Official publication of The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
in Payroll, Pensions & Reward
Issue 38 March 2018
Digital benefits
Abolishing modern slavery Currency
Time is money Face value
Differing types of leave Time and wages
CIPP update | Policy hub | Professional development
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Ignorance of the law excuses no man from practicing it. Addison Mizner (1872–1933)
Editor’s comment
I’ve generally ignored the implications and provisions of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, believing that ‘slavery’ is not in any way associated with payroll. (Well, okay, being a slave to payroll is voluntary, right?) However, my belief may have been misguided,
paid for all the hours they work may not be receiving the NM/ LW. Such workers might be entitled to additional pay, but unless the appropriate calculations are performed how would you, your employer or the worker know? Should these calculations be performed every pay period and should the responsibility fall to payroll or human resources? The articles on pages 20–23 are, I believe, essential reading. And are staff being paid at all or indeed accurately when absent for specific reasons? See page 17 for an illuminating article.
as withholding of wages may be one of several determinants of whether under the Act a person is in slavery to another. See page 36 for what I think is an enlightening article. Which brings me to the national minimum/living wage (NM/ LW). The rules for ensuring the NM/LW is paid are complicated and demanding, and I’ve suspected ever since the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 came into force that underpayments were occurring whether because of ignorance, inadequate software or by intent. There is the possibility that some of those workers not being
Mike Nicholas MCIPP AMBCS Editor
Registration is now open for our spring intake of the Foundation Degree in Chair’s message Payroll Management and we have several CIPP events for you to take advantage of, including our National Forums which are free
their own education and their CPD. If you have been successful in the past year, whether achieving as an individual, a team or in your company, consider putting yourself or your team forward and nominate for one of the CIPP Excellence Awards. Nominations open in March and those successful in each category will be presented with their awards during the CIPP Annual Excellence Awards taking place as part of our Annual Conference and Exhibition on 11 October. Last year a well-deserving group of winners were presented their awards by Sir Trevor McDonald – and I can’t wait to see who will present the awards this year; I look forward to seeing you there.
of charge to our associate, full, fellow and Chartered Members. All these will help you keep progressing and adding to your continuing professional development (CPD) log. I’m pleased that after the announcement of our first Individual Chartered Members, applications are continuing. I am proud to be amongst the first to display the designatory letters ChFCIPPdip which mean I’m a Chartered Member, a fellow of the CIPP, and have passed the Diploma in Payroll Management (the predecessor of the Foundation Degree). I’d love to see many more of our members, and others in the payroll profession who are qualified, complete the application (which isn’t easy by any means) and join this exclusive group of professionals proud to show their commitment to both
Eira Hammond FCIPPdip Chair, CIPP
In continuing to support our ever- expanding membership base we have a wide selection of events scheduled for 2018; full details can be found by visiting cipp.org.uk . If you’re an eligible member CEO’s message
● the very successful Scottish National Conference taking place on 5–6 September ● the award-winning Annual Conference and Exhibition taking place on 10–11 October at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole alongside the Annual Excellence Awards, which is the ideal place to showcase your and your company’s excellence. Details can be found on pages 28–29 and 33. Finally, if you’re not yet a member, we’ve seen a huge amount of interest in our payroll and pension update events which are free of charge to non, trial and affiliate members and offer the perfect insight into the CIPP and what we have to offer you.
make the most of your free place at our ever-informative National Forums with timely industry updates at a location near you. These events are always popular so book up early to ensure attendance. See page 9 for details of venues and dates. The CIPP’s and AAT hot topic events provide another opportunity for you to gain educational and interactive sessions on the latest payroll and pensions legislation and on the recent changes relating to the apprenticeship levy and salary sacrifice changes. We then have our three key events of the year for your diaries which include: ● National Payroll Week taking place on 3–7 September – we’ve already started planning how to make this popular week extra special
Ken Pullar FCIPP Chief executive officer, CIPP
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 38 | March 2018
in Payroll, Pensions & Reward PROFESSI NAL
Also available online at payrollpensionsandreward.org.uk
Contents
March 2018
42
A switched on approach Kavitha Sivasubramaniam looks at administering and delivering employee benefits
Features
20
17
12
Minimum wage compliance Tim Bridgett identifies developments, practice, pitfalls
CPD made easy Helen Hargreaves explains the logging process
Differing types of leave Jill Smith discusses those infrequently encountered
25
31
21
Time is money Vince Ashall outlines NMW/NLW problems
CDC schemes Henry Tapper discusses pensioner payroll implications
A day of reckoning Simon Garrity sets out developments and advice
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2018 | Issue 38 2
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Editor Mike Nicholas 01273 412 836 | editor@cipp.org.uk Advertising Jill Bonehill 0121 712 1033 | advertising@cipp.org.uk Design James Bartlett and Nicole Gumery design@cipp.org.uk Printing Warwick Printing Company Ltd
Continuous feedback and performance Asimina Stamatiou discusses effectiveness of check-ins
How to change workforce savings culture Steve Butler sets out five steps
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Chief executive officer Ken Pullar FCIPP CIPP board of directors
Disability, rest breaks, pre- termination agreements Nicola Mullineux reviews decisions in three cases
Jason Davenport ACIPP Suzanne Gallagher MCIPP Stuart Hall MCIPPdip Eira Hammond ChFCIPPdip Ros Hendren MSc FCIPP, Mgr, FCMIdip, FHEA Lizabeth Lay MSc FCIPPdip Karen Thomson MSc ChFCIPP, FHEA Cliff Vidgeon FCIPP Ian Whyteside MCIPP, FMAAT, ATT
Abolishing modern slavery Samantha Mann reveals the connections with pay
45
40
Useful contacts Membership membership@cipp.org.uk 0121 712 1073 Education education@cipp.org.uk 0121 712 1023 Training admin@cipp.org.uk 0121 712 1063 Events events@cipp.org.uk 0121 712 1013 Marketing and sales marketing@cipp.org.uk 0121 712 1033 General enquiries
Is the digital benefits bubble about to burst? Lisa Gillespie discusses recent and potential developments
How to prevent staff stealing confidential data Danny Done discusses what employers can do
Regulars
01 Editor’s comment, and Chair’s and CEO’s message 04 Membership insight On your behalf, Advisory, Five minutes with 09 Events Horizon 11 Professional development CPD, Diary of a student 15 CIPP update Chartered members, Michelle Crook memorial bench Events, news and developments
24 Industry news 25 Technology insight 30 Pensions insight The Pensions Regulator 35 Reward insight 42 Feature articles Digital benefits 52 Confessions of a payroll manager
info@cipp.org.uk 0121 712 1000
cipp.org.uk @cipp_uk
Articles Please support this magazine so that it can continue to be a part of your membership package. Trademarks 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 2018. 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.
16 Payroll news 17 Payroll insight
Additional online content 11 Data science 26 Don’t fear the future 27 Supercomputers
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 38 | March 2018
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
On your behalf
Policy team update
Diana Bruce MCIPPdip, CIPP senior policy liaison officer, provides information on several significant developments
Scottish income tax We knew in November 2017 that on publication of the discussion paper The Role of Income Tax in Scotland’s Budget (http://bit.ly/2rumBMe) there was the possibility of a new tax regime in Scotland with up to six income tax bands. The Scottish draft budget (http://bit.ly/2zcPDl8) was published on 14 December 2017 with proposals to: ● introduce a new 19p starter rate of tax ● freeze the basic rate at 20p ● introduce a new intermediate rate of 21p, and ● increase both the higher rate and top rate by 1p respectively. One of our first thoughts was that with the changes proposed to come in from April 2018 would existing payroll software cope with such a short timeframe. We put out a quick poll question through the CIPP website and after more than 350 responses it was apparent that many people do not know if their software will cope (49%). If you fall into this category watch out for your annual update from your software provider and take the time to read and digest the relevant details. Of the remaining respondents, 9% said their software would not cope but, encouragingly, 42% said it would. We have since spoken to contacts within the payroll software development industry; Neil Tonks MCIPPdip, legislation manager at MHR, said: “Our system is designed to deal with any number of tax bands, so we didn’t have to do anything to cope with the additional ones. The only thing we had to make a software change for was the existence of the additional SD2 tax code which goes with the extra band which now exists above the basic rate band.
We discovered that when we made the changes a couple of years back to cope with the concept of Scottish tax, we hadn’t allowed for the possibility that Scotland and the rest of the UK might have different numbers of D tax codes (there are three in Scotland next year but only two elsewhere), so we had to fix that, but it was no great problem as it only affected the screen validation that stops people entering invalid codes.” ...relief at source for pension contributions will be unaffected... The 20% rate for Scotland is still classed as the ‘basic rate’ despite a lower rate being introduced. Various calculations are operated around the basic rate, so relief at source for pension contributions will be unaffected, as will the earnings assessment for employer-supported childcare (vouchers) as this is also based on the rest-of-the-UK rates and thresholds. However, the changes will affect pay as you earn settlement agreement calculations and record-keeping. If the Scottish Parliament sanctions the proposals, employers and payroll departments may receive a few more queries when the first payslips go out but that tends to happen anyway with statutory changes. The onus is on HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to ensure timely and accurate issue of tax codes. Address maintenance is key, and solely down to the tax payer who must inform HMRC when changing address. According to a report (http://bit.
