is no `benefit’...
were rejected by the First-tier and Upper
Tax Tribunals, but HMRC appealed the
decision. The Court of Appeal upheld the
decision of the Upper Tribunal that where
there was a fair bargain and the employee
paid the same as a member of the public
there is no benefit to tax and, as such,
the provisions of Part 3 of Chapter 6 for
determining the cash equivalent of the
benefit were not in point. The court did
not find any reason not to give the word
`benefit’ its ordinary everyday meaning
and, on the facts of the case, the employee
had not received a benefit. The point of
Chapter 6 was to tax benefits received from
employment as employment income and
thus, for there to be a tax charge, there
had to be a benefit. Further, the court held
that any provision deeming something for
which the employee had paid full value to
be taxable as income had to be clear.
...where there was
a fair bargain
and the employee
paid the same as
a member of the
public there is no
benefit to tax ...
Clarification
Following HMRC’s defeat in the Apollo
case, it was announced at the time of the
2016 Budget that legislation would be
brought forward in the 2016 Finance Bill to
clarify the circumstances in which the fair
bargain rules applies. This clarification takes
the form of providing statutory authority to
tax an employee on a value that he has
not actually received. Worse, it highlights
the inherent unfairness of the legislation in
taxing more than the value of the benefit;
if the playing field were a level one, the
cash equivalent value calculation would be
nil where the employee had paid at least
the market value for the benefit. As things
stand, this is not the case.
The purported clarification of the rules
is found in clause 7 of the 2016 Finance
Bill, which specifically disapplies the fair
bargain rule in relation to the provision of
living accommodation, cars, vans fuel and
related benefit and employment-related
loans. In each case, the cash equivalent of
the benefit is computed by reference to
the specific rules of the relevant chapter,
with any amount paid by the employee
(regardless of whether this is the same as
would be paid by a member of the public)
being deducted as àn amount made good
by the employee’. Thus, if the statutes
deliver a taxable value in excess of the
amount payable by way of a fair bargain,
the employee is taxed on that excess.
There is, however, a specific exemption
where the employer’s business is hiring
vehicles meaning that the fair bargain rule
holds and there is no taxable benefit where
the employee hires a vehicle on the same
terms as a member of the public. Further,
while the Finance Bill clause disapplies the
fair bargain rule to cheap and interest free
loans, the legislation already contains an
exemption (in section 176 of ITEPA) for
loans on ordinary commercial terms where
the employer is in the business of lending
money. Otherwise, the specific rules take
precedence over common sense to decide
if there is a taxable benefit.
Implications
The fair bargain rule continues to apply
to those benefits the cash equivalent of
which is computed by the general rule.
However, where the employee is provided
with a car (other than one leased on the
same terms as a member of the public
from an employer whose business is hiring
vehicles), living accommodation or a cheap
or interest free loan from the employee,
the special rules for taxing those benefits
prevail and a tax charge can still arise even
if there is no `benefit’ in the real sense of
the word. In this case, the employee would
be better to source the benefit from an
independent third party rather than the
employer.
The `clarification’ provided by clause 7
arguably highlights that there really is no
equity in taxation and sets a dangerous
precedent in effectively giving the go-ahead
for HMRC to charge tax on more than the
value actually received. n
29
The CIPP
Annual
Conference
& Exhibition
#ace16
6–7
October
Celtic Manor
Resort, Wales
2016
Learn. Network. Share.
There’s still time to book your place for the 32nd Annual Conference
taking place at the prestigious Celtic Manor Resort in Wales.
Last year’s conference was a finalist for the Best Development of an Existing Association Event award at
the esteemed Association Excellence Awards 2016. This year promises to be even better so make sure
you come and see how much has evolved.
The conference allows you to choose your workshops based on your learning and development needs;
we have focussed on advanced stream content reflecting the high-level roles of those who attend.
The full programme is available at cipp.org.uk. Delegates will have the opportunity to hear from a
wide range of industry experts on a variety of topics including rich content on performance and talent
management over the two days.
Workshop focus
Workshop 3 – creating an effective retention strategy – part one
Jillian Cunnison, senior HR client consultant, UK HR Operations and AR, Capital One
Recruiting for payroll, pensions and reward teams is no easy feat and can be costly. So it is important that
you have an effective retention strategy in place to retain your key talent. Retention starts with recruitment,
so this session will look at:
● Becoming an employer of choice to attract and retain key talent
● Your recruitment processes; advertising vacancies and short-listing candidates
● Interview and selection techniques
● Making sure that your new recruit will fit in the organisation’s culture
Workshop 8 – are you ready for the communication challenge?
Glyn King, managing director, Prolog Print Media Limited
Ian Hodson, MCIPPdip, reward manager, University of Lincoln
Over recent years employers have had to look at more than just payroll to motivate their employees,
moving payroll into pay and reward. This session covers the strategy behind reward and benefits packages,
focussing on areas such as:
● The importance of a reward statement so that employees can see their value within your organisation
● Using payslips to communicate reward and enhance reward statements
● Flexible benefits packages and how to communicate their value effectively
● Communicating reward packages to enhance their perceived value with your employees
Workshop 10 – legal implications of performance management
Jade Linton, employment solicitor, Sydney Mitchell Solicitors LLP
Our speaker provides useful tips and gives example scenarios for effective performance management. They
will look at the legal implications of performance management as well as what causes performance issues,
such as low morale and how to tackle negative behaviour, and how to set and manage expectations within
your team.
● What is performance management and what should it incorporate
● Managing performance before problems arise
● Scope of claims for employees
● General good practice to help avoid potential claims
30
Why should I
attend?
1
Learn about the
forthcoming changes to
payroll, pensions and
reward legislation and what
you should be doing to
prepare and comply
2
Have the opportunity
to hear from, and ask
questions of, industry
experts and speakers from
government departments
who can clarify the
legislation
3
Network with other likeminded professionals and
learn from their experiences
4
Ensure that you are on
the right track to achieve
your CPD
5
Find out what the CIPP is
working on and how you
can benefit as a member
The Association MARK OF EXCELLENCE
Best Development of an
Excellence
Existing Association Event
Awards 2016
under 300 delegates
Book your place
Member rate
£800+VAT
Non-member rate
£1,000+VAT
CIPP
conference app
your conference. your way.
Rates above are for one night’s accommodation on 6 October. Day rates and two night
options are also available, visit cipp.org.uk or email [email protected] for more
information.
Prices include:
● Packed two-day conference with a choice of workshop sessions so that the content
can be tailored to your learning requirements
● Attendance at the Annual Excellence Awards 2016 ceremony on the 6 October
● Overnight accommodation
● All meals and refreshments during the conference
● Networking opportunities with fellow delegates such as other CIPP members,
students, speakers and exhibitors at the event
For full details and to book your place, please visit cipp.org.uk.
Book a 121 CPD appointment
Once you have confirmed your attendance at the Annual
Conference, you can book a 121 continuing professional
development (CPD) meeting with a member of the
CIPP team. Simply email [email protected] to book your
appointment which will be confirmed prior to the event.
Download the free CIPP conference
app for full details on speakers and
sessions
Email [email protected] for more information or booking advice.
The CIPP would like to thank our 2016 exhibitors and sponsors who have been selected to complement the educational programme
Main conference sponsor
For details on the sponsorship opportunities still available please contact [email protected].
31
PAYROLL INSIGHT
Remuneration options for businesses
expanding into South Africa
Sharon Tayfield, chief operations officer at Praxima Holdings (Pty) Ltd, outlines the options
W
hen companies head-quartered
in the USA, Europe, Middle East
or Africa decide to establish a
presence in South Africa, one of the first
hurdles with regards to payroll/human
resources (HR) is the structuring of the
remuneration package contained in the
offer of employment letter, and how that
compares to the format employees are
accustomed to receiving in the region.
A decision needs to be made at this
stage as to whether to align the South
African employment contracts with the
contracts in place in the rest of the world,
or whether to have a contract which
matches the standard in the region. Payroll professionals have an important
part to play in these decisions, and
therefore it is essential to have an
understanding of what the norms are
in South Africa, and what steps would
need to be taken to assist employees in
their understanding, if a decision is made
to proceed with a global remuneration
structure.
It is worth noting that global companies
approach this in a number of ways. I have
worked with companies that begin with
adopting the ‘norm’ in the region but
then move towards a global standard a
few years after establishing a presence
in the region, as well as companies that
immediately adopt the global standard.
32
The important point is that the payroll
professional should have a good
knowledge of the concepts, so as to assist
employees irrespective of the standard
that is adopted.
...companies then
moved to a ‘cost to
company package’
(CTC) as the basis
for remuneration
structures
More than 25 years ago the standard
South African employment contracts
were drafted on what could be termed
a ‘cost-plus’ basis or ‘basic salary plus
benefits structure’. This translated to an
employment contract that contained a
cash component or salary, along with
added benefits, which the employer
would provide to the employee. (This
is the common global standard.)
However, a number of South Africabased companies then moved to a ‘cost
to company package’ (CTC) as the basis
for remuneration structures. From the
employer’s point of view, the CTC structure
means that the finance department has
better control over the financial cost of
employment.
Anyone who has worked in South Africa
will know that the cost of medical cover in
the country is comparatively high, and that
having private medical cover is imperative.
The problem with the situation before CTC
was that the finance department had no
control over the gross cost of this particular
benefit.
Not only did employers have to deal
with employees adding dependents to
the medical schemes monthly, but they
also had to deal with medical providers
increasing premiums, often in excess of
the general inflation rate.
It is also worth noting that employers
and their HR department were grappling
with how to manage the challenge of a
male employee possibly having more
than one wife which, in some population
groups in the region, is the norm. (The
current President of South Africa, Jacob
Zuma is a polygamist and has about
twenty children, has married six times and
currently has four wives on the state’s
budget.)
The payroll/HR department also faced
the challenge that employees on the
same grade and performing the same
job often did not receive the same gross
remuneration. The differences were
caused by employees receiving different
financial benefits as a result of the number
of dependents they had, or the fact that
Payroll insight
they were not using the benefit. (One
partner could be listed on the medical
plan of their partner’s employer.) This
resulted in the payroll/HR department
constantly needing to review gross
remuneration figures and adjusting basic
salaries to ensure that there was equality
in remuneration packages. If this was not
done, employees expressed dissatisfaction
that they had no control over their
remuneration level. Employees were also
concerned that they were powerless to
choose the level of benefits they desired.
As a result of these challenges
companies began to roll out CTC packages.
With the change to CTC package, each
employee had control over the level
of benefits they desired within certain
parameters, but at the same time retaining
the same total remuneration package as
other employees on the same job level.
The best way of understanding CTC
packages is to use the analogy of a
cake assigned to each employee. If the
employee selects medical cover for
themselves and their dependents, the cost
of that benefit will be recovered from the
total package – the equivalent of removing
a slice of the cake. The cost of retirement
benefits is also removed from the total
cost of package – the equivalent of
another slice of cake being removed. The
remainder of the cake becomes the cash
component or basic salary.
Most employers would enforce
membership of a retirement funding
scheme, as the scheme often has
insurance cover incorporated into the
plan, which provides cover in the event
of disability. However, the employees
would generally have carte blanche
choice with regards to which medical plan
cover they desired. Employers would in
a worse-case scenario offer one provider
with whom they have contracted to
provide the benefits, should employees
take up the option; but employers with
larger populations often offer a choice of
multiple providers.
...clearly
communicating
what costs the
employer is taking
responsibility for
it critical
The more benefits the employee
chooses, the smaller the cash component
or salary as illustrated in the diagram
above. Under the CTC structuring,
employees have a sense of being in
control of their final offering and their cash
salary.
Should the employer decide that a
global standard is to be adopted, what
should they put in place to reduce the
financial exposure on the company in
terms of ever-increasing costs, and to
ensure that there is equality in gross
remuneration paid to employees
performing the same role within the
company?
It is acceptable to offer employees a
standard level medical cover – and any
expense over and above that level would
be for the cost of the employee. (The
additional cost would run in the payroll as
a deduction from earnings.) The standard
medical aid could be set as a specific plan
or a nominated rand value. The employer
could have an added criterion that only
the main member on the medical aid
would be covered on the standard plan
which the employer has nominated.
Retirement funding could be implemented
on a similar basis, with any additional
options an employee chooses, to be
administered as a deduction from gross
earnings, and the employer only assuming
responsibility for a set contribution for the
main member.
When making offers of employment
to employees who have become
accustomed to the CTC methodology it is
important to clearly list the costs for which
the employer will take responsibility. As
employees have under the CTC approach
been given one figure (the entire ‘cake’)
in the offer letter, they often cannot relate
this to a ‘cost-plus’ approach and would
reject the offer on the basis that it was
less than what they were currently on.
Therefore, clearly communicating what
costs the employer is taking responsibility
for it critical. n
Clearly payroll professionals have an
important role to play when employers
undertake expansion operations
overseas. The way in which the letter
of appointment is made to prospective
employees is one of the first areas that
would need to be addressed. Having
an understanding of the expectations of
local employees and addressing these
is therefore necessary. There are many
other aspects which would need to
be addressed when moving into new
regions and CTC is just the beginning.
33
PAYROLL INSIGHT
Office holders in the
public sector
John Harling, employment taxes specialist at PSTAX, discusses HMRC’s recent
challenging activity
W
e are aware of a number of
cases recently where HM
Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
is challenging local authorities and other
public bodies regarding the employment
status of certain categories of worker
considered to be ‘office holders’.
Public bodies are well-used to the
requirement to fully consider employment
status when engaging individuals on a
self-employed basis and to ensure that
they meet the necessary criteria to be
considered as truly self-employed. This
is done by reviewing the so-called ‘tests’
of employment status – derived from
case law – including the right of personal
service, the level of control exercised by
the engager and whether the person is in
business on their own account.
However, there is also a class of worker
which falls into a specific category, known
as an ‘office holder. Though such workers
will often not meet the definition of an
employee based on these tests, they must
nevertheless be treated in the same way as
an employee for tax and national insurance
contributions (NICs) purposes. Accordingly,
they must be paid under deduction of pay
as you earn (PAYE) and NICs via the payroll.
Rather unhelpfully there is no statutory
definition of ‘office holder’, so again we
have to refer to case law to understand
how HMRC interprets this. Essentially,
an office is a regarded as a position that,
according to HMRC, is created by “a
charter, statute, or other document which
is, or forms part of, the constitution of an
organisation or which governs its operation.”
