regulations 1982 from 6 April 2014. These SSP regulations place a legal obligation on employers to maintain specific records relating to payment of SSP and length of absence for each individual employee. Removing this statutory requirement will lift an administrative burden from employers. The proposed abolition will allow employers to keep records in the manner they feel is appropriate and to meet their own business needs. Employers will still have the obligation to produce SSP records to show they are meeting their legal SSP obligations, should HMRC require them (Reg 97 Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003 SI 2003/2682 (Amended by Reg 6 Income Tax (Pay As You Earn)(Amendment) Regulations 2009) SI 2009/588) but they will have the freedom to keep records in a more flexible manner which best suits their organisation. In short, employers will still have to pay SSP but they will not report this separately to HMRC. Also they will need to keep records for PAYE purposes to show that SSP has been paid. So for payroll/software SSP has to be included as part of the overall calculation of earnings and tax and NICs liability but the specific amount of an employee’s pay that is made up of SSP does not have to be reported to HMRC separately. It is the overall records of the calculation of earnings that HMRC would require as part of a compliance check. Last month we reported on the abolition of the Percentage Threshold scheme from April 2014 and how, given that PTS is often claimed in arrears, it can be claimed back once the SSP field is removed from the EPS. Currently employers who are claiming under PTS have to advise HMRC of the amount of SSP they have paid to their employees. If SSP is paid but there is no entitlement under PTS then no data is reported to HMRC. As PTS is being abolished there will be no instances when HMRC will require SSP data to be reported. This means the data items that are currently shown on the FPS and EPS for SSP and SSP recovery are being removed from 6th April 2014. However employers will still be able to make late claims under the PTS for periods of sickness up to 5th April 2014 for a period of two years. They will be able to do this via the clerical process for non-RTI years or EYU and EPS for RTI years. Last month HMRC asked for your views on the suggestion that SSP recovered should be included in the SMP recovered field. As was only to be expected, members were unanimous in their response that this suggestion was not workable and provided several reasons why this was the case. Recovering SSP through the Percentage Threshold scheme 10 January 2014
HMRC have listened to, and acted on, the feedback that you gave and have confirmed that the suggestion of using the SMP recovery field will not be taken forward.
Whilst it is pleasing that HMRC are listening to feedback, this leaves the worrying situation of there being less than three months to go before the SSP field is removed, but no workable solution yet as to how SSP paid in 2013-14 can be recovered from 6 April 2014 onwards. We are working hard with HMRC to provide a workable solution, however we would welcome suggestions from members who may have had the thought “why don’t they just…?” If you have any suggestions as to how this problem can be overcome please email policy .
Recovering arrears of Statutory Sick Pay from 6 April 2014-15
30 January 2014
Following on from previous news items on the subject, the CIPP along with other stakeholders have been given confirmation of guidance as to how employers should look to
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 499 of 519
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