ly/2rsZ3rb) by the National Audit Office maintaining accurate address records of the 2.6 million Scottish taxpayers remains the biggest risk facing HMRC in ensuring that Scottish income tax is assessed and collected properly. Enforcing GPG regulations To represent the views of the payroll profession, we mirrored the survey that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published in December 2017 to seek views on their planned approach to enforcing the gender pay gap (GPG) regulations. The survey included an area for any comments, with one respondent saying: “The emphasis needs to be on education rather than enforcement in the first instance otherwise we will get reporting without any indication of its accuracy. We want employers to want to comply and not simply see it as another bureaucratic burden.” To reassure anyone thinking along these lines, the EHRC’s initial aim is to resolve non-compliance through informal resolution and encourage compliance through a range of activities including promoting awareness and education. At the time of writing, not even 10% of the numbers of employers expected to report their GPG data had done so. Around 9,000 employers are expected to have reported the required information by either 30 March 2018 (public sector employers in England) or 4 April 2018 (private and voluntary sector employers in Great Britain). The intention of the EHRC is to focus on those employers that do not publish the required information by the due date. Following the reporting dates, the EHRC plan to assess the scale of non-compliance
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2018 | Issue 38 4
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Policy hub
recommendations about SSP eligibility and the way entitlement is accrued... at Work review (http://bit.ly/2iC9EvH). The government is taking forward further policy development and will bring forward a consultation on these changes, as well as any other SSP changes it identifies in its wider work, before introducing reform. Existing guidance on SSP eligibility will be improved and better publicised to ensure that employers and employees each understand their rights and responsibilities. Under consideration are also Matthew Taylor’s recommendations about SSP eligibility and the way entitlement is accrued, and about sickness absence management. Taylor’s recommendations will be fully considered as part of the wider work on SSP, including assessing how the recommendations will impact on employers and employees. Careful consideration is to be given to Taylor’s view that entitlement to SSP is a basic employment right that is a foundation to establishing fair, decent and quality work. Reformation to the process of SSP calculations is not a new subject but never before have so many different sources highlighted its importance; and we all agree that flexibility to an otherwise rigid process would be welcome in supporting phased return to work. The Policy team is encouraged and grateful for the generous timescale for delivery. There is also to be an open consultation on proposals that we hope will draw together a logical and workable solution for a SSP scheme that will serve the workers of the UK and Northern Ireland and their employers, in equal measure. We look forward to joining other stakeholders to work together with the Department for Work and Pensions, , the Department of Health and with HMRC whose importance in ensuring compliance was highlighted by Matthew Taylor in his support of this reform. We will of course need input from the payroll profession on any proposed changes and will put out a call for your valued assistance when consultation work begins. n
and decide whether it is necessary to take a staged approach to enforcement. If it does, it will divide non-compliant employers by industry and contact a tranche of randomly selected non-compliant employers. The number of employers selected for each tranche will be based on the number of non-compliant employers overall and the scale of non-compliance in each industry, enabling the EHRC to stage its enforcement work in a fair and consistent way towards employers. The EHRC also state in their consultation that if it has the capacity to do so, it may also act against employers for publication of inaccurate data. However, given the number of employers that are likely to not report or report late, resource may well be taken up by this area of non-compliance, certainly in the first year. The CIPP’s formal response to the consultation on enforcing the regulations can be found under My CIPP/Policy hub on our website. And of course, we would like to thank those of you who took the time to provide your views, whether it was directly to the EHRC or though our survey. The Policy team has been in consultation and communication with EHRC and the Government Equalities Office and would like to hear directly from members about their experiences to date with GPG reporting. Please email Samantha Mann or Diana Bruce at policy@cipp.org.uk . Reformed SSP The government plans to see one million more disabled people in work over the next ten years and its Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper (http://bit.ly/2f5hXLb) – includes the vision to see a reformed statutory sick pay (SSP) system which supports more flexible working. Examples include helping support phased returns to work which could mean spacing out working days during a return to work, managing a long- term health condition, or recovering from illness. However, SSP is currently inflexible and creates a financial disincentive for employees to consider some forms of phased returns. Consultation responses to the Green Paper gave broad support for the principle of SSP reform to support fully flexible, phased returns to work. This was also supported by both the Good Work review (http://bit.ly/2sROQk8) and the Thriving
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Issue 38 | March 2018
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
*correct at time of publication