In other words, an ‘office’ is created if it
has an existence that is independent of the
person who holds it, i.e. there is a specific
legal or similar requirement (or established
custom) that the position must be filled
should the current incumbent no longer
hold the role. Case law has established
34
the principle that this does not necessarily
have to exist in perpetuity, but nevertheless
an office is likely to exist if it has a tenure
beyond one person.
...an office is likely
to exist if it has a
tenure beyond
one person
Therefore, an elected member or
returning officer would fall within the
definition of office holder because they
are specific posts created by statute.
Conversely, a refuse collector employed
by a local authority is not an office holder
(although he or she is an employee)
because, although there is a legal obligation
to collect the rubbish, there is no distinct
law that requires the appointment of the
refuse collector.
In local authorities HMRC undertook
a ‘campaign’ a few years ago with regard
to the engagement of office holders
on ‘off payroll’ terms, which resulted in
several councils being required to pay
significant arrears of PAYE/NICs, interest
and penalty charges in respect of school
improvement partners, foster/adoption
panel members and independent chairs
of local safeguarding boards. In these
cases, the local authorities were specifically
required to appoint individuals to these
roles on a permanent (or semi-permanent)
basis and it was clear that, in the majority of
cases, offices had been created under case
law criteria.
Following this campaign, it appeared
that we had reached a position where it
was understood what roles would fall into
that definition and must be paid under
deduction of PAYE/NICs. However, in
recent times, HMRC has started to turn
its attention to other groups where the
position is perhaps less clear-cut. This
includes independent social workers,
deprivation of liberty safeguarding
assessors and, in the case of police forces,
legally qualified chairs who sit on police
misconduct panels. This list is far from
exhaustive and there are many other
categories that could potentially fall within
this definition. In these cases, the work
undertaken appears to be more ad hoc
because the individuals are called upon
from time to time to deal with specific
cases and, arguably in some cases, they
lack the permanence of some of the roles
that HMRC had challenged previously.
Nevertheless, there is evidence of
activity by HMRC in respect of these roles
and local authorities and other public
bodies should be prepared for a potential
challenge where these positions are
appointed. Each case must be assessed on
its relative merits, but suffice to say there
should always be a careful examination of
the facts.
Many office holders are engaged
through intermediaries such as personal
service companies, which has meant
that the engaging bodies may not have
the ultimate responsibility to account
for PAYE/NICs at present. However, with
the forthcoming changes to the rules
regarding intermediaries engaged by public
bodies, this is a matter that will have to be
addressed when these rules come into
force in April 2017 when public bodies
will become responsible for making an
appropriate withholding. We expect details
of how this will work in practice to be
confirmed later in the year.
In the meantime, public bodies are
advised to review payments made outside
the payroll to those who may fall within
the ‘office holder’ category to ensure
compliance with HMRC requirements. n
Payroll insight
New hire reporting in the USA
Billy Meyerkorth CPP, manager of human resource operations at Cetera Financial Group,
explains what is required
N
ew hire reporting began in 1997
to assist with the collection of
child support and quickly spread
to assist with preventing abuse and fraud
in the unemployment system, workers’
compensation programs, and public
assistance programs. Payroll professionals
have assumed this responsibility for years.
Under the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
of 1996, employers were required to
comply with the federal new hire reporting
requirements, and states were required
to pass laws including those provisions.
Each state has laws mandating new hire
reporting and setting out the appropriate
reporting procedures.
All employers are required to provide
to the State Directory of New Hire
Reporting several pieces of information.
At a minimum, based on federal new hire
reporting, employers are required to report
the employee’s name, address and social
security number. In addition, the employer
is also required to report the employer’s
name, address and federal employer
identification number along with the date
that the employee first performed services
for pay. Since each state has its own laws
mandating the reporting, some states
require additional information beyond the
federal requirements.
A newly hired employee can be an
employee who is a brand new hire to the
employer or a rehire. A rehire under the
Claims Resolution Act of 2010 includes an
employee who previously was employed
by the employer but left and was rehired
sixty days or more after being separated.
Employers with employees in one
state must report newly hired employees
to that state via paper, magnetically
or electronically. If an employer is a
multistate employer and reports new
hires magnetically or electronically, it may
choose to designate one state in which
it has employees as the state to which it
will report all of its new hires. The easiest
approach would be to report to the state
that has the fewest pieces of required
information.
...each state may
have different
requirements,
but they cannot
be longer than
the federal
requirements
Generally speaking, employers must
report newly hired employees within
twenty calendar days from the hire date. If
reporting magnetically or electronically, two
transmissions per calendar month that are
twelve to sixteen days apart are required.
Keep in mind that each state may have
different requirements, but they cannot be
longer than the federal requirements.
The format or method that may be
used can vary. Employers can report new
hires simply on the employee’s Form
W-4 or an equivalent form containing the
information that is required. The report can
be mailed by first class mail, or delivered
via fax, magnetically or electronically.
Keep in mind that the Form W-4 does not
contain all required pieces of information
such as the hire date. If using the Form
W-4, be sure to use a copy of the form so
that additional information can be written
on the form.
Of course, penalties for failure to file
exist. The states have the option to set
civil penalties of up to $25 for a failure
to comply up to a maximum of $500 if
a conspiracy between the employer and
employee is found.
States have five business days to
provide the information to the State
Directory of New Hires database and
two business days from the entry date
to actually transmit a child support
withholding order, if applicable. The state
then has three business days to furnish
the information to the National Directory of
New Hires. n
This article was published in the August/
September 2015 issue of the American
Payroll Association’s PayTech magazine.
The American Payroll Association (APA),
www.americanpayroll.org, is the USA’s
leader in payroll education, publications,
and training. This nonprofit association
conducts more than 300 payroll training
conferences and seminars across the
country each year and publishes a
complete library of resource texts and
newsletters. Representing more than
23,000 members, APA is the industry’s
highly respected and collective voice in
Washington, D.C.
The Global Payroll Management
Institute (GPMI), www.GPMInstitute.
com, spearheads the APA’s global
initiatives to provide the world with a
leading community of payroll leaders,
managers, practitioners, researchers,
and technology experts. Subscribers
connect with each other through
networking discussions, collaborative
opportunities, and access to education
and publications dedicated to global
payroll strategies, knowledge, research,
employment, and training. GPMI also
publishes several global payroll texts and
white papers as a benefit to subscribers.
35
Linkedin.com/groups/Sage-HR-Payroll
@SageUK
Pensions insight
What business advisers need
to know about postponement
The Pensions Regulator provides guidance
R
esearch by The Pensions Regulator
has shown that there is now almost
universal understanding among
business advisers of the tasks that need to
be carried out for employers to comply with
their automatic enrolment duties.
However, an area which continues
to prompt questions from advisers is
postponement, which is a useful tool for
employers, especially those that employ
temporary or seasonal workers.
Key points about postponement comprise
the following:
● An employer can temporarily postpone
the assessment of workers for automatic
enrolment purposes for up to three months.
● Postponement can be used for all of the
employer’s staff or just some of them.
● If a client postpones from their staging
date, the staging date does not change.
● If a client chooses to postpone from
their staging date, they still have duties (e.g.
they must write to tell the staff who will be
postponed, within six weeks of their staging
date).
● The declaration of compliance date does
not change – this remains as five months
after the staging date.
● Postponement cannot be used with
re-enrolment. If the staff meet the criteria to
be enrolled on the re-enrolment date, then
re-enrolment must take effect from that date.
One of the main reasons clients might
decide to postpone the assessment of
their workers is if they have temporary or
short-term staff (for example, seasonal fruit
pickers) who they know will stop working for
them within three months.
Using postponement can also be helpful
when assessing those staff whose earnings
would usually fall below the earnings
threshold, but where an increase such as a
bonus might temporarily take their earnings
over the trigger level.
If clients apply a probationary period to
new starters, then it can be helpful to use
postponement to delay assessing these
individuals until after their probationary
period is passed (assuming it is not longer
than three months).
Clients might also choose to use
postponement in order to align automatic
enrolment with their other business
...the postponement
period doesn’t have
to be the same
length for everyone
processes. For example, if the client’s staging
date falls in the middle of a pay period, it
may be helpful to postpone to the beginning
of the next pay period.
Clients can postpone automatic
enrolment from:
● their staging date (but this doesn’t change
their staging date)
● a staff member’s first day of employment
● the date a staff member first becomes
eligible for automatic enrolment.
The client can postpone for up to three
months. They can postpone as many or as
few staff as they like and the postponement
period doesn’t have to be the same length
for everyone.
Note that staff can choose to opt in to
their employer’s pension scheme during the
postponement period. More information
on what to do if this happens can be found
on The Pensions Regulator’s website here:
http://goo.gl/R84hPn.
An employer can postpone an individual,
or some, or all, of their staff. If they do, they
must write to these staff within six weeks
of the date that postponement starts, to tell
them:
● that their assessment has been postponed
● the end of postponement date, and
● that they have the right to opt in or join a
pension anytime.
The Pensions Regulator has a sample
postponement letter on its website that
can be used to write to staff (http://goo.gl/
A9OmTG).
There’s no need to tell TPR that a client
has decided to use postponement. And
remember, the declaration of compliance
date will not change.
On the last day of the postponement
period the client will need to know whether
each staff member, whose assessment
they’ve postponed, is eligible to be
automatically enrolled – if they still work for
them.
If they are eligible, the client must put
them into a pension straight away. It’s not
possible to postpone again. This is true even
if the client postponed for less than the three
months allowed.
However, if any are not eligible, then they
will need to be monitored every pay cycle
from then on, to see if they become eligible
in the future. If they do become eligible, the
client could then apply postponement again
in respect of them. n
Common postponement
questions
● Can we use postponement more
than once? – Yes, but only for staff
who are assessed as not eligible to be
automatically enrolled on the last day
of the postponement period. Where a
member of staff is eligible to be enrolled,
you cannot postpone again and you must
put them in a pension scheme.
● If a member of staff asks to join
my pension scheme during the
postponement period, when do I start
paying money into the scheme? – If
any member of staff writes asking to join
a pension, you need to assess what they
have earned and how old they are – in the
pay period when you receive the notice
that they want to join.
Useful links to The Pensions
Regulator
● http://goo.gl/7aEBSh – postponement
guidance
● http://goo.gl/WqtSkC – AE detailed
guidance
Q&As
If you have any questions about AE that you
wish The Pensions Regulator would answer,
please submit them to [email protected].
The Q&As will appear in a later issue of this
magazine.
37
PENSIONS INSIGHT
AExit?
Henry Tapper, founder of Pension PlayPen, expresses despair and concern about recent
Government turmoil on pension policy and what this might mean for automatic enrolment
D
isruption of automatic enrolment
happened way before the
recent referendum and is set to
continue as one of the many unintended
consequences of a leave vote.
The ambitious legislative reforms put in
place by the coalition’s pension minister
Steve Webb were pruned only months into
the new administration when Ros Altmann
called time on defined ambition and pot
follows member. It was claimed that these
policies had fallen victim to austerity – the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
simply didn’t have the lawyers to go
round – but many pension commentators
sensed the dead hand of the Treasury and
their obsession with the individual savings
account as its savings plan of choice.
These fears proved correct when
after a year of consultation the Treasury
announced it was binning its plans to
reform the taxation of pensions in this
year’s budget. The excuse this time was
“market volatility”, though who now
remembers the stock market turbulence
of the first quarter? In reality, the Treasury
were battening down the hatches in
readiness for the June referendum. Talk in
Westminster was that nothing radical could
risk our continued membership of the
European Union (EU).
So, the first fourteen months of the new
administration has seen a retreat from the
coalition’s radical reforms, the deferral of
the tough choices on tax relief and now
the breakdown of normal government
following a plebiscite that went horribly
wrong.
What little cheer pensions have had has
been around the introduction of the new
state pension, the ending of contracting
out and a movement to a new simple way
to understand state retirement benefits.
38
And, of course, the continuing successful
roll-out of automatic enrolment which is
now entering its fourth year.
...tired of seeing
the retirement
plans of
generations to
come being put
at risk by shorttermism in
Westminster
But not all in the automatic-enrolment
garden is rosy; indeed, some of the roses
are thought to be developing canker which
is why the DWP has been allowed a small
but significant Pensions Bill. Ros Altmann
intended to use the Bill as a chance to
introduce some much-needed regulation
around small master trusts, many of
which are seen as unfit for the purpose
of carrying workers’ retirement dreams
through the next four or five decades.
The smooth passage of this Bill to
enactment in April 2017 looks like being
the next in what is becoming a queue of
pension policies that don’t quite make it to
implementation.
Pension legislation is front-end loaded
with difficulty for politicians. It is very rare
for a policy to give a quick win (pension
freedoms being the exception that proves
the rule). Typically, legislative change
causes grief today and delivers well after
the politician’s term of office has expired.
Small wonder then that at the time of
writing we currently have neither a pension
minister nor a shadow pension minister in
the house of commons! The difficult truth
is that pensions are the Treasury’s political
football and Her Majesty’s opposition has
been through three pension ministers in
little more than a year.
So, despite the heroic efforts of the
accountancy and payroll professions
to help Workie, the research and
development teams from the private
and public sectors have been thwarted
in creating a long-term solution to the
structural issues that beset workplace
pensions.
We still have pot proliferation rather
than pots following members.
We still have no mass market alternative
to annuities.
We still have no solution to the
nonsense of net pay and relief at source
taxation systems.
We still have a plethora of master trusts
with no obvious means of survival.
So the next time you are called upon
to help an employer set up a workplace
pension scheme (whether yours or a
client), it’s worth considering just what the
outcome of the great automatic enrolment
experiment is likely to be.
I share with the Government an
enormous optimism for automatic
enrolment’s potential, but I am growing
tired of seeing the retirement plans of
generations to come being put at risk by
short-termism in Westminster.
The coalition government of 2010–15
was a golden era for workplace pensions.
Now it looks like this Government will be
reverse alchemists, turning gold to lead.
We have exited Europe through a
series of political blunders. If we are not
careful we will find ourselves out of love
with automatic enrolment for failures of a
similarly political nature. n
Pensions insight
Brexit and UK
pension schemes
Stuart Earle, pension partner at Eversheds LLP, analyses and discusses the impact of
the referendum result
T
he result of the European Union
(EU) membership referendum was
announced on 24 June 2016, with a
vote in favour of the United Kingdom (UK)
leaving the EU. Since that time a great deal
of speculation has taken place over what
this means for the future of the UK and
the impact on the economy. The pensions
industry has not been immune to this.
