Professional October 2020

Professional October 2020

in Payroll, Pensions & Reward PROFESSI NAL Issue 64 October 2020 Official publication of The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals National Payroll Week 2020 Keeping the UK paid

Goodbye CJRS, hello JRS bonus Developments

Mastering software Observations

Annual leave and term-time workers Methodology

CIPP UPDATE | POLICY HUB | PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

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“Chaos is roving through the system and able to undo, at any point, the best laid plans.” Terence McKenna (1946–2000) (https://bit.ly/3hxEJtg)

This issue provides extensive coverage of the 2020 National Payroll Week (pages 11– 17). Though the role of payroll professionals – keeping people paid, and maintaining the flow of colossal amounts of revenue to the Treasury – has not generally been acknowledged

I am delighted that this issue features the return of ‘Confessions of a payroll manager’, with our heroine, Penelope Fortham, being urgently recalled from her overseas secondment (page 52). And to lighten the mood even further in these dreadful times, this issue also features a selection of payroll horror stories using Halloween as a timely excuse/medium (pages 24-26).

widely, surely the industry deserves status as a key strategic sector of the UK economy? Although I left the payroll processing frontline long ago, I am pleased and proud to be part of the payroll profession. This issue achieves a first-ever: a Wordsearch puzzle, related to the feature topic of mastering software (page 17).

Mike Nicholas MCIPP ([email protected]) Editor

This issue’s key theme is around mastering software. I am firmly a believer that technology should be an enabler. It must be simple to use – which means intuitive; so, should be built with the Chair’s message

flexible products for the consumer. Wearable technology is where a lot of new products are developing currently – with internet enabled watches that connect to phones and other devices. I am sure the technology gurus are considering how best that can support developments in the future. Of course larger enterprise resource planning applications have to service many different functions of a business and its customers; and whilst these can become very large and complex, the same simple approach needs to be applied to support the end-user in both processing and extracting the information into meaningful management information. Whether your needs are large or small, I hope you and your software work well together, and am confident you will enjoy reading the articles contained herein.

end-user in mind. Just like the software in a car (you don’t care how it works, you want it to be available when you need it), the software in a payroll, pensions or human capital management system should be available to you wherever and whenever – and ease of use is important. This need to access from anywhere has been driven to the forefront since the pandemic, with those more able to work remotely quickly more able to keep processing requirements on schedule. For those in the profession looking at different routes than the traditional management route, then if you have a tendency towards software engineering and development, there are fantastic opportunities to be had, with an ever-expanding legislative requirement as well as the need to build ever more

Jason Davenport MCIPP MIoD ([email protected]) Chair, CIPP

The CIPP team are in the midst of a busy autumn season of CIPP virtual events. We celebrated the 22nd anniversary of National Payroll Week online on the 7 September, supported by our chair, Jason Davenport. In CEO’s message

breakout discussion rooms and 1-2-1 meeting requests. The CIPP and our members and guests are looking forward to the highlight of our year with the Annual Conference and Annual Excellence Awards on 15 and 16 October. We have a high calibre agenda (created to be presented online) with highly recommended and professional keynote and motivational speakers and some excellent workshops and roundtable discussions lined up to ensure the continuous professional development of our members. Normally in November we would hold our Graduation Ceremony for those who have successfully completed our university approved qualifications, but due to the current situation the decision has been taken to postpone the event until November 2021, when we will hold two ceremonies on the day for the classes of 2020 and 2021. Here’s hoping the world looks a safer place this time next year for meeting colleagues face to face in all of our events!

virtual attendance were Chartered and fellow CIPP members, as well as an excellent turn-out including many distinguished guests. It was a pleasure to support this key week celebrating the payroll profession with other organisations playing an active part in promoting and educating payroll professionals from the Global Payroll Association, Reward Strategy and the Payroll Centre. We recognise the need for ably taught and educated payroll professionals and it was great that for the second year running we were able to collaborate and celebrate NPW. The week culminated in our virtual National Payroll Week Conference and Exhibition (originally planned to take place in Glasgow) on Thursday 10 September. This was managed extremely well with a greater than planned attendance and everyone enjoyed live sessions, question and answer sessions and networking through

Ken Pullar FCIPP ([email protected]) Chief executive officer, CIPP

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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |

Issue 64 | October 2020

in Payroll, Pensions & Reward PROFESSI NAL

Also available online at payrollpensionsandreward.org.uk

Contents

October 2020

THIS ISSUE’S FEATURE TOPIC IS MASTERING SOFTWARE

45 Cloud and clear by Jaspal Randhawa-Wayte

Features

16

19

24

When we were young by Gordon Cresswell

Scary stories to tell in the dark

NPW – What did we learn? by Helen Livesey

28

30

32

Goodbye CJRS, hello JRS bonus by Samantha Mann

Annual leave and term-time workers by Sudeep Ganguli

The problem with safeguards by Gareth Stears

| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | October 2020 | Issue 64 2

