Organisations will have to provide the same rights under the bill to their employees, such as offering a cooling-off period of between 14 to 30 days during which an employee can cancel a benefit they have selected
Employers will also need to make sure the terms and conditions of the benefits contracts are compliant with the legislation in order to avoid any legal action against them.
Martha How, principal at Aon Hewitt, said:
“The Consumer Rights Bill will change the relationship between employers and staff.
“There is no doubt when looking at the bill that employees come under the definition of consumers and employers come under the definition of traders or intermediaries to traders. “The consumer rights apply to employees when employers give them the chance to buy a benefit via flex or salary sacrifice.
“Employees will now have the same rights as consumers when they buy something, for example, on Amazon. They will have the right to cancel the benefit.”
National benefits in kind statistics for last ten years
17 July 2014
HMRC statisticians have published what they call a “time series” of national benefit in kind totals for each of the past ten years. This gives movements in the numbers of employees receiving certain types of benefit, as well as showing shifts in the total taxable values and tax liabilities. The report shows some interesting, and perhaps unexpected, trends. For example while the taxable values and liabilities in respect of company cars have gone down in the ten year period the tables show quite significant rises in the values of medical benefits and beneficial loans. The numbers are stated to be provisional, and one obvious gap which may perhaps be filled at a later date is the number of employers providing each type of benefit. We have the employee numbers, but not yet those for employers.
Local councillors to receive their travel expenses tax-free
24 July 2014
The government has announced that legislation is being introduced to exempt travel expenses payments made to local councillors from income tax and National Insurance
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke MP, said in a Written Ministerial Statement that the government intends to introduce legislation to exempt from income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs), travel expenses payments made to local councillors.
He added that the government will provide further details of the exemption, and the time scale for introduction, in the autumn.
Employer supported childcare guide updated
4 August 2014
HM Customs and Excise (HMRC) have updated their employers’ guide to childcare arrangements.
CIPP Policy News Journal
08/04/2015, Page 149 of 521
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