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
would also use week 1 of the new tax year. Where an employer genuinely pays their employees on 5 April you would follow the protocols for week 53, although if you operate a fortnightly or a four-weekly payroll, you would be using week 54 or 56 instead. The employee does not get extra tax allowances, so HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) could notify the employee (usually via form P800) that they have not paid enough tax for the payments they have received from the employer. Your payroll system will usually calculate the week 53 process for you automatically and you would need to ensure that you flag in the FPS that week 53 has been used. HMRC provide guidance on GOV.UK website at this link https://goo.gl/2eZ5Nx. You do not change an employee’s tax code to week 1 if the only reason is that you are operating week 53 (or 54/56). Most modern payroll systems will operate the week 53 process automatically. However, the process it should take – and you may wish to check that the system has correctly calculated paye as you earn income tax – is as follows: If an employee is already on a week 1 basis you just treat the payment as another pay day. Where the employee’s tax code is on a cumulative basis and they have not exceeded the annual personal allowance, then you would not need to deduct PAYE; it is only where the employee’s earnings have exceeded the annual allowance that week 53 would apply. Finally, where the employee has a prefix K code, the additional pay would be determined using weeks 1, 2, or 4 depending on the pay frequency. This is explained in detail in the CWG2 Employer Further Guide to PAYE and NICs at paragraph 1.13.1 and which is available on GOV.UK website at https://goo.gl/aVJQDR. Q: We have an employee who is due to commence her maternity leave next month and has decided to take 45 weeks of maternity leave. Do we accrue annual leave for only the 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave and not the 19 weeks of additional maternity leave? A: Annual leave entitlement accrues during the full period of absence from work for maternity leave, which includes ordinary and additional maternity leave and all unpaid maternity leave up to the maximum of 52 weeks. The employee would accrue holiday for the full period of weeks she is on leave for maternity which, in this example, consists of the whole 45 weeks.
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 CIPP members * , students and attendees of approved CIPP courses and conferences in the last six months. Call 0121 712 1099 , email advisory.service@cipp.org.uk or visit cipp.org.uk for frequently asked questions.
Advisory
*please see summary at cippmembership.org.uk for details.
Q: My employer operates salary sacrifice arrangements for the cycle to work scheme. Is it possible for an employee to have a second bike and agreement running before their first bike and agreement has completed? A: Yes, it is possible if the employee is using both bikes for qualifying journeys under cycle to work rules. However, you would also need to check the scheme agreements and the hire agreement as to whether you should allow this. I have provided a link to the implementation guide in regard to cycle to work schemes which illustrates in section three when an employee can have more than bike. What the company would need to consider is whether having two bikes would invalidate the company’s credit licence. See sections three and four: https://goo.gl/kNNP7X. Q: We are a payroll bureau and my client has recently employed a young person under sixteen years of age. Should my client put the person on the payroll and report details in the full payment submission (FPS)? A: As the employee is under sixteen there would be no liability for National Insurance contributions (NICs), so from that point of view there is no need to include their payment in the FPS. However, if the employee is earning above the personal tax allowances then the employee would need to be put on the payroll and FPS returns made. If the earnings are below the personal allowance for tax you would not need to put them on the payroll or report them via FPS returns.
Further information on employing children can be found at the following link: https://goo.gl/qxn91r. Q: I am trying to find further details regarding the changes to the employer supported child care vouchers scheme (ESC). Can you assist? A: The ESC scheme tax and NICs exemption is closing to new members from 6 April 2018. The employer has a choice as to whether to continue the scheme to existing members or close it totally; however, if the scheme continues they cannot allow any new entrants into the scheme from 6 April 2018. If an employee who is participating in ESC wants to change to the new tax-free childcare (TFC) scheme they will need to cancel their arrangement with the employer by using a childcare account notice within ninety days. These links to GOV.UK and the Employer Bulletin, respectively, give more detailed guidance: https://goo.gl/inMFjk and https:// goo.gl/QEPDBg. (Please refer to page 7 of the latter for guidance on the introduction of TFC and employer duties). Q: We usually pay employees on a Friday. This April the employees will be paid on Good Friday 6 April 2018. What tax week should we use or is tax week 53 appropriate? A: If the employer’s normal pay day is a Friday then you would use week 1 of the new tax year. When the 6 April falls on Good Friday (the last time this occurred was April 2015) and the employer chooses to pay early on Thursday 5 April, then you
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2018 | Issue 38 6
Policy hub
Complete the market insight survey today Have your say
