What lies ahead for employers in 2018?
2018 looks set to be another busy year. We take a look at some of what’s coming down the pipeline.
April 2018 - Gender Pay Reporting
Private and voluntary sector employers in England, Wales and Scotland with at least 250 employees will be required to publish information about the differences in pay between men and women in their workforce, based on a pay bill ‘snapshot’ date of 5 April 2017, under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. The first reports must be published by 4 April 2018.
Legislation in Northern Ireland mirror the above, except they also include fines of up to £5,000 for non-compliance, and a requirement to report on ethnicity and disability pay gaps, as well as gender.
April 2018: Termination Payments
The government plans to make changes to the taxation of termination payments from April 2018. The proposals include:
• removing the distinction between contractual and non-contractual PILONs (payments in lieu of notice) so that all PILONs are taxable and subject to Class 1 NICs]
• ensuring that the first £30,000 of a termination payment remains exempt from income tax and that any payment paid to any employee that relates solely to the termination of the employment continues to have an unlimited employee NICs exemption
• aligning the rules for income tax and employer NICs so that employer NICs will be payable on payments above £30,000 (which are currently only subject to income tax)
A government consultation on the issue closed in October 2016.
April 2018 – Restricting Employment Allowance for Illegal Workers
The government plans to introduce a further deterrent to the employment of illegal workers. From April 2018, employers will not be able to claim the Employment Allowance for one year if they have:
• hired an illegal worker
• been penalised by the Home Office
• exhausted all appeal rights against that penalty.
A consultation containing draft regulations closed in January 2017.
25 May 2018 – General Data Protection Regulations
The much anticipated General Data Protection Regulation will come into force from 25th May 2018. For those who haven’t already started preparing, now is the time. The GDPR will apply to ALL companies and sole traders that process personal data, the definition of personal data is broad and can include anything from a name, an email address or an IP address.
With possible fines of €20 million or 4% of annual turnover – which ever is higher, businesses need to sit up and take heed.
For further information of GDPR sign up to our employers webinar here or read our blog here.
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