Although it will be some time before
the terms of the UK’s future relationship
with the EU are known, there are things
that pension schemes and sponsors can
consider and plan for now, and changes
they can start to make, to help protect their
interests.
What are the implications?
In the short term, Brexit is unlikely to
have a significant impact on the legal
and regulatory framework for UK pension
schemes. However, it does open the
door for UK legislation to deviate from EU
requirements in the future (for example, in
relation to funding, investment and scheme
governance). Furthermore, without the
influence of the European Courts, UK case
law on matters which were previously the
preserve of the EU, such as equal treatment
and protection of employment where there
is a transfer of an undertaking, may start to
take its own domestic direction.
Any continued political fallout from the
EU referendum could also have a major
impact on the future shape and direction
of UK pensions policy. It is possible that
the UK will probably choose to formally
distance itself from certain EU originated
policies which never fitted very well with
the UK pensions system, including solvency
funding requirements and guaranteed
minimum pension (GMP) equalisation. For
example, the Institutions for Occupational
Retirement Provision (IORP) II Directive,
which contains new requirements on
scheme governance and member
communications, is now very unlikely to be
enacted into UK legislation.
In the more immediate future, there
is likely to be considerable investment
volatility and uncertainty. This could present
both risks and opportunities for pension
scheme trustees and corporate sponsors.
The position will need to be monitored
carefully, and trustees will need to consider
quickly whether their scheme’s investment
portfolio remains appropriate for a postBrexit world.
Scheme investments governed by
the laws of another member state or
contingent assets (such as parent company
guarantees) based in the EU will also need
particularly close attention to ensure they
remain appropriate and enforceable.
...both risks and
opportunities for
pension scheme
trustees and
corporate sponsors
The macro-economic impact of Brexit
and its impact on individual businesses is
difficult to predict with certainty as it is likely
to be determined, to a large extent, by the
nature of the UK’s ongoing relationship with
the EU as well as any trade deals that the
UK enters into with countries outside of the
EU (such as the US and China). Trustees of
defined benefit pension schemes need to
be alive to any deterioration in the financial
strength of the business standing behind
their plan and corporate sponsors need to
be prepared to address trustees’ concerns
in this regard.
In this respect, The Pensions Regulator
has stated, “Our key message to trustees
and sponsors of occupational schemes
is to remain vigilant and review their
circumstances, but continue to take a
considered approach to action with a focus
on the longer term…”
Immediate actions for corporate
sponsors and trustees
The most pressing action points for
corporate pension scheme sponsors and
trustees as a result of the EU referendum
are likely to be as follows.
● Corporate sponsors should assess the
potential impact of Brexit on their business
and on their pension scheme and prepare
contingency plans accordingly. They should
also be ready to provide reassurance to
the trustees of their scheme particularly as
regards the covenant backing the scheme.
● Trustees should consider the suitability
of their post-Brexit investment portfolio and
what steps they can take to mitigate the
impact of continued volatility on investment
markets on their scheme. They should
also reassess the strength of the financial
covenant standing behind their scheme
in light of Brexit, and should take steps to
mitigate the risk of any material weakening.
Scheme assets (including contingent
assets) linked or subject to the jurisdiction
of another EU member state should be
reviewed closely.
● Trustees and corporate sponsors should
consider the need to send communications
to scheme members to reassure them
about the steps that they are taking to
mitigate any risks to the scheme arising as a
result of Brexit. This could particularly assist
members of defined contribution schemes
where there will be an increased need to
focus on their own investment decisions.
It was always going to be an interesting
time for pensions. The uncertainties of
Brexit have compounded this further. n
Pensions Bulletin is sponsored by
39
Pension
news
PPF reports record deficits
THE PENSION Protection Fund (PPF) estimates that aggregate deficits in
defined benefit schemes totalled a record £384 billion at the end of June
2016, up from £295 billion a month earlier. The highest deficit previously
recorded was £368 billion in January 2015.
These figures estimate the cost of paying insurance companies to secure
the reduced level of benefits that scheme members can receive through
PPF compensation if the scheme’s sponsoring employer becomes insolvent.
Graham McLean, head of pension scheme funding at Willis Towers
Watson, said: “The deficits that employers need to pay off are measured
differently – they don’t assume that benefits will be cut back to PPF levels,
but they typically use less cautious assumptions.
“On any measure, though, the market reaction to Brexit has kicked
another big hole in pension schemes’ funding levels. Assets have grown – at
least when measured in sterling – but not quickly enough to keep pace with
the increased cost of paying promised benefits in a world where interest
rates and expected returns on assets are lower.”
New AE tool
WORKPLACE PENSION provider Aviva has launched a new tool for business
advisers and accountants to help them create simple but bespoke cost
reports for their clients. The aim is for a business adviser to be able to
quickly and effectively answer the number one question most employers will
have – ‘How much is auto-enrolment going to cost me?’
The reports, which are called ‘Auto-enrolment Costs Explained’, require
just a small amount of information. A business adviser will only need details
of their own charges and the client’s workforce and within minutes will
receive a link to the report.
Andy Beswick, managing director of business solutions at Aviva, said:
“Advisers can quickly and easily get a cost breakdown for their client which
they can then share. It will give the employer and the adviser or accountant
a clear indication of costs before they move on to the quote and apply
system.
“We have been working hard to make auto-enrolment journey as smooth
as it can be. We will work with businesses of all sizes, including micro
employers, to help them fulfil their workplace pension obligations.”
Small businesses not ready for AE
ACCORDING TO new research from Geniac, the business platform for
startups and small- to medium-size enterprises (SMEs), one in two of
startups and small businesses say they are not confident their business
will be ready to offer the automatic enrolment pension scheme within the
Government’s deadline.
Failing to tackle automatic enrolment could compound the issue of
small businesses being hit with unexpected costs. Nearly two-thirds (64%)
of small business owners say that unexpected costs have caused serious
business issues including having to let staff go to free up funds (7%).
Mike Galvin, co-founder of Geniac, comments, “Thousands of business
owners are simply in the dark over how to handle this major administrative
change, or are putting off sorting it because of the time involved. To avoid
unexpected penalties, business owners should seek professional advice to
get ready by the deadline.”
40
DB administration skills gap
TRAFALGAR HOUSE, the pensions administration
specialist, has called on the industry to do what
it takes to avoid a defined benefits (DB) skills
gap arising in the future and its resulting impact
on providers’ ability to competently manage DB
schemes.
Garry Wake, managing director of Trafalgar
House, commented: “The pensions industry in
the UK has two parallels. We have the [defined
contribution] (DC) sector, with auto-enrolment
and pensions freedoms putting DC firmly in the
spotlight … We then have the DB sector which is
effectively closed for business, with falling numbers
of members and the increasing de-risking of
schemes. It’s no surprise that any fresh new talent
coming into the industry will not only be drawn to
DC, but that companies are more likely to usher
them into that part of their business with a view of
future investment.
“However, there are many DB schemes with
a long tail of liabilities which still require strategic
support for their de-risking path and deficit recovery,
and it seems increasingly unlikely that the current
generation of experienced industry advisors are
going to be able to solve these issues before they
retire themselves. … While a recent survey from
the Pensions Management Institute showed that
the fall in the number of staff working in DB is not
at a critical stage just yet, the trend is most certainly
downward, and we would urge the industry to act
before it’s too late.”
Over-65s boost pensions by
working
METLIFE’S ANALYSIS of pensioners’ income
statistics reveals nearly one in seven over-65s
are boosting their retirement income by working,
earning around £296 in addition per week
(annual pay of nearly £15,400). The number
of over-65s working has increased from just
8% of the pensioner population in the past ten
years to 13% – the equivalent of 1.1 million
people. Pensioner couples are three times more
likely to be boosting retirement income by
working – around 21% of couples have earnings
from working compared with just 6% of single
pensioners.
Around 72% of all pensioners have private or
company pensions compared with 66% a decade
ago. And average pensioner incomes after tax and
housing costs are just 7% below average incomes
for working households.
Reward insight
The business case
for payroll giving
How payroll giving can help companies thrive
T
he ability to measure the value
that an organisation’s corporate
social responsibility policy delivers
to the bottom line has been the quest
of researchers for over three decades.
However, Jon Savage, head of people
management at leading toy retailer The
Entertainer, says all the evidence points
to the fact that engaging your employees,
suppliers and even your customers in
charitable giving creates a virtuous circle
from which everyone benefits.
The Entertainer launched a payroll
giving scheme in 2011 when it had 800
staff; now it employs 1,250 across 107
stores. The company achieved a Payroll
Giving Gold Quality Mark (10% minimum
participation) in the first year, 30% in
2012/13 and 41% by 2014/15. (The
current average uptake in any organisation
that implements a scheme is 6%.) The
Entertainer’s success has been due to total
commitment from the business owner,
a constant review of activity and the
development of creative tactics to increase
uptake including a rebranding of the
scheme in 2015 with a new strapline ‘Join
our community of workplace givers’.
Jon says “The teams see payroll giving
as a part of their benefits. The fact they
can link work and supporting charity
together creates a feel-good factor as
does the common sense of purpose as
the percentage of givers grows over time.
It’s important to communicate that well
so teams feel inspired. We have asked
employees to put together testimonials
and talk at conferences about their
personal causes and it’s really clear that
the link between work and giving creates
a positive feeling and encourages staff to
express and reflect something personal
that’s really important to them in their
lives. We have also won awards for our
payroll giving promotional activity which
provides a great boost to everyone in the
company.
“The sign up process is simple, the
payroll process is straight forward and
once the payments are up and running
the charities benefit immediately from a
regular income stream and don’t have to
worry about gift aid as the tax relief is all
taken care of at source. We see a lot of
smaller local charities being supported by
employees and for them this is a fantastic
and reliable way of fundraising to help
them deliver their good work.
“More and more employees want to
see their employer doing something that
supports the wider community. We have
chosen to 100% match our employee
donations so that creates a feeling of
collaboration and engagement with our
givers as well as a fantastic incentive to
sign up. We make a point of shouting
about our community work as we tithe
10% of our annual profit to good causes.
Payroll giving and the charity whip around
(which donates the pennies from monthly
pay to charity) allow the team members,
especially in our stores, to feel part of
something bigger and that the company
is doing everything it can to support
charitable causes. It creates a sense of
togetherness which benefits other parts of
the business e.g. service and sales.
“It’s hugely important in attracting the
best staff. Increasingly candidates place
importance on working for companies
with the right ethos. Our retention of staff
is also very high which in turn results in a
more experienced team and consistency
in store which helps build customer
relationships, which is vital when your
store is in the heart of the community.
It also saves money on recruitment and
training – although we do give out a lot of
long-service awards!
“We make a real point of promoting
our payroll giving scheme on our careers
pages, in our recruitment documents and
in our interviews. We get a great response
and some really positive feedback from
candidates about this. They like the idea
that the company is committed to putting
something back. It proves conclusively that
candidates are making choices about who
they want to work for with this in mind.
“It goes without saying that if your
teams feel good and feel positive that
reflects in service. There are a number of
different influences on customer service
but having a compelling and engaging
benefits offering makes staff feel good
and behave differently. The togetherness
piece absolutely drives good service and
payroll giving is playing an important part
in delivering that feeling.
“We receive lots of emails about the
company’s stance on giving and being
generous. We use Pennies as a means
of supporting charities via customer
purchases, which allows customers to
round up their purchases to the nearest
pound and give the extra amount to
charity and our customers have raised
over £1 million this way. But it’s surprising
how all of our other charitable activities
are recognised by customers and helps
to show that the business is ethical and
wants to do business in the right way.
“It’s no coincidence that the harder we
work at our charitable giving the more the
business thrives.” n
The National Payroll Giving Excellence
Awards are free to enter
www.payrollgivingawards.co.uk.
41
REWARD INSIGHT
The changing role of HR
Burke Turner, digital workplace consultant at We Are Atmosphere Limited, explores some
of the changes facing HR amidst digital transformation
A
s digital allows us to capture
and leverage data in ever more
sophisticated ways, so too is the
role of human resources (HR) changing.
With technology revolutionising ways
of working, digital transformation is real
and happening. However, it is through
achieving more agile corporate cultures
where collaboration is modus operandi
that digital transformation is facilitated, not
the other way around; culture changes the
power of tools. This is why people leaders
need to drive the agenda for new ways
of working with a seat at the table, and
renewed gravitas in their remit.
In order to better-support an
organisation that is undergoing change,
people leaders need to better-leverage
digital behaviours so as to understand
what is happening and where and when
intervention is needed; people leaders
need actionable data. With digital also
comes new threats to the function
of HR and work is needed to see the
opportunities to add greater value.
Times change, people change; the
Millennial mindset has brought different
expectations of work and the relationship
they expect to have with work. The
response from management to this
42
new and strange creature started as a
commentary on the self-centredness of
Generation Y and their impatience when
it came to their own career progression.
This has now matured towards a position
of mutual understanding that the
workplace is, not surprisingly, becoming
a vastly different place at an increasing
pace. Almost as if it is changing in front
of our eyes – which, of course, it is. As
Millennials approach a majority share of
the workforce, and having learned to read,
write and ‘rithmatic on and through digital,
(or perhaps it is tap, scroll, and swipe) this
change is inevitable and accelerating.
...the workplace is,
not surprisingly,
becoming a vastly
different place...
Leaders are expected to also be
coaches; somebody who will trust,
empower, and help Millennials to achieve
their potential.
The new generation have a set of
skills that are needed (and in many cases
somewhat beyond reach given time
restraints) for the future of business.
Creating a culture where teamwork can
apply vertically as well as horizontally and
where barriers are broken down across
the business can bring real benefits to an
organisation’s ability to innovate.
Tactical approaches to break
generational divides like hackathons
can generate a marketplace of ideas
and enable innovation throughout the
organisation.
Leadership training needs to gear
management to support the needs of
tomorrow’s demographic; if HR is not
supporting, or better still, driving this
agenda then intergenerational engagement
and collaboration will suffer.
Collaboration demands communication,
and open communication is one of the
keys to releasing innovation from within
the organisation. A global outsourcing
company, headquartered in India,
identified a barrier to innovation largely
due to a legacy authoritarian management
culture. By implementing a humancentred, employee first ‘ideapreneur’
programme across its 96,000 staff, the
business was able to realise 580million
dollars in value from bottom-up input.
Like many functions in business,
Reward insight
technology will continue to streamline and
offer cost savings to the role of HR which
presents a real threat to the profession.
However, it is technology that will provide
the competitive edge for people leaders
to get closer to their internal customers,
mirroring the change we have seen in
the way marketing departments have got
closer to their external customers. User-friendly efficient and accelerated
communication and management tools
are changing the face of HR. These
solutions are only feasible due to changes
in consumer behaviour, led by technology
pervading every aspect of our lives and
subsequently impacting our behaviour at
work. These changes include a propensity
to share, the importance of mobile,
and comfort with cloud-based data, as
demonstrated by the adoption of social
media.
Streamlining of HR continues through
an increasingly self-service model.
Managing leave and sickness online is a
game changer. Coupled with intelligent
software that can map resources to
demand, the functional work that
used to live within HR is shifting to a
more automated and employee driven
transaction. We see intelligent learning
software that can match the needs of the
labour force to the seasonality of demand,
to both reduce the administrative burden
of managing shift workers and improve
a business’s ability to service customers.
The behaviour is already there from the
way we all use our mobile devices that
employees are more than happy to log in,
to set their availability, and to self-manage
shift swaps.
Though enterprise social media has
crossed into mainstream, it is still being
held back from meeting its potential due
to the dominance of email. New tools
such as collaborative software and the
digital workspace (the evolution of the
intranet) allow teams to break email
dependency as well as function with
increased indifference to location and
timezone. The workflow that comes
with effective execution of collaborative
software, and the streamlining of project
updates, allows time together to be
reserved for debate, for bonding, for
challenge and for taking projects further,
faster.
Harvard Business Review makes the
argument for the triumvirate of leadership,
elevating the chief human resources
officer alongside the chief executive officer
(CEO) and chief finance officer as leaders
of the business. At an operational level, so
too the changes brought about by digital
deserve part sponsorship from the HR
perspective. With sufficient consideration
for the organisation’s cultural capacity to
adapt to change and adopt new tools
and systems, many barriers can be
reduced and pain reduced. HR needs
to be championing a more customer
centric approach to projects and involve
the internal customer in ways to help
deliver the return on investment that was
expected.
...the future of
work is already
here, it’s just
not very evenly
distributed
By embracing new consumer behaviour
as an opportunity to collect data, HR needs
to demonstrate some of the skills typically
owned by their peers in marketing.
Marketers have done amazing things with
digital behaviour, such as crowdsourcing
new product development (see ideas.
lego.com) and celebrating the customer
as voice of the brand (see Taco Bell’s
twitter feed). Similarly, HR needs to be
more aggressive in its expectation of what
digital can do to serve the changing needs
of the organisation. Less the function
of personnel and management, more
a function of trust and empowerment,
stewarding an environment that
accelerates the employees in meeting their
potential.
By actively listening and responding
to customers’ needs, new degrees of
customer intimacy are possible. Of course,
this is only made possible and efficient
due to a range of technology, and an
evolving social paradigm that exists in a
permanent state of ‘blurt’ (never before
have so many been so interested in
instagrammed photos of the meals of
so few). But it is this behaviour that is
enabling HR to listen to their people.
If HR is to realise the opportunity
enabled by digital, it needs to acknowledge
that data is king, and the bi-annual
employee engagement survey does not
meet the grade for what we call actionable
data. Through the use of a mobile app that
surveys the business on a weekly basis in
three minutes, tracking motivation and the
top three challenges of that week, people
leaders are now able to support their
decision-making with data. The job can
shift from appeasing and resolving to one
of proactive intervention. By identifying
which teams are tracking rises and falls in
motivation, and pairing with the concurrent
activity, leaders can now bring a new sense
of conviction to their recommendations
and use language such as “the data tells
us that…”
An ‘open door’ policy is a lovely idea
and a positive message, one that brings a
range of value. However, when the offer
is taken up, the risk is that the view of the
organisation narrows to reflect that single
employee’s needs. Despite best intentions,
the sentiment for the business can
easily be influenced by the loud minority
(those with sufficient reason to approach
for support or to give feedback). While
marketers relish talking to their customers,
they are wise to respect statistical
relevance when valuing data.
As change is constant, a workplace
culture which embraces change and
thrives on generating new ideas forms
a considerable part of a sustainable
competitive advantage. Employees
are empowered and trusted while
feeling responsible for the future of the
organisation. People are rewarded for their
contribution to a synergistic environment
at work; the team wins as a team.
If you think this is all a bit far-fetched,
remember that the future of work is
already here, it’s just not very evenly
distributed. The technology company
that drives a quarter of all websites
is distributed across fifty countries.
The Brazilian group Semco ran 3,000
employees with effectively no HR
department.
HR will continue to evolve away from
governance and functional tasks to a
position of stewarding an environment
where a culture of trust and empowerment
allows people to be productive and feel
tied to the future and direction of the
organisation.
If culture is determined by the CEO,
it is HR that will feed back to the CEO on
how, where, and when proactive behaviour
is needed to have the biggest impact on
the workplace culture. This will be where
HR can deliver unprecedented value to the
organisation today and into the future. n
Issue 23 | Septemer 2016 | Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
43
REWARD INSIGHT
TUPE, disability, racial
discrimination
Nicola Mullineux, senior employment specialist for Peninsula, reviews decisions in
three cases
Amaryllis Ltd v McLeod &
Others
The Employment Appeal Tribunal
(EAT) has overturned a finding that the
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of
Employment) Regulations 2006 applied
when a service contract was lost. The
current facts of the situation must be
looked at, it said, and not the historical
ones.
The claimants in this case worked for
a company called Millbrook. They had
a contract with the Ministry of Defence
(MOD) to carry out renovation of wood
and metal furniture for over fifty years.
However, between 2003 and 2008,
another company called Amaryllis carried
out work for the MOD, some of which
was sub-contracted to Millbrook. In 2008,
the MOD officially split the work into two
contracts: Millbrook was awarded the
contract for renovation of furniture, while
Amaryllis was awarded the contract for
new furniture supply.
Millbrook had carried out the MOD’s
renovations work as well as other work.
It was estimated that Millbrook’s workers
spent 70% on MOD renovation.
In 2014, all work was subject to retender and Millbrook lost the renovation
contract to Amaryllis.
The Employment Tribunal (ET) had to
decide whether Millbrook’s employees
should transfer to Amaryllis. To do this, it
needed to analyse whether, at the relevant
time, there was a specifically organised
grouping of employees assigned to the
MOD contract.
The ET held that the department at
Millbrook had originally been created
and dedicated to carry out work under
the MOD contract and it had done for
more than fifty years. It held that at the
relevant time there had been an organised
grouping of employees whose main
purpose was to carry out activities for the
MOD and that the claimants concerned in
this case were assigned to that grouping.
Although Millbrook had taken on other
work, the department had originally
...the relevant time was immediately
before the transfer; the historical
situation was not relevant
44
been set up to deal with MOD work and
therefore there was an organised grouping
of employees.
The EAT held that an organised
grouping of employees must be
purposefully organised by the employer
with the principal reason to carry out the
work in question and that the relevant
time was immediately before the transfer;
the historical situation was not relevant.
The ET had relied on facts relevant to the
carrying out of activities in general rather
than for a particular client.
It also decided that the ET had been
wrong to consider that the sole client
that the work had been carried out
for throughout the whole period was
the MOD, when in fact, the period of
subcontracting during 2003 and 2008
negated this. During those years, the client
for whom the work was carried out was
Amaryllis, not the MOD.
The EAT overturned the original
decision and held that the Millbrook
employees did not transfer to Amaryllis.
Carreras v United First Partners
Research
The EAT has decided the requirement for
an employee to work late was enough
to entitle him to claim he was being
Reward insight
discriminated against because of his
disability.
The claimant worked for an
independent brokerage and research
firm. He had opted out of the 48-hour
working week. He was involved in a
serious car accident and as a result he
began suffering from dizziness, fatigue,
headaches and difficulty concentrating.
These symptoms became more severe
in the evenings if he worked late and the
respondent was aware this.
In the first six months after the claimant
returned to work his working day reduced
to eight hours. After that he began
working longer again: from 8a.m. until
7p.m. Working late hours was expected
and necessary as the firm dealt with US
markets affected by time zone difference.
The claimant complained to the
respondent that he was forced to work
“unsuitable hours”. The respondent had
not requested or been provided with any
medical records; however, he had left
the claimant to work late only when he
thought he was able to. In fact, in October
2013, the claimant began requesting to
work until 9p.m. This was demonstrated
when the respondent began asking which
nights the claimant was working late,
rather than if he is willing to work late on
any days.
In February 2014, the claimant
complained in an email about the long
hours he worked. During a heated
discussion, the owner, Mr Mardel, raised
his voice and told the claimant that
he could leave if he didn’t like his job.
No attempts were made to mend the
working relationship and the claimant
resigned because, among other reasons,
he claimed Mr Mardel’s behaviour was
abusive, unacceptable and intimidating. The
claimant made a claim to ET that he had
been constructively dismissed, and he also
claimed disability discrimination.
The ET was satisfied that the claimant was
a disabled person within the meaning of the
Equality Act 2010 and that the respondent
was aware of that; however, it dismissed
the claims of disability discrimination and
constructive unfair dismissal because
Carreras had not been forced to work late.
An expectation that he would work late was
not a provision, criterion or practice (PCP)
which required him to do so.
The EAT held that the ET had taken too
narrow an approach. It concluded that a
‘requirement’ can come under ‘practice’.
Although a simple request cannot be a
PCP, the respondents had gone beyond
a request – there was an expectation and
an assumption that he would work late
which put him at a disadvantage. His claim
of disability discrimination was therefore
successful.
Taiwo v Olaigbe and another &
Onu v Akwiwu and another
The Supreme Court has decided, in two
cases heard together because of their
similar facts, that two individuals had not
suffered race discrimination when they
had been treated less favourably because
of their vulnerable migrant status.
The claimants in both cases were of
Nigerian nationality. Both respondents
provided false evidence about the
claimants’ work history in order to obtain
a migrant domestic worker’s visa. Both
respondents withheld the claimants’
passports upon arrival in the UK. Ms Onu
was even threatened that if she left or ran
away that the police would be alerted and
she would be arrested and put in prison.
Both workers cared for the respondents’
children and completed domestic work.
They were expected to be on duty during
all hours they were awake; in Ms Onu’s
case that was on average 84 hours a
week. Neither Ms Taiwo nor Ms Onu were
given a contract, rest breaks, annual leave,
nor paid the national minimum wage.
In the first case, Taiwo v Olaigbe, the
claimant moved to the UK in February
2010 to work in Mr and Mrs Olaigbe’s
home. Although she was paid £200 a
month for April, May, June and then £300
for August 2010, she had to return £800
to her employers. Ms Taiwo suffered
physical and verbal abuse: she was
slapped, spat at and mocked. She escaped
her employers in January 2011 with the
help of a playground worker who helped
her get in touch with the authorities. She
brought an ET case and was awarded over
£33,000 in compensation for failure to
pay the national minimum wage, failure
to provide a written contract and failure to
provide adequate rest periods. Her claims
...the discrimination was not related to
the claimant’s race
for direct and indirect race discrimination
were dismissed on the grounds that
the employers exploited Ms Taiwo not
because she was Nigerian, but because of
her instable and vulnerable immigration
status.
In the second case, Onu v Akwiwu, the
claimant worked for Mr and Mrs Akwiwu
in Nigeria and arrived in the UK in July
2008. She escaped in June 2010 when
she walked eight miles to the home
of a Jehovah’s Witness, as she did not
have money to pay for transport. At an
ET she was awarded compensation of
£86,000 for unfair constructive dismissal,
failure to provide a contract, holiday
pay, rest breaks, unpaid wages, injury to
feelings and aggravated damage. Her
claim for direct discrimination on the
grounds of race succeeded; however, the
employers appealed in that respect and
the EAT upheld the appeal, ruling that
the discrimination was not related to the
claimant’s race, but to her “subordinate
position and the relative economic
benefits of her work in the United
Kingdom compared with the poverty of
her situation in Nigeria.”
Both cases were then appealed and
heard together by the Court of Appeal.
The claim for direct discrimination failed
as the court held that immigration
status could not be interpreted as an
equivalent to nationality for the purposes
of the relevant Race Relations Act 1976
and Equality Act 2010. In relation to
the indirect discrimination claim due to
a PCP, the court held that mistreating
domestic migrant workers was not a PCP,
so the indirect discrimination claim was
dismissed.
The cases then escalated to the
Supreme Court (SC) where a ruling was
reached that neither of the claimants
suffered direct race discrimination as
they were not mistreated because of
their nationality, but because of their
vulnerability as a migrant worker. The SC
commented that there are many
non-British nationals working in the UK
who are not in the same vulnerable
position and are not subjected to the
same abuse. Secondly, the SC also held
that there was no indirect discrimination
as there was no PCP which the employers
applied universally to all their employees
which adversely affected employees
with the same immigration status as the
claimants. n
45
REWARD INSIGHT
Training
agreements
and NMW
Danny Done, managing director at Portfolio
Payroll, discussed the implications of the
decision in a recent case
E
mployers often provide training to
new staff with the aim that those
employees will then carry out work
for them immediately after the training is
completed. Unfortunately for employers
that does not always happen and some
employees leave during or shortly after
they have received the training. This leaves
employers in an unfavourable position:
they have spent time, money and effort
training an employee and instead they
are left with a job vacancy. Training
agreements can be useful in situations like
this as they can include a clause which
allows the employer to recover the costs
for the training.
It is not unusual for employers to
require staff to pay back their training
costs, especially if it involved gaining some
professional qualifications recognised
outside of the business which usually
attract a cost from the accreditation body.
When providing training, it is important to
ensure that a valid agreement is created
before any training takes place. If there is
no agreement or if it is unenforceable, and
the employer goes ahead to recoup its
costs, they could face a claim for unlawful
deduction from wages.
A training agreement is usually in
the form of a sliding time scale where
the amount the employee will have to
repay depends on how long they have
worked for the business after the training
is completed. For example, if they leave
immediately after the training they may
have to repay the full amount; however, if
they leave one year after the training they
may only be changed 50% of the training
costs.
