Policy hub
providers have been highlighting this to parents on their schemes. A range of communications materials for employers and employer groups regarding the interaction between ESC and TFC have been developed¸which includes toolkits, leaflets, frequently asked questions – are being distributed. We are also hearing from members at the recent series of CIPP national forums that early experiences of using the Childcare Service (http://bit.ly/2nrBnAk) have thrown up many challenges and frustrations. As with any new digital service the Childcare Service has been launched in beta (trial) mode and is being updated with system fixes, solutions and improvements on a regular basis. If you don’t instantly get a connection when you follow the link, give it a moment or two and then refresh the page in your web browser. Though this is not a guaranteed solution it may remove the need for you to call the helpline on 0300 123 4097. (Helplines are also available in the Welsh language on 0300 123 8124 or by Minicom for the audio impaired on 0300 123 9232.) The CIPP policy team would value hearing about your experience with this delivery of new policy; your emails to policy@cipp.org.uk are encouraged. Thank you. Public sector exit payments cap A question recently asked of our Advisory team prompted us to clarify the current position on public sector exit payments being capped at £95,000. Regulations do not yet exist that create the public sector exit cap itself. The Treasury, Scottish ministers and Welsh ministers have had the power to bring forward regulations since 1 February 2017, but they have not yet done so. ● Background – The statutory instrument The Enterprise Act 2016 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2017 came into force on 1 February 2017. Part of this statutory instrument brought section 41 of the Enterprise Act 2016 into force on 1 February 2017 which inserts sections 153A, 153B and 153C into the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (SBEEA). These regulations apply to all four nations of the UK. Section 153A SBEEA confers a
power to make regulations to restrict exit payments, payable to employees of prescribed public sector authorities or to holders of prescribed public sector offices as a consequence of them leaving employment or office, to a maximum value of £95,000. Section 153B provides for the Treasury to make regulations under section 153A, save that the Scottish and Welsh ministers are to make such regulations in relation to exit payments by relevant Scottish authorities and relevant Welsh exit payments respectively. Section 153C provides that a minister of the crown or, where appropriate, the Scottish ministers or Welsh ministers, may relax a restriction imposed by regulations made under section 153A, and makes further provision about the exercise of those powers. Paragraph 4 confers a power to make regulations to amend public sector schemes to ensure that where the restriction on exit payments would have the effect of preventing immediate payment of an unreduced pension or preventing an employer paying an extra charge to the scheme, benefits are instead immediately payable subject to an appropriate early payment deduction, and that an individual may choose to buy out all or part of that deduction. ● Action required by employers – In consultation on Reforms to public sector exit payments (http://bit.ly/2cGjPf9). The response outlined the government’s expectations that departments should begin work to produce proposals for reform for each workforce by the end of 2016. The major workforces covered by existing statutory compensation schemes and other contractual exit arrangements were expected to begin reforms immediately. These are the: civil service, national health service, local government, teachers, police, firefighters and armed forces. Chapter 5 of the consultation response (http://bit.ly/2cB3fZb) outlines the process and timeline for reform. The government’s expectation is that the necessary changes be made to compensation schemes and other arrangements within nine months of the publication of their consultation September 2016, the government published their response to the
response. That brings us to June 2017. Bearing in mind that this is not a legislative requirement, have all relevant departments actually had these discussions and agreed to implement the necessary changes? We have been running a quick poll on this very subject, so please do take a moment to participate. Our poll is situated to the right of our news items on the CIPP website (http://bit.ly/2i1wLhc). The results will be in the October issue. NMW compliance poll With so many household names in the media for failing to pay the national minimum wage (NMW) to employers, we thought it would be interesting to ask how confident are you about your calculations, processes and record keeping to ensure your compliance in paying the minimum wage. This is what we did through the month of June in a quick poll. We received 548 responses in total with: 65% saying they were ‘very confident’: 22% saying ‘fairly confident’ (so an element of doubt in there which is all it takes); 8% responded with ‘confident’; 3% with ‘not very confident’; and the final 2% opted for ‘not at all confident’. As ever, our polls are a snapshot in time; yet the results indicate that some employers are taking risks and there could very well be areas of weakness in their processes though lack of knowledge or training. We have all seen the ‘naming and shaming’ that has put companies such as Tesco and John Lewis into the spotlight. Not having 100% confidence in minimum wage compliance is not only a potential cost financially but a big reputational risk. n All published information on our polls and surveys can be found in the CIPP’s Policy News Journal (http:// bit.ly/2oxTlh8), a benefit reserved exclusively for CIPP members.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 33 | September 2017
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