Payroll and Pensions Top Tips

The session was presented by the very enthusiastic Shaun Tetley, Payroll and Pensions Manager at Portsmouth and Gosport Councils, and covered the following:

State Pensions

• A comparison of the value of the UK state pension to other EU countries, demonstrating the UK was had the lowest and Spain the highest, showing a weekly difference between the two countries of over £350.
• Every 5 years parliament is required to debate the state pension age, which currently stands at age 68 - you can check your state pension age on the Government state pension age calculator
• Those who haven’t paid the required 10 years of contributions to qualify for a state pension should consider paying any missing contributions and this guide to topping up a state pension is available to aid their decision making process.

Personal Tax Accounts

The process of opening a personal tax account is via this process of opening a personal tax account is on the gov.uk page, and once opened you can use the personal tax account for the following:

• Check your Income Tax estimate and tax code
• Fill in, send and view a personal tax return and claim a tax refund
• Check and manage tax credits and track forms submitted online
• Check your state pension age and the value of your state pension
• Check or update your marriage allowance, advise about change of address or changes in the benefits you receive from work
• Find your National Insurance Number and identify if you have any missing NI contributions

Take Home Pay Calculator

There’s a useful take home pay calculator here.

National Minimum Wage

• HMRC are legally obliged to act on ALL complaints received in relation to potential breeches of NMW. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has guidance on the NMW/NLW here, and HMRC has a calculator for workers to check if they are being paid NMW/NLW.
• Shaun shared that Portsmouth Council is currently undergoing a HMRC review, which has involved interviewing workers and a request for information on Apprentices, Term-time only staff, Salary sacrifice schemes, payroll software checks (to prove NMW compliance), accommodation, records of actual working time and evidence that TOIL was used in a timely manner. The audit has been on-going for 18 months without any breeches identified!

IR35 Changes

One key change being recommended is the need to create a disputes process and there are two steps proposed for resolving any status disagreements: 1) To allow the worker to be given details on the IR35 status determination directly from the client and 2) To allow for the status determination to be challenged.

Government Help To Save Scheme

This is a new Government savings account that will support working people on lower incomes to save. Savers can pay in as little as £1 and up to £50 each calendar month and will receive a tax-free bonus of 50p for every £1 of eligible savings. The scheme is open to working people who are eligible for Working Tax Credit or claiming Universal Credit. Once opened, an account runs for four years, with a bonus payable after two years and four years. Applications can be made here.

The Marriage Allowance

This a tax break that can help your staff increase the amount of pay their household takes home each month, claims can be backdated four years - employees can claim the marriage allowance here.

Uniform Cleaning Allowance

A reminder that if staff wear uniforms/protective clothing at work and are responsible for cleaning/laundering the clothing they can claim a personal tax allowance to cover the cleaning cost here.

Useful payroll facts and figures

Links to a useful payroll fact card and information on key statutory rates for 19/20 were provided on the presentation slides.

All slides from the session can be found here.