Q: We have a new employee who requires a hire vehicle for two to three days a week and this can sometimes span over a weekend. Can you advise if this will have any tax or National Insurance (NI) implications and needs to be reported in a P11D return? A: There is no benefit in kind arising for a hire car that is used by an employee who does not have a company car – subject to the car being provided for business travel with only ‘incidental’ private use. HMRC’s guidance states that incidental private use is not measured by the number of private miles driven, but rather in the proportion of the private element of the journey when viewed as a whole. A hire vehicle provided for a business journey which is taken home overnight to serve this purpose the following morning will be classed as incidental private use, but if the vehicle was taken for private use over a weekend that would not be considered incidental. If the hire car is used for more than incidental private use then a benefit charge will arise, which is calculated using the normal rules and using the list price and CO2 emissions of the vehicle provided. This will be apportioned in the tax year according to the time it was available to the employee. To prevent and monitor this, you should have a strong and robust travel policy to capture any private miles. Where a hire or relief vehicle is used as a replacement for both business and private use during periods of unavailability, company car benefit still applies when this is for a continuous period of less than thirty days. Q: I would like to know how to report a benefit in kind for an employee who is due to leave the business and who is in possession of a company car. It has been agreed that he can keep the car for one further month after his leaving date. A: The final date to report this benefit would be the actual date your employee is no longer an employee of the company. For example, if your employee is due to leave on 31 March but they are still in receipt of the car until 30 April, you would continue to report this benefit as you do now (either via a P11D return or payrolling) up to 31 March only. You would not need to complete another P11D return as part of the following tax year’s P11D returns as the employee will no longer be employed by you. However, you will need to contact HMRC to
advise that the ex-employee is still in receipt of the vehicle for the period of 1–30 April and that they are no longer your employee. This can be done via a letter to HMRC detailing your PAYE scheme number, full company details and full employee details (including NI number, employee number, and address details etc) and details of when they left your employment. Q: Can you please clarify what are classed as ‘ordinary earnings’ and what earnings should be excluded from gender pay gap (GPG) reporting? A: The classification of ‘ordinary pay’ includes any monetary payment; for example, basic pay, allowances such as payments for extra responsibilities, location-related payments, car allowances, recruitment or retention incentives, pay for piecework, pay for leave and shift premium pay. You must use gross figures therefore before tax and any deductions for an employee pension contribution and after any deductions for salary sacrifices. You do not need to include earnings from overtime, redundancy pay, pay related to termination of employment, any repayments of authorised expenses, benefits in kind and interest-free loans. Q: Please can you advise me when the rate of statutory maternity pay (SMP) will increase for the new tax year 2018/19? A: It depends on the individual employee’s SMP week as to which week the increase is applied. If their week commences on a Sunday, then it is simple: SMP will increase from the first Sunday in April 2018, which this year falls on 1 April 2018. However, where the employee’s SMP week commences on any other day, for example Wednesday 28 March running to Tuesday 3 April, the new SMP rate would not increase until SMP week commencing Wednesday 4 April. n
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The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) continually strives to ensure that it is providing relevant and valuable services to our members, students and customers. Let us knowwhat you think about what we provide, so that we can continue to develop services that enable you to enhance your knowledge, build your professional network and further your career. So, it is important that you answer honestly to assist the teamwith strategies for 2018-19.
For more information or to book: Visit: cipp.org.uk/insight18 Email: info@cipp.org.uk
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Issue 38 | March 2018
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
MEMBERSHIP INSIGHT
5 minutes with…
Vickie Graham DipM ACIM, Associate director of marketing, CIPP
updates and support to members, so I am working with the team to establish new and innovative ways of communicating to members and the wider profession what we do. What does the future hold for payroll, pensions and reward? The only certainty is that there will be change. The industry is different to how it was in 2003. Developments in legislation and technology have changed the way we do things, but also the impact that payroll has on businesses at a strategic level. As technology helps to automate and simplify some aspects of the payroll function, I would like to see payroll professionals develop their roles at a strategic level to influence reward strategies within their organisations. When studying my post-graduate diploma in marketing I was asked to provide an assignment on emerging themes within my organisation’s industry. At the time, centralised deductions were being discussed and consulted on (pre-RTI); and though this is not something currently ‘on the table’ I think that payroll professionals should consider what their role is and how they add value if the Government were to revisit this idea. What do you do to unwind? Being a new mum, available time is at a premium; but I am a runner and try to fit in at least three runs a week, plus a gym session. I enjoy socialising and watching films, so trips to the cinema are always enjoyable. The most recent film I watched was the new Star Wars film, which I loved. And I enjoy spending time with my little boy. He has just turned eight months and is a joy to be around. I love experiencing everything with him for the first time and we especially enjoy swimming lessons every week. n
