POLICY HUB
On your behalf
What has the CIPP's policy and research team been doing during May on behalf of you, our members, and the wider payroll profession? Read on to find out all about activities the team has been involved in... Policy team update
Events are ramping up The team was involved in several events in May, some of which were hosted by the CIPP and others by external organisations. Internally, we ran think tanks on a couple of very important topics. One such think tank looked at the requirement from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to collect more granular detail relating to employee hours and built on work we’d previously carried out with members and HMRC in this space. This was the opportunity for members to liaise directly with an HMRC representative to discuss their views and to highlight any potential obstacles to implementing changes being proposed. We also welcomed commissioners from the Low Pay Commission (LPC) to a series of think tanks which discussed national minimum wage and national living wage (NLW) rates for use from April 2025. This looked (among other things) at the affordability and effects of a potential increase to NLW in April 2025 to between £11.61 and £12.18, and at the impact of the increases to NLW we saw in April 2024 on workers, employers, the labour market and the economy. Now onto external events. The whole policy team attended the ‘ Policy influence conference ’ in mid-May, which considered the best tools and techniques to use when lobbying for change at parliamentary level. This was a must-attend for the team, as they’re always looking for new ways to get the views of members and payroll professionals heard at government level, ensuring change is handled correctly and that there are no unintended consequences of policy decisions made. Mathew Akrigg, policy and research officer, travelled to London to deliver a legislative update at Accountex, providing an all-important update on those things which have recently changed for the
payroll industry, while also looking ahead to changes we know are coming in the near future. Mat then joined SD Worx on its monthly interactive webinar, ‘ Payroll question time ’, to break down all the latest changes for payroll professionals to be aware of and to answer live Q&As from delegates. Consultations and calls for evidence (CfEs) In addition to other ongoing consultations and CfEs already covered within this page of previous issues of the magazine, tax administration and maintenance day introduced one additional consultation for the team to consider, which they responded to in May. HMRC has put forward plans to require employers claiming National Insurance relief in freeports and investment zones to report the workplace postcode of the qualifying employee. It’s stated that this is to assist compliance checks and to get employers thinking about eligibility at the point of claiming. The CIPP’s response to the consultation agreed the measure is proportionate to the relief being claimed but raised concerns of this requirement creeping into other areas of payroll reporting. A similar data point was initially proposed during the consultations on improving the data HMRC collects, but was backtracked after significant pushback regarding the associated administrative burdens. Payslip Statistics Report 2024 The CIPP’s flagship piece of research, The Payslip Statistics Report for 2024 was published in May. The survey and resulting report have been running since 2008, allowing the CIPP to compare payroll trends over the years. It looks specifically at the latest payslip trends, including pay frequencies, pay methods and payslip
distribution. There’s a staple bank of questions included each year to allow for that comparison to happen but there are also more topical questions included, to gauge what’s going on in the payroll industry at a certain point in time. This year, the Money and Pensions Service provided some questions for use in the survey, which looked at how payroll professionals are helping to support employee financial well-being, something so topical that it was the theme for our previous issue of Professional ! You can access the latest report here: https://ow.ly/EG8450RzF6N.
PAYSLIP STATISTICS REPORT 2024 COMPILED AND EDITED BY SARAH SMITH, CIPP POLICY AND RESEARCH OFFICER
SPONSORED BY
Forums The policy team is privileged to sit on several HMRC forums. Samantha O’Sullivan, policy and advisory lead, and Mat attended several forums between them in May, including: l the Department for Work and Pensions small pots delivery core group l HMRC’s Charter stakeholder group l the small pension pots delivery group l HMRC’s expert panel. The team sits on these forums to ensure our members’ feedback is provided at government level. We will always update you on our findings and information provided through these groups, via Professional and News Online . If you have any issues you would like to raise at any of the professional forums we sit on, please reach out to the team by emailing us at policy@cipp.org.uk. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | June 2024 | Issue 101 6
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