36

Chief executive officer Ken Pullar FCIPP CIPP board of directors Jason Davenport MCIPP MIoD Stuart Hall MCIPPdip Dianne Hoodless MSc ChFCIPP FHEA Editor Mike Nicholas 0121 712 1000 | [email protected] Advertising Vickie Graham 07775 564 352 | [email protected] Design James Bartlett, Nicole Davis and Sam Parkes [email protected] Printing Warwick Printing Company Ltd

35

The end of the company pension scheme? by Henry Tapper

Redundancy, impairment, vicarious liability by Nicola Mullineux

38

41

Still making do with a Nokia 3210? by Louise Ankers

Furlough fraud penalties by Danny Done

Liz Lay MSc FCIPPdip Carole Pearson MCIPP Katie Sharpe ACIPPdip

Cliff Vidgeon BA (Hons) FCIPP CMA ACIS Clare Warrington MSc FCIPPdip AFHEA

42

46

Useful contacts

Membership [email protected] 0121 712 1073 Education [email protected] 0121 712 1023 Training [email protected] 0121 712 1063 Events [email protected] 0121 712 1013 Marketing and sales [email protected] 0121 712 1033 General enquiries [email protected] 0121 712 1000

Mastering software by Jerome Smail

How do you master software? by Stuart Hall

Regulars

01 Editor’s comment, and 04 COVID-19News 06 CIPPupdate 07 My CIPP Policy hub: On your behalf, Advisory, Being payroll 11 National PayrollWeek 17 Wordsearch 19 Personal development Diary of a student, CPD

28 Compliance 33 Payroll news 34 Industry news 35 Reward 41 Technology 52 Confessions of a payroll manager Additional online content 15 Additional NPWcontent 20 The emotional impact of physical distancing in the workplace 21 Leveraging the advantages of interviewing via audio 26 Hell fest (additional scary payroll story)

Chair’s andCEO’smessage

cipp.org.uk @CIPP_UK

Articles Please support this magazine so that it can continue to be a part of your membership package. Trademarks The CIPP logo, the initials ‘CIPP’ and the words ‘Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward’ and ‘CIPP Consult’ are trademarks of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals. Copyright: The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals 2020. The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals, CIPP, Goldfinger House, 245 Cranmore Boulevard, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands, B90 4ZL. Switchboard 0121 712 1000 Fax 0121 712 1001 Copyright This magazine is published by The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals in whom the copyright is vested. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the CIPP or the editor. The information and comment contained in this publication are given in good faith, their accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed.

Full issue including additional online content available at payrollpensionsandreward.org.uk

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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |

Issue 64 | October 2020

COVID-19 news

Kickstart scheme launches DETAILS ABOUT the scheme, which was announced in the 2020 summer mini- budget as part of support measures for businesses during the pandemic, have been released (https://bit.ly/2ZCQw3B). Employers can use Kickstart to create new six-month job placements for young people who are currently on universal credit and at risk of long-term unemployment. The placements: ● should support the participants to develop the skills and experience they need to find work after completing the scheme ● be new jobs, that do not replace existing or planned vacancies or cause existing employees or contractors to lose or reduce their employment. The roles must be: ● for a minimum of 25 hours per week,

for six months ● paid at least the national minimum wage (NMW) for their age group, and ● should not require people to undertake extensive training before beginning the placement. Funding is available following a successful application process for 100% of the relevant NMW for 25 hours a week, plus associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions. There is also £1,500 per job placement available for setup costs, support and training. Applications must be for a minimum of thirty placements, but employers unable to offer this many can partner with other organisations to reach the minimum number. A representative applying on

behalf of a group of employers can get £300 of funding to support the associated administrative costs of bringing together the employers. Although the scheme, which is available in England, Scotland and Wales, is not an apprenticeship, participants may move on to an apprenticeship at any time during or after placement. Once a job placement is created, a second person can fill it once the first successful applicant has completed their six-month term. The Department for Work and Pensions will choose the applicants for the jobs and youngsters will be referred into the roles through their JobCentre Plus work coach. The government expects the first placement to begin at the start of November.

CJRS fraud and errors IN EARLY September, Jim Harra, head of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), informed members of parliament on the Public Accounts Committee that the department has “made an assumption for the purposes of our planning that the error and fraud rate in [coronavirus job retention scheme] could be between 5% and 10%. That will range from deliberate fraud through to error.” This estimate suggests up to £3.5bn may have been claimed fraudulently or paid out in error.

Reskilling and retraining ACCORDING TO a recent study by CV- Library, a leading job board, 59% of Brits have said they’re willing to reskill and retrain in a new line of work following the coronavirus pandemic. The study reveals that the most common reason for people wanting to reskill was because they want to make themselves more employable Recent pandemic statistics THE OFFICE of National Statistics (ONS) is regularly publishing experimental >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56

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