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The exemption was initially intended for au pair arrangements, allowing a young person to live abroad and work on a cultural exchange. However, these exemptions resulted in loopholes allowing exploitation of other live in workers. Because the law does not well define the differences between other migrant workers with domestic responsibilities and au pairs, it is hard to investigate if the exemption sho uld apply or not. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) state that they find it difficult to formally investigate au pair arrangements due to lack of documented hours or duties.
The LPC Report 2021 illustrates its key findings (Chapter 8 of the report), exploring case studies and the equalities impact of the exemption.
The chapter concludes with a recommendation that the exemption for au pair workers is removed, allowing them to be eligible for minimum wage. While the LPC do not have any remit over migration policy, they note that if the government is to introduce a visa route for au pairs and does not wish to repeal the exemptions, that changes should be made to the exemption to close the loopholes available.
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Department for Work and Pensions starts the next review of State Pension age. 14 December 2021 The Department for Work and Pension (DWP) has launched their second review of the State Pension age. The review, required by The Pensions Act 2014, will be published by 7 May 2023. Looking at a wide range of evidence, the DWP will assess: • The implications of life expectancy data • The costs of state pension expenditure with an aging population • Labour market changes that affect people’s ability to work over State Pension age • The fairness and transparency of the legislative timetable The last review, in 2017, advised that the second review should consider bringing forward the dates at which State Pension age would rise to 68 by seven years. Current plans are for this age to gradually rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046, this review could potentially see this changed to 2037 and 2039. As the aging population grows, the government needs to carefully consider the impacts of the state pension on its finances. But to workers who are in the affected age range, this is little comfort when the result is additional years of work and a shift to financial plans.
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Statutory Sick Pay self-certification period temporarily extended to support vaccine rollout 17 December 2021
In an amendment to the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) legislations, employees will be allowed to self-certificate for up to 28 days starting from 17 December through to 26 th January 2022.
This will apply to workers whose spell of incapacity for work commenced before 17 December 2021, but is not yet longer than seven days, or any spell that begins within this period.
This is being introduced in order to allow GP Capacity to be increased and support for the coronavirus vaccine booster program can be maximised.
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The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
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