New regulations on Shared Parental Leave are coming into effect, allowing parents the option to share the mother's maternity leave. The new rules apply to couples with babies due or children matched or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015 . Under the new rules, mother's will still take at least two weeks of maternity leave immediately after birth, but after that working couples have the opportunity to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay. Information about how this will affect employees and employers is available at Shared Parental Leave. Universal Credit National Rollout Universal Credit is a radical new benefit that reduces poverty by making work pay. It combines six benefits into one and improves incentives to work. The new service is already available in nearly 100 jobcentres across England, Wales and Scotland and will rollout nationally from February 2015. It is paid monthly for both people who are in work on a low income, or unemployed. Universal Credit ends the 16 hours a week rule that may have previously led people to restrict the hours they work to avoid losing their benefit. This means Universal Credit can help your business for example, through a more flexible workforce. For more information on how Universal Credit benefits employers, please read our frequently asked questions . Automatic Enrolment: Look out for a letter from The Pensions Regulator The Pensions Regulator will be writing to all small employers over the coming months to ensure they know when their workplace pension duties start. If you get this letter, please open it. It will provide you with key information such as when the law will start to apply to you (known as your 'staging' date). It also asks you to nominate a contact to receive regular, useful and relevant information from the regulator in the run up to the date your duties come into force. Once you know your staging date, you can use the planning tool on The Pensions Regulator's website that will help you to identify what you need to do to be ready for automatic enrolment. Pension Schemes The introduction of the new State Pension on 6 April 2016 means that contracting out will end. Employers who operate a contracted out pension scheme need to be aware of the changes. A State Pension toolkit is available online. The December issue of the HMRC Employer Bulletin has an article about changes in NIC rates and the removal of the use of a temporary Scheme Contracted-out Number (SCON) on the Full Payment Submissions (FPS). HMRC Countdown Bulletins also have information about these changes. Pension Statements extended to those 55 or over The state pension statement service has been extended to include people aged 55 and over. Statements give individuals an estimate of how much they may get under the new State Pension based on their current National Insurance record. Until now the scheme was only open to people over the age of 60. Eligible people can download an application form and send to the address given or call the Future Pension Centre on 0345 3000 168. To find out more, watch the case study on Pension Tube . ACAS - New Discipline and Grievance code of practice ACAS has published a revised Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance, which clarifies the rules around who can accompany workers to a grievance or disciplinary hearing. This follows an Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling and consultation exercise. For more information, please see Acas online .
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CIPP Policy News Journal
08/04/2015, Page 425 of 521
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