Tell us about your involvement with the CIPP Prior to joining the CIPP in August 2003 as a marketing administrator I’d been working for a year at Solihull Council where I had some experience of processing a temp payroll. The head of department there took an interest in my career and though I did not report directly to him we’d have monthly 121s to talk about my career goals and aspirations. At the time I had no idea what I wanted to do, but he saw potential and encouraged me to pursue a career in marketing and public relations, so I looked at local vacancies and saw an advert for a marketing administrator at the IPPM (now CIPP). The role didn’t require marketing experience as the organisation encouraged professional qualifications and education, so I went for it and have never looked back. I was inducted through the CIPP’s payroll training courses, attending the Introduction to PAYE and NICs, Essential additions to payroll basics and the Introduction to statutory payments. Attending these gave me a real insight into what our members do on a day to day basis, as well as an opportunity to find out their motivation for booking so that I could use that in promoting the training course to other payroll professionals. From those early days, I had a new-found respect for payroll and the people who work in the industry. Practising what we preach, the CIPP enrolled me onto professional marketing qualifications with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, through which I have done my certificate, diploma and and most recently
my post-graduate diploma in marketing. In doing these qualifications I have been able to relate to our students on the Foundation Degree, BA and MSc programmes who fit in studies around their job, their family and social lives – not an easy task, but one that is thoroughly rewarding and helps you grow professionally as the learning is based on what you are doing, and could be doing, in your role. Tell us about your role at the CIPP My role is focussed on developing and implementing the marketing and business development strategy. This involves market research to establish what is happening within the industry, what the key trends are, what legislation is impacting on our members and working with my colleagues to: ● develop products and services through our education and membership offering which will be of value to payroll professionals ● promote those products and services to our members, and the wider profession, so that they are aware of support and services available to them. Marketing (and payroll) has changed dramatically since 2003, and therefore much of what I do now involves networking and communicating through social media. Legislation, such as the General Data Protection Regulation, is providing a real opportunity for marketing as there has been an over-reliance and misuse of email marketing. As a membership organisation we have a responsibility to provide
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2018 | Issue 38 8
Full details of events and training courses can be found at cipp.org.uk or you can email info@cipp.org.uk for more information. Events Horizon National Forums Exclusive to CIPP members*, the national forums are an excellent opportunity to hear from the policy team, as well as other key speakers, on developments in payroll, pension and reward legislation and the impact the GDPR might have on payroll and HR. This event will also provide an excellent networking opportunity with other CIPP members.
Scottish National Conference and Exhibition 5-6 September The only payroll conference in Scotland is the perfect opportunity to hear the latest legislative changes, meet a range of exhibitors and network with like-minded professionals. Why should I attend? ● Learn about the key changes to payroll and pensions legislation ● Network with other local members ● Ensure you are on the right track to achieve your CPD
Available dates
Bristol PM Belfast PM
Newcastle AM
3 May
28 June 11 July 12 July
London PM London AM
10 May 17 May 5 June 13 June 14 June
Manchester PM
Glasgow PM London PM London AM
Birmingham PM
17 July
Online webinar AM
19 July
Accommodation and networking dinner is provided on Wednesday 05 September.
If you are an affiliate, trial, web user or student member and you’re interested in attending a national forum, please login to ‘My CIPP’ at cipp.org.uk where you can upgrade your membership; or email membership@cipp.org.uk for more information on how to upgrade.
Did you attend in 2017? Email events@cipp.org.uk to find out full details on your loyalty rate.
*applicable levels of membership only. Please be aware that lunch will not be provided.
For more information please call 0121 712 1013 , or to book your place please visit payrollevents.org.uk or email events@cipp.org.uk
Training courses
Course
Date *
Location
Course
Date *
Location
London Solihull Solihull London
3 May 5 July
Solihull London
28 March
Global mobility key payroll issues
Apprenticeship levy and funding
16 April
22 March 27 March 28 March
Solihull
24 May
London Solihull
20 March 21 March 23 March
Payroll and HR legislation update
Manchester
General Data Protection Regulation
Bristol Belfast
4 April
Manchester
18 April
London
11 April
Salary sacrifice and other optional remuneration arrangements
Solihull
17 April
Online
6 April
London
Gender pay gap reporting
16 April
Leeds
17 May
Online
4 May
* Dates are subject to change
The full list of CIPP training courses can be found at cipp.org.uk/training
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 38 | March 2018
Join the family The CIPP supports over 9,500* individuals through education, compliance and membership services. With benefits such as regular enewsletters, member magazine, attendance at member only events and access to our Advisory Service technical helpline - the CIPP ensure you have all the tools and support you need to thrive in your career.
