Adrian Hobbs introduces some recent legislative changes and their implications for HR records and reporting. Adrian will be providng some guidance through these in his masterclass seminar at Softworld.

April 2002 sees a radical change in the way company cars are taxed in the UK. A large number of employees are unaware or unsure of these changes even though their personal tax codes alter this April to reflect the new system. High mileage drivers will be hit the most and could see an increase of up to 50% in the amount of tax they pay for the privilege of driving on the job. Employers may need to rethink car provisions from now on – there are possible alternatives to be considered.

April 2002 also sees changes in what employees can be paid who use their own vehicles on work-related journeys – there are winners and losers. For employers, the changes could result in a recording headache.

Over the last four months there have been changes to paid holiday entitlement for short-term workers and parental leave has been extended to cover many more employees. Both these changes are not without their problems.

It seems likely that all employers with 50 or more employees will be required to send in end of tax year returns electronically by the year 2004. One of the simplest methods of doing this is via the Internet. But
how do you register to get on-line through the secure government electronic gateway?

From April 2003 there is a whole raft of change introducing improved maternity, paternity and adoptive parental leave rights together with the entitlement to paid leave on the current lines of Statutory Maternity Pay, which is also changing from next April. New payroll and HR systems will be required to cope with these changes.

At least there is one change to look forward to in April 2003 – a simplification of the system of paying tax credits, although even this change might require new software.