CEST tool usage data IN DECEMBER, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) published usage data of its check employment status for tax (CEST) tool since it was enhanced in November 2019 (http://bit.ly/2WEYSFM). The data, which will be updated quarterly going forward, is intended to strengthen user confidence in the determinations given by the service. There has been 975,416 uses of CEST in the twelve months to 24 November 2020. Of these, 422,139 (43%) were made by workers, 536,418 (55%) by hirers, and 16,859 (2%) by agencies. Usage of the CEST tool increased significantly in the period to February 2020, dropping away slightly in March due probably to the announcement that the implementation of off-payroll rules was postponed to April 2021. Since May, monthly usage has steadily risen. The overall outcomes of the 975,416 uses: ● 505,598 (52%) were outside the off-payroll working rules or self-employed for tax purposes ● 281,099 (29%) were inside the off-payroll working rules or employed for tax purposes ● 188,719 (19%) were undetermined. Moving forward, most organisations intend to maintain employee engagement and will proceed with their performance reviews as planned, with the majority set to keep their original performance goals while 32% plan to reduce or simplify them; only 7% plan to increase their performance goals for the period. Additionally, 64% of businesses plan to retain their normal review processes, 22% will reduce or simplify them, and only 9% intend to delay reviews until a later date. Dr Kenneth Mathos, director of people science, Culture Amp, said that “to be effective change agents, and with resourcing levels stretched in most cases, HR need to have a strategy that considers both short- and long-term needs with sufficient support, necessary resources and cooperation from key parts of the organisation.” Pressure on HR teams in 2021 ACCORDING TO new global data on companies’ responses to people management challenges caused by the pandemic, as well as how those responses were organised, the survey – How companies are embracing a new future (http://bit.ly/3rnRqwY) – conducted by Culture Amp, an employee experience platform, found that almost half (43%) of respondents do not believe that their HR team has adequate capacity to address their employee engagement and workforce planning needs in 2021. The findings raise concerns over the ability of HR functions to handle ever- changing workload. Prior to the pandemic, just 5% of the companies surveyed had most employees working remotely, but now 75% report that the majority of their employees are fully remote. One third of the companies that had never embarked on remote working are planning to continue the practice once restrictions ease. For those with little experience of remote work, 35% will keep more than half of their employees working remotely, 39% will have less than half of their employees remote, and 19% will return to majority in-person work.
BGF invests in XCD CLOUD-BASED HR and payroll software provider, XCD, has received an investment of £2,000,000 to support its organic and acquisitive growth strategy. Founded in 2011, the company, which is headquartered in Bristol, has over 30,000 users across 35 countries, and a growing workforce of more than seventy employees. Simon Fowler, CEO of XCD, said: “We are extremely excited to be partnering with BGF with this investment. We felt they could clearly see what we are trying to achieve in building on the momentum we have created as the UK’s only HR and Net Payroll solution on the Salesforce platform.” Alex Snodgrass, an investor at BGF who will join XCD’s board, said: “XCD has built an industry-leading offering which has fuelled an impressive growth trajectory in recent years” adding that XCD “is poised to build on its growth to date and realise its full potential on a global scale.” 10,000+ ghost workers ACCORDING TO a report in The Zimbabwe Daily (http://bit. ly/3mK4JV2), at least 10,000 suspected ghost workers have been struck off the government payroll, after a biometric registration exercise was implemented with the assistance of the World Bank as part of efforts to weed out ghost workers and modernise management of the civil service. Moses Mhike, Public Service Commission head of human capital development and management, said: “We conducted a biometric exercise to get the data of all civil servants and comparing with the Registrar’s office. We made sure that we stopped paying those non complaint and only the legitimate ones came forward. However, the exercise should be an ongoing thing.”
CEST tool usage and determinations Outside Inside Unde’d Total
16,425 13,494 7,081 37,000
Nov-19
34,158 23,742 15,164 73,064
Dec-19
73,341 54,429 33,781 161,551
Jan-20
114,293 71,045 48,410 233,748
Feb-20
143,699 50,183 35,282 229,164
Mar-20
28,790 6,644 4,734 40,168
Apr-20
10,069 6,230 4,565 20,864
May-20
12,007 7,249 5,625 24,881
Jun-20
13,368 7,724 6,106 27,198
Jul-20
11,653 8,008 5,640 25,301
Aug-20
14,747 9,872 7,002 31,621
Sep-20
17,218 11,574 7,908 36,700
Oct-20
15,830 10,905 7,421 34,156
Nov-20
45
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 67 | February 2021
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