It is best to have a written training
agreement signed by both the employee
and employer, which can be part of the
employment contract or contained in a
46
separate document which forms part of
the terms and conditions of employment.
Employers should make sure that the
agreement is entered into before training
begins and that it states a particular sum
which will become payable in the event
of the employee leaving within a specified
period of time. Although sometimes the
cost of in-house training may be hard to
estimate, employers should attempt to set
a proportionate sum for the training they
are offering.
...allow for an
employee’s wages
to be taken below
the NMW level
The long-standing position of HM
Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has been
that money deducted for the purpose
of recouping costs incurred for training
staff on topics that help them do their
job, cannot take the employee’s wages
below the national minimum wage
(NMW) rate per hour worked for that pay
reference period. The result of this was
that employers were unable to recover all
monies that they have spent to provide
training, even where a valid training
agreement had been signed. In cases
where the employee receives the national
minimum wage rate, it meant that the
employer could not recoup any monies.
However, an Employment Appeal
Tribunal (EAT) judgment ruled contrary
to the stance HMRC was taking. In the
case of Commissioners for Revenue and
Customs v Lorne Stewart PLC the EAT
held that relevant NMW regulations state
that deductions “in respect of conduct of
the worker, or any other event, in respect
of which he ... is contractually liable” allow
for an employee’s wages to be taken
below the NMW level. The EAT looked
at the meaning of “any other event” and
concluded that it does not necessarily
relate to an employee’s misconduct
but merely conduct in general. This can
be taken to mean that an employee’s
voluntary resignation will come under this
description.
This piece of case law set the
precedent that recovering monies an
employer has spent on providing or
arranging training for a member of staff
can take the employee’s wages below
the NMW, as long as there is a valid
training agreement and the employee is
responsible for the conduct which has
brought the training arrangement to an
end.
Employers should note that whilst
voluntary resignation can warrant reducing
the pay below NMW, a situation such as
a redundancy does not as it does not
depend on the employee’s conduct. This
principle can be extended to conduct
dismissals, too. Where an employer is
dismissing an employee due to their
misconduct, they can make deductions
which take pay below the NMW.
Employers should be wary about applying
this principle to capability dismissals, as
this area has not been tested at tribunal
and there may be a risk of a NMW
claim from the employee and a notice
of underpayment following an HMRC
inspection.
If the employee receives a rate of pay
above the NMW and if that stays that
way even after the deductions have been
made, then the employer is not under any
risk of breaching NMW legislation.
This principle naturally applies to both
the NMW and the national living wage, in
operation since April 2016. n
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Educating the nation
National Payroll Week
5-9 September 2016
FEATURE INSIGHT
How to lead inclusively
Stephen Frost, of Frost Included, reveals key traits and requirements of leadership
A
n organisation can have all the
systems and processes worthy
of a world class organisation, but
they count for nothing if the chief executive
officer (CEO) and senior figures in the
organisation don’t understand, lead and
deliver inclusion.
Aristotle developed three artistic proofs
of leadership and persuasion: logos,
pathos and ethos. These correspond with
understanding, leading and delivery. To lead
inclusively, the leader has to adopt all three
elements.
Logos is an appeal to logic, and uses
reason to generate buy-in. Pathos appeals
to peoples’ emotions and touches their
own sense of self, in order to create
followers. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and
relates to the character and credibility of the
leader.
As professionals we claim to like diversity,
but as human beings we still prefer
sameness. This is essentially confusion
between self and role.
Self is who we are as human
beings. Diversity is a mixture of DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid), social context and
accumulated life experience to date. Who
we have as close friends and colleagues
(our ‘in-group’), where we live, and whom
we love, all come together to make us who
we are as individuals. They reinforce our
sense of self and give life meaning as well
as define our own sense of place in the
world.
Being aware of this is essential if you
want to lead inclusively. If you are not
aware of your own in-group then you can’t
consciously include people from your outgroup.
Role is what we choose to do with our
48
time on this planet. It could be a train driver,
a photographer or a CEO. Within those
professions we may have choice over how
to fulfill our role. It could be to look out
for oneself or it could be to work as part
of a team. It could be to remain within
the comfort of our existing in-group or to
...without
recognising our
in-groups, without
knowing our self,
we cannot lead
inclusively
reach out to the out-group. In this sense
we can superficially embrace inclusion, or
truly achieve real inclusion by consciously
moving out of our comfort zone.
Our self is sacrosanct. Who we are
as individuals is hard-wired. A one-hour
training session on diversity cannot even
hope to change minds in regard to self.
Indeed, it may confirm and exacerbate
existing biases. But without recognising our
in-groups, without knowing our self, we
cannot lead inclusively.
If you only talk to someone in their role,
rather than as a person, you will be stuck in
a transactional relationship. This could be
valuable to the extent of their pay cheque,
but you will miss out on discretionary effort.
In order to gain discretionary effort from
the employee we have to allow them to
be themselves. Furthermore, they may
have to flex their self considerably to fit
into the role you are prescribing, which
would be inefficient. Far better for you to
intentionally flex your role so that they have
more chance of remaining in their self,
being happier, more authentic and more
productive.
Think about your role and what it is that
you want to get done. It is not contradictory
to be a white, straight man in one’s being
and yet advocate plurality in one’s role.
Indeed for the CEO or senior leaders of
a modern organisation this tension (as
opposed to contradiction) is an important
one to hold. The tension is between your
own self and role, their self and role and
your in-groups and out-groups. How you
can hold this tension will help you make
your mark as an inclusive leader.
What does leading inclusively (pathos)
look like? Inclusive leadership is personal,
sometimes messy and is about having the
courage to make ourselves vulnerable. It is
about adapting and absorbing risk so that
people can bring their whole selves to work
rather than remaining rigidly in their role.
It’s about being transparent, authentic and
mobilising others. It’s about appealing to
heart as well as head.
Are you adaptable in terms of flexing
your role so that others can be themselves?
Are you transparent in your decisionmaking so that information does not rely
on face-time and ‘who you know’? Are
you authentic, in terms of being yourself?
Leadership is a group process and the more
you can role model inclusive behaviour, the
more others will mimic it, especially if you
have more power than they do.
Delivery (ethos) is dependent on
behaviour – do as I do, not just as I
say. In the chapter on leadership in our
book Inclusive talent management: how
business can thrive in an age of diversity
Feature insight
(https://goo.gl/ix4H4P), Danny Kalman
and I analyse those behaviours that give
the CEO and other leaders the best chance
of making a difference. Holding people
accountable, campaigning rather than
dictating, being courageous to challenge
norms and delegate without guarantees of
return. We look at some tangible examples
of what inclusive leadership looks like in
practice, every day.
Accountability is important. Whereas
leadership is a group process, delivery
is about individual accountability. Not
letting those who are more networked
rely on their relationships to mask underdelivery, whereas those from an out-group
might not have their true effort and merit
acknowledged.
Campaigning is important – inclusion
doesn’t just happen, only leaders make
it happen. Making it a matter of fact to
highlight ‘inclusion’ in meetings, appraisals,
town halls and so forth is really important.
Of course sometimes courage is required,
especially if you are from an ‘out-group’
challenging the norm set by the ‘in-group’.
See whom you can partner with so that you
are not the sole proponent of change.
Finally, two ideas are especially helpful
...we may not even know we are
biased, we have the wrong intuition...
when it comes to getting things done. First,
walk the line. If you are always campaigning,
always challenging the norm you may get
shot down. But if you don’t campaign or
challenge at all, nothing will change. Only
you know where that line is on a daily basis,
but walk it.
Second, letting go. You can’t do all the
work yourself and the results would be
worse if you did. So you have to delegate
and give the work back. It may not be done
to the standard you would like, it may not
be executed in the method you would
suggest, but leading inclusively means
allowing everyone to maximise their input
to the collective good.
All of the above three elements of
leading are dependent on self-awareness
of our own biases. In 1970, Noel Burch
came up with the conscious ladder of
competence. This provided a four-step
framework of leadership moving from
unconscious incompetence through to
conscious and unconscious competence.
The hierarchy of competence is a useful
framework for thinking about inclusive
leadership.
At first, we may not even know we are
biased, we have the wrong intuition – we
are unconsciously incompetent. Then,
through discussion, perhaps through
training and some implicit association tests,
we become aware of our bias, we become
consciously unskilled. This can be a low
moment for executives as they are now
aware of the problem but feel unable to
solve it. We can then become consciously
skilled by proactively trying to mitigate our
bias through applied leadership, and if
we are successful this may even become
habitual, leading to unconscious skill. n
If you really want to lead inclusively, and
you believe you are an inclusive leader,
then you cannot outsource responsibility
for diversity to other people. You cannot
claim to believe in something you fail to
take responsibility for. Know yourself and
hold it sacred. But nudge your role – take
mini risks, learn, and grow as a leader.
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employee expenses
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49
FEATURE INSIGHT
Performance and
talent management
Jeanette Hibbert, payroll and shared services consultant of Neonblaze Consulting, discusses
this complex but vital part of an organisation’s strategy
T
alent management is important is
business and never more so than
now, if a business is going to tap
into its key resource – it’s people, in order
to succeed.
In The CEO’s guide to talent
management (‘the paper’; http://goo.gl/
buvi4y), Audrey B. Smith PhD, Richard
S. Wellins PhD and Matthew J. Paese
PhD (‘Smith et al’) state that talent
management has never been more of a
concern than it is now; however, rushing
into initiatives is not the solution. Anyone
involved in creating a solution must
think like a chief executive officer (CEO)
or board of a company. Understanding
the strategic drivers of an organisation
is essential. Smith et al’s approach (see
http://goo.gl/2E8nij) focuses on four
areas:
● the business landscape
● the talent required to succeed
● the game plan, and
● sustaining execution of the plan.
Whilst some businesses can not tell
you exactly what their talent management
is, one example used in the paper is a
CEO who, although he doesn’t have a
strict plan, attributes the growth of his
business to his exceptional people – but
perhaps more telling is the fact that he
spends more than half his time on talent
management. The paper goes on to say
that much feedback from the human
resources (HR) community is that CEOs
50
still see it as an afterthought and not
essential in terms of how it affects the
CEO’s plans for the business and their role
in making it happen.
The paper defines talent management
as: “the recruitment, development,
promotion, and retention of people,
planned and executed in line with your
organization’s current and future business
goals”.
The purpose? To close the gap between
the human capital a business has today
and the leadership challenge it will need
for tomorrow. The paper states that the
leadership of tomorrow needs to be
mobile, adaptable, culturally aware and
technologically enabled.
The research undertaken suggests there
is a significant shift in the amount of time
spent on talent-related activities and that
a company with a strong learning culture,
greater HR capabilities and worthiness
(good employer, good seller and good
steward) had greater success, with a shift
in the value of intangible assets moving
from 38% to 80% in one generation.
Smith et al list eight things that
CEOs struggle with in terms of talent
management:
● What you say and do matters more
than you realise. You have to lead and
champion your team with ongoing dialog
that drives unity and focus on current and
future business needs.
● Talent strategy doesn’t automatically
support your business goals. Base your
talent strategy on what are likely to be
your future business needs. Work to build
consensus about how to mobilise the
energy of the organisation in a common
direction and clarify accountabilities.
● Talent management isn’t just succession
planning. Balance the focus on ‘critical’
positions and key players – which is
often what succession management is
about – with broader strategies to support
leadership transitions at every level: from
individual contributor to leader, to leader
of leaders.
● Your eye for talent isn’t that good. CEOs
don’t get enough opportunity to get to
know and work with their people as they
once did.
● Potential isn’t everything. Performance,
potential and readiness are not the same
thing.
● Belief that a talent strategy exists,
when it doesn’t. Mapping high-potential
individuals to specific roles is succession
planning; talent management is about
...leadership of tomorrow needs to be
mobile, adaptable, culturally aware
and technologically enabled
Feature insight - Performance and talent management
having a pool of individuals with the right
skills and enhancing leadership skills on a
broader level.
● A team is more important than the sum
of its parts. Choose the best player for the
team as well as the role.
● Leaders should be responsible for and
have the skills to develop their people.
Some leaders tend to focus on correcting
weaknesses rather than capitalising on
talents.
The paper lays out this map for
successful talent management:
● create your vision
● list crucial leadership skills needed to
meet business drivers
● identify high potential leaders
● assess readiness and select
● accelerate development
● deploy talent, and
● ensure alignment and accountability for
performance.
Items 3, 4, 5 and 7 are perhaps where
the rest of the organisation plays more
of a part and are areas that need regular,
focused reviews of the human capital.
Smith et al list the use of management
reporting and key metrics as the main
ways of achieving these points, such as
performance management.
Whether we are actually involved in the
strategic decisions and operational support
or are aware only as a user of the process
as a manager or employee, we are all
aware of staff appraisals; but what do they
actually mean, and why do them?
Reactions to them vary – some see
them as essential to their business due
to engaging the workforce but some see
them as a complete waste of time. How
you and your organisation will see them
may well depend on how well they are
used as a tool. Some go through the
motions (and this can be a top down
issue or a manager issue), whereas
some organisations use them thoroughly
to ensure talent pipelines, succession
planning and developing staff to ensure
they are fully equipped to carry out their
roles and have a development plan for
next steps.
An article published by SAP’s
SuccessFactors (https://goo.gl/eHV5Fh),
starts with mentioning the many hours
HR departments expend at least annually
administering performance evaluations
with seemingly little payoff. (Maybe the
frequency – or lack of it, could be partly
why the appraisal system isn’t always
successful.) The article mentions two main
reasons for carrying them out: namely
to address poor performance and to
track and reward high performing team
members. My opinion (and management
training) is that the annual performance
appraisal should not be the first time poor
performance is discussed. There should
never be any surprises during this process
and not addressing performance issues
until this time is a failure on the part of
the manager.
SuccessFactors state that it is important
to acknowledge and reward employees
who exceed performance standards, to
let them know that they are important
to their colleagues, department and the
organisation as a whole. It is important
to have a set system and acknowledged
standard basis for this reward, as it will
encourage continued behaviours from
these employees and will encourage
others to do the same.
Many companies now link performance
into pay reviews whether in part or
completely, having set percentage
increases for differing brackets of
performance, usually with at least three
sections: exceeded expectations, met
expectations and below expectations, but
there can often be more brackets than
this.
