MY CIPP
On your behalf
Policy team update
SamanthaMannMAATMCIPPdip, CIPP senior policy and research officer, provides an update on developments that will affect your work and role in the near future
The Queen’s Speech The second Queen’s Speech of 2019, delivered on 19 December, came with briefing notes that revealed and, in some instances, repeated the government’s plans for the coming months (and, in all probability, years). It was an opportunity for us to get a glimpse at the outcome of recent consultations. ● Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill – Aimed at employers in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) this clarified the outcome of recent consultation work. Repeating the government mantra to provide working conditions that are ‘fair and transparent’ the main elements of the Bill are to introduce: ❍ a legal obligation on employers: to pass on all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers without any deductions (other than income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs)); and to distribute them in a fair and transparent manner where they have control or significant influence over the distribution ❍ the requirement for employers to follow a statutory code of practice when distributing tips. The code will set out the principles of fair and transparent distribution. (When the government say ‘without deductions’ this is not referring to employers’ obligation to deduct income tax and NICs where applicable.)
● Employment Bill – The Speech confirmed again that the government will take steps to make work fairer, introducing measures that will support those working hard. Following the consultation held in summer 2019, we now know that plans are afoot to create a single enforcement body, which, amongst other things, will strengthen workers’ ability to get redress for poor treatment. ...new laws will provide greater powers to tackle irresponsible management of private pension schemes Also repeated was the Chancellor’s earlier announcement of intentions to increase the national living wage to two- thirds of median hourly earnings and to lower the age threshold for those who qualify from 25 to 21 within the next five years. Further details will be included in the Budget. ● Pension Schemes Bill – This Bill aims to help people plan for the future, with measures brought forward to provide
simpler oversight of pensions savings. To protect people’s savings for later life, new laws will provide greater powers to tackle irresponsible management of private pension schemes. The ambitious aim of this Bill, as we know from the previous 2019 Speech, is to support pension saving in the 21st century. This Bill, which inevitably will impact the work of payroll significantly, will also bring forward a legislative framework for the introduction of the dashboard for pensions. Along with the enhanced powers planned for The Pensions Regulator it will be a foolhardy employer or pensions administrator who fails to keep up to date with these developments. Addressing the NPA anomaly The Conservative party’s manifesto for the 2019 general election stated that: “A number of workers, disproportionately women, who earn between £10,000 and £12,500 have been missing out on pension benefits because of a loophole affecting people with net pay pension schemes. We will conduct a comprehensive review to look at how to fix this issue.” The CIPP is amongst a group of leading pensions and tax experts – the Net Pay Action Group (NPAG) – calling on the government to act quickly to deliver this manifesto promise to fix an unfair tax flaw. This flaw means around 1,700,000
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | February 2020 | Issue 57
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