Visit cippmembership.org.uk and see how we can help you
*correct at time of publication
For more information visit cipp.org.uk or email info@cipp.org.uk for more information.
cipp.org.uk @CIPP_UK
Professional development insight
Data science
Kirill Eremenko, founder of data science academy SuperDataScience, discusses and explains the secret weapon in every career
S ometimes our careers will hit a dead end. We want to have more responsibility, earn more money, make a difference, but we don’t always have the means to do these things. One effective and fail-safe way to get the career gears grinding once again is through data science. Why concern yourself with data science? Because everything, every transaction you make, every product you use, will soon be driven by data. It’s highly likely that in a few years from now most professionals will be expected to have a degree of data literacy. For this reason, understanding data principles and how they can help businesses will at the very least aid in future-proofing your career. Data skills are valuable. Here are just three ways that these sought-after skills can bolster our careers: ● Data science shows us where to improve – All commercial companies want someone who can help them to stay competitive and improve their bottom line. Much of this work boils down to understanding the company’s data. With the right analytics software, an institution’s historical data will highlight strengths and weaknesses, and will also offer evidence- based predictions to improve business operations. Learn data science, then, and you can quickly become an asset to your company not only by identifying areas for improvement but also by underscoring the steps that will result in the greatest gains. ● Data science encourages us to be better communicators – You might have an impression of a data scientist as someone who sits in the company
scientific disciplines. You do not need an encyclopaedic knowledge of data science to master its basic principles. What you really need is an ability to dream up pertinent questions about business operations, in order to ask them of your company’s data. This is why current employees who are also data literate can be more effective than data scientists brought in to complete a single project: because these employees already understand where the company is taking great strides and where it needs improvement. Becoming skilled in data therefore doesn’t have to mean taking a completely different career path – unless you want it to, of course. Any employee, from administrator to manager, can apply their data skills to their current positions, leveraging their experience to facilitate their company’s operations. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home to pick up the discipline. Data scientists are vocal online, and they like to share. The materials that you need to learn the basic principles of data can easily be found on course sites such as Udemy and Coursera, as well as in print. Once you have learned the basics and feel confident, ask your line manager if you can work on solving a company problem during less busy periods. You are likely to be rewarded for your efforts. n Kirill Eremenko is author of the book Confident data skills which is intended to help you master the fundamentals of working with data to supercharge your career.
basement and number crunches all day. But the most skilled data scientists are those who are also effective communicators. What use, after all, are findings unless they can be explained to stakeholders and used as solutions to company problems? As the bridge between the company’s database and the decision makers for your project, the onus is on us to convey a story from the information we must explain where changes can be made. This is why, for many data science courses, communication and presentation skills are also included. ...administrator to manager, can apply their data skills to their current positions... ● Data science teaches us to think logically – All too often, business decisions are made in absence of the facts. Data science teaches us to look for evidence- based solutions through the information that we have gathered, and it places little value on gut instinct. Through these units of information, we can build a complete picture of a company, and by looking only at the facts we can remove human bias to develop a much more considered, objective pathway for the company’s future. Words of encouragement Don’t be put off by the severe name: learning data science is much easier than becoming proficient in many other
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 38 | March 2018
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
CPD made easy
Helen Hargreaves MSc ChFCIPPdip, CIPP associate director of policy and membership, explains
C ontinuing professional development (CPD) is an important aspect of anyone’s career as it shows that the individual is committed to maintaining and developing the skills and knowledge needed to perform in a professional context. This could mean improving current skills, developing them to a new level, or it could mean learning new skills, paving the way for an employee’s job role to expand or even laying the foundation for promotion. This is especially important for a career in the ever-changing world of payroll, pensions and reward as it allows an individual to show that they are keeping up to date and compliant with changes to policy and legislation. CPD is gaining increasing focus at the CIPP and that focus is only going to become greater moving forward. We know that CPD is an issue that some members struggle with; whether that is finding the time to undertake or record CPD activities, or whether it is because people are unclear exactly what they need to do for CPD. This article aims to help everyone to see how undertaking and recording CPD need not be an onerous task. How do I undertake CPD? Well, you are undertaking CPD right now.
By reading this magazine you are learning about developments in the payroll arena and as such you are undertaking CPD and accruing CPD points. Every time you read the CIPP news email, ask a question of one of your colleagues or even answer a question from one of your colleagues, giving advice and support, then you are continuing your professional development. ...it is crucial to keep up to date... How many of you have been making sure that you know what the new tax and National Insurance contributions rates and thresholds will be from 6 April? Have you been making sure that you know what other changes will happen in the new tax year? And if you have been doing this, have you thought about why you need to know about these changes and how you will find out what they are? I’m sure you will be reading the updates sent to you by your payroll software provider, along with the CIPP news emails and perhaps HM Revenue & Customs’ Employer Bulletin so you can make sure you have all the processes in place to ensure you can pay your workers accurately. This is CPD and
I’m sure that every single one of you have been doing this, but how many of you will record this as a CPD activity? It is because we work in a profession where change is constant, that it is crucial to keep up to date, so if you are doing this anyway why not take the extra couple of steps to incorporate this into a personal development plan and use the CIPP’s CPD logging tool to record your development so you can demonstrate this to your employer and customers? Virtually all of us, all of the time, are undertaking some form of professional development, simply by making sure we know what we need to do to pay workers accurately and on time. CPD takes things a step further by documenting that learning, understanding why the learning is needed, and evaluating whether it achieved its objective. What is a learning objective? In order to log CPD activity you will need to set out your learning objectives. Objectives are important because they set out what you are expected to learn or gain as a result of participating in the learning. And the chances are that, whether you realise it or not, you will have already been setting yourself learning objectives.