The article also points to those
who may be only meeting and
underperforming, stating that people don’t
set out to be bad employees. I don’t like
the term ‘bad employee’ – it is extremely
negative and immediately suggests that
someone is not good, when in reality
there may be several reasons for people
not meeting expectations, such as not
having adequate tools for the job, poor
management or unrealistic expectations.
SuccessFactors go on to say that
the appraisal system should allow for
a baseline for employees to improve
performance and be viewed as successful
in the future. Generally, employees
want to do well and a performance to
pay culture makes employees engaged,
productive and loyal. I would agree, that
as long as the system is effective this
can work very well, but I don’t think an
annual appraisal is enough interaction and
development planning to maintain that
motivation.
● Rewarding high performers – The
article points out that this system
allows managers to: measure individual
performance in the team; identify top
performers; review behaviours from
the previous year; and carry out fair
compensation based on the results. In
reality, for some managers, this may be
the only time they sit down with their
employees on a one-to-one basis for a
significant period of time.
● Reducing employee turnover – The
article lists reasons for leaving as better
pay, low recognition or respect, better
work conditions, more interesting work
and opportunities to learn new things. All
of these can be tackled with an effective
appraisal system. Talent management
as part of a good appraisal system can
be essential to compare current skills
with those required for advancement,
to develop a training plan to prepare
employees for their next role.
● Identifying areas for improvement –
Addressing areas most closely linked to an
employee’s inability to reach their goals
is essential. As a manager you should
be discussing ideas to aid the employee
and working together on resolutions and
problem solving, identifying skills gaps
and negative behaviour traits to move the
employee from poor performance to at
least meeting and eventually exceeding
expectations. It is also important to focus
on and capitalise on high performing areas
and to try to learn from and utilise them.
If done properly, this should be an
ongoing process, rather than a once-a-year
event and should begin when a consistent
drop in performance happens, rather than
during a performance review. Appraisals
should not be seen as a negative
experience, otherwise the message of
what an appraisal is will be lost.
● Documentation as legal protection –
Appraisal systems can also be a good way
to protect your company, although they
shouldn’t just be used to record negative
behaviours. They should be used so that
your employee can put forward their side
of the situation so that you can resolve
the issue together. A good audit trail is
essential if the poor performance leads
to a dismissal as you may well need the
evidence should a case be taken to a
tribunal. Be aware that under a subject
access request made by the employee,
you would have to show any or all
information held for that employee, so
be aware of this when documenting your
plans and conversations.
The SuccessFactors's article also has a
51
FEATURE INSIGHT
good case study with First Reliance Bank,
showing how the appraisal system worked
both for employees and the organisation.
They used SuccessFactors’s performance
and goals solution to identify core
competencies per role to allow managers
to set goals and measure against them
in a structured, disciplined setting. The
organisation set annual reviews and
goals, with monthly reviews of the goals
and milestones. By using this method,
the organisation gained insight into the
employees’ perception of individual
and group performance, including gaps
in communications. This helped the
organisation better track performance
and improve their own communications
to employees. So the system not only
gave them the ability to accurately link
pay to performance, it improved how
they worked with their employees.
Appraisals should not be a one-way
process.
Rich Wellins PhD and Linda Miller
of DDI World insist that performance
management should not be an annual or
six-monthly exercise, but a daily activity/
conversation (http://goo.gl/qSqgY8).
Statistics show that organisations with
effective performance management,
with up-skilled managers who coach for
development are fourteen times more
likely to have high leadership strength, 1.8
times more likely to be in the top third of
financial performers and have a 1 to 20
per cent increase in customer retention,
revenue and engagement (sources:
Global Leadership Forecast 2014|2015
(http://goo.gl/uFr9Yc) and Brandon Hall
Group 2015).
...a baseline
for employees
to improve
performance
and be viewed as
successful in the
future
DDI World is just one of many
organisations that can help in terms
of organisational readiness, and
Training course
Certificate in Payroll Practice
Three day duration
This course is aimed at both new people who require an introduction to
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This three day course is delivered via classroom learning by qualified tutors and consists
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Day one - introduction to PAYE and NICs provides a solid grounding in core payroll skills.
Day two - introduction to statutory payments concentrates on the complex rules of SMP,
SPP, SAP, SSP, ShPP and associated leave, and contains all recent legislative changes.
Day three - essential additions to basic payroll is ideal for those wishing to understand
the interaction between payroll and other internal and external bodies and deductions
that can be taken from pay in addition to PAYE and NICs.
For full details or to book your place, please visit cipp.org.uk,
email [email protected] or call 0121 712 1063.
cipp.org.uk
52
SuccessFactors just one software
company with offerings in performance
management. If this is an area your
organisation is looking to review, there are
many consultancy firms that would come
and help with your strategy; and many
business universities and colleges offer
courses to train in the necessary skills.
Systems such as Appraisd, emPerform,
Actus, Performance Analytics and Halogen
Software are but a few systems available,
with many companies such as SAP, Oracle,
Workday and MHR offering integrated
HRIS solutions. Companies such as
Northgate Arinso have developed smooth
integration between SuccessFactors and
Workday so that you can utilise the best of
breed talent management solutions with
your human resource information system
software seamlessly.
In summary, talent management is a
complex but vital part of an organisation’s
strategy in an increasingly global,
challenging and changing business world.
Successfully implementing and running a
talent management process can ensure
your business is as ready for tomorrow as
it can be. n
Counts
towards
CPD
Feature insight - Performance and talent management
management strategies
Lisa Gillespie, Moorepay’s HR services director, discusses what it means for organisations
and what might happen in the future
H
igh-performing organisations
have clear performance
management and talent
management processes embedded in
their human resources (HR) strategy,
regardless of the size of their talent
pool. But if you only ever use the term
‘performance management’ in the context
of discipline or under-performance you
are not directing your energies into
creating a performance-led culture.
Last year the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development produced
a research paper (http://goo.gl/Lq0Zg)
which created some useful working
definitions for talent management that are
worth considering:
● “...talent means those individuals who
can make a difference to organisational
performance either through their
immediate contribution or, in the longerterm, by demonstrating the highest levels
of potential...”, and
● “...talent management is an end-toend process of the systematic attraction,
identification, development, engagement,
retention and deployment of those
individuals who are of particular value
to an organisation, either in view of their
‘high potential’ for the future or because
they are fulfilling business/operation-
critical roles.”
When you think about the
‘management’ aspect of this definition you
will note it is built on attracting the right
individuals and identifying their potential.
The rest of it is about creating the right
environment to enable them to achieve
their potential. Why do I emphasise this?
It’s important because the concepts of
attracting talent and identifying potential
can be very subjective activities.
Recruitment relies heavily on factors
such as the impact of the company
brand and how a role is positioned in the
first instance to get the best candidates
interested. Your candidates likewise
will be doing their best to portray how
they meet your criteria and positioning
themselves as the best fit for the role and
the organisation.
In that context it is not difficult to see
why bringing in talent can be a constant
process within larger organisations, and
this has led to extensive development in
recruitment and selection over the years.
Steve Hankin of McKinsey & Company
coined the phrase the ‘war for talent’
in 1997 as part of research identifying
talent management as a critical business
challenge, which is as true today as it was
two decades ago.
...Brexit has added a further layer of
complexity in the ‘war for talent’ for
UK-based organisations...
We are living in times of change. Brexit
has added a further layer of complexity
in the ‘war for talent’ for UK-based
organisations that operate in talent cycles,
building knowledge and capability into
their growth and people strategies.
Will it be more difficult to recruit the
right talent to the UK market? What impact
will leaving the European Union (EU)
have on the UK’s ability to retain talent
in sectors relying heavily on skills more
commonly sourced from the broader EU
community?
Retention and deployment of
individuals may be easier for organisations
with a footprint across the EU in the
coming years but a number of sectors
may extend the reach of technologies
within their business processes to
minimise the impact of the huge changes
which lie ahead.
For organisations capable of adapting
in this way there are already excellent
performance management tools available.
It is worthwhile spending some time
now looking at the advantages of adapting
talent and performance management
strategies in the context of a postBrexit UK, and considering options for
harnessing the power technology brings to
high-performance cultures.
Attracting and building talent through
more sophisticated approaches is one
step human resource leaders can take to
insulate against the unpredictable world
we’re heading towards. n
53
TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT
Why it’s time to move to a
digital mindset
Adam Reynolds, chief executive officer of webexpenses, explains that digital offers a
smarter and simpler way to get things done
I
t’s easy to forget how many things
we once took for granted were
swept away by the arrival of digital
technology. How, not so long ago, our
offices were still mostly analogue worlds
full of fax machines, filofaxes and paper
filing systems.
But the shift from analogue to digital
has affected much more than the tools
we use to work – it has fundamentally
changed the way we interact with each
other.
From chatting to friends via social media
to getting the latest financial news, we
now have the ability to access and share
information in ways never previously
possible.
It means that our move to digital has
brought with it a wider shift in our attitudes
and expectations. To see this, you only
have to look at how our views towards
deliveries have changed over the past
decade.
In the pre-digital world, a customer
ordering an item for delivery would expect
to be given a rough estimate of when it
may arrive – usually some time within
ten working days – and then they would
simply wait.
Compare this to the present day and
our expectations when ordering something
online. We expect an exact delivery time
and date, as well as the ability to track the
order throughout the process – even down
to the name of a delivery van driver.
It’s thanks to technology that companies
are now able to provide this level of
service, with companies switching over
to digital systems which use the global
positioning system to track deliveries.
But our rising expectations pose
a considerable challenge to those
54
companies that are unable to meet them;
that are still reliant on old analogue and
paper-based ways of working.
While, in the past, we would accept a
certain level of analogue ‘fuzziness’ in the
way organisations were run, in a digital
environment we expect better.
...removes
the analogue
‘fuzziness’
from expenses,
providing
managers
with clear and
accurate data
The way we manage employee
expenses is a good example. In a predigital world, businesses had no option
but to handle expenses by hand. We relied
on employees submitting crumpled paper
receipts and providing finger-in-the-air
travel mileage estimates.
These paper-based processes made
effective expenses management virtually
impossible, meaning that a certain amount
of ‘wiggle’ room had to be allowed. And
it was in this space that exaggerated and
falsified claims could thrive.
But we now have digital tools which
provide a much smarter way to manage,
replacing old paper-based methods with
fast and automated systems. It removes
the analogue ‘fuzziness’ from expenses,
providing managers with clear and
accurate data.
Whereas processing claims used to be
slow and cumbersome, expenses data is
now available in real-time – transforming
the way expenses are able to be managed
and monitored.
With these kinds of benefits available to
businesses, why do so many companies
continue to rely on old analogue ways of
working?
In the past, the main reason has been
the prohibitive cost of digital systems,
meaning they were a realistic option
only for larger organisations. Before the
arrival of cloud services, businesses faced
the costs of purchasing, managing and
maintaining their own IT set-up.
But as costs have dropped and cloud
technology has improved, access to digital
management systems is now possible for
organisations of all shapes and sizes. It
means the barrier facing businesses is now
more about attitude than access.
The challenge of change is greatest
for those organisations that have been
formed in an analogue business world of
manual and paper-based processes. For
these companies, the danger is that digital
technology is viewed as a threat rather
than an opportunity.
They will find that analogue ways
are become increasingly anachronistic;
an increasing obstacle when trying to
compete against businesses that have
adopted a digital mindset. There really is
no going back to the analogue age.
The simple reason for the powerful
influence of digital technology is that it
offers a smarter and simpler way to get
things done. Whether it’s sharing photos
with our friends or managing company
finances, there’s only going to be one
winner when it comes to digital versus
analogue. n
Confessions of a payroll manager –
‘Mighty Morphin Payroll Rangers!’
Another episode in a series of occasional
yet insightful/inciteful, anonymous
and whimsical reports revealing the
arcane, weird and sometimes torturous
world of payroll frequented by payroll
professionals.
Y
ou know that feeling you get when
walking around a shop, perfectly
innocently without thought of
shoplifting or being even vaguely naughty,
and suddenly you spy the security guard?
Despite the fact that you know you’ve done
nothing wrong and the only thing you’ve
ever stolen in your life is a wheel off your
little brother’s scooter to make a unicycle for
your pet rabbit, there’s a guilt that washes
over you. A sense that somehow you’ve
been caught! That’s exactly the feeling I
had a week last Tuesday when the finance
department called to set up a visit from the
internal audit team.
As a manager of a sensitive team of
misfits and the much-misunderstood, it
was my task to see them through the audit
despite my own fears. Much like a mum
catching a spider in her bare hands to prove
to little Timmy that they’re not at all scary
while simultaneously seeing spots in front of
her eyes and reassuring herself she’ll shower
with Jif later. That’s me, with my team.
It was time to bring out my annual (fool
proof) strategy for getting through an audit.
Soft soothing sounds, sympathetic Bambi
eyes and the three rules of audit survival for
them all to get behind.
● Rule one – be careful what you say.
Even if that means pretending you’re on
a sponsored silence for world biscuit day
– better to say nothing at all than confess
to signing off Mr Crumbitt’s underwear
expenses (long story!).
● Rule two – make the auditors lots of tea.
It’s hard to act intimidating when they’re
constantly running to the toilet!
● Rule three – do not offer the auditors
any of Mr Crumbitt’s ‘special’ biscuits. The
apprentice three back from Jace offered the
audit team a plate full of ‘mustard’ creams.
The audit was somewhat cut short that year
and the report was damning!
There was also a lot of time spent
reassuring the team that really we had
nothing to hide and we are very good
at what we do with controls sufficient to
impress MI5. Despite this, Evie started
sobbing at one point and finally confessed
that she was three days behind with her
filing. Two hot chocolates later and a hug
from Tom Cumberland (crafty Evie!) she
was bright as a button and filing merrily in
the stacks. The power of cocoa, sugar and
Tom!
After a rather tense start to the team
audit survival meeting (which felt more
like a Western stand-off than a gathering of
friendly colleagues) we managed to have a
thorough look at all the areas the auditors
wanted to inspect: gross to net calculations,
termination payments, expenses and the
control accounts. (I’m meant to reconcile
the controls every month – but though
thinking I might have missed a couple it
turned out to be seven! Oops – security
guard guilt!)
