Policy News Journal - 2016-17

The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals ……………………………………………………………Policy News Journal

If you have deducted Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) from workers who attended a Widening Access Training course (WAT) , both you and the worker could be entitled to a refund.

This is because payments made by employers to workers receiving full-time instruction can be exempted from Income Tax and NICs provided certain conditions are met. In these circumstances it’s up to you to take the correct deductions from workers’ pay. Conditions Workers must have attended a qualifying WAT course. They’ll also have had Income Tax and NICs deducted from their pay during that period.

If workers did a combination of paid work and attended a qualifying WAT course, they may also be eligible for a refund if you deducted Income Tax and NICs from all of their pay.

You can find full details of conditions in Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001 and Statement of Practice 4/86 .

Responsibility for refunds

Training courses attended before 6 April 2013 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will deal with the refund if your employee attended a qualifying WAT course starting before 6 April 2013. You should submit claims to HMRC on behalf of your NHS employees, providing full details of all eligible workers. Trusts/authorities should notify HMRC by submitting a schedule by email to the mailbox. nhswat.mailbox@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Workers have been advised to contact you to confirm if you’ve already sent a claim to HMRC on their behalf. You may need to ask them for further information or evidence to support their application for a refund.

Training courses attended after 6 April 2013 If workers attended a qualifying WAT course starting on or after the 6 April 2013 the refund should be dealt with by you through your payroll system .

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Restriction on public sector exit payments 1 February 2017

Section 41 of the Enterprise Act 2016 comes into force on 1 February 2017 which caps public sector exit payments at £95,000.

A statutory instrument has been made which will bring The Enterprise Act 2016 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2017 into force on 1 February 2017.

Geographical extent – these regulations apply to all four nations of the UK.

The regulations restrict exit payments payable to employees of prescribed public sector authorities or holders of prescribed public sector offices as a consequence of them leaving employment or office to a maximum value of £95,000.

An exit payment for the purposes of these regulations is a payment of a prescribed description which includes any payment:

 on account of dismissal by reason of redundancy  on voluntary exit  to reduce or eliminate an actuarial reduction to a pension on early retirement or in respect of the cost to a pension scheme of such a reduction not being made  ex gratia  in respect of an outstanding entitlement  of compensation under the terms of a contract;  in lieu of notice

The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals

Policy News Journal

cipp.org.uk

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