- March 28, 2019
- Posted by: Gary Parsons
- Category: Pay, Reward & Benefits
From the 6th of April 2019 new legislation will require all UK employers to provide payslips that detail all hours worked whereby pay varies, i.e. detailing variances such as overtime, unsocial hours, responsibility pay, etc.
This is known as the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2018.
Employers must also provide all workers with payslips, currently all employees receive payslips however this will now extend to contractors, freelancers and other similar positions.
The new requirements won’t be backdated and will only apply to pay periods that begin on or after the 6th of April 2019. Members of the armed forces and merchant seamen and women will be excluded from the above changes.
How The Changes Might Affect You
Alan Price, employment rights expert at HR firm Peninsula, provided a more detailed run down of what the changes might mean for you.
Price told The Mirror: “Importantly, for pay periods starting on or after 6 April, the right to receive an itemised pay statement will be extended to include both workers and employees. Previously this right was reserved only for employees, however businesses must now ensure ‘workers’, including casual and zero-hours, also receive detailed payslips on or before the date of payment of salary.”
“Another change for pay periods starting on or after 6 April is the requirement for the total number of hours worked to be included on payslips for all workers whose pay varies depending on the amount of time worked.”
“The rules on this can be tricky; all hourly paid workers will be within scope of this new requirement, as well as salaried hours staff who are paid the same each month for their basic hours but also work overtime and receive extra money for this. In the latter scenario, the payslip will only need to show the hours relating to the overtime, and not the salaried work, because it is the overtime that has made pay vary.”
“Where the number of hours is to be included, the hours must be clearly listed as either one total of all the hours which vary pay, or separate hourly figures for each variation of pay.”
As An Employer
If you have eligible employees in an automatic enrolment pension scheme, you will need to make sure that at least the minimum amount is paid by you and the employees into the scheme.
It is your responsibility under the Pensions Act 2008, to make sure the right minimum contributions are being paid for your staff. If you are already paying above the increased amounts, you don’t need to take any further action. You should also let your staff know about any increases being applied to their contributions.
Adjusting Your Payroll
It is time for employers to adjust their payroll setups to facilitate the provision of payslips to all workers and have the ability to itemise them. As an employer, this means reviewing your business’ payroll infrastructure.
You will need to ensure that your payroll is not only able to collect the information required by the new regulations but that your payslip format is able to present it.
Our Entire Focus Is Payroll
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to get in touch with our payroll experts at Talk Staff Payroll to make sure you’re prepared for the upcoming changes.
Last Updated on 8 months by Gary Parsons
