A number of important employment law changes are due to take effect in the next year or so - we have set out three key changes for businesses to be aware of.

APRIL 2019 CHANGES

National Minimum Wage Changes

The National Living Wage and Minimum Wage changed on 1 April 2019. The new rates of pay from 1 April 2019 are:

Payslip Changes

Two changes affecting payslip information came into force on 6 April 2019. Many payroll service providers will be responsible for making these changes, but employers should be aware of these changes to make sure they are compliant:

• employers will be required to include the total number of hours worked where an employee works changeable hours such as under a zero hours contract; and
• payslips must be given to ‘workers’ and not just employees.

Whether a member of staff is an employee or worker is a question of employment status. Employment status is complicated and has been in the news recently (usually in connection with the ‘gig economy’).

For advice on employment status and the difference between workers and employees or to see if this change could affect your business, please contact a member of our business services team.

KEY APRIL 2020 CHANGE

IR35 Changes

Tax changes will come into force in April 2020 for self-employed workers who are engaged through an intermediary (such as a service company). This could increase the administrative burden for companies engaging a self-employed contractor.

From 6 April 2020, medium and large employers who engage self-employed contractors through an intermediary will be responsible for accounting for tax and national insurance through PAYE, rather than the contractor being responsible for their own tax returns.

The potential change should be considered before entering into a service agreement as most agreements are for a fixed period and may extend beyond April 2020.

Please ask about how we can assist on recruiting new staff and how risks can be reduced to your business before engaging staff.