Key payroll changes
Key workers. The coronavirus guidance (see Follow up ) outlines that those involved in the financial infrastructure of the UK are classed as key workers which means that if either parent is involved in payroll and there is no alternative the child can continue to go to school.
Statutory sick pay (SSP). There have been three announcements about SSP: (1) to disapply the first three waiting days in the absence; (2 ) to introduce a reclaim for certain employers and; (3) to designate certain absences as deemed incapacity for SSP (see yr.4, iss.9, pg.2 ).
Job retention scheme. The government has promised to reimburse employers 80% of employment costs in respect of employees who have been furloughed. You may not be familiar with this terminology but it basically means somebody who has been asked not to work as there is no work for them. In order to benefit from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme employees must be designated by the employer as furloughed. The government will pay up to 80% of salary, capped at £2,500 per month. The employee needs to agree, but as the alternative is likely to be redundancy, consent shouldn’t be an issue (see yr.4, iss.9, pg.2 ).
Gender pay gap. The government will not require employers to report their gender pay gap data for the snapshot date in March/April 2019 and no compliance activity will be instigated.
Pro advice. The data should still be retained as it may be required at a later point and you should secure the snapshot data for 2020. This is 31 March 2020 in the public sector and 5 April 2020 in the private sector.
Statutory residence test. Employers with a global workforce should read the relaxations on the day counting rules in respect of UK tax residence (see Follow up ).
The coronavirus guidance
Relaxations on the day counting rules in respect of UK tax residence
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