The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
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The figures are derived from surveys seeking to understand what the public expects is needed to achieve each standard and participate in society, not just to survive. Housing, food, transport, holidays clothing and personal expenses are factored to come to the annual expenditure amounts.
The PLSA state that three quarters (76%) of savers are on track to achieve the minimum RLS, which is fantastic, but does still show the need for improved pensions adequacy across the UK. With the extension to automatic enrolment still waiting for further DWP consultation, we must wait to see how this impacts projections.
In the meantime, the PLSA are pushing for further reforms to pension policy with their Five Steps to Better Pensions campaign.
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The UK’s inflation rate unchanged from December 2023 Published: 14 February 2024 Emailed: 14 February 2024
The UK’s inflation rate has remained at 4% in the year to January, unchanged from December 2023. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that the increase in energy bills is offset by the fall in food prices.
The Bank of England were among many that had predicted a slight rise in the inflation figure last month, following the increase in the energy price cap.
However, for the first month since May 2021, there was a decline in the cost of food items, non-alcoholic drinks, household goods and furniture.
Keep an eye out for the next update released on 20 March 2024, just one day before the Bank of England announce the bank rates on 21 March 2024.
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Payroll assistant pays themselves an additional £84,848 Published: 4 March 2024 Emailed: 6 March 2024
Northern Divers Ltd, found themselves in a bit of bother when their payroll assistant, Angela Hunter, paid themselves an extra £84,848 because they we “paid a pittance”.
During the pandemic the team switched from paying employees cash for accommodation costs to using bank transfers. At this point Hunter added her own name to a list used as part of the process and made over 200 separate transfers to herself over the course of three years.
Hunter was convicted of theft by employee at Hull Magistrates in January and ordered to carry out an unpaid work requirement of 150 hours with a 12 month suspended sentence.
The pandemic brought a lot of changes in very short order, and it seems that some processes may have been changed at Northern Divers Ltd without the required oversight and due diligence to prevent fraudulent actors taking advantage. This should be a lesson that even during the toughest of times, new processes need to have adequate prevention or detection methods in place for improper use.
Hunter’s justification concerning the actions were that the managing director “had been rich and only paid her and the other girls a pittance and when she previously asked for a pay rise gave her one of three per cent, £45 a month.”
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