Industry news
Preparing for off-payroll working ACCORDING TO a Twitter poll conducted by MHR of over 1,200 people who are responsible for the preparations at their respective company, three in four UK organisations are not ready for changes to off-payroll working rules
leaving their business exposed to potential rising costs and a significant skills shortage in the future. The new rules – also simply called ‘IR35’ – apply to private sector companies contracting workers supplied through their own personal service companies. The reformed rules have been in place for public sector organisations since 2017. Analysis of Office of National Statistics data has found the number of off-payroll workers in the public sector (i.e. those classified as outside IR35) has dropped by 9%. Neil Tonks, legislation expert at MHR, suggests these tips to prepare from a HR perspective to avoid falling foul of the new rules: ● carry out an audit of your contractors ● decide who is within scope of the new rules ● create a clear communications plan for the contractors ● introduce a new agreement policy setting out their status ● consider the true cost to your business of employing in-scope contractors ● set-up in-scope contractors on your HR and payroll system. pensionsync platformacquired IN JULY 2019, two directors of KeyPay Ltd – a provider of cloud payroll platforms that was founded in Australia in 2012 – registered the company pensionsync limited in the UK. In August 2019, the pensionsync technology platform was acquired from Systemsync Solutions by pensionsync limited for £300,000. (Both ‘pensionsync’ and ‘systemsync’ are trading names of pensionsync ltd.) In September 2019, Systemsync Solutions, which formerly owned the pensionsync platform, appointed an administrator. The administrator’s proposals note that the company’s “short term cashflow forecast indicated that the Company could not trade beyond mid-August 2019 unless funding was secured or a buyer found.” The financial statements and management accounts of Systemsync Solutions for the period to 16 August 2019 show income of £129,952 and net loss of £629,669. The balance sheet shows assets totalling £25,000 and total liabilities of £911,562. A meeting of creditors was scheduled for 19 November. (pensionsync was founded in 2015 to provide automated transfer of pensions data between employers and pension providers.) Decision makers trust HR data-based insights ACCORDING TO new research findings from leading human resources (HR) and payroll provider SD Worx, obtained from surveying both HR and non-HR business decision makers, nearly three-quarters of European employers (69%) trust the HR department to provide HR data-based insights and appreciate the added value these can bring (73%). In addition, 53% of the respondents believe trust by non- HR decision makers in applying HR data-based insights has improved over the last two years and 56% expect this to improve further over the next two years. The three biggest business areas where HR data-based insights can have impact are: employee costs (45%); employee satisfaction and engagement (45%); and productivity (42%). The top-three potential barriers for embracing HR data-based insights are: lack of communication between HR and the wider business (29%); costs associated with it (27%); and internal structures limiting innovations (27%).
activpayroll opens office in Dubai GLOBAL PAYROLL and tax compliance specialist, activpayroll, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, has opened its first office in the Middle East. The new office in Dubai is situated in the centre of ‘New Dubai’, located in Jumeirah Lake Towers, Silver Tower. It will serve as a regional hub allowing the company to provide greater support to existing customers and also address the growing demand for its services both in the United Arab Emirates and the wider region. This presence in the Middle East demonstrates activpayroll’s ongoing expansion and growing customer base across the globe. Sian Odgers, business services director of activpayroll, said: “The UAE has become a strategic business hub for many global companies during the last two decades and establishing a presence in the UAE enables activpayroll to increase our customer support and demonstrates our commitment to providing services in the Middle East region.” Kronos Inc. sees total revenue reaching $1.433 billion, driven by human capital management (HCM) subscription of 30%. Amongst other successes, Kronos Cloud Payroll saw quarter- over-quarter growth and customer success with organisations recognising the value of unifying HR, workforce management, talent, and payroll into a single cloud suite. Aron Ain, Kronos’ chief executive officer, commented: “Workforce Dimensions has officially become the fastest-adopted solution in our history, while our exceptional growth in HCM led by Workforce Ready continues to drive new cloud opportunities worldwide.” Kronos achieves record results A RECORD adoption and revenue year for
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2019 - January 2020 | Issue 56 38
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