The night before the audit, the team
upped a gear and transformed into
something resembling the Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers. We were seriously kick
ass! Jace was on food and drink detail (his
takeaway ordering was almost military in its
efficiency – and we got three free pizzas),
while the rest of us got filing up to date,
crossing ‘t’s, dotting ‘i’s and giving everything
a darn good tidy. As we sat and ate our free
pizzas I told the team about past audits and
I suddenly realised they were all properly
listening to me. There was actual silence
(apart from the sound of tearing pizza base
and the occasional muffled belch – pardon).
A couple of them were taking notes and
I was happy to see that everyone looked
really rather relaxed.
On audit day this spirit of relaxation,
confidence in our processes and general
camaraderie led to a very successful
outcome – we were deemed ‘excellent’. I
was so proud of them all I had to excuse
myself and go and have a little cry on the
fire escape. There was only one slight
hiccup which came from Jace taking my “be
friendly” advice just a little too far and asking
one member of the audit team out on a
date. My embarrassment was short-lived
however as she immediately agreed and
they’ve swiftly become the romance story of
the year.
So, it’s back to whatever can be called
‘normal’ in the office and the team have
been floating on the cloud of audit success
for a couple of days now. For me it’s
straight back to expenses wizardry as Mr
Crumbitt has handed in a claim form for
two metres of liquorice ribbon, eight jars of
pickled onions, a pasta roller and a pair of
Spiderman pants. The mind boggles! o
The Editor: Any resemblance to any
payroll manager or professional alive
or dead, or any payroll department
or organisation whether apparently or
actually portrayed in this article is simply
fortuitous.
55
Useful contacts
Content is supplied by the organisations themselves. Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward
cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is supplied or the views
contained therein. If in any doubt, please contact the organisation directly.
To book one or more entries in the Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward useful contacts directory,
contact Jill Bonehill or Jack Grinnell on 0121 712 1033 or email [email protected]
Consultancy
i-Realise Ltd
6-9 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, UB11 1FW
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 20 3008 6358
Website: www.i-realise.co.uk
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Goldfinger House, 245 Cranmore Boulevard, Shirley,
Solihull, West Midlands, B90 4ZL
Tel: 0121 712 1000 Fax: 0121 712 1001
Website: www.cipp.org.uk
i-Realise bridges the gap between the needs of the business and the payroll
system provider to ensure a successful implementation, regardless of whether
the payroll system is managed in-house or outsourced. By adding experience,
resources and skills in project management, business analysis and change
management, i-Realise bolsters your team to provide the right skill sets.
i-Realise ensures that any payroll system is implemented smoothly and
effectively, delivering real value to the business.
The CIPP offers a global consultancy service for organisations wishing to undertake
a global payroll project. We are able to offer experienced and impartial advice on:
1. What global payroll is
2. How to select and implement a global payroll solution
3. How to move it to shared services and potentially outsource
We will also advise on how to use analysts and advisors, and how to select an
implementation partner.
BENEFITS DELIVERED
Consult
Compliance and quality standards
Payroll Assurance Scheme (PAS)
and Payroll Quality Partnership Scheme (PQP)
Tel: 0121 712 1000 Fax: 0121 712 1001
Website: www.payrollcompliance.org.uk
The CIPP Payroll Assurance Scheme (PAS) provides organisations with assurance
that the payroll processes in place are fit for purpose and comply with government
legislation. It also ensures that suitable processes are in place for preparing for
legislative and organisational change.
The Payroll Quality Partnership (PQP) scheme demonstrates an organisation’s
commitment to best practice in the development of its payroll people. The PAS
and PQP schemes are delivered as one package to acknowledge the differences
of each scheme but to demonstrate that they share the common purpose of
improving performance across the whole payroll function.
Fully managed outsourced payroll services
Bond Payroll Services
Suite 6, Gatwick House, Peeks Brook Lane, Horley,
Surrey RH6 9ST
Contact: Robert Cooper
Tel: +44 (0) 1293 789 940 Fax: +44 (0) 1903 707080
Website: www.bondpayrollservices.co.uk
Bond Payroll Services is a BACS registered, flexible, fully managed payroll
outsourcing solution for organisations of all sizes. Using payroll software
developed in-house, Bond Payroll Services becomes the organisation’s payroll
department. Fully compliant with all legislation, your organisation will benefit
from the latest payroll technology and be reassured by a team of experienced,
qualified payroll professionals.
Bond Payroll Services is part of Bond International Software (UK) Ltd.
Capita HR Solutions
65 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7NQ
Tel: 087 0240 7341
Website: www.capitahrsolutions.co.uk
Capita is the most experienced provider of multi process HR & Payroll Shared
Service Outsourcing in the UK with over 25 years’ experience with an excellent
track record of implementation and delivery. Our organisation is dedicated
to delivering quality & value to clients through tailored solutions and service
levels that enable businesses to focus on their own objectives; change,
efficiency, innovation, growth & profitability. Capita services include Payroll, HR,
Recruitment & Employee Engagement Outsourcing.
ePayMe
Alba House, Mulberry Business Park, Fishponds Road,
Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 2GY
Tel: 0800 622 6119
Website: www.epayme.co.uk
We are a specialist recruitment outsourcing company, providing a
comprehensive range of payroll and accounting services to contractors and
recruitment agencies.
Sit back, relax and enjoy life knowing your financial affairs are in capable hands.
With our state-of-the-art software directly linked with HM Revenue & Customs,
we are keeping you up-to-date and compliant at all times.
Fast registrations, fast payments and unrivalled customer service makes
ePayMe a True Market Leader.
Frontier Software
63 Guildford Road, Lightwater, Surrey, GU18 5SA
Tel: 0845 3703210 Contact: Sales Department
Target Employee Range: 50+
Website: www.frontiersoftware.com
Frontier Software’s payroll service is tailored to each organisation as we
understand that each has its own requirements. From bureau to fully managed,
we offer security and backup to ensure a smooth and confident payroll
operation. We are auto-enrolment and Real Time Information ready.
• Dedicated experienced payroll team • Accurate, flexible and reliable
service • Business disaster recovery • UK Processing centres • BACS
approved bureau • PAYE Recognition Scheme accredited
Intelligo
78 York Street, London, W1H 1DP
Tel: 0800 0390116 Fax: 0800 0390117
Contact: Frances McDonald
Website: www.intelligosoftware.co.uk
56
Intelligo’s tailored payroll service, Intellipay, encompasses everything from a basic
bureau service to a fully managed payroll solution where we become your payroll
department. For a fixed monthly fee we process your payroll using our own
renowned payroll software, Megapay. Our solution comprises:
• Full payroll processing including all statutory returns • Extensive Suite of Payroll
Reports • Auto Enrolment and RTI compliant • Allocated, Highly Experienced, Payroll
Specialists • Branded Employee Helpline • Employee Self Service web portal
Intelligo is a true Partner for your Payroll needs.
The Chartered Institute
of Payroll Professionals
Payroll Quality
Partnership
directory
MHR
Ruddington Hall, Ruddington, Nottingham NG11 6LL
Tel: +44 (0) 115 945 6000 Fax: +44 (0) 115 940 5286
Website: www.midlandhr.com
MHR, formerly MidlandHR, specialises in helping organisations to understand,
equip and take care of their people to ensure focus, motivation and high
performance. We provide tools needed to embrace operational and strategic
challenges, covering talent management, HR, payroll and business analytics.
SOFTWARE I OUTSOURCING I CONSULTANCY I ANALYTICS
Moorepay Ltd
Warwick House, Hollins Brook Way, Pilsworth,
Bury, BL9 8RR
Tel: 0845 184 4615
Website: www.moorepay.co.uk
At Moorepay, we have been supporting businesses with their people processes
since 1966. Offering services, software, consultancy and training across various
payroll and HR solutions, we will help you manage your people and their needs.
Designed for businesses large and small, our managed payroll solution takes care of
the whole payroll operation, including data capture, processing, printing, distribution
and reporting. We manage it all for you, removing the entire payroll burden.
NGA Human Resources
Peoplebuilding 2, Peoplebuilding Estate, Maylands Avenue
Hemel Hempstead, HP2 4NW
Tel: 0800 035 0545
Website: www.ngahr.co.uk
NGA Human Resources are market leaders in helping organisations transform
their business critical Payroll operations to deliver more effective and efficient
people critical services. We help our clients become better employers through
smarter, more streamlined business processes; to save money, manage
employee lifecycles and support connected agile organisations. Our payroll
solutions are flexible and powerful to support business growth and are available
on-premise, via the cloud or as a fully managed outsourced service.
OneSource Virtual
1 Ropemaker Street, Suite 1223, London, EC2Y 9HT
Tel: +44 (0) 208 895 4657
Contact: UK Sales Team
Website: www.onesourcevirtual.com
OneSource Virtual offers Managed UK Payroll Services that reduce administrative
burdens and allow you to reclaim internal resources for more strategic projects.
As a Workday Service Partner, our multinational payroll services are exclusive
to Workday customers. By operating within your Workday application we
become an extension of your organisation, lowering risk and reducing failure
points. Delivered by experienced UK payroll professionals who are also Workday
Experts, our service levels are designed for flexibility and control.
Sage (UK) Ltd
4 Witan Way, Witney, Oxon OX28 6FF
Tel: 01993 862181 Fax: 01993 709300
Website: www.sage-snowdropkcs.co.uk
Sage UK has brought together Snowdrop (HR) and KCS (Payroll) to deliver
best-of-breed HR and Payroll software and outsourced services to larger
organisations across the UK.
Our award winning Payroll software offers the full breadth of functionality,
alongside compliance with UK, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Guernsey and
Jersey legislation. As a highly flexible and scalable solution it can be delivered
as either an in-house or outsourced solution, catering for 5-50,000 employees.
Global payroll
Tel: 0121 712 1000 Fax: 0121 712 1001
The CIPP offers a global consultancy service for organisations wishing to undertake
a global payroll project. We are able to offer experienced and impartial advice on:
1. What global payroll is
2. How to select and implement a global payroll solution
3. How to move it to shared services and potentially outsource
We will also advise on how to use analysts and advisors, and how to select an
implementation partner.
Consult
Integrated payroll and HR
ADP
Syward Place, Pyrcroft Road, Chertsey,
Surrey KT16 9JT
Tel: 0800 180 4994 Fax: 01932 597 075
Website: www.uk.adp.com
At last, a total solution for payroll, human resource and time & a ttendance from
a single supplier. With the underlying technology all owned and developed by
ADP, our solutions deliver an integrated approach from ‘punch in’ to ‘payslip’.
Paying 33 million people every payday and supporting 26 million time and
attendance users, ADP is a proven and trusted supplier offering you a single
point of support and one point of responsibility, us!
Bond HR & Payroll Software
Warwick House, 48 Collingwood Road, Witham,
Essex CM8 2DZ
Tel: +44 (0)1376 519413 Fax: +44 (0)1376 520471
Contact: Joanne Ward
Website: www.bondhr.com
Bond HR & Payroll Software, a division of Bond International Software
(UK) Limited, is a leading provider of Payroll, HR and Time & Attendance
software with 30 years experience. Bond Teamspirit’s modular software can
be implemented as standalone or fully integrated, operating from a single
database. Our range of solutions can also be delivered in a way which best
suits your business - in-house, outsourced or on a hosted basis. Choose
from Payroll, HR, Time & Attendance, P11D and Recruitment and web-based
Manager/Employee Self Service and eApply.
Carval Computing Ltd
Interchange Business Centre, Howard Way, Interchange
Park, Newport Pagnell MK16 9PY
Contact: Sales team
Tel: 01908 787700 Fax: 01908 787750
Website: www.carval.co.uk
Carval HR Unity is a range of highly flexible, integrated software for HR and
Payroll professionals that reduces administration, automates processes and
provides easy access to accurate information. All solutions combine powerful
reporting tools with ease-of-use. Benefit from over 20 years’ experience,
first-class support from qualified professionals who understand your business
needs and data integration services. HMRC- accredited.
HR • TRAINING • E-RECRUITMENT • SELF-SERVICE • PAYROLL • T&A •
TIMESHEETS • ACCESS CONTROL
Cascade Human Resources Ltd
New Pudsey Court, 101A-103 Bradford Road
Pudsey, Leeds LS28 6AT
Tel: 0113 255 4115 Fax: 0113 255 9073
Contact: Andy Court
Website: www.cascadehr.co.uk
We supply our own integrated HR and Payroll solutions that use the very latest
Microsoft technologies such as .NET.
Our solutions stand out because they are process driven, business effective,
proactive and adaptable. We have recognised that HR and Payroll departments
needed systems that deliver features rich with opportunity rather than just a
database with reports. We call it a ‘doing’ system. This means that rather than
just a database Cascade is an extra member of your team.
57
Useful contacts
Cintra HR & Payroll Services
Computer House, 353 High Street
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 1ET
Tel: 0191 478 7000 Fax: 0191 478 6060
Contact: Nham Lee Email: [email protected]
Website: www.cintra.co.uk
Cintra offers a uniquely customer focused approach combined with a robust,
flexible and evolving mix of software and services tailored to meet your
organisational requirements. With its broad customer portfolio covering both public
and private sectors along with highly trained, experienced and motivated staff,
Cintra offers the natural choice for Payroll and HR solutions in the UK. If you are
looking for a long term partnership where solutions, in-sourced or out-sourced, are
tailored to your individual needs with no hidden costs why not give Cintra a call,
the friendly face of Payroll and HR.
Frontier Software
chris21 features a versatile and functional Payroll Management solution featuring
comprehensive payroll rules to meet statutory compliance, stringent payroll
requirements and extensive auditing and security facilities
chris21 will also allow seamless integration with an organisation’s HR function
and is continually enhanced and updated to keep abreast of business and
government legislative changes. Additional modules include Time & Attendance,
Employee/Manager self service, Learning and Development, Recruitment,
expenses and health & safety. Frontier Software is accredited to PAYE
Recognition Scheme, ISO27001 and ISO9001:2000 and BACS approved.
Intelligo
Tel: 0800 0390116 Fax: 0800 0390117
Contact: Fiona Cullinane
MHR
Tel: +44 (0) 115 945 6000 Fax: +44 (0) 115 940 5286
Intelligo is a leading provider of corporate Human Resource and Payroll Software
and Services with clients ranging from 500 to 20,000+ employees. Megapay,
Intelligo’s owned and developed payroll system integrates seamlessly with
MegaHR, a web-based Human Resource solution. Built on a shared database this
allows for accurate sharing of information between Payroll and Personnel, ensuring
key employee data is entered once. Megapay and MegaHR are available to
purchase as either an On Premises installed solution or on a SaaS basis.
