2005 - March
Your staff regularly visit customers in their homes. After a recent employee complaint about verbal abuse, you’ve decided to carry out a risk assessment. Which areas should it concentrate on?
You’re concerned about the mental health of an employee working in a safety-critical role. How can you identify if there really is a problem and how should you deal with it, so as to reduce your potential liability?
Apart from offices, your premises include a small warehouse. At short notice you’re about to have your first ever safety inspection by your local council and you need to know the most important things to get right. What are they?
The cost of ignoring complaints
With limited resources at your disposal, it’s easy to ignore what you may regard to be fairly minor complaints, e.g. problems with doors. However, some case law shows that this could be costly in terms of safety. What do you need to know?
During the recent heavy snow, an employee slipped and broke an ankle. What are the key liability issues and how can you protect yourself next winter?
If you have problems in getting to grips with some of the requirements of the regulations on display screen equipment, you’re by no means alone. So why not use our policy to help you interpret them to your best advantage?
Our subscriber has been asked by employees about how they store and process health records. Following the introduction of a new Code of Practice, how can they ensure that their practices are watertight?
You need cash to pay a large bill, but your main home is already mortgaged to the hilt. If you’ve equity in a buy-to-let we’ve thought of a solution that also gives you tax relief on the interest on any extra loan. How does it work?
NI bill for company contribution
The Taxman sent our subscriber a bill for NI on pension premiums paid by his company directly into his pension scheme. Employers’ contributions are supposed to be NI-free, so what should you be doing to ensure this?
Keeping quiet about wrongdoing
Normally, any employee who’s up to no good is under no duty to tell you about it. However, a recent High Court case has revised this principle. What does it say and what are the implications?
It seems that under new plans, civil servants will soon have to phone in sick every day that they’re off. Could you benefit from such a requirement too?
The VATman normally gets away with making up rules to suit himself for two or three years before he is made to stick to the law. What can you do if you suspect he’s not keeping to the strict letter of the law?
The VATman is once again pushing his flat rate scheme (FRS) and is offering a discount to join. Should you sign up this time?
An employee just isn’t up to the job. Whilst you’d like to get shot of him, you don’t want to risk a claim. A colleague’s suggested introducing a capability procedure, but you don’t know what’s involved. What elements should it include?
Disability and constructive dismissal
If you offer a job to a disabled person, they’re likely to accept it on the basis that you make any reasonable adjustments which are necessary. But what happens if you don’t make them?
It’s reckoned that UK employers pay for more than two billion hours of overtime every year. It can clearly be an effective way to get work done but what are the downsides? And do you have to pay at an enhanced rate?
The generosity of the British people in the wake of the Asian Tsunami disaster could cost the Taxman a fortune. However, is there anything you still need to do before April 5 to make the most of your contribution?
One employee has a poor sick record, with the most recent absence attributed to a family bereavement. You’re considering disciplinary action, but want to know where you stand before going ahead. Can recent case law help you?
You’re considering offering work experience to 14-16 year olds, as it may be a good way of identifying future employees. Are there any workplace issues that you should be aware of?
A colleague is planning to start up a small business in his spare time. However, he wants to know whether or not he’ll need to pay Class 2 National Insurance (NI) contributions each week. What’s the score?
You loan computer equipment and bicycles to employees to take advantage of the associated tax exemptions. What happens if the employee wants to buy the asset at the end of the loan period? Is there a tax charge?
The latest revision to the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations has just begun to come into force. What are some of the most important changes which you should know about?
Following a recent accident, you’ve decided to review the cleaning operations which are carried out in your factory. What are the key areas that your assessment should focus on?
You’re currently reviewing your procedures for day-to-day maintenance of your pressure equipment. What does the law require of you and how can you best comply?
For more complex projects, method statements are necessary to show how they’re going to be managed safely. Recent case law shows what can happen if you get this process wrong. What are the key points to learn from it?
First aid changes in the pipeline
The Health & Safety Executive has just announced that there will be changes to the way that first-aiders are trained. Is this good news for you?
Some recent Court of Appeal decisions have clarified the role that an occupational health service has to play in limiting an employer’s liability for stress. What’s the latest news and what should you have in place?
Potential liability at social events
Our subscriber runs a sports and social club which organises events for staff. However, it’s concerned about potential liability should an accident occur. What’s the legal position and how can the risks be reduced?
What about discrimination abroad?
An employee spends lots of time abroad on business. Following the latest trip, she’s alleging sex discrimination. As it didn’t happen in the UK, you need to know where you stand. What does recent case law say?
The Taxman would very much like you to reward your employees through the payroll and so pay the maximum tax and NI. Hence a new rule to tax employee dividends as part of their salary. Is this the end of another tax saving scheme?
Is it true that it pays to have a tax adviser to deal with the Taxman on your behalf and complete your tax return? Will you pay less tax as a result? What are the pros and cons?
You would love to get a nanny to provide expert childcare in your own home, but you just can’t afford one. However, a friend says she’s going to use a new tax break to pay for her nanny from April. How is that possible?
Normally the first £30,000 of an employee’s pay-off is tax-free, but the Taxman is arguing otherwise. Is he right?
A new customer from another EU member state wants to buy your goods for sale in their own country. Can your supply be zero-rated as exports if the customer collects the goods from you?
An employee is absent without leave and a colleague’s suggested that you issue her with a “return to work or be sacked” ultimatum. You’re worried that you could be exposed to an unfair dismissal claim. Is this likely?
The staff Christmas party may seem a distant memory, but as the P11D season approaches employees may find that their employer’s generosity can result in an unwelcome tax bill. What can be done to avoid this?
The government plans to extend the reach of disability discrimination legislation even further. What’s the latest that you should be aware of?
If an employee’s suspended for a long period of time whilst the police carry out investigations (which result in a conviction), you’d think the contract was frustrated. Not so according to a recent case. What’s to learn from it?
You’re always looking at ways to reduce your general business costs. Yet had you ever considered how much each employee’s little piece of space really costs you? And what can you do about it?
A subscriber contacted us with a difficult problem - an employee had inadvertently ruined several thousand pounds worth of stock. Given their loss, wouldn’t a dismissal for gross misconduct be fair?
Problems with the District Valuer
The use of a March 1982 valuation in a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) computation will usually trigger a referral by the Taxman to the District Valuer (DV). Can you rely on the DV to deal with this quickly and honestly?