COMPLIANCE
Sarah Twibell, payroll manager, RGF Staffing UK “The law lacks coverage of anything other than weekly pay frequencies and, equally, acceptance of what ‘pay’ is. “Holiday pay calculations for recruitment payrolls are an administrative nightmare! There needs to be a fair but simplistic system, rather than the current overly cumbersome one!”
Kevin Waller ACIPP, payroll specialist and consultant, founder of The Payroll Forum “For anything other than full time staff, it can start to get a bit complicated. The various case law we’ve had has further complicated the entitlement and pay calculations. Most employers or bureaux looking after casual / irregular hours staff have really struggled to understand what’s required and how to implement something to address it, as only a handful of payroll software providers can support it.”
Tristan Day ACIPP, general manager, Infinet Cloud Solutions Ltd “The underlying requirement to infer how much someone may have earned in a period is bonkers, where the strict 52-week time window means you could have holidays in the same month at different rates. Clarity and simplification are required to allow for more software to support it and reduce the overheads on payroll teams and employers across the country. Even those of us who do cater for it want it to be easier to support and explain.”
Emma Farrow, head of payroll services, Symmetrical.ai. “The fact that when the topic of holiday pay is mentioned in a room of payroll experts and all you hear is grumbles means this is a subject that everyone is frustrated by. “There are so many variances which need to be factored in for different clients and working practices, and at times, we find it terribly complicated, especially given the differences between calculating accrual and the pay due. Everyone looks to payroll to provide all the answers, so it's about time we had some concrete rules for employers regarding how to perform these calculations for all types of workers.” Andi Herrington MCIPPdip, director of payroll services, Wallis Payroll Ltd “The problem is that the case law we have to use for calculating holiday pay and entitlement is decided on by individuals who don't know anything about payroll and how people work and get paid in the real world. “It’s almost impossible to calculate average holiday pay 100% correctly when processing a monthly payroll where employees are paid variably. Businesses don't keep hours or commission information based on weeks worked, I mean, why would they if they pay monthly? “The 12.07% was the simplest way of calculating holiday pay for those who are zero hours – it meant that both the employee and the employer knew how much had been accrued and the costs when someone took holiday." Daniel King, payroll manager, Study Group “Unnecessary headache and heartache. Holiday pay should be paid based on earnings in ‘real time’ for variably paid staff. A simple percentage calculation on earnings is easier to administer and provide advice on, as a payroll professional. It’s also clearer on an employee level to understand.”
Carolyn Cuningham MCIPPdip, senior payroll services manager, Wright Vigar “It’s so tricky. Working in practice, we’re finding that clients are really struggling with this. There’s such a diversity in employee contractual arrangements, it really is a time-consuming process. It’s complicated enough for payroll professionals so how business owners are supposed to cope, goodness knows! Payroll software does nothing really to help, and I get that, because of the complexities. We just have to help and advise as much as we can.”
37
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 92 | July - August 2023
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker