What have our stories got in common? They’re mostly about employment. From a new EU ruling that affects companies that pay sales-based commission to the changes in salaries, read up on what’s happening with staffing.
Top news stories
EU rules that workers should be paid commission even when on holiday
Companies that pay sales-based commission could be faced with compensation bills.
Chambers of commerce say interest rate rise would derail recovery
They say UK firms are not yet ready for an interest rate rise. And it seems that the Bank of England agrees.
Average wages could have fallen by 12% since 2008
A thinktank claims that official figures of a 10% drop are too low because they don’t take into account people going self-employed.
Starting salaries grow at their fastest rate for at least 17 years
Despite wage drops, starting salaries are up, mostly fuelled by the challenges of finding suitably skilled staff.
Robots will take over middle class professions, says UK university minister
David Willetts said that professions which require “quite high level cognitive” skills are more likely to be replaced by robots than ones that involve manual tasks.
Key dates for your diary
No important dates this week.
Keeping up to date with the cost of employing staff
With salaries changing (see our news stories) and new legislation coming in, the cost of employing staff is frequently changing. Keeping an eye on salary and compensation costs as new legislation comes in helps to keep your cash flow healthy and avoid any nasty surprises.
There’s been a number of changes recently (and more in the pipeline) that could affect your salary costs:
- National minimum wage increases: these come into place on 1 October 2014. New rates will be £6.50 for workers 21 and over, £5.13 for workers 18-20 years old, £3.79 for 16-17 year-olds, and £2.73 for apprentices under 19 or 19 and over who are in the first year of apprenticeship.
- Statutory payments: In April 2014, the prescribed rates for statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increased to £138.18 per week. Statutory sick pay rose to £87.55 per week.
- Abolition of the Percentage Threshold Scheme: from 5 April 2014 small businesses can no longer recover the Statutory Sick Pay paid to their employees. In the past, employers could claim if the total SSP paid in a tax month was greater than a set percentage of their gross Class 1 NICs (employers’ and employees’) liability for that month.
- Employment Allowance: from April 2014 companies who are eligible can reduce your employer Class 1 NICs by up to £2,000 each tax year.
- Flexible working: new legislation which came into place from 30 June 2014 means all employees have the right to ask for flexible working. Some of these options may affect your salary costs.
- Auto-enrolment: the staging dates for smaller businesses are coming closer. Employers with 58 or more employees will need to offer a qualifying pension scheme to their staff by the start of 2015. Find out how to get prepared.
- Equal pay audits: From October 2014, Employment Tribunals will have the power to order an employer to carry out an equal pay audit (EPA) where a finding has been made that the employer is guilty of sex discrimination in relation to pay.
With so many changes it’s worth keeping a close eye on those costs. How often does your company carry out a employment cost review?