National Payroll Week
Scottish National Conference and Exhibition
O n Wednesday 8 September, the Scottish National Conference 2018 started with a sparkling drinks reception. Delegates were welcomed in the traditional setting of the cocktail bar at the Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club, historically visited by Mary Queen of Scots. Elaine Gibson, CIPP education director, hosted a networking dinner which featured the entertainment group Noise Next Door. This memorable act had delegates shouting out and laughing in their seats. Karen Thomson represented the CIPP board of directors and networked with guests throughout the evening. On Thursday 9 September, Elaine opened the conference by highlighting the activities of National Payroll Week and the achievements of CIPP over the last twelve months, including the introduction of individual chartered status and the development of CIPP online courses. On thanking the sponsor Frontier Software, the keynote address was presented by Linda Scott, CEO of West Lothian chamber and director of Scottish chambers. Linda spoke passionately about the big issues that face Scotland’s economy. The second plenary of the day was presented by Catriona Donald, senior tax manager at KPMG. Continuing from her session at last year’s event, Catriona discussed the current status of Brexit and its payroll implications. This session covered: where we are now; draft withdrawal agreement; Brexit complexities; payroll reporting; social security; and other practical issues. After a short refreshment break, delegates split into two workshop sessions led by Karen Thomson, director – group payroll services at Armstrong Watson, and Rosemary Lemon, group
head of reward at Hays Plc. Karen spoke about GDPR compliance and delved into the payroll considerations. Rosemary looked at how to measure the success of a reward programme. The session provided good insight with a real case study and how such a programme can benefit both employees and the business such as increased performance and motivation. Sean Tetley, payroll and pension manager for Portsmouth and Gosport Councils, and Mary Thomson, service manager, Sacro, were up next. Once again splitting between two workshop sessions, delegates listened either to: ● Sean, who gave an update on the Local Government Pension Scheme covering additional pension contributions and additional voluntary contributions, or ● Mary who provided an interesting insight into core behavioural principles, behavioural styles and why ‘difference’ occurs, delivering difficult messages whilst reducing conflict risk and diffusing conflict when it arises. Mary shared personal experiences with the group and had delegates listening with interest. After lunch, which was served in the Pentland restaurant overlooking the magnificent golf course, delegates attended an afternoon plenary session to listen to Samantha Mann, CIPP senior policy liaison officer, deliver a humorous and knowledgeable session on expenses and benefits in kind. Sam provided further information covering: PSA modernisation; termination payments; the impact of payrolling in the bringing together of pay and benefits in kind; continued development of tax simplification. Diana Bruce, CIPP senior policy liaison officer, followed by giving an informative payroll legislation update on various topics from student loans and national
minimum wage to off payroll working – plus much more. For further information related to the subjects covered at the event, you may wish to explore the CIPP payroll and HR legislation update course, the CIPP e-newsletter News Online and the Policy News Journal which is regularly updated by the CIPP policy team. Following the afternoon break, the final session of the conference was delivered by Neil Esslemont, head of industry liaison for The Pensions Regulator. Neil spoke about progress to date and future changes related to automatic enrolment. After discussing compliance and enforcement, Neil looked at one of the most frequently asked questions: how does salary sacrifice work for pension contributions? Elaine Gibson closed the event by thanking everyone for attending and announcing that next year’s Scottish National Conference is taking place on Thursday 5 September 2019 at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh. n
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Issue 44 | October 2018
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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