Additional modules include Employee/ Manager Self Service, Training,
Recruitment, Consultancy, plus much more.
Miracle Dynamic Solutions Ltd
Miracle House, 12 Miller Court, Severn Drive, Tewkesbury,
Gloucestershire, GL20 8DN
Tel: 0845 634 5015
Website: www.miracle-dynamics.com
Miracle Dynamics is the leading provider of Payroll and HR solutions for
Microsoft Dynamics NAV and AX. Our HMRC recognised solutions can
address the most complex HRM information management requirements with
our sophisticated functionality. Today our solutions are run by over 1,000
companies worldwide from below 50 to over 40,000 employees, in a diverse
range of sectors including construction, leisure, retail, recruitment, umbrella, IT,
manufacturing and many more.
NGA Human Resources
Tel: 0800 035 0545
NGA ResourceLink is the HR and payroll platform of choice for hundreds of
UK organisations of varying sizes across a range of industry sectors. Like them,
you will find that it has the tools you need to attract, recruit, develop, empower,
retain and reward the best people. Available on premise, via the cloud or as an
outsourced service, NGA ResourceLink is a proven solution for reducing costs,
saving time and improving effectiveness across your HR and payroll functions.
Pyramid HR Ltd
Holly Farm Business Park, Honiley, Kenilworth, Warks CV8 1NP
Tel: 01926 485085 Fax: 01926 485069
Contact: Mark Franklin Email: [email protected]
Website: www.pyramidhr.co.uk
Pyramid HR Ltd offers a sophisticated payroll/HR System. Running on
Microsoft SQL, the single database architecture means seamless interfacing
between all available modules. Pyramid is a key provider of systems to all
sectors of employment including local authorities to companies exceeding
20,000 employees.
Sage (UK) Ltd
Tel: 01993 862181 Fax: 01993 709300
The Sage HR & Payroll software suite, SnowdropKCS, comprises a wide
range of modular tools that address everything from recruitment, personnel
and payroll, through to training administration, performance management
and employee self-service. Each module is available either integrated or
standalone, to suit your individual requirements.
Payroll bureaux
ADP
Syward Place, Pyrcroft Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 9JT
Tel: 0800 180 4994 Fax: 01932 597 075
As the largest payroll service provider in the world, and with 60 years industry experience, ADP offer a range of bureau payroll services to suit your business size,
from 1 to 10,000+ employees. With solutions for payroll, time and attendance
and HR, including a Background Check service, ADP can help you streamline
your processes, allowing your staff to focus on core business activities.
Bond Payroll Services
Suite 6, Gatwick House, Peeks Brook Lane, Horley,
Surrey RH6 9ST
Tel: +44 (0) 1293 789 940 Fax: +44 (0) 1903 707080
Website: www.bondpayrollservices.co.uk
Bond’s Bureau Payroll Service provides the benefits of outsourcing the
day-to-day running of payroll activities, whilst still retaining an in-house
payroll system and complete control. The bureau solution from Bond Payroll
Services provides the benefits of a dedicated team of experienced, qualified
professionals and the latest technology, whilst eliminating the upfront costs
associated with software licence fees and maintenance.
Bond Payroll Services is part of Bond International Software (UK) Ltd.
58
directory
Tel: 0191 478 7000 Fax: 0191 478 6060
Frontier Software
Frontier Software’s payroll service is tailored to each organisation as we
understand that each has its own requirements. From bureau to fully
managed, we offer security and backup to ensure a smooth and confident
payroll operation. We are auto-enrolment and Real Time Information ready.
• Dedicated experienced payroll team • Accurate, flexible and reliable
service • Business disaster recovery • UK Processing centres
• BACS approved bureau • PAYE Recognition Scheme accredited
Intelligo
Tel: 0800 0390116 Fax: 0800 0390117
Contact: Frances McDonald
Intelligo’s tailored payroll service, Intellipay, encompasses everything from a basic
bureau service to a fully managed payroll solution where we become your payroll
department. For a fixed monthly fee we process your payroll using our own
renowned payroll software, Megapay. Our solution comprises :
• Full payroll processing including all statutory returns • Extensive Suite of Payroll
Reports • Auto Enrolment and RTI compliant • Allocated, Highly Experienced, Payroll
Specialists • Branded Employee Helpline • Employee Self Service web portal
Intelligo is a true Partner for your Payroll needs.
MHR
Tel: +44 (0) 115 945 6000 Fax: +44 (0) 115 940 5286
Sage (UK) Ltd
Tel: 01993 862181 Fax: 01993 709300
as either an in-house or outsourced s olution, catering for 5-50,000 employees.
Payroll forms
Prolog Print Media
Unit 1, Meltham Lane, Stonegravels Industrial Estate,
Chesterfield, Derbyshire S41 7LG
Tel: 01246 543 000 Fax: 01246 543 001
Contact: Joanne Hawxwell
Website: www.prologprintmedia.co.uk
Let Prolog Print Media remove your payroll printing headaches, we can provide:
payroll stationery – payslips, P60s, P45s and P11Ds; pressure seal machines,
printers and maintenance; outsourced payroll printing; e-payslips, payroll
advertising and employee messaging; Professional advice, practical support, a
refreshing way to work
– www.prologprintmedia.co.uk
Payroll software
Bond Payrite
Suite 5G, Gatwick House, Peeks Brook Lane, Horley,
Surrey, RH6 9ST
Tel: +44 (0) 1293 789940 Fax: +44 (0) 1293 772476
Website: www.bondpayrite.com
Bond Payrite is a comprehensive payroll solution that has been servicing the needs
of payroll professionals for 30 years. With rich functionality backed up by dedicated
support and conswultancy services, Payrite is a popular choice for all types of
organisations, from small payroll departments to busy bureaux, commercial and
public sector operations. Payrite’s inbuilt flexibility easily interfaces with many HR/
finance packages.
Customers can be confident that Payrite fulfils all RTI requirements and ensures a
seamless transition for auto enrolment.
Tel: 0191 478 7000 Fax: 0191 478 6060
Frontier Software
Frontier Software, a leading provider of integrated HR and Payroll solutions,
offers total integration across all modules. The easy to use and versatile
products meet the ever changing needs of Human Resource and payroll
management to organisations in the UK and worldwide. chris21 is continually
enhanced and updated to keep abreast of business and government
legislative changes. Additional modules include Time & Attendance,
Employee/Manager self service, Learning and Development, Recruitment,
expenses and health & safety.
Frontier Software is accredited to PAYE Recognition Scheme, ISO27001 and
ISO9001:2000 and BACS approved.
59
Useful contacts
Intelligo
Tel: 0800 0390116 Fax: 0800 0390117
Contact: Fiona Cullinane
Intelligo’s flagship payroll product, Megapay is the Number 1 payroll system
choice for corporate organisations and public sector. Megapay is used
throughout every major industry from Manufacturing, Telecoms, Top 5
Accounting Firms, Government Departments, etc., with clients ranging from
500 to 20,000+ employees. As a Certified Workday Partner, the system fully
integrates with Workday. In addition, Megapay also interfaces with leading T&A
and Financial applications. Megapay is available to purchase as either an On
Premises installed solution or on a SaaS basis.
RTI • Auto-Enrolment • HMRC Integration • Statutory Payment Processing
• Employee Self Service • HR Integration
NGA Human Resources
Tel: 0800 035 0545
NGA ResourceLink is the HR and payroll platform of choice for hundreds
of UK organisations of varying sizes across a range of industry sectors. Like
them, you will find that it has the tools you need to attract, recruit, develop,
empower, retain and reward the best people. Available on premise, via the
cloud or as an outsourced service, NGA ResourceLink is a proven solution for
reducing costs, saving time and improving effectiveness across your HR and
payroll functions.
Sage (UK) Ltd
Tel: 01993 862181 Fax: 01993 709300
as either an in-house or outsourced solution, catering for 5-50,000 employees.
Payroll training and qualifications
Tel: 0121 712 1000 Fax: 0121 712 1001
CIPP is the leading provider of education in the payroll, pensions and reward
industries, delivering qualifications from apprenticeship level through to MSc. A
variety of excellent payroll, pensions and reward training courses are also held
nationwide throughout the year.
Payslip distribution and archiving
DocSafe Limited
DocSafe Limited, 38 Mill Street, Bedford MK40 3HD
Contact: Daniel Stachowiak
Tel: +44 7792970679 Skype: d_stachowiak
Daniel Stachowiak, Founder
Website: www.mydocsafe.com
Twitter: @MyDocSafe
MyDocSafe is a secure document management solution that automates the
process of distribution and filing of payslips, employment contracts, option
agreements, pension statements, etc. We provide employee portals where the
employees own their data rather than the employer. This powerful feature cuts
employer’s costs and improves employee satisfaction and productivity. We
integrated our service with email (to file documents automatically), electronic
signature (to legally sign documents), and payroll software (to automate
document distribution and archiving).
Professional bodies
Tel: 0121 712 1000 Fax: 0121 712 1001
CIPP’s purpose is to elevate the standing of the payroll, pensions and reward
professions. The Institute has education and business services subsidiaries
offering end-to-end resources including the recruitment of quality personnel,
benchmark qualifications and training courses. The Institute works closely with
government to ensure the practical implementation of relevant legislation.
Recruitment agencies
Payroll Elite Ltd
Tribec House, 58-60 Edward Road, New Barnet
Herts, EN4 8AZ
Tel: 0203 815 7064
Website: www.payrollelite.co.uk
Twitter: @payrollelite LinkedIn: payroll elite
Payroll Elite have been specialising in providing payroll personnel for the
past 20 years within the private and public sectors. As a highly reputable
consultancy and major contributor in the world of payroll recruitment, we offer
comprehensive contract and permanent recruitment services by pre-selecting
candidates that match the clients’ needs and requirements. All candidates are
referenced and interviewed prior submission to client.
Hays Payroll Management
St Philips House, 4 St Philips Place, Birmingham
West Midlands B3 2SL
Tel: 0844 778 2376 Fax: 020 7068 5319
Website: www.hays.co.uk
Hays Payroll Management recruits across a range of UK industries and specialises in placing professional experts into payroll jobs. With a national network of
offices and expert consultants who have an in-depth
knowledge of how the busy payroll environment works, our consultants match
the skills and experience of individuals with the most suitable payroll jobs and
employers.
James Gray Associates
Brewmaster House, 1 The Maltings, St Albans,
Hertfordshire AL1 3HT
Tel: 01727 800377 Fax: 01727 221220
Website: www.jgarecruitment.com
Twitter: @jgarecruitment
James Gray Associates specialise in Payroll, HR and Reward recruitment,
supplying permanent, contract and interim professionals for vacancies across
the UK, Europe and Asia.
JGA offer a professional, bespoke and responsive recruitment service and
are delighted to offer CIPP members 20% discount off standard terms. With
12 years average payroll recruitment experience per consultant and industry
leading client servicing and candidate sourcing techniques including social
media - JGA recruit better talent faster.
60
directory
Oakleaf Partnership
4th Floor Norfolk House,13 Southampton Place,
London WC1A 2AL
Tel: 0207 220 7030
Website: www.oakleafpartnership.com
Oakleaf Partnership is the UK’s leading specialist in HR and Payroll
recruitment. Our dedicated team of payroll recruitment specialists source
payroll talent across industry and at all levels from Payroll Administrator to
Global Head of Payroll, BAU or major implementation – we provide a niche,
tailored service to all our customers. Working with a broad range of client we
are able to support recruitment needs both nationally and internationally,
temporary and permanent.
Portfolio Payroll
New Liverpool House, 15 Eldon Street,
London EC2M 7LD
Tel: 020 7247 9455 Fax: 020 7256 5421
Website: www.portfoliopayroll.com
Portfolio Payroll is a market leader and the longest established payroll
recruitment consultancy in the UK. Listed in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100
twice in the past three years we are the CIPP’s sole preferred supplier, recruiting
payroll professionals for thousands of companies, across all industry sectors
throughout the UK. Our specialist consultants provide tailored permanent,
temporary and contract recruitment solutions at all levels of the market, with
further divisions providing executive and public sector recruitment. For all your
payroll recruitment needs call the UK’s payroll recruitment specialists.
Time and attendance
ADP
Syward Place, Pyrcroft Road, Chertsey,
Surrey KT16 9JT
Tel: 0800 180 4994 Fax: 01932 597 075
ezLaborManager from ADP, the worlds largest payroll, time and attendance,
and HR service provider (including Background Checks); delivers a unique and
totally integrated time and labour management solution to your business, providing your managers the tools and freedom to organise the workforce more
effectively. Scalable to your b
usiness, and with a range of clock in options,
ezLaborManager is flexible to the needs of your business.
Carval Computing Ltd
Interchange Business Centre, Howard Way, Interchange
Park, Newport Pagnell MK16 9PY
Contact: Sales team
Tel: 01908 787700 Fax: 01908 787750
Website: www.carval.co.uk
Carval HR Unity is a range of flexible, integrated software that reduces
administration, automates processes and provides easy access to accurate
information. T&A features include WTD monitoring, shift rotas, rostering, skills
search, banked hours and tools for controlling lateness, absence, overtime, and
project costs. Access control and the latest data capture methods are available.
Established 1986. First-class support and data integration services.
HR • TRAINING • E-RECRUITMENT • SELF-SERVICE • PAYROLL • T&A •
TIMESHEETS • ACCESS CONTROL
Frontier Software
21
Frontier Software’s Time and Attendance solution, TA , provides all the
control and information needed to effectively manage employee attendance.
21
Based on the ‘Timesheet’ principle, TA is available with interfaces for all
time attendance devices including biometric solutions, magnetic swipe cards
and iris recognition. Payroll calculations and payments can then be handled
21
directly via chris .
• Single or multiple sites • Real-time arrivals and departures screen
• Multiple work patterns including ‘varishift’ & staff scheduling
• Data collection terminals • Full fire point reporting • Total flexibility
Want to be seen by the key
payroll decision makers?
Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward is read by 26,000*
individuals every month, 75% of whom are key d
ecision m
akers
within their organisation.
So to ensure that your company is seen by the right people, call
0121 712 1033 or email [email protected] to discuss
advertising opportunities.
*based on the pass on rate identified in the October 2009 membership survey
PAYROLL
PORTFOLIO
PAYROLL LTD

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