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Policy team update On your behalf
The CIPP’s policy and research teamprovides an update on developments
Fulfilling our role The CIPP's policy and research team serve members and, by virtue of our Chartered status, the wider profession, representing their views at forums and through written response to government consultations. To gather the views of the profession, we post quick poll questions on the website, create surveys, and host thinktank roundtables. The data and views gathered through these sources inform our responses to government consultations. These views and experiences also inform government officials and agencies and subsequently feed into government policy development. This is in addition to keeping our members, who serve all sectors and all service lines within the payroll industry, informed of both the latest news and future updates that will affect the way in which pay, pensions and reward elements are processed, and therefore, the way in which people are paid.
2021 and the future trajectory of the NLW to achieve its new target rate of being two thirds median earnings by 2024, particularly in light of current external economic conditions due to the outbreak of coronavirus and also the UK’s continued relationship with the European Union following Brexit. There was widespread interest in attending the meeting, and members joined from a variety of sectors and industries. Three commissioners and three officials from the LPC also attended resulting in an extremely meaningful discussion. The meeting began with a presentation from the LPC on the nature of their work, and a timeline for deciding upon the NLW/NMW. Annually, between January and March the government decides the LPC’s remit, and between March and the summer the LPC launches its consultation and between May and October evaluates the evidence it has received. Ordinarily, by the end of October the government announces the following year’s NLW/NMW rates as recommended by the LPC. The announcement was delayed in 2019 due to the period of purdah prior to the general election. Representatives from the LPC asked if this delay impacted the work of attendees, and the resounding answer was yes, but that they simply worked to facilitate the changes as they had no other choice. LPC representatives also confirmed that, although work is currently underway to establish the future of minimum wage rates, they would re- evaluate the situation in October because
under current circumstances there was absolutely no way of predicting what would happen in the future. Much of the meeting was dominated by conversation about coronavirus, and the impact that it has had on businesses. Unsurprisingly, there was near-unanimous support for a freeze on, or at least a small percentage increase, to the levels of NLW and NMW. Many attendees confirmed how they started utilising the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and placing employees on furlough shortly after the chancellor Rishi Sunak made his announcement on 20 March 2020. It would appear that the CJRS has helped many companies to protect their businesses and the jobs of their staff from redundancy particularly within the retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors. There was a general feeling, however, that a high number of redundancies could still occur when the CJRS comes to an end, and this was an area of concern for businesses and those processing payroll who must ensure compliance with the rules of redundancy handling. (Post meeting note, this was prior to the announcement by the chancellor that CJRS is extended to October.) The discussion turned to the fact that, generally, where there are significant increases to NLW/NMW rates, there are implications for employers that can no longer offer roles between entry and managerial levels as they cannot afford to pay the rates falling between the mandatory minimum rates and higher grade pay rates. Attendees from the public sector shared their concerns about the ability to attract and retain staff in, for example, the
LPC NLW/NMW think tank roundtable
On 6 May 2020, the CIPP hosted an online think tank that allowed the Low Pay Commission (LPC) to meet with members to receive feedback on, and hear experiences of, the impact of the national living wage (NLW) since its introduction, and also of the national minimum wage (NMW). Discussion considered the rates for
...was near-unanimous support for a freeze on, or at least a small percentage increase...
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | July/August 2020 | Issue 62 12
*please see summary at cippmembership.org.uk for details.
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