Auto-enrolment Seminars

Some of the biggest UK employers have been automatically enrolling their employees into workplace pension schemes since October 2012. So far the changes to workplace pensions have been very successful with less than 10% of employees opting out of a scheme and many people joining a pension scheme for the first time. By 2018 all UK employers will have to go through the auto-enrolment process and ensure that they comply with the new rules.

Although your staging date may be well into the future, many employers are unaware of the time needed to prepare for auto-enrolment with some companies needing more than a year to put everything in place.

To help you think about how a workplace pension will work for your company Tamar HR have teamed up with Peter Lee, Independent Financial Advisor from DFP Solutions to offer a short seminar focusing on the key facts of auto-enrolment and what employers need to think about before their staging date comes around.

The seminar will focus on the following areas:

·         Why auto-enrolment is happening

·         Employers duties

·         Assessing your workforce

·         Communication with staff

·         The process

·         Investment solutions

·         Challenges & risks

·         Advisor services

 
To bring this event to as many of our clients as possible, we will be running the seminar in both Devon and Cornwall on the following dates:

Wednesday 5^th February 2014

Plymouth Science Park, Derriford, Plymouth: 12.30pm – 2pm

Wednesday 26^th February 2014

Epiphany House, Truro : 13.30pm – 2pm

If you would like further information or to book your free place, call Tamar HR today on 01579 343700.

5 Employment Law Changes coming up in 2014

2013 saw a number of significant changes in employment law. We saw the introduction of tribunal fees for the first time in the UK, reduced consultation periods for collective redundancies and changes in criminal record checks, including the introduction of the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check.

1) Changes to TUPE will come into force

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has now confirmed that the changes to TUPE will take effect as from 31^st January 2014. The changes aim to help employers and staff in a business that is changing ownership, go through a process that is easy, effective and fair. TUPE can be a complex area, so if your business is planning to buy or sell aspects of the operation that will involve employees transferring their employment, you can seek advice from the Tamar HR team at an early stage so that we can assist you through the process.

2) Early Conciliation to be introduced

You may already be aware that employment tribunal fees were introduced in 2013. The next stage to these reforms is the introduction of early conciliation from ACAS. This will mean that any individual wishing to make a claim to the employment tribunal will need to notify ACAS before they do so. At this point ACAS will offer conciliation to try and resolve the dispute between the employee and employer without the need for going to a full Tribunal hearing. The Government hope that this change along with the introduction of tribunal fees will ease some of the £80 million pound cost to run employment tribunal service each year.

3) The right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees

From Spring 2014, all employees will have the right to request flexible working. As an employer, you don’t have to accept every request that is made, but you do have a duty to consider requests and take a consistent approach when deciding if the request can be accommodated. Flexible working can have many benefits, with increased commitment from staff, increased productivity and may open up a role to a wider talent pool when recruiting. The impact on the business should also be fully considered before responding to the employee. 

4) Sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase

On 6^th April 2014 many statutory payments that employers make will have their rates increased. Please see the table below for the current rates and the new rates that will apply. We may also see a national minimum wage increase in October 2014, although the rate has not yet been confirmed.

	2013 Rate (current)	2014 Rate (from 6th April)
Statutory Sick Pay	£86.70	£87.55
Statutory Maternity Pay	£136.78	£138.18
Statutory Paternity Pay	£136.78	£138.18
Statutory Adoption Pay	£136.78	£138.18

 

5) Employers with over 60 staff will have to automatically enrol workers onto a pension scheme

You will be aware that Auto enrolment requires all employers to offer employees access to a workplace pension scheme.  The timing of this depends on number of employees and the size of the payroll.  All UK businesses will have to comply by 2018 and this year will focus on employers with staff between 50 and 500. We recommend that you act now even if you do not have to comply this year, as the process to get a scheme up and running and communicate this to your staff can take significant time. If you would like to know your staging date, contact us with your company PAYE payroll details and we will be able to assist you in your preparations.

If you would like to know more about any of the changes expected in 2014, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

How Effective is your Appraisal System?

A new challenge is upon us now that we are in 2014 and it’s the time of year when many organisations decide to complete their staff appraisals to help them prepare for the year ahead. But how effective is your company’s appraisal system?

For many businesses appraisals have become a paper exercise that result in the same process being completed without reviewing or developing the system. Many appraisal systems are overcomplicated and rely on the same questions asked each year even though the business and its employees have developed significantly. 

Over the past year the team at Tamar HR have been working with our clients to develop their appraisal and performance review systems. The most important thing is that the system needs to work for your business and it should be used as an opportunity to plan, develop and resolve the issues that are raised. An effective appraisal should be a 2 way process with feedback from each party to recognise good work and identify any short comings before working together to plan how to move forward.

Many of our clients have taken a new approach that we have developed known as a ‘Job Chat’ system. This is a streamlined and simple mechanism for recording key outcomes with your staff, which takes away a more rigid and prescriptive annual approach.  A Job Chat encourages regular engagement between managers and their team. It works by having a manager meet with each employee for a structured conversation that focuses on the key issues. The precise duration and timing of the Job Chat can be flexible depending on the needs of the business.  The Job Chat invites feedback from the employee about their job, the support they have received and their aspirations for the future. The manager also gets an opportunity to give feedback by recognising good work and identifying areas for improvement as required. It’s also a chance to share relevant information about future changes within the company if needed. The manager and employee then discuss and agree on an action plan focusing on what can be achieved before the next Job Chat. The benefit of this is that there is a shorter monitoring period before meeting up again to see how well things are progressing or if targets need to be amended.  It is designed to be a fluid system which supports positive action aligned to business priorities and objectives.

An effective appraisal system can help you to target support, training and challenge your team which could increase productivity and may also reduce your staff turnover in the process.  The benefit of good communication and engagement will help managers to understand the challenges staff face and how to maximise their contribution to the business. If you would like to take a different approach to your appraisal system this year, don’t hesitate to contact one of the team at Tamar HR to help you find a solution that works for your business.