REWARD
Karen Thomson MSc ChFCIPPdip FHEA, director of UK payroll and employment taxes, AAB, explains why it’s so important for the industry that payroll professionals speak up and get their opinions heard
T o people not working in the industry, a payroll professional might be many things. They could be the person who ensures they receive money in the bank every payday or who supports them through understanding their payslip. They may be the person with whom they raise a query when they don’t think their pay is right or who acts as their tax adviser when they don’t like how much tax they have paid. However, while we do all the above and much more in respect of ensuring employees and / or clients’ employees are paid accurately and on time, how do we know what to do or what might be coming to enable us to plan and inform? There will be many channels through which we retrieve information and / or learn from, such as thought leadership articles in this magazine, for example. However, I’d like to focus my attention here on what the CIPP does, particularly the policy team and, more importantly, what you can do to support them and our profession.
Knowledge and expertise Do you have a wish list of what you would like to see changed, removed or even introduced? When you’re operating or overseeing / managing payroll in whatever guise it is, there will be areas that you ask yourself (as we are naturally curious) regarding why we do this or why we have to do that. I’m not suggesting we all try and become policy experts, as that’s why we have the CIPP, but we can be a supporting part of its policy team by offering our experiences, ideas and suggestions.
at conferences. I try and do anything and everything possible to ensure my voice is heard on what is happening in my working world as a payroll professional. Sharing your views This is where you all come in, if you’re not in already. I have been in payroll for some 30 years now, and I would argue that over the last 15 years is probably where we have seen the most significant changes in legislation. The first ‘biggies’ would be the Working Time Regulations and the Asylum and Immigration Act, but so much has since followed from 2000. Take the family entitlements, holiday entitlements, automatic enrolment and real time information, to name just a few. I can assure you from my experience in policy that, had the profession not spoken up to share their ideas and / or voice their concerns, the legislation would look very different. Now it’s not perfect and it’s likely there’ll always be the need for compromises, but without your knowledge and views being shared with government departments, we would be much worse off. So why are your views so important? It’s because you’re both experienced and ‘on the ground’, whether working on an in-house payroll with one employee or thousands, a service provider dedicated payroll bureau or part of an accountancy firm. You could be in manufacturing, local government, professional services or a small or large family-owned business. The key is that legislation will impact businesses in different ways. I sit on the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board, which is a ‘critical friend’ to HMRC very much like the CIPP’s policy team, but it specifically represents small businesses. Their needs are often at opposite ends of the spectrum to the larger corporates, but the bottom line is that any new legislation, tweaks to existing legislation or even sometimes the removal of legislation will impact every employer in some way. For some it will be positive and others not so much.
“I try and do anything and
We will have evidence, statistics, error logs, employee / client query logs and detailed processes on how we must do workarounds to meet the legislation requirements. What has the impact been on your business or your employees, positive and not so positive? So, what if instead, you could take that experience and knowledge and make a difference to the profession? The good news is you can, by reaching out to the policy team or attending member events (often for free if you’re a member), being part of a specialist interest group for your industry / type of business and by submitting ideas directly to the CIPP. You can reach out to board members at events and share your thoughts not just on the CIPP and its future, but what you would like to see change within government. The next 12 months are likely to be very busy, depending on what happens in the general election, so my plea is to use your behind the scenes knowledge and expertise, and help make legislation and new government initiatives work for employees, but also work for us, so we’re not just ‘making do’. n everything possible to ensure my voice is heard on what is happening in my working world as a payroll professional”
Listening and representing members
Many of you will know I spent a fabulous 15 years working for the now CIPP in the 2000s. I started working as a policy and research officer and finished my role with the CIPP as director of policy. It was in this role I had many opportunities to listen to the members and others in our profession and had the privilege of representing their voices and views with government departments and, at times, Members of Parliament. When I joined Armstrong Watson in 2015, I found while you could take the girl out of legislation, you couldn’t take the legislation out of the girl! Still today I contribute to some HM Revenue and Customs and pension forums, but nowhere near the volume and work the CIPP’s policy team does. As a CIPP Chartered member and payroll professional, I always ensure I respond to CIPP surveys, help with questions for the magazine, speak at events and most definitely learn
“Had the profession not spoken up to share their ideas and / or voice their concerns, the legislation would look very different”
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 102 | July - August 2024
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