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | March 2018 | Issue 38 12
Professional development insight
3. Find ‘My CPD’ on the side menu and select ‘My CPD learning objectives’. 4. Record your learning objectives on the main CPD page. 5. Click on the blue box ‘Add a new record’. 6. Complete the form, record your activity and click ‘submit’. The main CPD page will keep a running total of the points you have recorded during the current membership year. development that benefits you in your professional environment. Examples include: ● calls into the CIPP’s Advisory Service ● on the job learning ● attending national forums ● any form of networking where you may have learned something new ● attending training courses and/or events. CPD is not just completing a training course or qualification; it is the part that comes after that. Achieving a qualification is a great way of demonstrating knowledge and skills at a given point in time. CPD is demonstrating that you have maintained and developed your knowledge and skill set and you demonstrate this by setting learning objectives and development goals, whatever stage of your career you are at. n What counts as CPD? CPD is any form of learning or
You should set your objectives at the start of the process, reviewing them regularly and of course you can add to them during the year. These could be long-term objectives such as ‘keeping up to date with payroll legislation changes’ or they could be shorter term such as ‘to learn what is required of the GDPR legislation’. Learning objectives should not be specific activities e.g. ‘attended the CIPP Annual Conference’. You should try to make your learning objectives SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-framed. The example below shows how. Recording your CPD Last year, recognising that time is a rare commodity for payroll professionals, we streamlined the CIPP’s CPD logging tool to make it quicker and easier to log the activities you have undertaken in order to keep your knowledge up to date. Almost all the CPD activities that you undertake will fall into certain categories: writing, reading, speaking, listening, doing, and structured learning. And different activities, though for different purposes, may allow you to demonstrate similar development; for example, if you have been asked to deliver a presentation to a group of payroll professionals or to deliver a payroll training course to a group of students, both these activities will require
you to research, prepare and analyse the content before delivering it. Therefore, both these activities are in the speaking category and each attracts five CPD points. You can only use each activity once so you couldn’t use the same activity in both the writing and speaking categories. ...setting learning objectives and development goals... CPD is all about demonstrating that you are continuing your learning and your professional development, and that you are keeping up to date with news and current legislation. For that reason, you can only record and obtain points for an activity during the year in which you have undertaken that activity. If you have undertaken an activity in a previous year, such as completing a qualification, then you can’t claim points for it in any future year as that is a past activity not a current one. If you have a query please contact the membership team on info@cipp.org.uk or call 0121 712 1073. How to use the logging tool 1 . Log into your CIPP account. 2. Choose ‘My CIPP’.
SMART example
Example: Improve content of my email communication
Smart goal
Example: Commencing today
Time frame
Example: By being more clear and concise so that my team can follow requests for action and implement accordingly Example: Will reduce email trails regarding subsequent questions due to a lack of understanding due to my unclear message Will improve efficiency
Benefits
Measure of success
Example: Support in honest feedback from colleagues
Support and resources needed
Example: You cannot always convey a message in an email, too much written information can be confusing Need to ensure the messages are clear and concise but include the key points required
Potential barriers
● Specific – To say you wish to improve communication is too wide, be specific e.g. I want to improve my email communication. ● Measurable – Think about the outcome of your goal, what do you want to achieve? How will you know you have achieved or improved? Depending on the goal consider: Is the process more efficient because of the recommendations? Does the team communicate better because of my email communication improvements? What benefits have resulted? ● Achievable, attainable, acceptable – Don’t set a goal that is impossible e.g. if your goal was to gain skills in all payroll basics, ensure you have the tools and resources available; otherwise this would not be attainable, and you will not be able to apply what you have learnt. ● Realistic – Can you put your goal into practice e.g. if you are to source a new payroll system do you have the tools and resources around to support you? Is the timescale realistic? ● Time-framed – You need to set yourself a deadline, if not the goal may never be achieved. To say I will start in June is not enough, give a date or state that you will commence from today. The deadline is your motivation, have something to work towards. Make sure the date is realistic and consider any barriers that may impact your progress.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 38 | March 2018
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