Legislation provides a set of rules over how compliance with the National Minimum Wage is calculated when regular salaries are paid. Certain conditions must be met in order for work to qualify as salaried hours work under the National Minimum Wage Regulations. This consultation seeks views on how effective these rules are in preventing worker exploitation. This consultation seeks views on proposed changes to the National Minimum Wage Regulations which relate specifically to salaried hours work, including Regulations 21 and 24. In particular, the Government would welcome your views on whether, and if so how, we might amend the Regulations to include additional payment cycles and fixing the definition of the calculation year for employers, without any detriment to workers. Salary sacrifice schemes are used in some workplaces whereby a worker agrees with an employer a lower rate of gross pay in exchange for goods or services (e.g. childcare vouchers, or bicycles). National Minimum Wage regulations include provisions designed to protect workers from unfair deductions from their wages. This consultation also seeks views on the practical operation of these provisions and their effect on workers on the minimum wage.
The National Minimum Wage: consultation on salaried workers and salary sacrifice schemes will run until Friday 1 March.
CIPP comment The Policy team will publish a survey to gather member opinion on the proposals and will also be organising a Think Tank in the New Year. Please watch out for details through News On Line.
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LPC publishes its recommendations to tackle one-sided flexibility 19 December 2018
The Low Pay Commission (LPC) has published its assessment of the scale and nature of one-sided flexibility - looking at the impact of introducing a higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours and to consider alternative policy ideas.
In addition to the usual brief recommending the minimum wage rates, the LPC was also asked to undertake some additional tasks in relation the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices. These were to review the scale and nature of the issue of ‘one-sided flexibility’, to assess the impact of introducing a higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours and consider alternative policy ideas. The LPC found evidence of one-sided flexibility as identified in the Taylor Review: the misuse by some employers of flexible working arrangements creating unpredictability, insecurity of income and a reluctance among some workers to assert basic employment rights. However, the LPC also found evidence of positive examples of flexibility and believe it is important to preserve genuine two-way flexibility. The LPC did not hear unqualified backing for the premium from any of the stakeholders it spoke to and have therefore recommended an alternative package of measures: • A right to switch to a contract which reflects your normal hours. This is not about a worker requesting a change to the amount of work they do, but rather proper recognition of their normal hours. The LPC believe this will help to tackle the fear of employer retaliation by providing a guarantee of the worker’s normal hours. Workers already worried about raising issues in the workplace are less likely to raise a ‘request’ so the right needs to be stronger than this. • A right to reasonable notice of work schedule – to encourage employers to provide workers with their work schedule in advance so that individuals can plan their lives. • Compensation for shift cancellation or curtailment without reasonable notice –to discourage employers from cancelling shifts at the last minute or partway through a shift. • Information to workers – the written statement of terms from employers should detail the rights the LPC is proposing here. Commissioners thought that the higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours did not address one-sided flexibility effectively and had the potential to create many unintended consequences.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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